Giving the Gift of Time

By Nick McDaniels – Last week, as you know, was teacher appreciation week. Like every year, I got a new t-shirt, candy in my mailbox in the mornings, a lunch on Friday. The administration and faculty at my school do a good job during this week and I enjoy all the gifts and the kindness.

However, this post is about one of the the best gifts I have ever heard of a teacher receiving. The gift of time. In a conversation with a few great principals, they told me about the gifts they give to their teachers. And one gift they talked about was the gift of time. Every year the principal gives teachers a gift certificate for an hour or so of time to use as they please. They cash in this certificate (with advanced notice of course) and the principal teaches their classes for them. The teachers then are free to do as they please, go out to lunch, get a massage, etc.

Teachers, under all the pressure to run data, call parents, get professionally developed, grade papers, attend meetings have a dwindling amount of time to complete their work, and most teachers, as we all know, take home hours more work. That is why this gift of time is so important to teachers. It doesn’t necessarily help them to get any more work done, but it does remind them that someone notices how much time is being put into their work. It is this type of gift, something that really reflects the work that teachers do, that makes a great teacher appreciation gift.

Unfortunately, my school is probably too large to pull off something like this with well over 100 teachers. However, if you are a principal or teacher in a small school, recommend or suggest it next year for teacher appreciation week. This type of thoughtfulness and mutual respect can really energize a staff in a positive way.

What’s Wrong With Our National Teacher Appreciations?

By Bill Henk – National Teacher Appreciation Day rolled around again this past Tuesday, just as it does every other year.

It came and went with little public attention.  No hoopla.  No fanfare.  No fuss.  No pomp.  No circumstance.

A little blip on the radar screen.  If that.

In fact, all of National Teacher Appreciation Week so far hasn’t fared any better.

Such is the life of teachers in America.  It’s not like that everywhere. In the countries that enjoy international acclaim for their educational systems, teaching is a revered profession. That’s not a coincidence in my view.  Instead, back in the good old U. S. of A, teachers might rightfully lament, like the late comedian Rodney Dangerfield, “I don’t get no respect.  No respect at all.”

And that’s at the heart of my question about what’s wrong with national teacher appreciation.  My answer is short and sweet – it’s not nearly enough.  Not a day or a week or a month or a year or a decade of appreciation suffices.  We should honor teachers every day, every week, every month, every year – in perpetuity.

By contrast, nationally and within our own state, teachers have had to endure public vilification the past few years.  The media and others with reform agendas of questionable motivation and merit have portrayed teachers as inept, uncaring, lazy, and greedy.  One major result has been that significantly fewer young people of extraordinary promise choose teaching as a profession.  Why would they?  After all, they have options with far more earning potential, where they can enjoy some measure of — you guessed it – respect.

Advocating For Teachers

Recognizing that harsh reality, the Metropolitan Milwaukee Area Deans of Education (MMADE), a group I currently co-chair, decided to do its part in affirming teachers.  In our experience, the overwhelming majority of them aren’t anything at all like the way they’ve been depicted.  The teachers we know are smart, talented, dedicated, capable, passionate, caring, and hard-working educators.  Consequently, we felt that it was high time for someone else, especially a group like ours, to stand up for them.  They clearly deserve our respect and advocacy.

As a result, next year we will be hosting a special event on October 17th at the  University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee called “Celebrating Teachers and Teaching.”  We plan to make this gala an annual event.  This year’s theme is urban education.  Next year the event will be held at Alverno College with the theme of servant leadership, and then it will come to Marquette as a celebration of literacy.

In subsequent years all of our member institutions, a group that includes Cardinal Stritch University, Carroll University, Concordia University, MATC, Mount Mary College, and Wisconsin Lutheran College, will proudly take their turn hosting.  Among other things, attendees can expect an engaging keynote speaker and remarks from other local celebrities and dignitaries.

At the heart of the program will be teaching awards that honor graduates of our licensure programs at our institutions.   We will be giving one award to an early career teacher and five awards to those who are more experienced.  Each year we will seek nominations for candidates who graduated from our teacher preparation programs or completed licensure programs through those programs, and who teach in the metropolitan Milwaukee area.  We completed this first year’s solicitation recently by casting a wide net, which produced several nominations.  Now we look forward to the review process unfolding.

A Personal Wake-Up Call for Advoacy

Shifting gears to a personal and related note on teacher appreciation, I was squarely reminded last week of just how hard it is to be a teacher.  I volunteered to spend all of last Friday helping out at my daughter’s Catholic school (St. Mary’s in Hales Corners), and most of my service occurred in her first grade classroom.  I volunteered last year, too, and came home exhausted.  But I thought that was because I did a fair amount of atypical physical labor – mostly lugging library books from the first to the second floor, spending a lot of time on my feet doing bus and recess duty in the playground area, cleaning tables in the cafeteria, going up and down steps making deliveries– that kind of thing.

This year was different.  Audrey’s teacher, Ms. Cimpl, knew about my educational background and decided to put me to work doing — of all things — teaching.  The expectations were modest, and I welcomed them.  I read books to the kids, gave the spelling test, circulated to check their work, and did an honest-to-goodness lesson on nouns and adjectives.  Although I loved feeling my old teaching juices flowing and my once well-heeled instructional instincts kicking in, I felt the stress of everything I had to do to keep 27 precious first graders, with an endless supply of energy, engaged in their learning.

And guess what?  I went home twice as exhausted as last year!

So what should your takeaway about teacher appreciation be from this post?   Although it’s definintely been too little, it’s NOT TOO LATE.  Celebrate teachers!

Advanced Degrees: They’re Worth It

By Matt Olinski – It seems to me that my best blog ideas come to me at the most inopportune moments – like when I’m driving home from Marquette after my class, or in the middle of the night after putting my 9 ½  month old daughter back to bed and I am trying to get back to sleep.

I often think that I should keep a pad of paper at the ready to write down all the thoughts that keep me awake at night.

The most recent idea came to me as I was driving back from Raynor library and reflecting on my day and my choice to take the final graduate level course to complete a second master’s degree. Half of my cohort finished their graduate program last semester, but I chose to continue for another term to earn that Marquette degree.

It is a lot of work to be sure. It involves writing a complex research paper. But,  I do not have regrets.  Certainly, I could have gotten my principal’s certificate last semester as well, without finishing an additional degree. But,  I take pride in the challenge of this degree program and I want to finish the race.

I  also do not think I am a hero for making this choice. Rather, I believe there are many in the education field who like to rise to the challenge. Part of why we’re teachers is that we like to learn.   It is what makes us take so seriously the lessons we’ve learned both in the university classroom, and hopefully the life lessons we’ve learned while practicing our craft.

I work in a large school with many different personalities. I really cannot think of one colleague in my school who doesn’t enjoy the learning process.  There might be some who struggle with certain concepts more than others, but the continuous pursuit of knowledge is a quality that successful educators inherently possess. I think it is what draws many of us to this profession.

So I drive home late at night after a long day of work, and then a long day of class, with some time in the library after… and I am drained, and my daughter has long since been put to bed (a portion of my life I do not enjoy missing)…

But, the feeling of accomplishment from advancing my understanding of the education field still makes me smile.

Blessings for Boston: Another Case of Shock and Failed Words

By Bill Henk – Credit ESPN for inspiring this post.

On Tuesday, April 16, 2013, I listened on my car radio, as I nearly always do, to Mike and Mike in the Morning.

My daily weekday ritual includes the driving of my daughter to her school and then heading to the office.  Almost religiously after the drop-off, I turn the “dial” to AM 540.

You see, sports talk represents a welcome diversion for me from the stressors in my life, and it’s not at all unusual for me to get hopelessly swept up in the various news items and commentary.

It was the day after the bombings at the Boston Marathon.  Like almost anyone with a heart and a brain, I found myself still reeling, stunned and astonished at this horrific event.  One of the co-hosts, Mike Greenberg, explained that the show would focus entirely on this crime, one that I would characterize as senseless, heinous, and cowardly.

Frankly, as a writer, these are the best words I’ve got to describe the tragedy.  And they don’t begin to do justice to the injustices perpetrated upon the innocent people near the finish line whose lives are now altered forever.

What came to strike me as I joined the show in progress, though, was not the reporting itself, but rather how often Mike felt compelled to state that regular sports information and conversations would be suspended for the duration of the broadcast.  At some point, it started to feel like he was apologizing, which I couldn’t quite grasp.  Frankly, the topic didn’t feel like a colossal stretch to me, because the race is an annual sporting event after all.

The situation started to make sense when he began reading emails and tweets from listeners who were complaining.  Although I found them off-putting generally, I wasn’t exactly mortified, because I appreciate the escape that sports afford us.  Still, it was hard to listen to sentiments like “If I wanted to hear more about what happened in Boston, I’d have turned on CNN.”

Comments like these felt disrespectful to me in light of the seriousness of what DID happen in Boston on that fateful day.  By contrast, I deeply appreciated Mike saying, “I’m sorry, but my heart wouldn’t be in talking about sports today.  I just can’t do it.”   He went on to note that the decision was made collectively by the staff of the show before going on the air.  I thoroughly applaud it.

Now here’s the thing that brings me to today’s message.  I found myself with a blog post on an educational topic due, and I had nothing.  Oh, there’s plenty of education subjects I could write about, but like Mike Greenberg, the latest version of a Boston massacre completely dominated my thoughts.  I could not shake them.  As a father of a young daughter, I especially couldn’t reconcile the murder of the 8 year-old boy whose life was needlesssly sacrificed.

So rather than explain my motivation for this post any more, and being in no mood to apologize about the topic not being educational, here are the best words I can muster:

Our hearts go out to the people of Boston and to all of the families affected by these awful events.  Your city has always shown great character, strength, and resilience, and this episode will be no exception.  Regaining your civic balance and finding your rhythms again will require a marathon of another sort.  But you’ll get there.  All of America is pulling for you.  Please know that at Marquette University and in all of Milwaukee and Wisconsin, you are wholly in our prayers.”

What Really Sets the World Leaders in Education Apart from the USA

By Bill Henk – Time and time again, the American educational system suffers badly from international comparisons in the media.  News services of all types seem to delight in sharing reports of studies whose findings imply that our nation is becoming less and less globally competitive.

Think Finland, South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore here.  These countries are, in terms of K-12 schooling, at the head of the class.

By contrast, the United States typically falls in the middle of the pack these days and sometimes worse.  Let’s face it, this is a tough pill to swallow since we used to be regarded as the educational envy of the world.

But last week I picked up some important and surprising (and dare I say, gratifying?) insights about the countries in the winner’s circle that I want to share with you briefly.

As a teacher educator, one element of difference I had taken stock of beforehand was that entrance into their teacher preparation programs is extremely competitive.  As a general rule, only graduates from the top third of their high school classes need apply.  And I have to admit that I took some gratification from this finding, because as it turns out, the overwhelming majority of our Education majors here at Marquette meet that criterion.  Chalk that up to a centralized admission process for the University, which also explains why our ACT scores compare so favorably with other colleges at our institution.

For the record, the other international comparison factors I knew something about were that teachers enjoyed significantly more planning time in these countries and orchestrated more high quality instructional time on task during their school days and school years.  It shouldn’t surprise any of us that the way in which teachers and students spend their time in schools would affect the bottom line of achievement.

At any rate, it was my good fortune last week, along with representatives from other teacher education programs in Wisconsin, to experience a presentation by Vivien Stewart, author of the acclaimed book, “A World Class Education:  Learning from International Models of Excellence and Innovation.” 

I actually somehow won a copy of this volume a few weeks back, and thought that it looked and sounded very interesting.  But per the norm, it got put on top of the ridiculously large pile I keep in my home office of “stuff I really should read if, by some miracle, I actually find myself with a little time on my hands.”

But trust me, I’m going to make time to read this book.  What I learned from Vivien is all the motivation I needed.

Until I do, though, all I feel comfortable offering up  is what I regard as the key takeaways of her presentation in bullet form with a little follow-up commentary:

• These countries are not obsessed with testing and accountability as we are here
• The changes necessary to transform their educational system took decades, not merely months and years as our society expects
• An agreed upon national agenda exists for education in these countries
• Teachers are esteemed there, not portrayed as ineffectual, lazy, and greedy
• When they founder, teachers can expect support from their systems, not live in constant fear that a pink slip awaits
• Retention rates for the teaching profession in these countries are significantly better
• And, what most sets them apart is an unwavering commitment to the professional development of their teachers

In short, these countries don’t operate as though weighing the pig will somehow make it fatter.  Testing is regarded as a means to acquire evaluative information that can lead to quality improvements.  It’s not high stakes per se, and it is definitely not punitive.

They exercise reasonable amounts of patience, understanding that systemic change takes time and requires getting shareholders on the same page, not feuding about what delivery system is the best means for educating children.

The world leaders in education recognize that attracting bright, talented, passionate young people to the teaching profession and affirming and supporting them provides for greater work satisfaction, desirable workforce continuity, and the opportunity to continue to develop their capacity rather than cull them.

And I’ll end by telling you this much.  I’m often asked what the most important thing we could do in our country to raise the bar on academic achievement.  My answer is always the same — enhance the professional development of our teachers.

My logic is pretty straightforward.  We know that the single most important determinant of children’s learning is their teacher. So let’s attract and recruit our best, brightest, and most fervent aspiring teachers, provide them with the best pre-service teacher preparation we can, support them on the job through mentoring and induction, and continue to develop their talents through graduate education and other meaningful and impactful professional development opportunities.

Better teachers, better learning outcomes.  Simple as that.

That’s a major element in the formula for the success of the countries exalted for their K-12 education al systems.

We would do well to follow their lead.

Three Education Videos Worth Watching

By Bill Henk –  Are you as susceptible to movie trailers as me? 

Last weekend my family went to see Oz The Great and Powerful.  Some of the acting could use a little work, but it was visually stunning.  And, as the equivalent of a prequel, there are some very clever plot twists and character connections to the original classic.  Here’s the trailer if you’re interested.

It’s only fitting that I provide the link as you’ll soon see.  Just click on the picture as another way to view it.  In fact, that instruction holds true for all of the videos below, too.

Anyway, before the featured movie began, we were treated (or subjected depending on one’s point of view) to the trailers for 7 or 8 upcoming films, most summer blockbuster types.  No kidding, after every single trailer I said something to my wife or daughter like “Wow, I REALLY want to see that one!”  Kind of pathetic actually.  In fact, I’m pretty sure the frequency and volume of my  enthusiasm embarrassed my wife and daughter, because they kept shooshing me.

Nonetheless that experience got me thinking about how powerful and enticing short videos can be as a genre, and in turn,  what a great job Marquette does with our video productions.   We often debut them at special events and they’re typically developed for promotional purposes.  Some of them are just plain fun, and others instill me with a great sense of pride when I watch them.   In any case, in my opinion they are ALWAYS good.

The person most responsible for these gems is our own video wizard,  (the great and powerful) Dave Murphy, Interim Vice President for Marketing and Communication.  Dave will be the first to tell you that our MU videos are team efforts, in part because he’s very humble, but he obviously has a great staff working on these projects.

I’m going to share two of my favorites here.  The first is called “How the Search Makes us Who We Are,” and it celebrates the education students receive at Marquette.  The second is our own College of Education promotional video, which is near and dear to my heart.

The final video, whether intentionally or not, pokes good fun at the genre we use so often and well at Marquette University.  I saw the latter last week.  It was one of the trailers.  The video plugs a higher education institution called Monsters University.   Do you believe it’s merely a coincidence that we’re both MU?!  I think not.

Call the Law School.  We have an intellectual property issue here.

Enjoy!

A Wild and Wonderful Week

By Bill Henk – Life for all the deans I know amounts to a whirlwind.  We’re on a treadmill that never seems to stop.  It’s the old 24/7/365 scenario.

We persist with the work, because it’s important and we care about it, not because we’re concerned about keeping our jobs.  Honestly, that’s the least of our concerns.  Some days stepping out of the role seems like it would be a huge relief.

But I’m not looking for sympathy.  Save the ‘whine and cheese’ and hold off on the violin playing in the background.  On the contrary, a fair amount of the work we deans do in the course of a week is interesting and enormously gratifying.  Admittedly some of it is awful and exasperating, too, but the scale almost always tips in favor of the positive.

This post centers on a particularly good week.

Score a Big One for MU’s Eagle’s Nest

By Bill Henk –  Something so unexpected happened at the Notre Dame basketball game that I just had to write about it.

As much as I wanted to take a Spring Break from blogging, I just couldn’t let this special moment pass without comment.  But I’ll try to keep it short and sweet.

For the record, I’ve resisted the temptation to post about basketball all season long.  And it hasn’t been easy for this ex-jock, MU hoops fanatic.  Talk about unexpected.  Who saw the success of our 2012-13 squad coming?  Not me, that’s for sure.

At this point our record stands at 23 wins and 7 losses, we’re regular season co-champions of the historically formidable Big East conference, and we’re ranked 12th nationally.  Our team is more than a pleasant surprise; they’re for real.  Chalk it up primarily to heart and hustle, because we’re not steeped in star power.  And the coaching staff deserves credit for a great job of teaching.  (Hey, this is an educational blog after all).

But get this.  What I’m going to report has nothing at all to do with the game, even though our team played its best ball of the year in a beatdown of our Catholic arch rivals, the Fighting Irish.  So don’t bother looking for references to flashy no-look passes, lightning fast crossover dribbles, or a clutch three-pointers.

Instead I want to highlight a single remark made by one of our players after the game.  You see, it was Senior Night, and guards Junior Cadougan (who really came into his own this year) and Trent Lockett (my personal MVP for reasons I’ll happily explain to anyone who wants to know) were being honored.

Keep in mind that I might not have this exactly right, because the statements caught me off-guard.  But I’m pretty sure that the very first people Junior thanked were not his family or his coaches or his teammates or the fans.

He led by thanking the staff of the Eagle’s Nest, the Marquette professionals who provided him with academic support!  In other words, he publicly acknowledged his study hall tutors and  counselors — folks like Adrienne Ridgeway,  Meryl Frank, and COED alumni,  Maureen Lewis and Katie Simet, along with the center’s dedicated director, Tom Ford.  Score a big one for a student-athlete who expressed sincere gratitude for the educational scaffolding he had received.

Coincidentally, I’d attended an event about a week earlier where I learned about the support services that are available to all of our Marquette student-athletes.  I was truly impressed with what I heard and saw, and it helped me to understand one big reason why our MU athletes have such a great collective GPA and graduation rate, something I’ve written about previously.

And for a real treat, click here to check out a terrific CNN video done last year that highlights  Marquette’s commitment to the academic success of our student-athletes.

At any rate, my guess is that Junior’s well-deserved shout out was pretty much lost on most of the crowd who remained for the post-game festivities.  But it definitely wasn’t lost on me.

As a veteran educator and someone who knows firsthand the challenges of attaining academic excellence while competing, I want to give the Eagle’s Nest a shout out of my own.

Think of it as a thunderous slam dunk.  Maybe a reverse tomahawk 360 double pump windmill.

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Reader’s Note:  The Athletics Department’s study program assists student-athletes, recognizing the significant amount of time and effort they devote to class, practice, and competition.   Tutors are available in specific course areas based on the freshmen/sophomore curriculum.  Students can also make arrangements for tutoring  in other courses including upper division offerings through a formal request they make or their instructors make.

To monitor student-athlete progress in the classroom, reports are solicited from instructors two times during each semester. When instructors indicate that tutoring should occur, the student-athlete meets with Eagle’s Nest staff to make accommodations.

Attendance is mandatory for all first-year student-athletes, and they are required to stay enrolled until their GPAs reach 3.0 (by the end of the first semester).  Afterwards they must maintain at 2.5 to opt out of study hall.  Upperclassmen are  assigned Academic Center hours to work with individual coaches as necessary.  The Academic Center also provides writing assistance through the MU Writing Center, as well as access to laboratory PCs and laptops  that can be checked out.

Where Will Our School Leadership Efforts Lead Us in Milwaukee?

By Bill Henk – Show me a REALLY great school, and I’ll show you a REALLY great school leader.

No kidding, it’s pretty much that simple.

In my nearly 40 years of experience as a professional educator, this notion has held remarkably true.  In only the rarest of exceptions has an outstanding group of teachers risen above the ceiling set by a mediocre principal.  And none have overcome an awful one.

By contrast, terrific school leaders can elevate the performance of a teaching staff to unprecedented heights.  These dynamos also energize students and families in ways that create vibrant school cultures and learning communities.   There is something genuinely infectious about working with an effective, principled, caring, dedicated, and charismatic school administrator.  As my distinguished educational colleague and friend from Alverno College, Dr. Mary Diez, likes to say, “a rising tide lifts all ships.”

As for this post, there’s a reason why I’m focusing on school leadership right here and now.  It turns out that there are numerous new initiatives percolating in our Milwaukee region for developing more effective school leaders.  Some are aimed at cultivating new school leaders.  Others aspire to help in-service administrators retool in order to confront the emerging educational challenges of the present and the anticipated challenges of the future.  Whether the focus falls on aspiring or veteran school leaders, each of these initiatives represents a potentially key piece in solving the problems in our Milwaukee educational landscape.

Fact is, one of the few things that supporters of public, choice, and charter schools all agree on is that the success of a school depends largely on the effectiveness of its leadership.  It is essentially vital.  As a result, all three sectors need gifted administrators and are in hot pursuit of them.

For that matter, all of us deeply immersed in the Milwaukee educational scene believe that developing a critical mass of exceptional school leaders represents our best chance for success.  If there is any hope of us moving the achievement needle on a large-scale basis, particularly in our urban schools, leadership development qualifies as the linchpin.

Don’t get me wrong.  Developing the capacity of teachers is critical as well.  Research shows that they are the single most important school-based factor in students’ achievement.  The achievement needle definitely isn’t going up in the absence of abundant numbers of master teachers.  At the same time, however, it’s the presence of administrators who are instructional leaders that raises the bar for entire teaching staffs.  And there is one more reason to make leadership development paramount.

Transformational School Leaders are in Short Supply

It takes a genuinely extraordinary professional to lead an urban school in this day and age.  Not only does the task take uncommon skill and drive, it requires perseverance and stamina.  Offsetting the debilitating effects of poverty through schooling is no small feat.  Only a select few of the most talented and relentless among us have been able to do so, and even fewer have been able to maintain the required effort over time.

For instance, just today I read an unfortunate quote from a local principal in the newspaper.  This school leader lamented having to participate in a weekend job fair for prospective teachers.  In fairness,  she later characterized the event as well worth her time, and maybe the quote was taken out of context.  Even so, a school leader who resents extra effort will almost certainly fail an urban  school, and more importantly, its children.  The realit is that the school leaders every urban school wants and needs must expect to work on Saturdays and Sundays and evenings and holidays — pretty much 24/7/365.  That’s what transformation and sustainability demand.

Although heroic efforts can pay off, they often come at a cost:  burnout.  In those cases, a point is reached where the leader realizes or decides that s/he just can’t keep up the hectic pace any more.   Typically the leader either departs or settles for performing their leadership role in a much less zealous fashion.  Either way the supply of transformational leaders becomes diminished.

Please know that I’m not arguing against urban principals achieving a balance in their lives.  But what I am saying is that it’s very difficult to achieve it, and if there is some magic formula used by the relative few school leaders who do so, it remains a mystery to the rest of us.

At any rate, it’s the scarcity of these prized school stewards that, in my estimation, best explains why schools that are beacons of hope in urban education almost never become infernos.  There simply are not enough remarkable leaders to take great schools to scale.

What’s Happening Here?

That’s why my colleagues in our Metropolitan Milwaukee Area Deans of Education (MMADE) are currently developing plans for a possible leadership academy thanks to the support of the Faye McBeath Foundation.  I believe that Schools That Can Milwaukee, an organization that specializes in coaching school leaders, is also working on a new leadership thrust being supported by the foundation.  In addition, the Alain Lock Initiative from Chicago is exploring the implementation of its Ryan Fellowship leadership enhancement model here, and PAVE (Partners Advancing Values in Education) is working on training in school governance.  I can also tell you that the Woodrow Wilson Foundation expects to work with suburban schools using more of a business leadership model, and that the Office of Schools in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee has also undertaken leadership development activities.

To be honest, I don’t know where all of these endeavors will lead us.  Each is in a different stage of development and has special elements that set it apart.  Fortunately, communication has started to develop among most of these entities.  In effect, we’re beginning to look at how we might work together to avoid redundancies and expand our reach and impact.

One thing is for sure — when it comes to developing school leaders, plenty of work exists to go around.

In Case of Emergency — Find Great Bloggers

By Bill Henk – This is a test.  The College of Education is conducting a test of the Emergency Blogging System (EBS).  This is only a test.  If this had been an actual emergency, you would not have gotten a blog post from me this week.

Big deal.  As I’ll go on to explain, that wouldn’t be an emergency at all.

Still, there’s probably little excuse for not being prepared.  I knew this day was coming.  It’s not the first time that I’ve been within a few hours of the deadline for my weekly blog post panicking that I couldn’t deliver.

Almost each of those times, though, I’ve somehow made it to the finish line by rising VERY early, praying for inspiration, having my prayers answered, and working feverishly right up until the bell.  Well, either that, or I “reached into” a small bag of posts I had written beforehand and saved for just such an occasion.   But that bag is officially empty.  So now what?

Fact is, this dilemma is a recurring concern for any dutiful blogger, especially for a dean with a pretty relentless professional schedule who is trying to be a good husband and dad, relative, friend, colleague, neighbor, and local volunteer, too.

The good news for me is that the stress is a LOT less than when we first launched the Marquette Educator.  Back then, I was the only blogger and the expectation was that I’d crank out two hopefully high quality posts every week.  It’s a good thing that the work itself intrigued me and that I ultimately respond well to challenges I care about, or I’d have never made it through that first year.

More importantly, I can relax now because we enjoy a really terrific line-up of regular bloggers.  If I miss a week, and I have, no one even notices.  Although this fact might be bad for my already-swollen ego, it’s definitely good for my mental health.

And for the record, I read every single post — not in advance for quality control, but exactly like our readers, as a consumer of what I regard as really good educational writing.

So let me seize this bogus emergency situation to say ‘thank you’ in profuse terms to Nick, Claudia, Peggy, Ashley, Sabina, Katie, Bethany, Dana, Ryan, and Matthew.

It’s something I’ve been meaning to do for some time now anyway.  And truth be told — although there’s plenty for me to write about this week, and I was actually prepared to do it, expressing my heartfelt appreciation to fellow bloggers clearly rose to the top of my list.

Accordingly, here is my message to them,

“You are the heart and soul of the Marquette Educator.  Because of you we have fresh content almost every day of the week.  But much more than that, it’s the caliber of your posts that truly impresses – timely, important, and interesting topics rendered in thoughtful and engaging ways.  You inform.  You entertain.  You enlighten.  You challenge.  You inspire.  It’s no wonder that our readership has grown significantly with the excellent material you consistently share with us.”

So, let me apologize to everyone for the false alarm.  It’s all good here on our blog.  Much more than good — actually.