I, like most folks in the edu-blog world, read David Jakes One Big, Giant Taffy Pull post on whether or not what we’re doing here is really changing anything. And I’ve been struggling with it — as well as struggling with the February blahs around my own blog writing.

On one level, I have been reading the comments folks are this blog, and I feel like we are building a critical mass of folks who are reading and writing and doing about change.

On the other level, I feel sometimes like I’m reading and writing the same things over and over again.

On a personal level — this blog name has always served to remind me of what I’m writing about — Practical Theory. And for me, the issues I’m blogging about are issues that all have powerful implications on what we’re trying to build at SLA.

On another personal level — this blog cannot serve to become part of the gerbil wheel… blog, read, read, read, blog… where it feels like a sense of obligation rather than an opportunity to think about issues that matter.

David writes:

Maybe I just don’t get it. Maybe the blogosphere is just too young, too immature. Maybe the blogosphere is not the place. Maybe we need…yes, a Blogosphere 2.0 where the conversation still occurs, but with an emphasis on discussing results and how this or that can make a difference for kids- that’s what we talk about. But whatever it is or isn’t, in the current state, the blogosphere cannot be considered as a primary venue for large-scale educational change. We need action, not just talk. And we all need to know about it.

Until that happens, it’s just one big giant taffy pull.

I’m not sure that change isn’t happening. Our curriculum summit a few weeks ago was proof that this can affect powerful change, albiet that was on a localized scale. But it’s having a ripple effect. David Warlick’s words inspired people who were there, and I’ve heard from several district folks here about how his ideas — and our ideas at SLA — will have a transformative effect on the district as a whole. That means that we’ve got the chance to affect the lives of 260,000 kids here in Philadelphia because the folks in the School District of Philadelphia are listening for new ideas… for reform.

So what do we do? We keep writing… we keep reading… and we keep acting. There aren’t many edu-bloggers I know who only blog. We are teachers and principals and consultants and school designers and school board members. And we have to find the ways to take the ideas we write about and apply them. And then we have to critically analyze what we’ve done — on the blog, for all to see. Even when it’s hard.