Our educational system is broken.  At least that’s what parents and the government believes. (I’m not saying they are right… I’m not saying they are wrong).

Up to this point there has been some disagreement about how to fix it.

I have the solution.

Best of all I’m not going to charge a dime for it.

After all, I’m here for the kids (and summers, but that’s a different blog).

As an added bonus we don’t have to throw money at the problem or add more testing (although I’m still in favor of grade level exit exams, but that’s also a blog for another time).

Here’s my plan.

It’s so simple it’s seems almost too good to be true. 

Did I mention it’s free?

The one thing upon which parents, teachers, administrators, and the government can agree (actually it’s the only thing upon which they can agree)… we all want our students to perform better.

Here’s my plan.

Teachers teach students.

Ipso facto, to get higher performing students, we need better teachers (and administrators).

So how do we get better teachers?

Easy.

Train them better.

How do we do that?

Easy.

Train them like plumbers.

Problem solved.

Teachers go to college for 4 years (or 5, possibly 6, sadly 7 in some cases).  They take a laundry list of classes in which there are two primary goals.

The first goal is to have them sit quietly for 3 1/2 years and listen to professors talk about what makes a good teacher.  Then they get to student teach for a few weeks.

The second goal is for colleges and universities to make boatloads of money by holding students hostage for 4 years in their education programs.

This type of training works in some instances, but too often we produce young teachers who aren’t prepared.

You know whose training works?

Plumbers.

Here is an example from a plumber training program:  The term of the plumbing apprenticeship consists of five years of not less than 8,000 hours in which a minimum of 500 hours is spent in paid-related classroom instruction and 260 hours of unpaid-related instruction with a minimum 80 percent attendance.

Plumbers not only take classes, but they work with master plumbers who teach them the skills on an actual job site.

They train with plumbers to become plumbers for 8,000 hours.

Think about that.  8,000 hours.

A typical school years is less than 1,400 hours.

And that’s not counting field trips, testing, snow days, lunch, and recess.

Student Teachers “teach” for 12 weeks (?).  At 5 days a week (?) for 7 1/2 hours a day (?).

That’s 450 hours.

Who’s better prepared?  A new teacher or a new plumber?

We need new teachers to spend more time in the classroom learning, tutoring, and getting hands on experiences before we throw them to the wolves. 

And by wolves, I mean students, parents, colleagues, administrators, and school boards.

They would be much better off working under a “Master Teacher” for a good portion of their 4 college years than just learning about “educational theories”.

New teachers should spend years learning their profession, not weeks. 

If we did a better job at preparing new teachers, they would do a better job teaching which would benefit the students.

Problem solved.

Again, no charge.

All of my ideas are free… because they are of no real value.

Comments: 27
Tags: college education departments, education system, plumbers, student teachers

Are resumes dead? 

If your answer is NO, you can stop reading (thanks for stopping by and please tip your waitress).  If you said YES, am I under any obligation to notify the next of kin?

You can probably guess I think paper resumes have outlived their usefulness.

You can also probably guess that I’m not comfortable delivering the unfortunate news of death (but that’s a whole different blog).

Email (along with texting for you crazy kids) is replacing snail mail.  Land lines are being put out of commission by cell phones (how I miss the rotary phone and the party line).  Newspapers are getting crushed by the internet.  And the Kindle seems to be every librarian’s worst nightmare.

Since technology seems to be changing every facet of our lives, why should resumes be any different?

Maybe it’s time to lighten my mailman’s load.

Maybe it’s time to stop killing so many trees.

Maybe it’s time to stop wasting money on stamps.

Maybe it’s time to shift the focus from fancy resume paper and cool fonts to what a candidate has really accomplished.

Maybe the new resume should be electronic.

Maybe it should be a personal website, wiki, blog, a series of podcasts, or even a summary of a candidate’s online presence.

Maybe this could be a mandatory class in every college education program.  Just think, we could produce graduates who understand technology and how it can be used in schools to benefit students (a novel concept I know, but call me a dreamer).

I haven’t worked out the details (don’t worry, they are just details), but resumes should be more than a phone number, an address (snail mail… it’s dead people, move on), an odd sounding objective statement, embellished job history, and three references.

While the classic resume drives me crazy, nothing angers me more than the three references at the bottom of the page (yes, I said one page… don’t even think I can wade through 5 pages of your resume… I’m just not that into you).

Who’s idea was the whole reference thing?

When did this become the standard end-of-the resume space filler?

When did we convince ourselves that it was so important to ask potential employees to name three people who think they are great?

I get it, your pastor loves you.

Your pastor loves everyone.  That’s why they are in the pastor business.

Your pastor might even like me (okay, that’s just crazy talk but you get my point).

Do we actually believe people who are desperate to find a job will list references who think they are lazy, incompetent, and don’t deserve to make a living wage?

I know resumes are simply a way to narrow down a group of candidates into a manageable number of interviews, but how great would it be if you could just get online and learn a candidate’s personal history.

To me, knowing someone’s technology ability is far more important then if they were on their high school swim team or a member of swing choir.

I can Google a person’s name and find drunken inappropriate pictures of them, but I can’t access their technology skills online.

It just doesn’t seem fair.

Or very 2010.

As an added bonus, electronic resumes mean less paper cuts.  And I don’t care who you are, that’s always a good thing.

Comments: 10
Tags: Google, resume paper, resumes, snail mail

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

I don’t mean to pile on, but how is this possible?

How did one (or several) school administrators think “This is a good idea”?

How is it that just when I think I’ve heard everything, something new and ignorant happens in education?

From Philibrity:  Lower Merion School District is involved in a lawsuit for spying on their students at home via school issued laptops.

Apparently, administrators secretly reserved the ability to remotely monitor the students’ clickstreams, email, turn on the laptops’ webcams and generally Big Brother the students’ privacy. This came to light when a student was disciplined at school for “improper behavior at home,” using a photo taken by the student’s webcam as evidence.

This brought about a class action lawsuit on behalf of the 1,800 Lower Merion students who were issued shady laptops by the school district. Here’s our verdict: On one hand, the school district has a responsibility to protect its students from general Internet creepery, but it goes without saying that watching school students via webcam without their knowledge makes anyone an internet creeper, be they school administrator or not.

That’s not to mention the gross violations of the students’ Fourth Amendment rights.

This brings up some interesting questions, like how many other well-to-do suburban school districts are engaged in such cyber-Orwellian practices and will they even get word considering this story’s under-reported nature in local mainstream media.

I’m guessing there aren’t a lot of schools doing this, but what do I know.  Up until I read this story, I didn’t figure any schools were doing something quite this insane.

This can’t help the cause to give students more access to technology (although the students don’t seem to be the problem…).

But wait, there’s more.  Now the FBI is involved (click HERE).

Maybe it’s me, but I’m just guessing it’s probably not a good time for the administrators to ask for a raise.

Thanks to a loyal reader of the Blog for emailing this story to me.  And maybe there’s more to the story.  Maybe it’s just a wacky misunderstanding.  Maybe.

Comments: 10
Tags: FBI, Lower Merion School District, Philibrity, school administrators

I’m taking swimming lessons.

That’s a lie.

I’m taking learn how not to drown lessons.

I’ve been asked why I’m taking these classes.  This is an excellent question Captain Obvious.

I can’t swim.

Why can’t I swim?

Because I sink.

Why do I sink?

I’m not exactly sure, but I think it has something to do with my inability to swim.

People tell me I need to learn how to swim because it’s so much fun.

Not when you sink.

So after 42 years of avoiding canoeing, kayaking, white water rafting, and cliff diving, I’ve decided it’s time to learn.

As I went to my first lesson, I was a little nervous but excited to fight for my life as my lungs filled up with water.

I anticipated a near death experience.  I’ve often wondered, do you actually go towards a bright light?

What I didn’t anticipate were the other students who would be learning to swim.

First, there were lots of them.  Probably close to 50 in a relatively small pool.  For some reason I thought there were be less at 8:00 pm on a school night.

Second, they were all wearing diapers (hence they probably didn’t have school the next morning).

For some reason it hadn’t occurred to me that I would be slightly older than the other students.

It certainly didn’t occur to me that I would be 4 decades older than the other students.

Yes, I said 4 decades (that’s 40 years if you are keeping score at home).

When I arrived at the pool, I went to the main desk and checked in (without my parents, like a big boy).  The nice girl running the swimming lessons told me to go change and come back and see her when I was ready (she also asked me what life was like in the 1980’s).

After changing into my drowning trunks, I had a little trouble finding the swim lady.  This was probably because she was in a huddle with all of the lifeguards.  They were obviously talking about someone.

And they were pointing.

At me.

She stopped laughing long enough to introduce me to my child-like swim instructor.

This young person stood in front of me with a look that can only be described as half-horror and half-confused.

Just to take a shot in the dark, I asked her if I was the oldest student she’s ever taught.

Her response… yes by FAR!.

Let the drowning (and public humiliation) begin.

Comments: 10
Tags: 1980's, canoeing, cliff diving, kayaking, Swimming, white water rafting

It’s getting closer to that special time of the school year.

No, not summer (because that is beyond special… and there are days when I feel it will never get here).

It’s almost Interview Season.

Teachers retire, quit, or move on to bigger and better things.

This also means I will have a dull headache for the next 6 months.  It’s the exact same feeling I get when I eat too much sugar.

Openings to fill.  Resumes to sort through by the hundreds (please stop telling me there’s a teacher shortage).  And reference checks to be made.

Work, work, work.

Which isn’t a bad thing.  Actually it’s job security.

Even so, Interview Season = Dull Headache just Cookies in the Lounge = Dull Headache.

I enjoy meeting new teachers during interviews.

They are so young.  So enthusiastic.  So upbeat and positive.  So desperate for a job that pays them actual money.

There’s just so many of them.

After about interview #47, I start to show my age.

I get confused and disoriented.

There comes a time when I can’t remember if I’ve asked a question or even for the candidate’s name.

Who am I kidding?  At a certain point I can’t remember my own name (sadly this happens way before interview #47).

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind interviewing (see:  job security).  I just wish I had a special huge red button to push the second I know it’s not going to work out.

Sort of a “Thanks for playing our game… now GET OUT!” button.

This isn’t true.  Or nice.

What I need is a giant lever to pull.

If this sounds unduly harsh, it’s because it is.

In my defense, interviews are like first dates.  You know within 2 minutes if it’s a match.

I don’t want to embarrass the person interviewing, I just want to pull the lever and have them fall into a giant abyss (just to prove I’m not mean, I want the abyss to be deep enough that I don’t hear their crying and screaming as they fight for a final breathe… because there’s no need to make things worse).

Think about it.  Within 120 seconds you know if you want to hire this person, but yet you feel like it’s only fair to spend at least 30 minutes interviewing them.

Actually, now that I think about it this may be worse than pulling the lever.

Maybe, interviews should be shorter.

Maybe, it’s a disservice to drag them out when they aren’t going well.

Maybe, I would be doing everyone a favor by pulling the lever.

Or maybe not.

Interviews remind me of a game show.

Think about it.  A school gets 100 resumes.

We pick out 5 to play the game.

They are then brought up on stage (the interview) and asked a series of secret questions.

No one knows the correct answer, so the candidates do their best to guess what the school/interviewer wants to hear.

At the end of the game a winner is chosen and the losers (not really “losers”) have no idea why they didn’t win.

It’s a game show without the lovely parting gifts.

People are so excited to get chosen to play the game and so disappointed when they don’t win.

No job.  No car.  No boat.  No vacation package.

It’s a game show without any of the good parts.

And of course, I don’t have a lovely sidekick, a bad suit, big hair, or a long microphone.

Alex, I would like “Student Discipline” for $100.

Comments: 18
Tags: game shows, Gene Rayburn, Interview Season, interviewing, Interviews

I’m so off the Snow Days.

As a kid there was nothing more exciting than a Snow Day.  Unless it was a series of Snow Days.

God Bless a good blizzard (oh, how things change as we get older).

When I became a teacher, I continued my affair with the Snow Day (and by affair I mean… never mind, a hot and steamy relationship with a weather event is just weird).

As a principal, I began to see the Snow Day as an interruption in the educational process.  But I got over that about halfway through my 3rd nap of the Snow Day Day (say that fast 3 times).

Now I’m a Superintendent (unless you’ve heard something… and trust me, it’s just a matter of time) and the Snow Day is my enemy.

You might think I don’t like Snow Days because I have to get up early to check the roads and cancel school.

Nope.

You might think I hate Snow Days because it means we have to add days onto the school calendar in May (when it is warm).

Nope.

You may even believe that my newfound disgust for the Snow Day comes from the fact that I’m stuck in my house with the Evil Spawn and her creepy 3rd grade friends (who force me to buy them lunch and watch my TV).

Nope.

It’s Buddy the Dog.

This may come as a shock because on the outside, Buddy and I seem to have the perfect relationship.

He gets my unconditional love and worship and I get my ego stroked when he jumps around in circles and wags his tail whenever we haven’t seen each other for more than 2 minutes.

It’s magic.

But like all relationships, this one requires a great deal of work.

It’s all about give and take.

I give him food and then take him for a walk.  Everyone’s happy.

Until the Snow Day.

Don’t misunderstand me, Buddy the Dog loves a good Snow Day(s).

They are his free ticket to sleeping inside the house on a weekday.  A cold, snowy weekday.  Plus the creepy 3rd graders rub his belly.

He couldn’t be happier.

Me, not so much.

Turns out walking Buddy on a Snow Day isn’t as much fun as it sounds. 

Why?

Because it’s not safe.  It’s come to my attention that it’s slick outside during a Snow Day.

Plus, he’s rested, I’m not.

He has 4 feet and a low center of gravity.  I have 2, and I’m old with the reflexes of someone my age.

He likes to chase things (rabbits, leaves, trash) through the untouched 6 inches of snow in yards/ditches/fields.

I like to walk in the center of a freshly cleared road.

We could work through these differences except we are attached by a long thin rope (that’s a leash for you dog haters).

While Buddy is a good boy, he doesn’t seem to understand the concept of giving me a heads up before taking off in a dead sprint (when you watch him sleep, 21 hours a day, you would have no idea he’s got Olympic caliber speed).

Let’s not kid ourselves, we may have communication issues.

On 7 occasions (yes, 7) he caused me to slip, slide, wobble, topple, and about fall on my big white-collar job behind during our Snow Day walks.

While walking, I was a stressed out mess.

Every step could have been my last.

The first 6 times he tried to kill me, I caught myself.

The last one, I wasn’t so lucky.

As I lay in the middle of the street trying to regain my composure and catch my breath, Buddy seemed upset.

The only thing I’m wondering. Was he upset because I slipped and fell, or because I survived?

If Buddy was a trained killer… wouldn’t he have a middle name?

Comments: 7
Tags: Buddy the Dog, Evil Spawn/Daughter, Snow Days

Every so often, I try to write(?) a blog that encourages (or shames) educators to embrace (or a least try) technology.

While I don’t know if I’ve made any headway, I’m not willing to give up.

Most school administrators don’t know jack about technology (we could have a longer conversation about what else administrators don’t know, but this is a family blog and we need to watch our language).

I point this out because I would include myself in this group.  Most of us learn the basics, but we are hesitant to delve any deeper into the ever-changing world that involves computers (and other iStuff).

Show us how our email works, explain the basics of Excel, hook up a projector so we can present a bad PowerPoint with far too many words, and maybe even sign us up for a Facebook or Twitter account (this last one is just an example because I realize most administrators are frightened of being Tweeted).

Oh, I almost forgot cell phones.

We need our phones.

Sort of.

We only know how to use 12% of their capability, but we know we need them.

Since administrators find cell phones confusing (and frightening), we try to keep them out of our schools.

I not sure why we are against students bringing mini-computers (that their parents paid for) to school, but we are… and it’s not up for discussion.

This lack of understanding and interest in technology is disturbing.

We are educators after all.

We went to college so we could teach the future, not the past (I hate the “teach the future” phrase, but it seems to fit here).

Yet we continue to ignore technology.

This may be a generational issue.  It could be a question of ambition.  It’s probably something that I don’t understand (again… administrators… we aren’t the sharpest knives in the drawer).

Whatever it is, I shouldn’t complain too much.

For the last 3 years, I’ve benefited from being one of the few administrators who blog.

There are certainly others, but most have been unable to combine my complete lack of understanding of the English language, with just a hint of sarcasm (like the last 5 words), and an almost perverse ability to blog on a consistent basis.

What can I say, it works for me.

When I say I’ve benefited, I don’t mean financially.

Blogging doesn’t pay the bills.  Or a single bill now that I think about it.

But it has given me opportunities.

More opportunities than I could have imagined.

The greatest thing about blogging… it makes you smarter.

Way smarter.

Granted, I started out in the deep end of the dumb pool but blogging has broadened my understanding of education.

And what superintendent or principal doesn’t need an upgrade in intelligence (I will give the teachers reading this a moment to compose themselves as they wipe away the tears of laughter)?

Blogging is free professional development at your kitchen table (or wherever you choose to type… I’m not here to judge).

No college class required.  No long drive to a workshop that might not be terrible.  You don’t even have to try and find a mentor (which is the French word for “someone who doesn’t want to see you fired”).

It’s simple.  You blog.  People read it.  Then they tell you what a moron you are.

This is how you learn and broaden your perspective (it’s a form of tough love).

It’s great.

And so informative.

I think every administrator should blog and become part of a larger discussion on education.

I also think people fear they may say (or type) something they will regret later.

Possibly.

But the reward of what you can learn far outweighs the risk (really, what is the downside from learning more stuff from more people?).

And the students are worth it.

PowerPoint will only take you so far (even if you use 105 slides with really small font).

Comments: 5
Tags: Excel, Facebook, iStuff, mentors, school administrator blogs, Twitter

Enough.

Enough with the weather drama.

I’ve had it (again).

What’s weather drama?

It’s the over exaggeration of winter storms.

Actually, they aren’t even winter storms.

They are days when it is going to snow.  You know that happens occasionally during the winter months (unless you are smart enough to live in a warm climate and in that case… the rest of us despise you).

It’s important to understand the subtle difference between a light snow and a blizzard.

When “they” (and I will get to them later) call for 2 inches of snow it isn’t code for “panic”.

But in today’s world it’s what we do.

We are overly dramatic, overly protective, and overly concerned.

It’s almost like we need something bad to happen to us.

When “they” (loser weather people on TV) are given the opportunity, they make every snow event sound like a crisis of historic proportions (unless they
live in Washington D.C… then they were right on the money).

What’s sad is we listen to them.

It’s like we don’t understand what the weather person’s job entails.  It isn’t to correctly predict the weather (lucky for them or they would all be unemployed).  It’s to drive ratings, get little kids fired up for a Snow Day, and scare old people so they don’t leave their homes.

But they do.

They do leave their homes.

And you know where they go the 24 hours preceding the latest weather catastrophe?

The grocery store.

Not because they need groceries, but because they are trained like Pavlov’s Dog.

Snow = Grocery Store.

Why?

Because a 2 inch snow and the lack of milk or bread equals certain death.

If I know one person who died because they ran out of bread, I know a thousand.

We all do it.

We make our way to the store and buy items that we don’t even need because it is going to snow.

Why don’t we eat the food that’s already in our refrigerator?  Or in our freezer?  Or in the cabinets?

It’s like we need new food for the blizzard that’s not even a blizzard.

We act like every time there are snow flurries, we may have to turn into the Donner Party.

In summary, we are sheep.

We are stupid.

We are pathetic.

Now if you will excuse me, I’m going to go enjoy my brand new package of Oreos.

My wife bought them.  At the store.

In anticipation of the storm.

After all, I can’t survive without my Oreos.

Then I’m going outside to shovel the sidewalk.

Well, not so much shovel the sidewalk as brush the light dusting of snow off with a broom.

Comments: 8
Tags: blizzard, Donner Party, grocery stores, Oreos, Pavlov's Dog, Washington D.C., weatherman

I’m not sure who will win the Super Bowl, but I’m positive who wins when Schools take on the Media. 

It’s a no brainer.

The Media.

Every single time.

Well, not every single time.

No, I was wrong.  They do win every single time.

Not because the Media is right, but because they have the last word.

If you want to survive (not thrive, mind you… just survive) in school administration, this is something you have to learn.

Don’t make decisions so incredibly stupid that the producer of the 10 o’clock news (11 o’clock for our friends on the East Coast) can get monster ratings from making you the lead story.

People seem to love the “school messed up” angle.

You don’t want to be the principal or superintendent who is being interviewed (always sitting at your desk with the camera looking DOWN upon you… not a good look) when you can only say “No comment” or “this issue involves personnel, so the School District cannot address it at this time”.

When you say these things the public only hears…

GUILTY!!!

Just for the sake of argument, let’s say the school district and it’s employees did nothing wrong.

Then the public hears:

GUILTY!!!

It’s a no-win situation once you find yourself on television.

So here is my Tip for the Day.

Stop doing stupid things.  Use some common sense.  Ask yourself “If I have to go on the news tonight and explain this decision, how will it look?”

Exhibit A:  La. Student, Principal Clash Over Colts Jersey

KOCO: A Louisiana high school student says he was sent home for wearing an Indianapolis Colts jersey Friday — the day the principal encouraged students to wear New Orleans Saints black and gold as the teams get ready to face off in the Super Bowl.

"If they tell other students to support their team, why can’t I support mine?" Brandon Frost, 17, told The Associated Press. The senior at Maurepas High School moved three years ago from Indianapolis to the rural town 30 miles from Baton Rouge.

A Livingston Parish School Board member said Frost wasn’t sent home, but was told he couldn’t wear the blue jersey at school. Keith Martin, whose district includes Maurepas, said the school uniform had been relaxed only for black and gold.

He said he planned to ask school system attorneys whether that violated Frost’s right to free speech, as the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana contends.

State ACLU director Marjorie Esman sent a letter to Principal Steven Vampran, asking him to wipe Frost’s record of any discipline stemming from the incident.
Vampran declined to comment.

Martin said he had talked with both Vampran and Frost’s father, Larry Frost.

"I think we got things worked out," Martin said.

According to Martin, a friend of Brandon Frost’s had asked Vampran on Thursday whether Brandon could wear a Colts jersey, and had been told "no."

During a class on Thursday, Frost said, he talked about his plans to wear his jersey rather than Saints colors. He said the teacher warned him he’d get in trouble.

Larry Frost said he didn’t know about that when Brandon asked Thursday whether he could wear the jersey. He said he told his son to come home if he was hassled too much.

The Colts and Saints play Sunday in the Super Bowl, and emotions have run high in Louisiana as fans celebrate the first Super Bowl appearance for the beleaguered franchise.

Brandon Frost said Vampran called him out of his first class Friday and told him, "I don’t recall saying you could wear a Colts jersey on Black-and-Gold Day."

He said he told the principal that his father had given him permission to go home if it was a problem.

"He started to get angry with me," Frost said. "I thought I remember him saying, ‘If you like Indiana so much, why don’t you go back?’"

Vampran has acknowledged that he should not have said that, Martin said. He said no one sent Frost home — but no one kept him from leaving rather than changing shirts.

Larry Frost said he called the ACLU rather than the school because he was too angry.

"Louisiana would be proud of him anyway," Larry Frost said. "He wore Joseph Addai’s jersey."

The Colts running back is a graduate of Louisiana State University.

Maybe, just maybe this school did nothing wrong.

Too bad.  Too late.

They’ve already been on TV.  And on Twitter.  And in a Blog.

Everyone has already heard… GUILTY!!!.

Comments: 4
Tags: ACLU, Indianapolis Colts, Joseph Addai, KOCO, local news, Louisiana State University, Maurepas High School, New Orleans Saints, schools and media, Super Bowl 2010, Twitter

Buddy the Dog is man’s best friend.

Or at least Mom’s Best Friend.

On my behalf, Buddy was kind enough to put together a 1 minute video for the people at Google (which is all the more impressive when you consider he doesn’t have thumbs).

Because of his good work, I’ve been selected as 1 of 50 school administrators in the United States to attend The Google Teacher Academy for Administrators (I’m no marketing major, but shouldn’t it be “The Google Administrator’s Academy”).  This is a free professional development experience designed to help K-12 educational leaders get the most from innovative technologies.

At least that’s what I’ve heard.

Basically, I’m going to get Googlized (I hope they’re gentle).

This is a win-win.  I like Google and Buddy likes it when I’m not home.

There is only one downside.  The conference is in San Antonio.

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the chance to return to the home of the Alamo.  And the mall next door to it (when visiting a national monument you may be overcome with hunger pangs and need a Mrs. Field’s Chocolate Chip Cookie ).

But come on Google, you couldn’t splurge for a city with a beach?

In the time it takes me to write (?) this blog, Google has made about 47 bazillion dollars.  At least.

When I think of that kind of money, I think waves.  And not Google Wave.

I shouldn’t complain because I’m guessing Google had several applications for this conference (although only 1 by a talking dog), so I’m honored they invited me.

I’m also willing to bet that out of the 50 administrators less than 10 are superintendents.

Out of those 10, probably 2 have rambling incoherent blogs.

And only 1 of them has a semi-famous talking, YouTube video-making, wife-stealing dog.

How many people are thinking… I could have done a better video than that stupid dog.  Well too bad, Buddy thought of it first.  And to review, he doesn’t have thumbs.

Comments: 17
Tags: Alamo, Buddy the Dog, Google, Google Wave, San Antonio, school administrators