Tuesday:  I rode Cheyenne in the morning.  She went so nice.  We practiced “swappin’ leads” and she did a pretty good job.  Her side passes for the day were also nice.  After our ride, it was a rush home to view a webinar on using Google in education.  I’m sitting there waiting for it to start and nothing is happening.  Did I get the right date?  I check the calendar, yes it’s there.  I check my email and read a little closer, oh no, it is scheduled for 12:00 Pacific Time, not Eastern Time!  Crap!  What to do?  I told Simone I would be to her house at 1:30 to hang out by the pool.  So, I take my computer, I can go to the library after floating in the pool and socializing.  Well, that didn’t happen.  I spent too much time enjoying the pool and company and before I knew, it was 4:00.  Oh well.  As it turns out they sent me the link to a recorded version of the program so I was able to watch it last night.  What a waste of time!  It was basically a commercial for Chromebooks.  They are such self-promoters!

After Simone’s, it was home to grill dinner:  Salmon, pity-pat squash w/ olive oil and garlic, and a green salad (not grilled).  It was good but no pictures.

In the evening I read more of the Singer book, “Teaching Global History”.  This chapter was about teaching from a Chinese perspective.  It was interesting but pretty useless, not going to happen!

Wednesday:  “Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work I go….”  Yes, Work!  I attended an APPR workshop put on by the Teacher Center and BOCES.  It was held in Walton, close to home (there are alternative sites and dates much further afield) and not well attended!

What I learned:

– We have to be evaluated on all the Standards.  Our union needs to negotiate the elements under each standard  that will be used.  This is the way I thought it was suppose to be and it needs to be understood by the APPR committee.

–  Our parent base has really changed.  When they started the reading program, many moons ago at the elementary school, to encourage reading at home, they had a huge turnout!  Now, they get only a few parents!  So sad, and we see the results as these children reach high school and are very poor readers.  Many of them hate to read!

– She went over the 21st Century Skills we need to include in our curriculum.  These include; Creativity and Innovation, Critical Thinking and Problem Solving, Communication and Collaboration (the 4C’s).  They also emphasize core subjects, global awareness, financial and economic literacy, civic literacy, health literacy, and information, media, and technology!  Most of us do this anyway, so it isn’t a big deal.  Compare this with what Texas is doing and you will be amazed and disgusted:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/texas-gop-rejects-critical-thinking-skills-really/2012/07/08/gJQAHNpFXW_blog.html?fb_ref=sm_btn_fb&fb_source=home_multiline

Spent the evening, after a dinner of Beer Can Chicken and salad, working on the computer.