Work Aproaches
So my vacation was really nice. Even the drama with my sisters seems to pale in comparison to all that I did and saw. However there are some friends of mine who got to do much better, like live in a house in northern France!! At least I'm on the invite list for next summer.........oh ya!!!
So I've been spending some time at work this week, like everyday. Having to move classrooms is a task, I still have the department office to deal with, but at least now it's all about putting things away. The only thing I did not get today was my projector, and that has a story behind it.
So today was a paid voluntary day, and it was a rehash of two online trainings that I've been through. Well, the first is an online testing enviornment for the kiddies to help thier test scores on the state exams. I stayed like a good boy and helped teachers get their stuff done. Well I'm also way to popular for my own good. Well I go to lunch and than skip out on part 2, the training I've only been through 3 times. The tech coordinator at our school was all but hurt that I was not there to help again. I'm the only teacher thats been trained and actually used the system called Renzulli from some nuts from the U of CONN. Well it's a really specialized google that filters out a ton of stuff. It also limits your results for academics and it also requires the students to create a huge profile and multiple intellegence survey. For most of our teachers it's way too much to deal with as far as time goes. It is about a week to get all your kids up and running, and than it is often TOO specific. My kids research last year was much harder using Renzulli, so much so that I gave up and let them search the whole internet. Our history topics were often just too specific and never gave any results. Well, that will all change GOD WILLING, as I actually will be teaching US history this year, along with the honors and G&T kids. OH GOD YA, and the small class size iniative has finally hit, and my class average for the first time is below 30 kids, not 36-37.......................
ANYWAY............the tech coordinator was all pissy with me, and was like you have to wait till tuesday, cause I'm leaving now, this is minutes after the training was over, and I was helping another teacher set up their smart board, in essence doing HIS JOB, but again, I'm too nice for my own good. The perks are great though, as so many people told the new teachers that I was the person to know on campus (I'm sure being the Union guy has something to do with that too!!) but that does not make it feel any less cool. I like the affermation that I'm considered a gooroo on a few things.......including discipline. God, how far I have come in three years, from being eaten alive, to being the positive discipline guy........it works though
So now 4 days till d-day...........the kids arrive. I already have kids from last year e-mailing me, and commenting on my live journal to see if they are in my class this year, which also is cool. So not much downtime
The union retreat in Palm Springs was way cool, much better than last year. Lorna and I had a great time!!! The heat, but all 40 pools and 50 hot tubs at the resort help. Plus the air conditioning was way nice. Our cute little bungelow was not as nice as last year, but the goody bags were way better, pluss this year we got free drinks for a couple of events. It was a great long weekend out in the springs of palm.
Till next time...............
So I've been spending some time at work this week, like everyday. Having to move classrooms is a task, I still have the department office to deal with, but at least now it's all about putting things away. The only thing I did not get today was my projector, and that has a story behind it.
So today was a paid voluntary day, and it was a rehash of two online trainings that I've been through. Well, the first is an online testing enviornment for the kiddies to help thier test scores on the state exams. I stayed like a good boy and helped teachers get their stuff done. Well I'm also way to popular for my own good. Well I go to lunch and than skip out on part 2, the training I've only been through 3 times. The tech coordinator at our school was all but hurt that I was not there to help again. I'm the only teacher thats been trained and actually used the system called Renzulli from some nuts from the U of CONN. Well it's a really specialized google that filters out a ton of stuff. It also limits your results for academics and it also requires the students to create a huge profile and multiple intellegence survey. For most of our teachers it's way too much to deal with as far as time goes. It is about a week to get all your kids up and running, and than it is often TOO specific. My kids research last year was much harder using Renzulli, so much so that I gave up and let them search the whole internet. Our history topics were often just too specific and never gave any results. Well, that will all change GOD WILLING, as I actually will be teaching US history this year, along with the honors and G&T kids. OH GOD YA, and the small class size iniative has finally hit, and my class average for the first time is below 30 kids, not 36-37.......................
ANYWAY............the tech coordinator was all pissy with me, and was like you have to wait till tuesday, cause I'm leaving now, this is minutes after the training was over, and I was helping another teacher set up their smart board, in essence doing HIS JOB, but again, I'm too nice for my own good. The perks are great though, as so many people told the new teachers that I was the person to know on campus (I'm sure being the Union guy has something to do with that too!!) but that does not make it feel any less cool. I like the affermation that I'm considered a gooroo on a few things.......including discipline. God, how far I have come in three years, from being eaten alive, to being the positive discipline guy........it works though
So now 4 days till d-day...........the kids arrive. I already have kids from last year e-mailing me, and commenting on my live journal to see if they are in my class this year, which also is cool. So not much downtime
The union retreat in Palm Springs was way cool, much better than last year. Lorna and I had a great time!!! The heat, but all 40 pools and 50 hot tubs at the resort help. Plus the air conditioning was way nice. Our cute little bungelow was not as nice as last year, but the goody bags were way better, pluss this year we got free drinks for a couple of events. It was a great long weekend out in the springs of palm.
Till next time...............