11/11/2025
Market Square Education-Whidbey is now open!!
I'm not sure an official announcement has been made, but MSE now has a new offering: MSE Whidbey, which started in September. I am now reliving my original in-class school experience, which was first established in 2008, and its original purpose. Below is one of the messages I've sent out to the Whidbey Island community, where our first school after Covid is now open.
Since 1983, as a first-year teacher to now, I've experienced a lot of change in education, students, and our world. And, as some argue, the more you know, the more you realize you don't know. It is an uncomfortable, familiar space.
Yes, I am well-versed in the classroom, in connecting with students and guiding their learning toward meaningful knowledge, in always seeing the bigger picture of developing humans, and in honoring and appreciating differences. This work has kept my energy, idealism, and hope alive.
I don't see learning as the endgame, but rather as a means and a method for students to understand themselves, their strengths, and their challenges, which in turn can build a pattern of growth.
When I started Market Square Education on Whidbey Island in September, I saw it as the culmination of my own struggles as a neurodiverse student (dyslexia, ADD, working memory deficits), my experience teaching from Kindergarten to College (particularly enjoying secondary students), and my academic background that grounds my pursuits in theory and evidence.
While my approach may not be right for everyone, I give much to those I have the honor of being part of their lives and push them to see more of themselves, their potential, and to voice their authentic thoughts, curiosities, hopes, and fears. This is where education starts.
So what. While my neurodiversity drives me to innovate and build different educational frameworks and opportunities, at this stage of my career, I'm focused on action. To paraphrase a couple of famous quotes into an educator's context- Now is the time for all educators to come to the aid of our students — to listen deeper, teach wiser, and believe bigger.
It is time for rubber to hit a new road through the wilderness.
Bob Hagin, Ed.D and founder of MSE.