D-ed Reckoning Enters Edu-blogger Hall of Fame

Beloved Uncle Jay and crazy Aunt Jay are picking the best education blogs of  2009.  But that's not important right now, what is important is:

Valerie will select ten and I will select a different ten for our 2009 list of 20 best blogs, which we hope to post by December. You will note a list of eleven blogs on the left side column of this blog [Ed. -- including your truly]. They are previous winners of this incredible honor, and so will remain posted there forever and are not eligible for the new list. I plan to add my ten selections to that left hand column, and make each annual contest a search for blogs we have not celebrated before.

I read that "posted forever" and "not eligible for the new list" as being the equivalent of being inducted into the edu-blogger hall of fame. Woo hoo.  And, I haven't even retired yet.  Although, I think I can safely continue start coasting now.

Here are my fellow inductees with my brief commentary.

1. EdTech Assorted Stuff -- Redundant. There are better education technology and progressive education blogs (odd that those two always seem to go together).

2. Board Buzz -- Not interesting. Doesn't hold my attention. The fatal flaw of many blogs run by large organizations looking to avoid controversy.

3. The Core Knowledge Blog -- Always interesting. Avoids hackery (See Edwise below). Pondiscio is a real blogger and Core Knowledge is smart enough to allow him to express his opinions.

4. Eduwonk -- Andy has good insider stuff. Sometimes too elliptic and insider to us outsiders. Doesn't blog often enough.

5. EdWize -- Often borders on hackery, no doubt due to union affiliation. Otherwise, not enough non-hack stuff to keep me interested.

6. Gotham Schools -- Good reporting on New York City stuff. Skoolboy was a good blogger at the now defunct eduwonkette. But, for some reason this blog hasn't made the cut to be a regular read. Maybe it's a signal to noise problem.

7. Joanne Jacobs -- Still going stronger than ever after all these years. The only real journalist of the lot. Has mastered the blog format.

8. Schools Matter -- The Bill Maher of edubloggers, if Maher were humorless and cut and pasted most of his material. The commentary is entirely predictable, conclusory, and never supported.

9. Susan Ohanian -- Is this even a blog? Redundant with School Matters. The opinions are identical. Pick either. Or better yet pick neither.

10. This Week in Education -- Best all around education policy blog. Russo rounds-up the news, is interesting, includes actual reporting, offers opinion, gets insider scoop, and consistently gets my first name wrong. Would be improved by jettisoning the dull Thompson.

Now that I've pulled a Michael Jordan-like acceptance speech, allow me to redeem myself by commenting on all the things I do wrong. My posts are sporadic, I take long breaks when I don't feel like writing (the problem of doing it for free and bereft of an academic sinecure), posts are far too long, lack of editing and proofreading, too lazy to spellcheck regularly, and often too abrasive.

I'm sure there are lots more which my critics should merrily point out in the comments.