As I said before, blogging forces me to come up with stuff to write about. As I do that, I am forced to analyze some of the situations in my life and try to find out why the work or why they don’t work.

. Reading other blogs also helps me to gain new perspectives. These are perspectives that I wouldn’t have without blogging.

It’s a step backward. A 1:1 classroom done at least fairly well becomes a an intense learning environment. Students are engaged, empowered, active learners instead of sitting learning to be taught. It is an active process a far greater amount of the time (and this is one area I need to improve, is getting that and letting that happen more) and the feel of the classroom changes. People that visit pick up on that. It changes from a 1:1 laptop classroom into a learning environment that uses laptops and other tools to leverage learning.

Teaching isn't like any other job I've had -- it is a life calling and all-consuming. 

You don't have the teaching profession - it definitely has you. 

And yet, every year, before it all starts, I count the cost.  I find myself asking myself, "How many more years can I do this?"  "Will I hold up?"  "Can I make it?"

I'm sure it couldn't have been an easy decision, but we became teachers because it is a part of who we are, who we were meant to be. I always tell people "The heart wants what it wants." Obviously, your heart wanted to be back with the kids. How fortunate for them to have such an amazing educator to work with. As for being a classroom teacher with an amazing PLN, I can assure you...nothing beats it!! I know if I'm struggling or having a horrible day, I can hop on Twitter or Plurk at ANY time - day or night - and someone, somewhere in the world will be there to listen and offer support. The same holds true when I have something amazing to share, because those will happen too.I can't imagine just relying on the people I work with at school for support, we don't really seem to make time for each other like we should. But I can always find strength and support from one thousand other people willing to make time for someone they may not even know. How amazing is that!The long and the short of it....Congratulations, Lee! Welcome back...we're right behind you!!

charter schools have siphoned off tens of thousands of students.

only about one-quarter of students who start high school in the district graduate from it in four years,

Wide-scale corruption has depleted district coffers, which held a $103.6 million surplus as recently as 2002. In June, Mr. Bobb's new team of forensic accountants found DPS paychecks going to 257 "ghost" employees who have yet to be accounted for.

There’s much more here, obviously, in terms of even bigger questions about the roles of schools and teachers and classrooms in a networked learning world. But I agree that here is where we have to start. What is it we most want our kids to know about what it means to be a person of this world, and how do we best convey it in ways that make sense for the times we live in? Everything else flows from that. What do you think?