When I came back from maternity leave in December 2005, I was told that we were starting a blog focused on NCLB, and that I would be one of the writers for the blog.  My first question was--what's a blog?  Seriously. 

It's been an interesting journey in the edublogosphere and, if there is one thing I have learned, it is not for the tender-hearted.  Sometimes I wonder if I am well-suited for this medium, but I soldier on!  And, thankfully, our readers keep coming back.

We started out with John and me trying to replicate a conversation with each other online. That didn't work.  So, we moved to posting independently, eventually finding our own voices (just as Edwize told us we would).  We were also able to recruit two more wonderful bloggers, Beth and Ed, who have added depth and breadth to this blog.  And, we have had guest blog posts written by other AFT staffers and AFT leaders.

We thought it would be risky--er, fun--to ask some of our fellow bloggers to recommend their favorite posts from the past year and, happily, several agreed to participate.  So, here they are folks, in no particular order.  See what you think, and feel free to send in nominations of your own! 

Leo Casey from Edwize liked this post calling out the U.S. Department of Education for delaying the release of its report on NAEP math scores for students in public and private schools, which was later picked up in a New York Times article about the report.  Joe Williams at The Chalkboard also liked this post (any journalist appreciates a scoop).  Williams also liked this post--including the jab at Alfie Kohn.

Eduwonk gives high praise to posts like this one on pension issues--not because he agrees with them mind you--but because they are smart and engage with other blogs.

Sherman Dorn, perhaps not surprisingly given his upcoming book, liked some of our posts on accountability, including these two on "mean" accountability measures.

Dianne Piche of the Citizens' Commission on Civil Rights, who has been a guest blogger at Eduwonk, liked the "live blogging" from the AEI event on the NCLB Toolkit, particularly this post which pointed out the lack of female presenters.

Mike Petrilli of The Education Gadfly, which is blog-like, also liked the posts from the AEI event, but I am guessing for different reasons.

Jenny D. prefers our posts that focus on classroom instruction, particularly this post on the math knowledge needed for teaching.  She also got a kick out of this post on 19th century advice for teachers.

Ms. Cornelius loved the title of this post, and the "truthiness" of this one.

Oh, and Alexander Russo at This Week in Education likes a post he wrote about a blog spat between us and Eduwonk.  I will leave you to ponder that one on your own.

Happy Birthday NCLBlog!