Before anyone calls the authorities, I did NOT take 40 kids wine tasting! However, for about 6 hours one day last week, someone thought it might be mighty fun if I had 40 3rd graders in one class. And yes, that not only is a lot, but it is also above the legal limit. So to make a long, stressful story short, I am back down to 30. I sure do miss the days of class size reduction (20 kids in a class).


A friend from Spain came into town with some of her friends who are planning to get married in Vegas -- but it doesn't count! How cool is that? They didn't get the proper paperwork from Spain, so the Vegas wedding is just for kicks! Anyway, we all went wine tasting here in Monterey County -- which in my opinion has better wines than Napa and Sonoma! We then ventured out to Monterey and Carmel. I will post pics later, running short on time.


Finally, we have MORE inservices! Seriously when will someone start to make them interesting. In all the years I've been a teacher I could probably count on one hand the number of times that I went to an inservice and enjoyed it! Yesterday the woman was explaining the new writing program. It became obvious -- to everyone, but the presenter, that we NEEDED a break. Sadly, she just kept plowing threw. That's when I vowed never to do that to my students again. Oh, and Ms. 'I'm my own biggest fan' pops in for literally two minutes -- of course we were antsy at that time -- and tells the presenter to tell us to -- basically -- be quiet. Of course the presenter said it in a much nicer manner. Then Ms. 'I'm my own biggest fan' ran out of the room. I don't even think she stayed long enough to hear the presenter to tell us to shut the fuck up! 


So, now I am off for more training...oh the joy!
 
The day began with Samson, the cutest and best dog ever, actually barking at a cat. Good job boy!

Then...I got to hear Ms. Great talk about sentence frames and academic language. Yes, you guessed it, she had to go 100s of miles away to see what she what she could have seen in the district in which she is employed had she bothered to walk into a classroom. If only she took a moment to stop looking down at us and actually looked AT us, she would see that we are doing many right things. Then someone asked her to give an example of the type of sentence frame that impressed her so much. Her response..."Um, Uh..." Then to top off our brief time together she doesn't want to see pg. #s in my lesson plans, I have to write the standard that I will be teaching. Psst, guess what, the page number not only tells me what standard will be taught, but has the lesson as well. So as Ms. Great will not be asking for my lesson plans, I will continue to write the pg. #. Waaay more helpful to me. And if she does ever actually take the time to come into a classroom in our district, and it is mine, and she asks for the standard...I'll refer her to the page!

The rest of the day was spent creating a math pacing guide and mini assessments for ELA. THAT was actually useful. What made it nice was that Ms. I Won't Share Shit With You was out on another assignment. All was peaceful, if you ignored Phlegm Man...Don't ask, it was gross!

Now, off for a final dinner with good friends. I say final because good friends are moving back to Spain, their home. On the bright side...they will be back next year!
 
Anyone who knows me, knows how sarcastic I can be. I am in rare form today. Something tells me I won't be out of it for a few more days.

Anyone who has ever sat through a boring meeting while your ass falls asleep on a hard steel chair knows how horrible these things can be. On one hand, I get to see people from other sites, share ideas, and catch up on life. On the other hand, I get to hear how great another district is and what they are doing (which is exactly what we do), forced to work with others who think their way is the best and monopolize conversations/directions, and listen to the 'know it alls' tell me how they do things and the programs they use or have made up...without ever offering to share.

I will begin with the morning. I am at a different site then I have been for the last several years, so seeing old friends is always a blessing. Sadly, they give little time to talk to one another before an 'expert' -- who hasn't been in the 'trenches' for years, if ever -- starts blabbing. This one was particularly awful! She couldn't get the powerpoint presentation working so an administrator tried to help. The administrator makes a lot of money doing ... um not sure what she does, but as someone at my table said, "She is her own biggest fan." That pretty much sums her up. Anyway, she got the powerpoint working, but not before Ms. Boring yammered on. Really, if you're going to make a powerpoint, make it interesting. Lists with bullets is a yawner. Seriously, I assure you with powerpoint you can put a jazzy background, interesting entrances, interesting fonts, etc. Then to top it off, Ms. Boring read everything that was on the powerpoint -- because as a teacher I need EVERYTHING read to me!

Then we moved onto some assignment -- not sure what it was, but a friend and I filled out the said paperwork. A piece of paper that Ms. I'm Great (the one who is her own biggest fan) will type up and take credit or will take the papers and no one will ever see them again. I'm guessing no one will ever see them again. Hmmm...maybe a friendly wager could be placed on that one. Anyway, Ms. I Won't Share Shit With You comes over to 'collaborate'. My group accidentally offended her -- yes, it was an accident. So she stomped away and worked alone. While a friend and I did the never to be seen again assignment, two others worked on something useful...A Math pacing guide. We figured, kill 2 birds with 1 stone. Too bad we couldn't throw those stones at people.

Then Ms. Boring and Ms. I'm Great spoke about what they saw in another district...Kids using academic language, kids using higher order thinking skills, etc. All the shit we do, but neither would know that as they don't actually go into our classrooms. THEN, Ms. I'm Great proceeds to explain that if we do a quick assessment at the beginning of the lesson and we find that the students know a concept we don't need to waste our time teaching the lesson. My thought...No shit sherlock. This is the Oprah Ah Ha moment for you? Really? Cuz this didn't occur to any of us? <insert eye roll> Again, if these people ever entered our classes they would see that we do this.

The day ended with Ms. I Won't Share Shit With You talking smack about my peeps to her administrator. <eye roll> Some people need to create drama.