The Quiet Side

    So if you have a good idea or are doing good work, but you don’t take the time to blog it, does the idea or work count?  I haven’t had too many good ideas, but I have been busy.  You just don’t know because I wasn’t writing about it. 
    Seriously — been quiet lately.  Took a couple of days off for no reason other than I could.  Played with my daughter.  Ate some chicken wings.  Did lots of stuff around the house that needed doing.  Listened to one of my favorite podcasts.  A lot.
    And I went to a pretty exciting meeting on professional development and what I think is a positive model for doing it properly.  We’ve all been through the meetings where someone visits, tells us what we should be doing, and then wanders away.  That’s not really helpful.  Maybe entertaining, but not helpful.  The Education Carnival this week included this piece on some good ideas about professional development.  I’m pleased to be involved in some work that isn’t a one-shot deal.
    The is working with several school districts in the Northern Colorado area to help improve the teaching of writing.  What’s really exciting, though, is one district has committed the resources to provide a year long inservice (five meetings over the course of the school year) for approximately 12 of its schools.  We’ll be working with interested teachers to do our part to improve writing instruction.
    Imagine how much work schools could get done if we spent time and money on successful local initiatives and people instead of spending tens of thousands of dollars on one-shot speakers who drop by, say their piece, and move on. 
    More on this as it develops.