I Was Wrong

Sometimes I go back to old blog posts and I shake my head.  I've made bold statements about things that didn't matter.  I've made passionate arguments when I was uninformed.  More often, though, I've changed my mind.  I've seen the bigger picture, grasped more of a sense of paradox and altered my views on education.  So the following is a list of times I've been wrong:

1. Corporate-style Education Reformers: I've made some bold statements about specific individuals and their views toward students.  The truth is, I don't know their motives.  I don't know their values.  I don't know whether they are simply misguided.  I don't know.  Again, I don't know.

2. Isolated Workshops: In my gusto for promoting job-embedded, longer professional development, I failed to recognize the power of smaller workshops and conferences.  I've been to a few day-long sessions that changed my approach to teaching.

3. Charter Schools: Early on, I slammed charter school.  I regret this. Although I prefer to work in a traditional public school, I've met some really cool people over the last few years who have challenged my thinking about charter schools.  I've seen some authentic, project-based learning that I wish my district would adopt.

4. Practical Advice: When I began blogging, there were a ton of blogs advertising amazing programs, ten steps and five keys and whatnot.  I reacted strongly to this, hoping to see a sense of narrative and nuance.  I still believe in the power of story.  However, I'm recognizing that lists are sometimes a good thing and that a practical resource can help change teaching.

5. Getting Rid of the Teacher Desk: Russ Goerend challenged me on this a long time ago (I was a strong supporter of a separate teacher space).  Last year, I ditched the desk.  Russ was right.

6. Motivation: I've made bold statements about motivation.  The truth is that the heart can be deceitful.  Who can understand it? (I jacked that from a really old sage)

7. College: Like many edubloggers, I have had times when I slammed college.  The truth is that I learned some great theory that turned out to be true.  Complaining that there are holes in the framework of a home is ridiculous.  It's a framework, it's not a complete house.

8. District Office: When I first began blogging, I wrote some real pejorative posts about people at the D.O.  I had no idea how often the bad things that happened were actually the result of federal law.  As I've gotten to know folks in the "ivory tower," I'm often impressed by what they know and the sincerity of their convictions.  They want to change things.  They're working toward changing things.  However, the system is massive and sometimes change is difficult.

9. Oprah: I've pegged Oprah for being pretentious.  However, she's gotten people to read Jonathan Franzen and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.  That's got to be worth something.  And though I still think she misses it, I have to admit that often I've missed it, too.

10. Television: I've mocked it before.  I've gotten really self-righteous about how seldom I watch television.  However, there's some great t.v. out there if I bother to look (Modern Family, The Colbert Report, Charlie Rose Show, America's Test Kitchen).  My preference for Twitter probably has less to do with shallow t.v. and more to do with my desire to interact with the medium I am using.