CAT Tracks for June 24, 2011

CAT Tracks for June 24, 2011

Laid up on my cat couch at 10 a.m., deeply despondent...no CAT Tracks stories to be found.

Suddenly...

My e-mail notifier "rang"...I've got mail!

Desperately seeking solace, I forced myself into my writer's garret to find the following story from Education Week...

"Diane Ravitch: Most Prolific EduTweeter?"

The author of the piece notes that on May 20th, Diane Ravitch tweeted 99 times to her 13,000 followers. The author of the articles goes on to compare Diane to seven other tweeters...the closest being MichaelPetrilli who tweeted 25 times to 1,500 followers and educationweek which tweeted 23 times to their 50,300-plus followers.

The author then inquired..."Is there anyone out there working in ed policy or advocacy who is out-Tweeting Ravitch?" Hence my titled response...

"Look at meeeeeeeeee!"

Okay, okay...

I recognize that there are some technicalities that disqualify me from consideration:

CATs don't tweet, they meeeooooooow!

Tweets are limited to 140 characters. CAT Tracks catty commentary? Not in your wildest dreams! To paraphrase the infamous remarks by the MO Speaker of the House when justifying his advocacy of flooding Cairo rather than Missouri farmland..."You read CAT Tracks? You know what I mean."

But, but, but...
...do the math!
Take 99 tweets and multiply that by 140...gives you 13,860. And, that's if Diane et al use the maximum number of characters per tweet which they likely do not!
Plus, there's the time involved. I mean...how long does it take to dash off a tweet. I can tell you that DAILY, I arise long before the early bird...and am still searching and typing long after said bird consumes the worm. Then...there's the 10 a.m Education Week e-mail, the 11 a.m. eSchool News e-mail, not to mention the freaking Friday night Special School Board Meeting.
I will put my volume of work up against all comers!

And, of course, I'm not done...

The fact that the author raises this issue either means that it's also a slow news day for Education Week or she thinks that Diane Ravitch is bordering on obsession. Resembling that remark, all I can say in defense...it's a cause, it's a passion. As an old (yeah, lecturing) government/history teacher I offer a paraphrase of a comment by yet another politician, this one from Arizona; namely Barry Goldwater, Republican candidate for President in 1964: "I would remind you that prolificacy in the defense of public education is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."

Michelle Rhee? Two...too many.

Arne Duncan? ZERO...don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

Okay, I'm outta here. It's 11:20 a.m., 'bout time for eSchool News to arrive...plus, the story above was the first to grab my cat's eye. Might still be more to mine in Education Week!

Tweet, Tweet!