I don't have all the answers, and I'm OK with that...

About a week ago I wrote a post on homework in schools. I used this post to outline my basic beliefs on homework, while emphasizing the importance of continuing the homework discussion in order to move education forward. As all Educators know, homework is one of those topics that tend to get people fired up and excited. This is a good thing, because that means we have many Educators who are passionate about their educational beliefs.

Yesterday, I took it a step further and posted the exact same post on Connected Principals. I did this because I always seem to get a different audience when posting on my blog versus the Connected Principals blog. My original post on my blog got 10 comments, and the Connected Principals post got 12 additional comments.

http://goo.gl/VKuBr

By no means do I claim to be an expert when it comes to homework philosophies; I don't even claim to be a half-expert when it comes to homework, but I am however very interested in this topic. Even after the two posts, I still don't claim to be an expert on homework, but as a result of these two postings I feel I am much better equipped to have the "homework" discussion.

I have been able to read the comments and respond to 22 Educators from all around the world, while also continuing this conversation by getting both Educators and parents involved. I have taken a topic that is considered to be a "hot topic" and I have put it on center stage for anyone to read. Some may disagree with what I have said, some may agree, but most importantly there are now hopefully more Educators and parents having this discussion because of my posts.

Most Educators who blog don't have all the answers... some of us have very few in fact :)  What we do have is a voice and a vehicle to have discussions that might lead to those answers. That is why I blog and tweet... I can discuss, share, collaborate, and learn from Educators from around the world while simultaneously increasing my educational foundation.

Did I find the "homework" answer with these two blogs posts? No, certainly not, but I have encouraged and embraced a collaborative approach to discussing the very issues that we are dealing with in our schools on a daily basis. If one Educator continues this conversation at his/her building as a result of these posts, then I know my time spent writing these posts was time well spent...