Choosing the Right Device - May Educational Leadership Column

My May 2015 Power Up column "Choosing the Right Device" is now available online.

I write because I don't know what I think until I read what I say.

Flannery O'Conner

It is my final column for Educational Leadership. My "Dear John" letter from the Editor-in-Chief says...

I am writing to let you know that even though we have enjoyed your Power Up! column very much, we have decided to change directions for next year. We have decided to debut a new technology column written to teachers rather than leaders and we believe a classroom teacher should be the author. 

Fair enough. I wish the new columnist the best of luck. Not sure if I would agree with the editorial direction -  seems like technology writing aimed at classroom teachers is pretty common, but for educational leaders is scarce. But what do I know?

I appreciated all the comments and requests from EL readers related to the columns. And they are available online. I got a lot of reaction, mostly requests for re-use, from these columns:

• “The Changing Role of the CTO” Educational Leadership, April, 2013
• “Technology Skills Every Teacher Needs” Educational Leadership, March, 2013 (adding techology use look-for's in the Charlotte Danielson framework)
• “The New School Library” Educational Leadership, October, 2013
• “Why Facebook Belongs in Your School” Educational Leadership, February 2014
• “10 Questions about 1:1” Educational Leadership, May. 2014
• “Who Owns That Course?” Educational Leadership, October, 2014
• “A Letter to Parents Shopping for Technology“  Educational Leadership, November, 2014
• “The Culturally Proficient Technologist” Educational Leadership, March, 2015

So I am going from writing two columns in print publications to no columns. Should make for more relaxing weekends.  (Less noise as those deadlines go whoooshing by.)

Miguel Guhlin writes in "Mourn Your Space" post on his Around the Corner blog:

Well, Doug, let me tell you that you're not the only writer to mourn the loss of his column. I still remember the death of my columns in TechEdge, T&L, Education World publications. The loss of those taught me the beauty of blogs...not having to worry about editors' changing the leads, and the freedom to write a column (or not) as I felt necessary.

Thank you, Miguel. Your words led me to re-read my own advice "Why I Write for Professional Publication." And I still believe what I wrote there: "As educators, our satisfaction comes from actually believing we are doing something that will make the world a more humane place in which to live. The ultimate goal of professional writing is to improve professional practice that in turn improves the lives of kids."