Imagine Forum
I just got back from the Imagine Schools national forum in St. Louis! (Imagine is the charter school operating company for which I work.) Although it was long and definitely boring at times, I'm sure I'll go again next year. The good points were seeing my friends from work, staying at a nice hotel with good wine at the bar, tasty food, getting to hear about how other regions operate/what their strengths are/what their challenges are, and my bachelorette party (more on that later.)
The bad parts were the long and boring workshops (two were informative, one was not) and the looooong regional information sessions. It was nice to hear what goes on in other regions, but way too long. We have maybe 20 regions and each was given 30-45 minutes, so you can do the math! Also, every minute of our days there, from 7am to 10pm, was completely scheduled so there was NO down time. Even after 10pm, we were in the hotel bar talking to people from other regions, so we didn't get a lot of sleep. It was exhausting. However, our presentation was cute and creative without being a ridiculous showpiece, and had a lot of generic information but not enough specifics. I can't complain; I've been in Michigan and didn't do any of the work, but I'd like to help improve next year. Our theme had to do with "The Little Engine That Could", so we all wore conductor hats and bandanas, carried around a HUGE wooden train, and handed out train whistles to the audience.
Also, I had a bachelorette party! Wednesday all the girls from my school went out together and ended up having most of our region people tag along, actually. We went to a bar that had a blues band on their outdoor patio. I drank wine, everyone bought me shots, we danced, one of the guys from South Florida region sang, Karen had the whole bar screaming "I am IMAGINE!" at the top of our lungs, and Stephania had the band point me out and sing a song for me. It was good times, and I was more tipsy than I have been in years!
Today we didn't have any stuff to do and everyone from my school had flights to catch. I ate lunch with Linda and then went to the Gateway Arch by myself. No one else wanted to go in it! Anyway, it was pretty sweet. You essentially take a tiny elevator that looks like an egg on the inside up to an observation deck at the top, look around for 10 minutes, and then take your egg back downstairs. It's an impressive structure, though, and I'm glad that even though I was exhausted today, I went and did the ride to the top.
The bad parts were the long and boring workshops (two were informative, one was not) and the looooong regional information sessions. It was nice to hear what goes on in other regions, but way too long. We have maybe 20 regions and each was given 30-45 minutes, so you can do the math! Also, every minute of our days there, from 7am to 10pm, was completely scheduled so there was NO down time. Even after 10pm, we were in the hotel bar talking to people from other regions, so we didn't get a lot of sleep. It was exhausting. However, our presentation was cute and creative without being a ridiculous showpiece, and had a lot of generic information but not enough specifics. I can't complain; I've been in Michigan and didn't do any of the work, but I'd like to help improve next year. Our theme had to do with "The Little Engine That Could", so we all wore conductor hats and bandanas, carried around a HUGE wooden train, and handed out train whistles to the audience.
Also, I had a bachelorette party! Wednesday all the girls from my school went out together and ended up having most of our region people tag along, actually. We went to a bar that had a blues band on their outdoor patio. I drank wine, everyone bought me shots, we danced, one of the guys from South Florida region sang, Karen had the whole bar screaming "I am IMAGINE!" at the top of our lungs, and Stephania had the band point me out and sing a song for me. It was good times, and I was more tipsy than I have been in years!
Today we didn't have any stuff to do and everyone from my school had flights to catch. I ate lunch with Linda and then went to the Gateway Arch by myself. No one else wanted to go in it! Anyway, it was pretty sweet. You essentially take a tiny elevator that looks like an egg on the inside up to an observation deck at the top, look around for 10 minutes, and then take your egg back downstairs. It's an impressive structure, though, and I'm glad that even though I was exhausted today, I went and did the ride to the top.