good thing I'm not superstitious...
Tomorrow, I am getting on a plane, and flying to Virginia... And it's Friday the 13th.
One of the perks of teaching IB is that every once in a while, I get a trip out of the deal for "training". This time around, it's for the new syllabus launch - every five years or so they re-work the curriculum, and someone from each school is expected to go for upgrade training.
I'll be spending a long weekend in Reston, VA, which is just outside of Washington, DC. In fact, we're flying into Dulles airport, which according to googlemaps is actually in Virginia. There doesn't seem to be a lot of space for an airport within DC itself. =)
I am going with two of my colleagues, one physics teacher, one chemistry teacher, and I round out the sciences as the biology teacher in the group - this means that I'll be with them for meals & probably some free time, but the rest of the time I'll be in sessions with other people from various parts of North America. It should be interesting - getting some new ideas on different ways of teaching, and in particular, new lab ideas. IB is pretty picky about how they want labs done, and a lot of the ones we'd do in the regular program are too "recipe" to count for much other than lab time in IB-land.
Friday, we have most of the day free, since all we have to do is pick up our registration packages. Saturday & Sunday, we have sessions until 3:00, and evenings free. More sessions Monday morning, but after that... freedom again. We fly home Monday afternoon, and I go back to work on Tuesday - my birthday & Sonja's.
Coincidentally, this is the first birthday I've had to be at work since before Sonja was born - she was born on a Saturday, her first birthday was a Sunday, last year it was Easter Monday. And, quite possibly, the year before she was born it was on Good Friday, but I'd have to look it up. =)
One of the perks of teaching IB is that every once in a while, I get a trip out of the deal for "training". This time around, it's for the new syllabus launch - every five years or so they re-work the curriculum, and someone from each school is expected to go for upgrade training.
I'll be spending a long weekend in Reston, VA, which is just outside of Washington, DC. In fact, we're flying into Dulles airport, which according to googlemaps is actually in Virginia. There doesn't seem to be a lot of space for an airport within DC itself. =)
I am going with two of my colleagues, one physics teacher, one chemistry teacher, and I round out the sciences as the biology teacher in the group - this means that I'll be with them for meals & probably some free time, but the rest of the time I'll be in sessions with other people from various parts of North America. It should be interesting - getting some new ideas on different ways of teaching, and in particular, new lab ideas. IB is pretty picky about how they want labs done, and a lot of the ones we'd do in the regular program are too "recipe" to count for much other than lab time in IB-land.
Friday, we have most of the day free, since all we have to do is pick up our registration packages. Saturday & Sunday, we have sessions until 3:00, and evenings free. More sessions Monday morning, but after that... freedom again. We fly home Monday afternoon, and I go back to work on Tuesday - my birthday & Sonja's.
Coincidentally, this is the first birthday I've had to be at work since before Sonja was born - she was born on a Saturday, her first birthday was a Sunday, last year it was Easter Monday. And, quite possibly, the year before she was born it was on Good Friday, but I'd have to look it up. =)