breaking in, identity theft and bribery #notguilty

we're so back, that it seems like a dream that i was actually ever gone for summer vacation...and i've only been back for less than a month! sigh.

one of our teachers came in the other day and could not get her projector cart open, and the doc camera and projector were locked inside. it had been another teacher's room, so she had no idea where the key was. so i decided i would break out my macgeyver skills and took a paperclip and some mini-pliers with me to see if i could help out. it took about 30 seconds to get the simple lock open, then we had to jimmy up a handle-which ended up being a large binder clip-i'm a great person to have around in a pinch! (hopefully i don't throw my shoulder out patting myself on the back...but if i do, it's alright, i go to the chiropractor tomorrow). 

simple tools folks...if there is a zombie apocalypse, you might want to be friends with me..just sayin'.

 PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT> YOU'RE WELCOME: sprouts...thank you for the new variety of chip...anything with the word bacon it is worth trying at least once!

 yesterday we had a feeder pattern collaboration day of professional development, in which coaches delivered a variety of topics on information relating to math, reading and language arts. i was in charge of thinking maps. i did not script out what i was going to say, but i said pretty much the same thing throughout the day- 5 one-hour sessions. the morning sessions weren't full, so the other presenter and i presented together because i was more familiar, and i knew it would be helpful to her to hear it all, and add in what she learned. so we did that for two of the sessions. i will say that i enjoyed presenting by myself more than presenting together, as i like to perform alone-it's like an interactive monologue. it went well, and it seemed like the participants appreciated the information, and found ways to make it applicable in their content area.

i had two of our cabell teachers in my last session asking where the candy was. they said everyone else had candy in their sessions-i laughed and said i didn't need candy because my session was THAT good, besides, i'm funny enough that once we got going no one even missed the candy! they did NOT need me to bribe them to pay attention, i was engaging (does it count if i amused myself?)the real reason was that candy is so stinkin' expensive, and i had purchased two large bags for the day we gave the dry technology training..it was like a consolation treat: sorry you had to be here! so i had spent my candy budget for the year.

at 4:30, as i was walking out, i was very conscious of the throbbing in my feet! yikes. when i got back to the apt, i got my mail, then i took my shoes off in the car, and then i parked in front of my building. i took my shoes off prematurely, as the temps were in the 100's...forgot how hot the pavement was, and every pause-getting things out of the back seat, then out of the trunk, was painfully warm on the tender bottoms of these white feet-it almost made me forget how much they were aching...until i walked in my door.

this morning when i woke up-still aching. so i took a shower-this seemed to help a bit.

then i went out to the storage closet to look for an outfit for today's convocation. we were told to come dressed as our favorite artist, writer, entertainer...so i had pulled a few outfits, but when i looked at them this morning, nothing really struck my fancy, so i looked again, and chose to go as brett michaels/POISON. this was a comfortable choice, and i submit that posing as someone else isn't fraudulent if no one asks for your autograph...even with the inflatable guitar (that lost its air halfway through). i was very proud of our CABELL group, though. almost everyone came decked out, and ready to play. they were up out of their chairs dancing most of the time, they were chanting even when it seemed somewhat inappropriate, they did an amazing job!! what a great team to work with!

props to abby, our art teacher-for the prop!

with my fellow coach from caillet, and cabell's new principal. 

 when we got back to campus, it was back to business, working on unit planning, and meeting with the jiv daya foundation for a training on the kindles that our 3-5 teachers will be integrating into their blended rotations! it's going to be great-what a wonderful resource!!

i was asked at the training i did for thinking maps if coaches could be "contracted out" to other campuses. i laughed. i asked what campus she was at, and when she told me deally, i had to smile, because i absolutely adore her assistant principal, who was a fellow on our campus and a firecracker-hard worker! and i told her that if she talked to wendy, and wendy asked me, i would definitely be willing to talk to my principal about that possibility. i was just happy that she thought the training was valuable enough to take back to her campus to share campus-wide. smile.

i was also approached today by the principal at a campus near ours, who was also a fellow at our campus, and very similar personality to wendy-passionate about student learning and a sense of urgency like no other, and she asked if i might be able to train their staff on DRA, so i will be doing that on friday, amidst working with our staff on lesson planning and finishing up in their rooms with set-up and preparations for next week when the kids come!

we need to find the rest of these on our campus! 

 now i have a list of things that i would like to complete, but i am not certain i will finish them by next week. i am really excited about tomorrow, though, because we have a rep from MYON coming in to do a real PD Training for our teachers so that they can see the power in it, and how to use it to it's max potential, using the records to collect data, and lexile levels for students to create goals. hopefully andrea and i will get a chance to do some planning around tuesday lesson planning meeting protocols and registering for a training. good times. 

too little time, and still so much to do...hopefully this isn't a foreshadowing of what the year is going to entail! yikes!

julie