I don’t know that I see many “cracks” in the system yet. But you better believe I am working to make them– and not just on my own, in concert with others with a shared vision, I think. Mark, your story about helping 6 teachers setup personal blogs is GREAT! That is an incremental victory, and definitely one worth celebrating!

We need to keep inviting more people into these conversations. Change may not come fast, but it is coming. Because we are going to lead the way together and help define the shape of that change that’s coming.

Give teachers maybe just a little chance to change on their own, do their own thing, research and try out new things – and then let’s see if the passion is gone.

Yesterday, I brought my colleagues up to our computer lab – I promised them 20 minutes. Last day of work. End of a long day of meetings. I just wanted to show them what the lab would look like next year, since we just upgraded it. Imagine the energy. Imagine the enthusiasm… the drooped shoulders, the exhausted faces.

I talked for about 15 minutes about the lab, upgrades happening this summer, and so on. Then I thought I’d throw in just a bit about blogging. Why not? Nothing to lose, I had talked about it before, shown them my class blog during the year, etc.

I suggested they all get a personal blog going this summer. Just to try it out, I said. I worked myself up to some pretty passionate stuff in about 60 seconds – ending with something like, “if we as teachers don’t embrace and use these incredible new tools, and teach our kids how to use them safely, then I think we will be failing our kids, and I think ultimately, we will be negligent. Nobody else is going to do it. It’s up to us….” etc.

Somebody asked how they could start a blog. I showed them edublogs.org – within 10 minutes, over six teachers had a blog set up. I don’t know how many were successful, everybody was trying at once, getting a username, blog title, etc – I felt like I was back in the classroom again – yikes! It was great.

Now I don’t expect that they will all continue this – but I bet a couple will. I send this story along as an example of what teachers can do when the other stuff is out of the way – the tests, the rigid curricula, the endless meetings, the expectations that they be mindless implementers of the “perfect program”, etc.

I put a little passion out there for my colleagues, and many grabbed at it, even in their exhausted state. They were taking a chance to learn something new, to grow on their own, to experiment, to play. The spark is still there, it just needs to be lit – and given a little room to breathe.

I’ll get back to you on my “rant” later. – Mark