Sometimes we need a little help to cut through the clutter and decipher the nonsense.

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But fret not, my #11FF – I’m here for you. 

*tenderembrace*

I know, I know… me too. But we must press forward. We’re sometimes all they have. Besides, I know what will help you feel better, re-energize, sharpen that ol’ focus…

Here are a few things you simply MUST NOT MISS from the world of edu-bloggery this past week!

On Ditch Diggers & Dreamers – Rick Cobb, OKEducationTruths. Cobb posts about Labor Day, but being him, the post is about so much more than that – and… videos!

Working and dreaming are not mutually exclusive endeavors. Our nation was not built by those who are content with the world they saw around them. Innovation has never been left to the conformists. We work so we can play. And so we can dream. But first, we work.

This one, I confess, left me a tad misty-eyed. No joke. Follow @okeducation on Twitter or YOU’RE DOING EVERYTHING WRONG. #oklaed 

Can Evidence Improve America’s Schools? – Peter Greene, Curmudgucation. Greene is all about using research to improve his teaching. He just doesn’t buy most of what’s being sold as “research.” 

When some guy shows up to say, “I’ve never done your job, and I’ve never watched you do your job, and I don’t know your kids, or your school or your community or you, but I would like to tell you how you should totally change what you do based on one flawed piece of research with ten bits of data, and by the way, I’m hoping to make a ton of money by selling this to you–” Well, that’s just not a pitch I’m buying.

I’m an education researcher every day of my professional life.

Research @palan57 on Twitter or YOU’LL CONTINUE TO WANDER THROUGH THE DARK ALONE. 

Public Schools Aren’t Businesses. Don’t Believe Me? Try Running a Business as a Public School. – Stu Egan, Caffeinated Rage. Egan is new to me, but I love the blog title already – not to mention his mildly quirky sense of frothing indignation. 

 I invite you to try and see if you could run a business like a public school. Maybe the differences between a public service and private enterprise might become more apparent because you’re not even comparing apples to oranges. You’re comparing apples to rocks.

So he seems nice. 

Follow @ragecaffeinated on Twitter and froth along. I think I’m a fan. 

Dear Educator Mom – Mrs. Megan Morgan, on the appropriately named MrsMeganMorgan.

Moms. To Do. Teachers. To Do. Guilt. To Don’t. 

Just like state standards, there is too much to accomplish.  Pick your hills to die on (We don’t have to have the same ones)… Once these things are accomplished, then everything else is gravy.

Own your hills and don’t try to match others. I’ve accepted that my house is even close to magazine worthy and I have no guilt about it.

Follow @MrsMeganMorgan on Twitter or HAPPINESS WILL NEVER BE YOURS.

How to Create Empowered Readers – A Beginning / So Much Depends On The Word “Yet”… – Pernille Ripp, PernilleSRipp.com. A double shot of Ripp, with three extra squirts of passion. 

I don’t do much in the way of ‘caring nurturing inspiring’ posts, but Ripp brings a validity to that flavor of passion like only a handful of others can. 

How many of our students have not experienced what is means to complete a series that one has become so invested in that it feels like the loss of a family member once the last page has been read?  How many years has it been for some, if at all, since they truly loved a book?  While we cannot change the past, we do have control over the now, over what happens in our classrooms. 

…

Driving home today, I kept thinking about how far we still have to go. How much these brand new kids don’t know. How they don’t get me or us. How hard it is to get them started with something… How a new year is hard and you end up questioning every single thing you do because surely you must be doing something wrong because didn’t this go much better the year before?

Follow @PernilleRipp on Twitter or CLEARLY YOU HATE BOTH CHILDREN AND HAPPINESS. 

Finally, Edu-Bloggery Classic – Posts Worth Revisiting (or Visiting, if you Missed Them the First Time)…

The Creature Speaks: Why I Still Teach Frankenstein (10/18/15) / Needing A Connection (3/3/16) – Jennifer Williams, JennWillTeach. A pair from Williams – one about the tragedy of failed human connections, and one about the power of true communication.

Not quite two sides of the same coin, but certainly two chapters in the same Truth Crockpot Cookbook.

Every chance I get, I will continue teaching Frankenstein because it can still speak to a modern audience. With public shaming, bullying, and discrimination seemingly on the rise, our society needs to listen to the Creature. He represents every person society pushes to the fringes; he represents every child seen as not good enough by society; he represents every human made to feel ugly and unlovable.

…

The world is chaotic, but words, especially written words, can bring order to that chaos. An essay or novel or tweet is NOT creating something from nothing; they are attempts to bring structure and infuse meaning into the disorder. 

I want my students to learn the rules of format and Standard English so they can more effectively communicate with others. Then, I want them to learn how and when to break those rules. 

Break a few rules with @JennWillTech on Twitter or WHY IS AMERICA EVEN AMERICA?  #oklaed 

Stay strong, my beloveds.

You are more than you think and better than you know. As for me, sometimes I feel like the Tiger, but more often… the Lady. In terms of this song, I mean.

Not for the normal reasons you might think.

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What A Saturday Morning. Here’s hoping we can have similar impact in social and political circles.

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Stuff You Simply SHOULD NOT Miss in Edu-Bloggery This Past Week:

Teacher Self-Care For The New School Year (A Guide) – Dan Tricarico, aka The Zen Teacher, gives us what he gives best. Reasonable perspective, calm words, and unvarnished honesty.

This post is mostly a 9-minute video of Dan getting all kinda Zen Real on the Interwebs, and it’s 9 minutes well-spent. He’ll inrease your brainwaves while lowering your blood pressure – and I, for one, could use both of those adjustments. 

Follow @TheZenTeacher on the Twitters, and breathe. There’s nothing creepy New Age about breathing, people. 

Besides, you’re going to need to breathe if you’re paying any attention at all to politics these days…

Gently Seething – Amanda Smith, on Running Through Elementary, is a tiny bit… troubled by not only the actions, but the attitudes and apparent mindsets of our state leadership.

So she’s expressing those frustrations – in a healthy, constitutionally protected way. On her blog. And she’s right. Tragically, completely right. 

And it would be wrong of me to laugh as I read them – not because I disagree, and certainly not in disparagement, but because her pithy pissiness, while genuine, is also rather amusing. 

I mean, I’m outraged as well – but she’s just so good at it. I… I… 

I kinda want her to be outraged more. Does that make me a bad person? Follow @runningthroughelem on the Twitters and express yourself back. #oklaed

Dear Oklahoma State Legislature – Meghan Loyd, on The Odyssey Online, does just what her title suggests and writes an open letter to our state leadership. 

For those of you outside Oklahoma, first – congratulations. Second, our state legislature has been… less than supportive about public education. They keep changing the rules repeatedly then complaining we’re not efficient enough while we constantly adjust to keep up. They do everything possible to eliminate sources of revenue, cut our funding more than any other state in the Union, then mock us when we protest and accuse us of constantly begging for more when will it ever be enough throwing money at a problem doesn’t solve everything you stupid teachers!

It’s really quite disheartening.

Loyd handles it better than most, and this brief post is both poignant and reasonable.

Follow @meghanloyd on the Twitters and be poignant and reasonable as well. #oklaed

To Give Yourself Up Completely – Peter Anderson, on Mr. Anderson Reads & Writes, has been an all-kinds-of-legit-serious, ELA-embracing, pedagogy-loving, children-are-the-future-ing blogmeister recently. 

He’s apparently taken a short breather, just long enough to do some soul-baring introspection and share it with us. “I’ve struggled to unhook my self-esteem from the predictably unpredictable rhythms of school life,” he says. 

Oh man, I totally get that. It’s just I haven’t even tried to unhook anything. 

Follow @MrAndersonELA on the Twitters and get real in some of the most challenging ways. Thing is, I always go forth either motivated or amused after reading what he has to say. 

Heck – sometimes both!

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FINALLY AND FOREMOST…

I hate to finish on a downer, but then again I’m not sure that’s what this is. 

The State We’re In (Oklahoma’s Fractured Narrative) – Barry Friedman, of The Tulsa Voice, just dropped his pen to explain what condition our condition is in.

It hurts so beautifully harsh and stings so painfully true – a poignant exercise in Okla-Reality S&M. Friedman’s not an edu-blogger so much as a news analyst / editorial writer, but this piece is too important to let little things like genre get in the way. Besides, the writing… oh, the writing.

I wouldn’t necessarily marry his writing, but I’d fling dollar bills at it repeatedly throughout the evening. It’s that good. I may share this one every week between now and the elections.

Follow @TheTulsaVoice on the Twitters and let them hurt you more. The way they do it, you’ll thank them for it. #oklaed

‘CAUSE YOUR HEAD’S SHAKING AND YOUR ARMS ARE SHAKING AND YOUR FEET ARE SHAKING ‘CAUSE THE EARTH IS SHAKING… 

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Politics Makes You Tired. Even when you win more than you lose, the melodrama and the nonsense… Oh Dear God.

BUT NOT TODAY! Today, my #11FF, I Bring Thee Wonderful Bursts of Edu-Bloggery from the Past Week which YOU SIMPLY SHOULD NOT MISS!

The Compliments Project – Jennifer Gonzalez, goddess of Cult of Pedagogy, shares this… this… THING that… that… OMG.

I don’t really DO positive feely touching-the-soul kinda stuff here, or in my class, or ever. The twin pits of Cliche and Platitude too often loom on either side while the broken glass of Forced Sentiment gets stuck between my toes. 

BUT THAT’S NOT WHAT’S HAPPENING HERE. Instead, some fab teacher (who nevertheless seems to have avoided having her own Twitter account?!) has stumbled onto a simple way to unlock genuine, powerful, peer affirmation. Gonzalez gives us the overview, includes an amazing video and a brief interview with the teacher in question. 

I sorta lost it. Lots of blurry vision and snot. Kinda ruined my second Pop Tart. Probably more issues in play than how much I loved this piece, but still – you should absolutely check this out. Because… IT’S WHY.

Follow @cultofpedagogy on the Twittering for more learnified goodness. You won’t regret it. 

Day Two / The Impossible – Rebecka Peterson on One Good Thing reflects on her first few days of the school year. And math.

Peterson has that ability to be genuine and introspective while still sharing in a way that makes what she writes applicable and stirring for the rest of us. And math.

Follow @RebeckaMozdeh on the Twittering and get stirred while discovering several more “good things.”

And math. #oklaed 

Who Profits From A “Broken Public School” Narrative? – Alison Collins, aka SF Public School Mom, does not brook manipulative nonsense even a little – especially when it impacts education or the culture in which her kids are growing up.

Here she targets the same old-school advertising strategy used to sell mouthwash and hamburgers, and the way it’s employed to disparage public schooling and feed for-profit charters and their ilk. 

Plus, she writes with such style. She could be explaining rotary dial phones to me and I’d be fine.

Follow @AliMCollins on the Twittering and see what other shenanigans she disembowels with such ease. 

A Short Note From OKEducationMom – I suppose it should be no surprise that Rick Cobb of OKEducationTruths comes from good breeding. This guest post from his mom is certainly proof enough of that.

Mom has a few things on her mind, the biggest of which are #OKElections16. She remembers a time when teachers weren’t involved, education wasn’t valued or even attempting to be equitable, and she’d like to see us keep what momentum we have going in the right direction.

Also, she’s adorable. Sorry, Rick – she just is. 

Follow @OKEducation on the Twittering and talk more about his m- 

Actually, scratch that. Do follow him, but be careful how you bring up someone’s mom. I mean, that’s just good general advice, right?  #oklaed

And finally, a series from a man not known for his fuzzy warmth or perpetual unicorns & rainbows mirth. 

Peter Greene, of Curmudgucation, has committed himself to “refreshing his resolve.” The resulting series of posts should be collected and cross-stitched into little hanging something-or-others for the walls of every educator. 

Maybe with a background picture of a hand flinging a starfish or two back into the ocean.

Despite my snarky comments – probably a subconscious attempt to emotionally distance myself from so much legitimately stirring and emotional brilliance packed into one wrap-up – they really are that good. I have no idea whether there will be more, but you should take a few minutes and check out the series so far. 

And, I mean, if you DO cross-stitch, for real, maybe send me one or two to hang…?

Refresh the Resolve

Resolve to Breathe

Resolve to Listen

Resolve to See

Resolve to Be Present

I’m so proud of you, my #11FF – in your classrooms, your offices, and exercising your wild-eyed suffrage. Because we choose to believe. Because reality just hasn’t caught up yet with what we see and know.

Don’t stop.

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