Special Thx
gotta love it
“Hi this is Kontan and I’m calling to confirm an appoint for tomorrow at 5:30.”
“Tomorrow?”
“Yes, tomorrow”
“Hold on one minute.”
*waiting*
*waiting*
*waiting and hear movement*
*still waiting*
*Flush, swirl, and refill*
*I’m trying not to laugh and still waiting*
“OK, hold on again”
*hear teen walking somewhere*
*phone to mom*
You know, if you are in the bathroom and taking care of business…don’t answer your phone.
Summer workshops
Education workshops are notorious for being time wasting activities to earn credit and offer teachers the tiniest bit of useful information. They are, by most assessments, necessary evils…more evil than necessary. Occasionally, you will encounter an exceptional workshop that provides valuable information and resources. Regrettably, I am not attending one of the exceptional ones.
I do not blame the presenter, not 100% anyway. Her resources were prepared well in advance, but were not copied and bound by the time the workshop started Monday. Furlough requirements and poor communication are to blame. Unfortunately, this presenter has yet to develop a back up plan and provide us with instruction worth the $500+ that each participant’s school paid. I fully understand that it is difficult to conduct a workshop when your materials are not provided to all participants and all you have is an Elmo (think digital projector) for your information dissemination, however flexibility is the key to successful teaching. Let us discuss best practices, or grading strategies…anything! Yesterday, the last hour was spent working on pacing guides for our syllabus while newbies were gaining instruction on how to complete their audit. Valuable for them I hope, but I didn’t sign up for the newbie workshop and my guides are complete. Today, the last hour was spent working on our syllabus. I worked on updates and accomplished something, but it would have been just as effective to complete from the comfort of my own home.
Don’t get me wrong, there have been gems of information and we have received textbook samples that are valuable. Unfortunately, the gems are few and far between. We spent today, all day, pouring over DBQ strategies. Great, wonderful, a nice refresher and excellent for newbies. It was an activity worthy of two hours…not seven. We spent thirty minutes on each document and discussed it in depth, then evaluated the DBQ as a whole. That’s great and all, but again…not supposed to be a newbie workshop.
Maybe my expectations are wrong. I was hoping for new activities, new strategies, and innovative ideas for presenting information in a fast and effective manner. Tomorrow we are supposed to receive resource binders. I hope the workshop improves.
Let Freedom Ring!
Celebrating the 4th of July, I took Lil Bit to a fireworks display at the Speedway earlier this week and we are spending this evening at Pops in the Park. Tomorrow…parade, grillin’ out, and more fireworks!
Out and about
After a long day of calling I have taken to persuading the youngest to go geocaching with me. She really enjoys it, but the bugs are a deterrent. If you are not familiar with the Deep South, long pants and long sleeved shirts are NOT an option. We finally found outfits that would allow us to geocache and not be miserable. After spraying any exposed areas with repellent we went on the hunt.
Driving to the park Lil Bit navigates. We find the appropriate parking area and hike north to the wide trail like the cache hint said. After taking the wide trail for a short distance we see the small bunny trail that we were supposed to take. After taking the bunny trail and then leaving the trail we ventured through overgrown terrain and followed the GPS…unsuccessfully. Too reach the cache it was going to be necessary to fight SERIOUS overgrowth. Not willing.
Off to the next…
You never know where a cache hunt will take you. When Lil Bit said turn right I was a little surprised to find ourselves in a cemetery. It was a quick find, and Lil Bit was thrilled to be the one to guide us to the cache. The next find was just down the road in an area that has yet to be developed. Another quick find, and minimal overgrowth to maneuver. Nothing major in the way of swag, but we achieved the satisfaction of the find.
Flair
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