Today was the last day of a successful intersession. Looks like attendance was pretty good. And from what I observed during my visits to rooms, it looked like kids were highly engaged in learning! A huge thank you to the teachers for making intersession a success. And how about a thank you to me for organizing it :) Now I just have to write up the reports so we can get the money to pay for it :(

I'm totally shocked that we don't have to do clock hours anymore! I can't believe it. In fact I didn't believe it until I read the official letter on the CCTC website. It is a pain keeping track of all the professional development stuff, making sure everything is approved, getting intials and signatures from the advisor. Pain. It's going to be nice not having to worry about it anymore. I just cleared my admin credential so I was kind of freaking out about how I was going to maintain my teaching credential and admin credential...so now I don't have to worry about it. I just have to pay twice. Good deal. I guess. Too bad the state doesn't offer discounts if you have more than one credential, you know sort of how insurance companies give you a little bit of a break if you insure more than one car. I guess there are more important things to worry about than paying to renew two credentials. You know, like will Britney's children grow up to resent her for dumping K-Fed, will Lindsay Lohan stay sober, will Brad and Angelina ever marry, are Pam Anderson and Tommy Lee getting back together...the important stuff.

So much for the tranquility of intersession. Apparently there was a fight in the boys' restroom today at recess. Of course it had to happen on the day I didn't go out to duty. Guess where I'll be tomorrow at recess?

I totally forgot to write about the Columbia writing training that happened at school last week. The trainer was amazing. I loved watching her teach in the classrooms. She made everything seem so easy. Her mini lessons were focused, well-paced, and jam packed with teaching. Her conferences were also well focused and targeted to teaching the writer a skill they'll be able to use forever, not just something to fix the piece of writing they were working on at the moment. There is so much to learn and remember. As I watched her teach her mini lesson with the fourth graders, I was reminded how much I loved teaching writing with my own fourth grade class. I kind of miss that. I can't believe this is my fifth year out of the classroom. Yikes, time flies. I really got to know my kids well because of the one on one time we spent together conferring. And when I took their notebooks home, I again learned a lot about them as writers and as individuals. I guess I really miss having my own group of 35 kids to take care of. **sigh**

Ahhhhh, the tranquility of intersession. Oh to only have 150ish kids at school on a regular basis. That would be so fantastic or would it? Now watch, tomorrow something really bad will happen at school to mess with my bliss. :( There are definitely advantages to small schools, specifically really knowing the kids and their families. There are disadvantages too, namely not as much extra money to provide interventions, training, materials, support staff, etc.

Believe it or not I actually took two days off! And on both of those days I did absolutely no work related to school. **pats himself on back** Yesterday a friend and I drove down to San Diego to spend the day. We went to the Fashion Valley Mall (I think it's my favorite mall) and then to Old Town so I could buy coffee from the very cool San Diego Coffee House (love that place). I love San Diego. I wouldn't mind living down there. Definitely. If I did move down there, there's no way in hell I would ever become a Padres fan. No way.