So, in late March, we headed off to Toronto. The Ministry of Education wants all the teams and individuals who made successful project proposals to meet. The Marriott on Yonge Street was our destination.
Now, I don't know about you, dear reader, but I HATE driving in Toronto. I do it, but only out of love for my sister, who lives in the big city. At first, Cheryl, Francine and I hoped to drive together. Unfortunately, other committments meant that I ended up driving alone.
The conference was planned for a Wed night, Thurs and Friday. I wrote up 2 days of complex day plans for my supply teacher, and off I went. It was all good until the DREADED 401. I hate that highway. It is the site of daily deaths and I am not known for making shoulder checks. Jeez, I usually drive in Owen Sound, where the biggest threat on the highway is a cow or wild turkey! But, it actually went okay. Using Mapquest printouts I navigated my way to downtown Toronto, only to miss the Yonge St exit. Yikes. So I take the next exit and backtrack on Lakeshore to Yonge. My heart was pounding, my hands were sweating, my head was aching. But I made it!
I have never been happier to hand my keys to a concierge! I met Francine and Cheryl at the hotel and we registered.
The conference was great. We learned that the TLLP was a pilot project and that we are "Pioneers". We had some great speakers who inspired us and made us wonder what we'd gotten ourselves into. We even had the Minister of Education visit our table and chat for awhile. Can't beat that! Some of the workshops were about how to present our findings to colleagues, how to use technology to make our tasks easier, how to track our progress and budget, how to keep the attention of a group of Adult Learners, how to publish our findings, and how to work with a team. So, of course, we felt over-whelmed and excited. We felt like the Ministry was truly committed to helping us suceed and we wondered if we were crazy for taking this whole thing on.
We also met some wonderful teachers from across the province. Some of them seemed so organized and "with it". Others were like little lost lambs, being led to the slaughter. We felt somewhere in between. I always knew teachers are a talented and intelligent bunch, but boy oh boy, were some of those fellow teachers amazing people. It was inspiring and terrifying.
