Earlier this week, Franklin teacher Lisa Dennis posted the first New & Future Educators Blog item on weac.org, talking about the challenges – but importance - of remembering students’ names. That very interesting topic quickly drew this response from Guy Schmitz:

“As a former student (not of Mrs. Dennis, but in general), I had trouble remembering the name of MY TEACHERS! I can't imagine how hard it must be for teachers....”

How true it is. Then, this comment from Robert Nuszbaum followed: “I had a teacher in high school who forgot my name  following Christmas vacation. This may have little significance except for the fact that I still remember the incident with resentment nearly fifty years later.”

If you’ll pardon my peculiar analogy, comments such as these are the gravy on our Web site. It is one thing for us to post blogs and news items, but the comments we receive in response add the flavor, if you will, to weac.org.

A recently posted news story about a bill designed to improve air quality in the schools, drew this comment from S KE: “Teachers, in particular, need to recognize that what they BELIEVE and what they FEEL can create hysteria and not be part of a problem of creating unfounded panic. The air quality of their homes in many cases fails much more in comparison to that of schools.”

But Thomas Baribeau countered with this: “Respiratory problems among staff and students are common in many school buildings in many areas. It is common for retired staff members to see a huge decrease in such problems once they are no longer working in school buildings ...”

The new Web – often referred to as Web 2.0 – is about conversation, and these comments are great examples of how weac.org is encouraging conversation among members (and non-members) around important issues.

You can comment not only on our blogs and news items but also on our Facebook page. When we posted a Facebook note this week about legislative approval of a 5-year-old kindergarten attendance bill, it generated 27 reactions (so far), including 10 comments, like this one from Kenosha kindergarten teacher Anne Knapp, who was a primary force behind the effort:

“You guys just can't even know how excited I am that my New Business Item in 2007 has made it to this point!!! Thank you to everyone who helped get it here!! I am so grateful!!!”

So, whether you have an opinion on a hot topic of the day, insight into how issues affect you on a daily basis, or just want to send out a thank your or congratulations, we invite and encourage you to take advantage of opportunities to comment throughout weac.org and on the WEAC Facebook page. It’s educational for all of us to share our perspectives, helps us build relationships and it's just a lot of fun.