Earlier this month, Indiana parent Krysten Moon saw 2009 WW Teaching Fellow David Johnson on a local TV show. Here’s what she had to say:

I’m a mom on winter break in central Indiana, watching a [local] television program … with my teenagers.  It is a discussion by teachers of their goals, disappointments, hopes, but seems to keep dissolving into a list of complaints.  Here’s what’s wrong with legislators, here’s what’s wrong with parents, here’s what’s wrong with communities…

It was frustrating and depressing to watch.  By the time you get to a television program, don’t you chose the brightest and best thinkers you have, to best represent education?  But is was a sea of blah blah treat us like professionals, blah blah there’s no way to evaluate teachers, blah blah blah.  We were drowning in this sea!

However, there was a bright spot, a man who spoke with clarity about interesting new ideas about how to improve education.  That man was David Johnson of Wayne Township schools, who identified himself as a part of your program. (We saw his picture on the front page of your website.)

We were so impressed.

When David Johnson spoke of a need for customer satisfaction in education, we cheered!  When he spoke of using technology (texting, YouTube) as an ally, instead of an enemy, we paused the television and had a full-on discussion.  We thought it was sad when we felt the moderator was dismissing his creativity as if it were too much work.  We loved his ideas about working with teachers outside of his classroom.

We want to see more  teachers like David Johnson in our schools. If producing teachers like this man is what Woodrow Wilson Fellowship does, then we want to say this: bravo!

Mrs. Krysten Moon