I'm not sure how many of you get emails from NBC's Education Nation, but I get them fairly frequently and was even invited to attend the Teacher Town Hall in Philadelphia (I didn't--instead I attended a locally planned and organized event that connected me with some great people here in Philadelphia).

Right now, NBC's schtick is an essay writing contest for a teacher to win a seat at the Teacher Town Hall in NYC. I am beginning to get tired of the whole thing, so I sent an email in return. Here it is:

Thanks, Kevin.

Just curious--what is the lure of sitting in the Teacher Town Hall? Why a contest for a seat sitting and watching something I can watch from home? Yes, I know there is a glimmer of a chance that I could get up to the mic and ask a question, but to what avail?

I understand what NBC is doing, and I'm glad they're getting involved, but after the horrendous conference call I was invited to participate in--I hung up since I a) had no idea how many people were on the call and  b) found the format not very conducive to conversation, kind of like a bunch of blind people in a dark room--I'm wondering, "what's the point?"

You'd be better to do an essay for a teacher to be ON THE PANEL.

Even WORSE is that when you do a search on NBC for the SOS March you get NOTHING except a video of Matt Damon. There is no mention of it on the Education Nation website either.

Where was Education Nation then?  That was THE biggest possible Teacher Town Hall this country has ever seen and NBC missed it.

I know you may just be a marketing guy, but these are serious questions and issues. It's great and all to have some stuff for ratings and PR, but if you're not actually tackling the big issues and covering everything, what's the point?

I hope you are not offended by my honesty, but I just had to express what I've been feeling every time one of the Education Nation emails comes through my inbox.

Thank you,

Mary Beth

I just watched NBC's Education Nation Teacher Town Hall and participated in an online Twitter conversation with the hashtag #educationnation.

I saw two tweets from friends that really caught my attention:
















It is probably true that NBC will get all the attention for having brought together so many educators in one place while those of us who have been doing this for a year either through our use of Twitter or the weekly #edchat discussions. 

I guess my hope is that other teachers will see the value of conversations like these and join us.

The next step: action!