Events: Key Takeaways From The NJ TFA Media Panel

This past weekend's media panel at the NJ TFA summit included Camika Royal (soon to be at Loyola University in Baltimore), USC's Doug Thomas, free agent (for now) Derrell Bradford, and WSJ metro education reporter  (to be) Leslie Brody (pictured above).  

The panel included comments from me about the complicated but important process through which most education stories are assigned, written, and massaged before they're published -- and how unrealistic a picture of the education debate you can get from social media (where reform critics rule).  

There were also much more useful observations from others:  how important it is to find a workspace where you can speak your mind (Royal); teachers are unfortunately reluctant to talk to reporters about what they're seeing even when they're willing to appear in photos (Brody); Twitter is much less constructive and useful than Facebook or other venues where anonymity and unwanted intrusions can be limited (Bradford). 

Oh, and Brody [@lesliebrody] told the audience that her new email will be [email protected] -- though she's not there yet. More from the summit via #njsummit, @TFA_NJ.  Picture courtesy CR.