Selim Tlili
New York
Covers:
Science education, education technology, analog learning, gifted education, student attention, scientific literacy, inquiry-based learning, and teaching, AI in education.
Interview
What was your first job as a journalist?
I started writing for a teacher-practitioner publication, sharing ideas from my classroom. I quickly discovered that the more I wrote about teaching, the better I became at teaching.
Have you ever used a typewriter?
I learned how to type on one... which probably dates me more precisely than I’d like.
How is social media changing news?
Social media gives us opinions that sound clever without requiring us to do the hard work of understanding the context. It has made it easier than ever to sound informed while knowing very little about the story itself.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
J. Jonah Jameson probably. His bias is clear, consistent, and impossible to miss. There’s something refreshing about that.
What does it mean to be a journalist?
For me, it means trying to figure out what I actually think about a topic and being willing to change my mind as I learn more.
What's the funniest news-related #hashtag you've seen?
#FloridaMan. He’s the hero Gotham deserves.
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
Email works best. Keep it brief, tell me why the story matters, and point me toward the evidence or people who can help me understand it.
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
Paper and pencil first. Then a laptop, Google, Google Docs, ChatGPT as needed, and whatever rabbit holes the research sends me down.
What's your favorite social network?
“Favorite” might be a stretch, but LinkedIn is the one I use most. I appreciate that it can still be a place to exchange ideas and discover interesting work.
Who do you wish followed you?
Editors, educators, researchers, and curious people who care about how we learn, think, and make sense of science.
Why did you become a journalist?
I realized that I need to write in order to understand what I actually think. Writing forces me to crystallize my ideas, question my assumptions, and get to the heart of what I really believe.
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
No. I started writing after nearly 20 years of teaching. The classroom came first; writing grew out of having something to say about it.
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
My first published essay, about teaching during COVID. It was the first time I discovered the joy of finding the story through the process of writing it, rather than knowing exactly what I wanted to say before I began.
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Don’t be afraid to spill every thought onto the page. You can get rid of the junk later. Often, you don’t really know what you think until you can read what you’ve written, question it, and figure out what’s actually worth saying.
When's the best time to pitch you?
Afternoons
What's the best pitch you ever got?
I haven't gotten one yet. Surprise me.
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
The silent one.
What's your favorite drink?
Champagne but I am not snobby about sparkling wine.
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
Teaching a class, spending time with my family, drawing, or wandering around looking closely at something I’ll probably end up writing about.
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
I’m more of a book reader than a magazine reader, but I regularly read The New York Times Science section.
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
That teachers are a monolith. Educators disagree about everything. Those disagreements are often more interesting than the standard story.
Would you like to take the Muck Rack Interview?
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