What I Want to Do When I Grow Up

Today, browsing through blogs, I found that Michael Goldstein "Gone Wild" is sitting in for Andy R. at Eduwonk. He's inspired to write this, after doing his own blog browsing.

What he linked to is this wonderful post by Teaching in the 408 about the sheer lack of professional knowledge that has been developed and systematically disseminated to teachers. It's poignant and really moved me. 408 writes:

You’re up on the ledge when you want to know how to get better, but there’s nothing there. The vast store of practical strategies you took from your alternative or traditional route credentialing program seems to be running a little dry and district PD is either non-existent or an exercise in futility. There is no formal plan for post-competency-acquisition development, unless it is in the areas of technology, and you already know how to use PowerPoint.

Wow. I hear you. For the record, some of us in the academy know this, hear this, and are trying to do something about it. No, not just wallowing in pointless intellectual scuffles over one thing or another, but actually working on creating professional knowledge that can improve what teachers do now, and can do in the future.

This is what I want to do.

Two side notes: I found Ms. Frizzle is back. I missed this. I have definitely been out of the loop.

Also, I have my preoral defense next week. It is a BIG deal. Send me good vibes.

And I've been asked to interview for a job! Two actually. I can't say more. Don't want to jinx it.