Once again I found myself in Formosa. On the drive I saw 5 Mennonites, 2 roadside stands selling produce, 3 combines, 2 hay wagons, a stray dog, various horses, lots of roadkill and ...a farm selling Labrador puppies. Oh, how I wanted to stop and bring a pup home!
Cheryl, Francine and I got down to work right away since the clock is ticking. In less than a week we are leading our first PD session with the Immersion teachers. Yikes!
First, we went over the "to do list". We quickly realized that we should have taken a whole day off for our project, not a half day. Ah well...we prioritized and worked like demons. We previewed the DVD about Teacher Moderation that we will be showing the teachers. We choose a followup for the DVD too. Then we talked about what our PD session should look like in terms of goals and timelines. This involved : what we planned to talk about, who would do what, how long each job should take, how we would organize the groups, what overhead, charts, resources and photocopies we would need and of course...what should we have for morning snacks. Anyone who has led a PD session with teachers knows that snacks are essential.
We then took an hour and reviewed the "on demand" writing tasks that the students completed. We had to read through them all and choose samples that would be used during the PD session. This sounds simple...but was not. In the end, it's a good thing we all have a sense of humour.
Next, we split up the rest of the jobs---some of us photocopied, some of use found necessary equipment, some of us finished up prayers and templates etc etc. It was a last hour blitz that spilled over into dinner time. Ah well.
I wowed the team with my super duper Zellers purchases. I managed to find 27 door prizes for $9 at the Zellers end of season sale. (75% off) I think that's the best deal I've found since I purchased a year's worth of size 8 clothes for my son on eBay for 50$! I love a deal.
In other news, I am still dealing with the mess I made of the "requisition order" for my own TLLP project. Clearly, bending the rules is frowned upon by the School Board. I just hope the matter of paying the Centre franco ontarien gets resolved, before they blacklist me and ban me for life. If I were the CFORP I'd be adding a little surcharge to the bill!
