Thanks Bill

Bill Ferriter is one of the reasons I am the teacher leader I am today. I met Bill at the National NBPTS conference in the summer of 2005. When I met him I new he was something special. He was energetic dynamic and positive. HE was presenting for the Teacher Leaders Network with Susan Graham and two other presenters I can't rememebr but I wish I did.
I asked Bill to please get me into TLN. THe next week he emailed me and I discovered a new land. TLN has shaped me as a professional and given me much more than I have given it.

Bill recently put up a blog post inspired by one of my quotes on the TLN message board.
He went on to deliver a contemplative and very funny entry about why teaching is the profession it is. Here compared teaching to the Bad News Bears. I couldn't agree more Bill.
Here is a bit:

I guess a part of me doubts that we'll ever have a deep enough candidate pool to make fine-grade choices about who "makes the cut" in our classrooms. Education struggles to attract huge numbers at our "tryouts" because we're just not the best game in town. Poor working conditions, low salaries and demanding days that rival work done in any profession only serve to drive prospective teachers away---and make it less likely that we'll ever be able to step up to "the big leagues."
I guess I also wonder if we are really interested in the big leagues? Is accepting the responsibility that comes along with increased accountability and ownership over our profession something that we're ready for? Are we willing to invest the kind of mental and physical energy that it takes to succeed at the top notches of any profession?

If we start to transform education in the minds of AMerica then we will get the candidates we need. I think this will be done slowly but it can be done. One direction I am thinking we should move is recastng the profession as a creative class job.