And Please Know, I Do Love You

  

The difference between my neuroses and everyone else's is that mine make sense. ~Teacher Tom

I know I'm a jerk. I wish I wasn't, but I am. I've always been a poor correspondent and there are days when this whole online community thing feels a little bit like one big obligation to "stay in touch." This isn't to say that I think I'm right or justified. It's one of my neuroses, one that goes hand-in-hand, I think, with my phone phobia. People say to me, "But Tom, you write all the time. Can't you just drop me a line? Come on, man, get with it!" And they're absolutely correct. 

Please accept this post as an apology for all those times I've read your blog, been inspired, but neglected to leave a comment. I do it a lot; too much. Same goes for all those times you've left a comment or asked a question and I've not responded. I read everything, I make a mental note to write something insightful or witty, then I put it off, then it seems like it's too late. For whatever reason, correspondence has always required that I summon up my internal resources, pull myself together, and get motivated. I suppose at bottom is an irrational fear of rejection (or at least a fear of sounding inane), but I'll save that for the therapist, and instead beg for your understanding

Today, I'm going to try, at least in some measure, to make amends. So enough with the confessional navel gazing and on to my nominees for the 2011 Edublog Awards, or "Eddies."

Best Teacher Blog:  Let The Children Play

Jenny's remarkable blog was one of the first I encountered upon starting my own 2+ years ago. She was on one of those tears she goes on, in which she was discovering inspiring outdoor play spaces and sharing them with her readers. This experience was one of the most influential things that has happened to me as a preschool teacher, taking me on a journey into outdoor education that has lead our school's community to design and build two outdoor classrooms in the past couple years, not to mention developing a whole new curriculum to go along with them. So beautiful and polished was her work, that I simply assumed she'd been blogging forever and tentatively began leaving comments. Little did I know that she was just starting out as well. Jenny, more than any other single educator, has helped me really understand what it is we progressive, play-based teachers are doing on a day-to-day basis. Thank you, Jenny, you are one of my heros!

Best New Blog: zella said purple

Sometimes Jeanne just blows me away with her insights into the inner life of the children in her charge, and through them children in general. Sometimes it's her thoughtfulness about our profession. Sometimes it's her wit and creativity that takes what might look like a simple art project, for instance, into the realm of great wisdom. And always, it's her incredible photos, which she uses so purposefully to illustrate and illuminate. Not only that, but she is such an incredible, supportive presence on the internet in general, both through her blog and her use of other social networking media.

Most Influential Blog Post: Janet Lansbury -- The Secrets Of Infant Learning

Being a preschool teacher, I'm around a lot of newborns, not as their teacher, but hopefully their future teacher, as they come to school to drop off their older siblings. My standing joke had always been to look under their little blankies and say, "Come back to me when you can walk and talk, then we can be friends." I've not said it since discovering parent educator Janet Lansbury's self-named blog. Inspired by the work of Magda Gerber (for whom she is an important evangelist) Janet has changed my entire way of thinking about babies and very young children, giving me insight into the brilliance and competency of our youngest humans. It's almost impossible to pick out one post to nominate in this category, nearly every one of them pierces into some core truth about young children and our relationships with them, but the one that had the most impact on me was The Secrets of Infant Learning. The video she shares of a baby scientist at work, and her careful observations, belies so many of my long held assumptions about infants that it's like she's opened a door to a whole new world. A close runner up for me is the post Don't Cramp Your Toddlers Style -- The Power of Trust in which a little girl inspires by just lying on a beach. Holy cow!

Best Group Blog: Irresistable Ideas for Play Based Learning

Sherry and Donna won in this category last year, so that's where I'm nominating them again (because, you know, two is a group). But frankly, they could and should clean up in any one of the Edublog categories. I am 100 percent certain that I would not be blogging today without my Australian colleagues' support. They are such incredible supporters that they even took care of my parents for an afternoon when they visited Melbourne. When the well feels dry, this is the first place I turn for inspiration and I doubt that anyone has more fun playing with young children than these two. You probably already read their blog because they are among the most popular early childhood bloggers out there, but if not, it's time to get on the stick. They're popular for a reason!

Best Twitter Hashtag: #teachpreschool

Deborah Stewart is the queen of early childhood social media. Ah heck, she's simply the queen of all media! No one, no one, no one has done more for bringing the early childhood education community together online like Deborah has, through her blog Teach Preschool, her music CD Simple Songs for Preschool, her regular television appearances, her prolific tweeting, and her wildly successful Facebook page (with over 25,000 followers). Like with Sherry and Donna, I could have nominated her in any category, but since this hashtag is her latest foray (of which I'm aware), and it has become my go-to spot on Twitter during these past few months, I hope she'll understand that I had to choose just one.

Best Individual Tweeter: R. Scott Wiley

There is no one more thoughtful and generous in our community that Scott. We first met each other through his blog Brick by Brick and his capacity for looking deeply into the things that most of us take for mundane and unearthing insights into young children is astonishing. I often drop by there expecting to learn about a project, but come away feeling inspired about life. In the past year he has become an indispensable Tweeter, sharing mountains of valuable links and information, piling up the followers, and spreading the preschool love right across the internet. I think of him as my Nashville brother.

Best Individual Blog: Marla McLean, atelierista

Yes, I wish she posted more often, but then I wouldn't have the sense of anticipation I feel each time I see in my reader that Marla has written something new. I'll confess, I don't always know what to make of her posts at first: they are sometimes so poetic that they seem to come to me from another world. I've told her before that I find myself returning to each of her posts 2, 3, or 4 times. I love the way this artist/teacher's mind works, the way she weaves her many life experiences together in these artworks that seem almost like a kind of magical spell has been cast in which walls are knocked down and new connections made. I'm inspired both by her commitment to the Reggio Emilia approach, of course, but even more so by the way she approaches each post as a work of art in which she's put careful thought into every detail. 

There are so many other blogs deserving of recognition that I hesitate to even post this because of those left out, three of which are I'm a teacher, get me OUTSIDE here!, Child Central Station, Learning for Life. The only reason I'm not nominating them, is that they've already nominated this blog and apparently if I turned around and nominated them, we would cancel one another out, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't nominate them. And keep in mind, if I've nominated you, don't nominate me! 

So, again I apologize for being a jerk. I hope I've introduced you to at least a few new blogs. And please know, I do love you despite my neuroses.

I put a lot of time and effort into this blog. If you'd like to support me please consider a small contribution to the cause. Thank you!