Mitch Forest - edu/acc
@MitchForest
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eng pushing edu/acc @alphaschoolatx
Austin, TX
Joined December 2017
The Day I Understood The American Spirit
zerohedge.com
I didn’t come to America for Thanksgiving. But Thanksgiving is one of the reasons I stayed...
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came across couple of comments from semis veterans: “nvidia’s moat is jensen” “tsmc’s moat is liver” (referring to how the long night shifts damage the engineers’ liver function) in general ppl do underestimate how much companies’ competitive advantage comes their founder and
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A core thesis at @MentavaInc is that society trains parents to accept a slow pace of learning Our core value proposition is showing parents that society is wrong
@NielsHoven I’ve been using it with my 5 year old for over a week and he’s been progressing so quickly. I had reminders to cancel before the 14 day trial ends but not going to now!
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Today I turn 55. I’m the fittest, sharpest, and happiest I’ve ever been. If I’m an outlier, it’s not because I’m built different or discovered a secret formula. The truth is far less glamorous: It’s a million tiny choices, compounded over decades. Here are 55 of them: 1.
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For those who are interested in working in EdTech, I need to be honest with you about what you're signing up for. You probably shouldn't apply. EdTech's graveyard is full of brilliant engineers. AltSchool raised $200M and closed. Knewton raised $180M and sold for scraps. 2,148
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Overheard: One of the best reasons for no-screen schools, especially kindergarten, is the importance of handwriting. Alpha Timeback team: Wait until they see our AI-assisted handwriting app.
“Contrary to popular belief, handwriting is not merely a motor skill; it is also a written language skill.…handwriting leads to better perception of letters in reading than does keyboarding. Forming letters by hand might help create the letter form in the mind’s eye better than
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To design great products, you must feel deep empathy for your users. We tested our cursive app at @AlphaSchoolATX today and the 7-year-olds absolutely crushed it. But I viscerally felt every micro-hesitation and frustration: The split second before they found the Start button
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Join the waitlist for more info:
docs.google.com
Please fill out this form to get more information about Scribble when we launch!
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If you want your elementary age students to master cursive, join our waitlist for Scribble -Data driven approach to handwriting feedback -Personalized learning paths for efficient practice -Scaffolded curriculum from strokes to letters to joins https://t.co/1VVHTY6wLt
It's time to remove laptops from classrooms. 24 experiments: Students learn more and get better grades after taking notes by hand than typing. It's not just because they're less distracted—writing enables deeper processing and more images. The pen is mightier than the keyboard.
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10 years separate the classic "Pen Is Mightier" paper (2014) and the latest meta-analysis (2024). A decade later, the conclusion hasn't changed: Handwriting remains superior.
It's time to remove laptops from classrooms. 24 experiments: Students learn more and get better grades after taking notes by hand than typing. It's not just because they're less distracted—writing enables deeper processing and more images. The pen is mightier than the keyboard.
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Automaticity is one of the core goals of early education. When basic skills like math facts, handwriting, and decoding are automatic, a child’s working memory is freed up for deeper reasoning and comprehension.
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catching up Gemini 3 on 2025: 'okay so now you can finance a burrito over 6 months, elon's about to become the 1st trillionaire with an anime vtuber gf, and the self-checkout at walmart asks if you want to leave a tip'
My most amusing interaction was where the model (I think I was given some earlier version with a stale system prompt) refused to believe me that it is 2025 and kept inventing reasons why I must be trying to trick it or playing some elaborate joke on it. I kept giving it images
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Success in 2 out of 3 is still failure to me. My goal is to be world class at all 3: family, fitness, career. I'm trying to stack commitments when possible. Running w/ my toddler in the stroller. Working late from home while my wife paints so we can take breaks together to chat
I've come to a conclusion that it’s easier for most men to get in shape & make $ than it is to become a great family man. The former 2 can be done quickly. The latter forces long-tail consistency. You can have them all, but that's a commitment level I see in a tiny percentage.
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You have an idea. A SaaS tool you’ve been thinking about for months. You fire up Cursor and v0. 24 hours later, you have a working demo. Clean UI. Real features. You can barely believe it. You post it on X. Replies flood in: “this is sick” “How did you build this so fast?” “Let
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Growing families = growing cities. My family couldn't be happier about our decesion to plan our flag in Austin.
Look at the decline in population for young children (under age 5) in major cities from 2005 to 2024 This is catastrophic Austin +98% Orlando +89% Raleigh +87% Charlotte +81% Dallas +81% Chicago -31% Boston -33% New York - 34% LA -36% San Francisco -38%
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Woke up to our stroller stolen out of our garage a few days ago 😠 We replaced it with a BOB running stroller and it's been great! My son and I get sun, exercise & time together first thing. My wife gets some extra peace & quiet before the chaos of the day ensues. Win-win-win.
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Handwriting is not a motor skill. It is a reading skill. We treat them as separate subjects, but neuroscience says they are the same circuit. Last week I discussed Orthographic Mapping (OM). Many focus on the "sound" part, but miss the "motor" bridge. Here is why the hand
Learning to read and spell is a complex process. Orthographic mapping is the brain’s way of linking sounds, letters, and meaning. I didn’t know this concept when I was a kid learning English, but it perfectly explains why certain methods clicked for me.
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Learning apps should be beautiful, but only if they're beautifully simple. 90% of "beautiful" edtech is actually sabotaging learning. Here's why: The industry thinks: More features = more engagement = more learning The science shows: More features = more cognitive load = LESS
I like learning apps for kids, even for small children, but I am begging you to make them beautiful None of them are beautiful. Zero
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