Education Write Now: Issues that Matter Most

“Sixty years ago, I knew everything; now I know nothing; education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.”

Will Durant

This July, I will be taking part--along with a group of educators from around the country--in what we hope will become an annual event. It is a three day retreat called Education Write Now. Ten of us will gather in Philadelphia prior to the National Principals’ Conference with the goal of writing a book during our time together. In this book, we will focus on important issues facing educators right now. If all goes as planned, we will continue working on it after our retreat with a target print date of December 2017.

We plan on brainstorming ideas that are the most important and urgent ones facing educators today. Then, we will settle on ten issues that will become the focus of our work, with individuals or pairs working to produce a chapter on each during the retreat. As we prepare for the inaugural Education Write Now event/book, we could use your help: Please share with us in the comments section below (or by contacting any of us directly) what you believe to be the most pressing issues in our profession right now. We will bring all ideas to the event this July and look forward to eventually sharing our thoughts on:

• Why these issues matter...
• What current status looks like...
• Where we must go next...
• How we can get there...and
• Who is making progress right now so we can learn from them?

We could not host this education forum without the support of our sponsor, Routledge who will ultimately publish the collected writings of the team in a single volume. Although our primary intent is not to sell books, 100% of any royalties we do receive will go to a worthy charity, the Will to Live Foundation, an organization dedicated to preventing teen suicide by improving the lives and the "Will To Live" of teenagers everywhere through education about mental health and encouraging them to recognize the love and hope that exists in each other.

Again, we hope that this summer’s work will result in Volume I of an ongoing, annual publication. Part of what will make this process and product so unique is its collaborative nature. Although all participants will be writing independently at times, each person’s work will be influenced by collaborative dialogues, debates, reflections, and research. Each summer, we will invite different educators to the retreat who are also interested in thinking about current issues and writing about these. For our inaugural event, contributors include (click on names to access blogs/websites):

• Dr. Tony Sinanis

• Mr. Thomas C. Murray

• Dr. Sanee Bell

• Ms. Kayla Delzer

• Dr. Joe Sanfelippo

• Dr. Bob Dillon

• Ms. Amber Teamann

• Ms. Starr Sackstein

• Dr. Joe Mazza

• Dr. Jeff Zoul

Please also let us know if you would like to be considered for participation in a future Education Write Now project; again, the plan will be to convene these annual events for a three-day period each summer. Finally, we invite you to follow the hashtag #EdWriteNow as we begin sharing ideas and resources on Twitter via this avenue while also providing project status updates.

Thanks for taking the time to consider what issues are most urgent and important facing those in our noble profession right now, in 2107, and sharing those with us. As educators, we know quite a bit about the art and science of teaching, learning, and leadership. However, an important thing we all know is that what we know to be best practice today, may not be best practice tomorrow. Moreover, we know that we can never know everything, but can, instead, find out how to keep learning and growing to get better. Reflecting on what we do and do not know (and discovering, as Durant suggests, “our own ignorance” as a way to educate ourselves) is another way we Teach, Learn, and Lead with Passion!