Ideas, ideas everywhere

And no idea what to write about. This has been one of those days where I was bombarded by posting ideas every 12 minutes. I spent the day at my first during-the-school-year Professional Development. They're required for new teachers to the district. At first, it was LAME. And when I say lame, let me explain, lest you think I am being foolish. The day started out with a two hour content seminar on how to write a proper lesson plan. Perhaps this is so lame to me because I'm only 2 years and some months out of college...it hasn't been that long ago that I had wonderfully qualified and severely talented educators teaching me this information.
Luckily, the day was not a complete wash because the next item on the menu was the keynote speaker, a guy named Rick Smith who talked all about classroom management -- he was upbeat, full of great ideas, and a fast talker. Then the afternoon was spent in two separate "topic" seminars -- I attended one on Brain-based Learning and another on Bullying in schools. Both were okay. But at least they were about topics I don't already know, such as, oh, I don't know, how to write a lesson plan.
The craziest thing in the lesson plan fiasco was that some woman asked this question of the teachers running the class:
"Is there anywhere on the internet where I can find a template for a lesson plan?"
Luckily, I was sitting next to another woman from my school so we both had someone to look at incredulously. I'm sure you could create a very complex lesson plan if you wished to, but my lesson plan "templates" have always been self-created on Word, because they consist of this:
Objective:
Materials:
Procedure:
Reflection:
That's it. Four words, and then you fill in the blanks after the colons with the appropriate information. No template from the web needed. I get so frustrated with other teachers sometimes...they can be the worst "students" on the planet, and sometimes they just don't use their heads.
But I made it through unscathed and still feeling positive because I had a great lunch outside at Chipotle (with a Diet Coke and lime!), read some of my book, and got to see a very fun keynote speaker. And also, I got to drive the MINI all over town -- always a joy.
The night picked up rapidly when Buckwalter and I hit the town. We did not paint it red, but perhaps another time. I'll let you hear what he has to say about that, because he always describes the evenings so well. Let it be known that I had a great time, and also that Greek Isles casino hosts Karaoke every night except Wed. We shall be making our debut soon...soon.