Yesterday I was at a former student's wedding. It was a beautiful affair. For me, to be invited to attend was one of the greatest gifts I have received as a teacher. Seriously. One of the greatest opportunities of teaching is the chance to be a force for good in a student's life and one of the greatest gifts we can receive is when a student lets you know you've made a difference.

The title might come of as hyperbole but it's really true. I'll explain. A few years ago, NYSED created a certification area for computer science. At Hunter, we've been running our certificate program for the past three years and taking current teachers and qualifying them to earn this new certification. This past Fall, NYSED finalized it's grandfathering position and just the other day it opened up the portal to allow teachers to sign up.

My feeds have been inundated with post after post dealing with teacher burnout, teacher shortages, government attacks on teachers and public schools. In response to one video, a friend of mine commented: This is going to be a crazy summer and fall. I wonder if we are witnessing the end of public education. Teaching was always a high attrition profession but given the stress teachers have been under since the pandemic started it's no surprise that teachers who can are leaving in droves.

I always enjoy Fred Wilson's predictions for the new year over on his blog and this year was no exception. I was inspired to think a bit on his education prediction: K12 systems around the US (and around the world) faced with teacher shortages and desperate to erase several years of learning shortfalls, will increasingly adopt online learning services in the school building in lieu of and in addition to in-class learning.

Lots of chatter with Donald Trump being kicked off platforms left and right. On the one hand we're getting a lot of "it's censorship, it's unust" and on the other side we have "it's about time." I'm of course in the "it's about time" category but even so, there's a cause for concern and a lot of meat for a discussion on tech policies. What makes this interesting discussion fodder is that Trump was removed from different levels of the internet.

Teachers are back and students will soon follow either in person or remote. In person means in person one or two days a week with the rest of the time from home. This of course shows horrible leadership. It fails in terms of education, safety and even freeing up parents to get back to work. After all, if your kid is only in school one or two days a week it hardly allows you to get back to your own full time job.

Yesterday, Bill de Blasio and Richard Carranza unveiled their open the schools in the fall plan. The plan is perfectly consistent with de Blasio and Carranza's education policies and efforts in general - tone deaf, ineffective, and in this case, unsafe. I know we were told that part of this came from survey results but we all know that surveys are super easy to fix. I mean, ask any teacher or parent "do you want schools to be open and in person in the Fall?

My friend Neal Zupancic, actually former student, friend, and long time teacher Neal Zupancic posted this on Facebook. It's 100% spot on. I'd add my two cents but Neal captured it better than I ever could. Take a minute to read it: In my ten years of teaching, I've dealt with a number of situations that could have potentially turned dangerous. I've taught in public schools and private; urban schools and rural.

How are we going to deal with grades? This has garnered a lot of attention since COVID-19 struck. Over on the AP side people wonder if colleges will give credit? Do the tests mean anything? What about the material they won't be testing? We also have had standardized tests canceled and a variety of grading policies. I'm going to stay away from AP this time around - you all know my feelings about the college board.

Preamble I've never accepted a guest post before but when my friend and long time colleague JonAlf Dyrland-Weaver said he had something to say I was all for it. JonAlf's one of the best teachers I know - he started at Brandeis HS and has been at Stuy forever. Really sharp guy, great teacher, and really perceptive. When he has something to say it's 100% worth listening to. To JonAlf - since I know this is one of my blog posts you'll actually read - you should set up a blog of your own.