re: Chronicle 11- Looking Back While Moving Forward…

Wendy Berry — Wed, 09 May 2007 03:15:01 GMT

This is a really inspiring blog! As a teacher in an international school it is exciting to read about innovation and 21st century skills being taught. Also important to see that people are what makes the difference! Let's hope other countries will heed what is happening at your school and plant schools like yours all over the world.

re: Chronicle 11- Looking Back While Moving Forward…

The-Shade — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 05:02:47 GMT

As someone who has been... shall we say... following the progress of this project with great interest from its inception, I have great respect for you, Mary, and what you've helped accomplish. Note that I did not state that you accomplished this all on your own, and you would be the very first person to correct me if I'd made such a statement. You had a number of talented and motivated people from Philadelphia School District, from Microsoft, and from Microsoft's partners working with you to make it all happen.

And then there were The Others. I won't dwell on them, but I'm sure you have a pretty good idea of what and whom I'm talking about. And I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you had to deal with them while all of this was coming to fruition. I'll bet you could write an entire book just about these people, and your dealings with them. In a perfect world, people such as these would be relegated to the dustbin. But in our real world, this does not necessarily happen. Pity.

No matter what the project, whether in Philly, Boston, or Timbuktu - there are always The Others. And there will always be The Others. They are a given in this world. These are the people who withhold their cooperation for various stupid reasons. These are the naysayers - but you know this because you've experienced it all first-hand, though you may be too diplomatic and too nice to admit it.

But the bottom line is that you and your team birthed this baby in spite of it all. It wasn't easy, and the baby's growing pains won't be easy either. But again, you know this already.

Hang in there, Mary.