Todd Blake Finley, PhD (@finleyt on Twitter) is an Associate Professor of English Education at East Carolina University in C&I. He has taught elementary and 8-12th grade English and co-developed the Tar River Writing Project. Dr. Finley teaches, researches, works with schools and publishes in the field of composition, curriculum, instruction, technology, and collaboration. His home page is www.EEprof.com.

Start with Courage

In 1969, RAND political analyst Daniel Ellsberg risked espionage charges by photocopying secret Pentagon Papers that documented how U.S. presidents lied to the American public about military escalation plans in Vietnam and lied about its chances of success.

Todd Blake Finley, PhD (@finleyt on Twitter) is an Associate Professor of English Education at East Carolina University in C&I. He has taught elementary and 8-12th grade English and co-developed the Tar River Writing Project. Dr. Finley teaches, researches, works with schools and publishes in the field of composition, curriculum, instruction, technology, and collaboration. His home page is www.EEprof.com.

In a Buick LaCrosse crowded with English teachers on the way to a wine bar in Raleigh, Dr. Lil Brannon explained her trouble with rubrics: "Did you ever watch kids play Dance Dance Revolution, the video game where they put their feet in the right squares drawn on a mat? That doesn't look like real dancing, does it?"

Todd Blake Finley, PhD (@finleyt on Twitter) is an Associate Professor of English Education at East Carolina University in C&I. He has taught elementary and 8-12th grade English and co-developed the Tar River Writing Project. Dr. Finley teaches, researches, works with schools and publishes in the field of composition, curriculum, instruction, technology, and collaboration. His home page is www.EEprof.com.

I am addicted to searching for inspiring writing prompts. Like playing Pachinko, clicking through education resources soothes and focuses me. My coffee goes cold as I hunt through Twitter and Diigo posts for just one more idea.

Todd Finley (@finleyt on Twitter) is a regular blogger on Edutopia. He specializes in tech/literacy, has taught elementary and eighth to twelfth grade English, and co-developed the Tar River Writing Project. He teaches, researches, works with schools and publishes in the field of curriculum, instruction, and technology.

Along with the National Writing Project, Figment, and The New York Times Learning Network, we are celebrating the National Day on Writing. As part of this celebration, we're inviting writers to share the why of writing in an essay, poem, or post. Please add your own thoughts in the comment section below, and/or follow the hashtag #whyiwrite on Twitter.

A photo of me that my wife took during a 1999 Hawai'i vacation shows a swollen head with bruised eyes and skin abraded bright pink, all suspended above a Miami J neck immobilizer.

Todd Finley (@finleyt on Twitter) is a regular blogger on Edutopia. He specializes in tech/literacy, has taught elementary and eighth to twelfth grade English, and co-developed the Tar River Writing Project. He teaches, researches, works with schools and publishes in the field of curriculum, instruction, and technology.

In honor of Edutopia's 20th anniversary, we're producing a series of Top 20 lists, from the practical to the sublime.

Twenty of My Biggest Teaching Blunders

We teachers make 0.7 instructional decisions per minute, according to research summaries by Hilda Borko and Richard Shavelson. We make them in contexts that shift from hour to hour in overstuffed portables with finicky projectors, after grading, without enough time to collaborate, without enough information and with too much.

With flippy red hair, Emily Anderson looks like post-millennial Yvonne Craig (a/k/a Batgirl) -- with a mic headset instead of a mask, and posing as an English teacher at the virtual Open High School of Utah. Talking to me via Skype, her face is poised, but kinetic. She is probably tapping her toes and simultaneously managing twelve student chat rooms.

Trey Martindale knows teaching technologies that help create inspirational learning environments. A professor of instructional design and technology at the University of Memphis, Dr. Martindale tracks and describes e-learning advancements on his blog, Teachable.org. His non-profit Instructional Design and Technology Studio provides graduate students an opportunity to develop online curriculum for real world clients.