My head is still spinning.
8:30-9:30 ~ The spinning began slowly, as one of my grade levels started the day by chatting about the work ahead of us for the rest of the year. I ended that meeting by considering the options ahead of us and shifting my thinking a little bit.
9:30-10:05 ~ The pace picked up, as I spent some time reflecting with a colleague about some of the work I've been doing and the work ahead of me. I walked away from that meeting with two strong action steps for myself, as well as a few new resources/strategies to add to my toolkit.
10:13-10:40 ~ After a quick bathroom break and dropping my materials on my desk, I headed to a classroom, where I observed the Connection/Teach, and modeled the Active Engagement and Link. The teacher and I debriefed, reflected, and set some future goals while students worked. I walked away while starting to plan in my head for Monday's work.
10:40-10:50 ~ Returning to my office, where thankfully my officemate had a table of snacks for her teachers during their PD today, I got myself ready for two hours of PD. I scarfed down a muffin and some clementines and cursed myself for drinking such a strong cup of coffee this morning - my hands were shaking and my head was pounding!
10:50-12:50 ~ Enjoyed learning from our amazing Teachers' College Staff Developer, Lisa. The team talked about leaning down minilessons, making our teach and active engagement clear, lean, and focused, text complexity and how to support our students' progress through text levels. Our teachers got the opportunity to jigsaw a minilesson and observe a small group Book Introduction.
12:50-1:20 ~ Lunch and reflection time! We got to talk as a team about next steps, future work, progress so far - and eat, of course. My brain was spinning faster with possibilities on how I could bring this work to my two teams.
1:20-3:20 ~ We repeated the process with another team. All the while my brain was going a mile a minute with what there was to do, try, and plan for next.
3:20-4:30 ~ Debriefing the day, we celebrated progress, reflected on continuing needs, and planned next steps.
4:30-4:55 ~ After sending out a few end of day emails, I made my to-do list for the morning, gathered my belongings, and headed out the door.
My head is still spinning.
I know this kind of day well. It is crazy and exhausting, but when the dust settles, you will begin to see the fruit of your labor. It might not come quickly, but it will come. I hope you have a wonderful, slow day tomorrow. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks! They're great as they're happening and a few days afterwards, but right now, I'm hurting. And tomorrow we are celebrating Read Across America Day, since today was PD and Conferences! :-) Thanks for reading!
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