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**