Whatcha doin' to me, buddy?

Jeff, man, you gotta cut me some slack.

I know this power/politics/education-war is on your mind now, but those three pieces made me want to slit my education-wrist. Klein and Brooks say it's all Ravitch and the Union's fault. Merrow says it ain't that simple. And most of the replies on his blog contain one or another form of the hatred vitriol that seems to be fueling this "debate."

Dude, I'm trying to fight my way out of the emotional iron maiden that's encased me since leaving the Guild. I'm trying to find the pragmatic course that will combat both the mechanistic reformers AND the adult-centered union. And it'll be the reformers who are paying me for at least the next year. So WTF!?!?

Ok, I'm gonna sit here by the campfire (yes, I'm upstate), drink this glass of wine (cheap Moldavo - I forgot to stop at the wine shop), ignore these helicopter-sized mosquitos (Deep Woods Off ain't workin') and tell you about my first day at CFN 101. It was Thursday. I had a great day.

First, I got a cubicle. (Don't say NOTHIN'!) I got introduced to the incredibly nice and friendly CFN 101 team. (Nick, Nikki, and Courtney A. were particularly nice and fun to talk to.) Then my network leader, Marina Cofield, and I sat down and had a (roughly) 3 hour talk about the schools that I'll be working with. She's fabulous, man. You'd really like her. Though she used to be a KIPP principal, she is psyched to have me aboard. She says she wants to have a team with as much diversity of thought as possible. She then proved that to me by engaging me in a real, practice-oriented, and humane conversation that helped me understand each of the principals that I'll be working with and some of their teams. We also got to talk to one of those principals (who was in the office) and another instructional coach on the team (Courtney A.). It was a heady conversation, involving everything from educational philosophy to computer keyboard preferences.

She reminds me of Michael.

At the end of that, I got to set up my work station and then it was off to meet with Sanda Balaban - the current liaison to Kunskapsskolan (our lead support partner in the innovation work of the 6 schools I'll be working with). We met at a cafe (with lousy air conditioning - so I was the sweat-master) right around the corner from Baruch. We had a shorter version of the same conversation. Sanda is great, but she'll be leaving Kunskapsskolan next week - I won't be working with her much.

Then it was back to the office for some more set-up and internet research on the schools I'll be working with. (BTW those schools are: School of the Future, West Side Collaborative, Global Technology Prep, The Young Woman's Leadership School, Tompkins Square Middle School and IS 289). Then a nice train ride home.

Starting on Monday, I'll be at an Innovation "Advance" (not "retreat" but "advance" -- again, DON'T SAY NOTHIN!) getting face-time with each of the principals and starting to get the lay of the land. 4 days of workshops and meetings around the work the schools are engaged in. It's not Big Bang, but it'll be fun.

What strikes me about my first day is the sense of work that all of the people I've interacted with. There was very little lollygagging in that office. Everyone was purposefully active all day. They weren't killing themselves, but there were no hour-long conversations that weren't work related. It's a work-ethic I could relate to.

Hey Jeff, two peanuts were walking through the park. One of them was assalted...

Peace,
Al