My friend Ruth has started this Saturday celebration. I find that I am constantly on the lookout for those little bits of JOY that fill my day. If you want to know about this celebration, check out the page Ruth created on her blog.
Professional Learning
Tuesday I spent in Des Moines with not only staff from my district, but teams from 9 other districts in Iowa learning about Competency Based Education. All ten teams were awarded a grant to study and develop competencies for the state of Iowa.. It's a one year commitment, with no mandate to implement. It's really a group that will study and learn together. Some of the teams have actually begun CBE in their districts. Others, like ours are just in the investigating stages. I'm looking forward to this learning. I've always wanted learning to be more concrete. For learning to wrap around students' passions. CBE will hopefully fulfill those wants!
Professional Development
Wednesday was an inservice day in our district. And most of our inservices this year are personally directed. We study and learn about what interests us, what will help us become better teachers. My learning community are those in the district who are flipping one or more of their classes. We're settling down into a groove. Wednesday we listened to a fellow teacher explain how he wants to see his classroom progress. He knows he's not there yet, but it was his vision for the future. There was a little philosophical disagreement, but that brought out great conversation and really made him think about his teaching. And isn't that what professional development should do?
Spending the weekend at our youngest son's home and babysitting the grandkids today. The middle one, Tony, crawled in my lap for morning hugs. A little sneaky grin showed up. Knowing him well, I asked what he wanted.
"Remember at the cabin we have hot chocolate in the morning?"
It's our tradition, Tony and I, to sit and have hot chocolate and coffee together in the morning when they stay with us. We're the early birds (although little brother Max often joins us now). We talk about our weeks, the plans for the day, and sometimes, just silly stuff. Today, however, we made the all important Christmas list.
So these are my celebrations this week. What brought a smile to your heart?
Love the opportunities you had for professional learning this week. Hot chocolate, the Christmas list, and morning hugs! So much fun in one morning.
ReplyDeleteI see your grandson is a gamer....yes I could read those games listed! Sounds you like you a great week professionally. It is so nice to be able to share and learn from each other. Have a great week!
ReplyDeleteI love the image of you with your grandson enjoying your coffee and hot chocolate. What a nice moment.
ReplyDeleteYou saved the best story for last. Traditions must be honored, especially the ones that include hot chocolate.
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