This year’s PTA Reflections topic proved to be a bit of a challenge for Laura, and as she began brainstorming about the different ways she could “make a difference”, a familiar brand of dread began to wash over me. Parents and teachers know this feeling all too well. I call it the “I’ve been standing on my feet talking and thinking all day and I really don’t want to patiently coach you through your own thought process right now thankyouverymuch” feeling. But I did. I poured myself a nice tall glass of caffeine, and we sat down to brainstorm.

“How can you make a difference, Laura? Let’s start there,” I said.

“I know! I can recycle!”

I smiled. Of course she could.

“Or, maybe I could go door to door and raise money for cancer research,” she suggested.

Um………no.

“What if I picked up litter?” she asked quietly, peering out the window while I contemplated adding something from our liquor cabinet to my glass. She was at a loss.

I tried a different approach.

“Laura, when you think back over the last few years of your life, were there any experiences that really stood out as challenges to you?” I asked, tilting my head and looking hard at her. I knew what she was going to say.

“Grandma and Grandpa died.” And suddenly, she began to really think about the birthplace of service. We give because someone has given to us, often. And we serve because we remember how, at one time, we were in need of service ourselves.

Three years ago this January, my otherwise healthy father-in-law was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme, and within five months of his diagnosis, he was gone. Laura is one of seventeen grandchildren in the Stockman family. My husband is the youngest of seven. Watching my brothers and sisters-in-law attend to their father, witness his death, and go through the motions of planning a funeral was absolutely the most heartbreaking and inspiring thing I have ever experienced.

One month later, when my mother-in-law passed away suddenly, I came to appreciate the fact that there are things people should never feel well-practiced at. Planning a funeral is one of them. Grief is another. Watching my daughter lose both of these people within the space of one summer was quite a bit to bear. There was nothing that I could do to help her make sense of this or feel better.

Time heals all wounds, though, and we’ve all recovered rather well from that awful summer. Laura still sleeps with her Grandpa’s picture next to her bed each night, and at least once a week, when I tuck her in, she will mention how much she misses him. She misses her Grandmother too. But Al was her favorite grandparent, hands-down. He was larger than life in that little girl’s eyes. And in death, ironically, he looms even larger in her mind.

Asking children to write about things that really matter to them is, in my opinion, the single most important thing that we can be doing as educators. We’ve been fortunate in that our girls have always been provided tremendous choice as learners. Their teachers, for the most part, have always encouraged them to choose their own writing topics, to select their own books…to engage in a workshop model where they have been allowed to thrive. I’m pretty vocal about the fact that I have loved the teachers my children have had. But I know that my experience is the exception, not the rule. Particularly when it comes to using technology.

Laura began her blog rather spontaneously. She decided that she could make a difference by living the example her grandfather set for her…by doing “small things with great love” as her Aunt Barb so aptly reminded us. And she wanted to blog about it. Because she loves to blog. Truth be told, I don’t particularly love her blogging (especially this week, actually–because the kid TYPES SLOWER THAN MUD). But I appreciate her enthusiasm, and I know that if she’s going to learn how to use the net safely, I am going to have to play a role in making that happen.

I did not expect to be speaking to PR people, proofreading press releases, granting phone interviews or sending thank you messages for matching fund offers. This is not what I anticipated when Laura said, “Hey, I’ve got a great idea! Let’s start a blog!”

In the last four days, I have marvelled over the fact that Laura is able to visibly trace the ripple effect that she so desperately wanted to create. And the more momentum she creates, the more people want in. Everyone likes a few extra hits on their own blogs. It’s a win-win situation that we are happy to be a part of. I am stunned by the traffic that is moving through her site, and I am humbled by the fact that not a single comment or email we have received has been inappropriate in any way. As a mom, I am excited for her…but I can’t help standing back and observing, as a teacher, exactly how the internet has provided her a voice, reinforced the good, and driven a REAL audience to her work…that she cares VERY MUCH about impressing appropriately as a writer.

It doesn’t get any more engaging or authentic than this.

And here’s something that I know. I know that a good majority of the passages on the New York State English Language Arts Assessments have actually been pieces of electronic text. Mock ups of web pages and Wikipedia entries and emails and ….blogs.

I like getting MY kid “ready for the test” THIS way.

Yes, I really do.

We are so OVER the practice test. How about using a blog as a formative assessment? I know it can be done, and I can’t wait to start seeing that happen. We educate in exciting times.

So, back to the start: I’m doing Laura’s challenge too. I’ll be doing one good deed a day, anonymously and quietly, for twenty five different teachers I know in the region. I haven’t decided who they will be yet….but I have a lot of great teachers to choose from.