Welcome to my new blog about education!
I’m a 60-year-old educator, and I think I’ve been an educator my whole life. But there is no arguing with the fact that I’ve spent more than 35 years on the front lines of education, both private and public.
I want to use this blog to help my friends (and soon-to-be-friends) by serving as the “one-stop shop” of information and links about education, learning and teaching, focusing on the burning issues that don’t go away when the fads do!
I think it’s easy to get side-tracked from the real issues (burning issues) in education, and I hope to guide my readers around the noise as well as learn from contributors along the way. It is easy to avoid the tough questions, but they don’t go away if you do.
 The biggest problem – the biggest by far – is education fads. A major product, report or “bright idea” comes out, noise follows with a mix of action, excitement and then inaction. The light fades as the next fad comes to the front. I will do my best to avoid this problem.
 Fads are always exciting, while long-term burning issues aren’t. Sorry about that. This leads to retelling “the same old story” – the long term one that we really can’t ignore, even if some folks consider it boring. Well, that’s the way it is, and that’s what I’m all about – the burning issues that won’t go away.
 Add to that the fact that change is the new normal, and the ever-increasing pace of change is the new normal rate of change. More change, faster change – that’s the new normal!
 It all adds up to challenges to do what is right for kids, our kids. And to do it today!
Stay tuned (and let me know what you think of all this)!
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Best,
Mark Siegel
Posted by marks on Wednesday January 21, 2009 at 09:42AM