I'm pumped!

For once, our speaker for the inservice was really good. We've had good speakers before in that they kept us entertained, but when we would leave, the common consensus was that we'd gotten nothing out of it and our time would have been much better spent in our classrooms preparing for our students. Marcia, on the other hand, was entertaining AND she provided us with some wonderful classroom strategies. Plus, she practiced what she preached! Everything she told us to do in our classrooms, she did in her presentation. That was certainly refreshing. Many of these high-dollar presenters come in and tell us what to do in our classes, but they do it in the way they tell us not to. Go figure.

You know, no matter how long a person has been teaching, he or she can always learn new and better ways to do the job. Students today are vastly different than they were when I began teaching 16 1/2 years ago. Their brains are wired so differently because of all of the technology that they have been exposed to. Not only that, but they are so used to constant motion from their video games, television, and movies. Yes, it's hard to break the "but this is the way I've always done it" routine, but the kids today are not the same as the kids of the past. They've changed. We have to as well.

The schedule said we would be in the inservice until 3:30 this afternoon, but after lunch, Lou Ann did her thing in about 30 minutes, so we were through by 2:00. Again, what a refreshing change!! I went over to the school to work for about an hour. Hmmm--that hour turned into 2 1/2 hours. I got so busy and so caught up in stuff that I lost track of time. We were told at our technology training yesterday that we needed to check all of our materials to make sure we had everything we were supposed to. Somehow I have ended up with four teacher's editions for the 12th grade literature. I can have one at my podium, one at my desk, one at home, and I guess I could use the last one as a door stop. lol It will be nice to have two in my room. They only weigh about a ton, so to not have to carry one from my podium to my desk will be fabulous.

John and I are about to run to Auburn to pick up his watch at the jewelers and to grab a bite to eat. I probably won't update again until Monday. However, I may be way too tired after the first day of students. :)