Today was one of those days that makes me want to quit. I was not liking my job today at all.

I'll be so glad when tomorrow is over. No more culture training. It's the last session. Finally.

My favorite speaker at the Reading First Summit was Dr. Maria Elena Arguelles. She was great. The title of her talk was "Vocabulary Instruction for ALL Learners." Let me share some of her vocabulary instruction wisdom:

Rich Vocabulary Instruction

• Actively involve students
• Help students make connections to self (activate prior knowledge)
• Encourage deep processing (suggest ways to apply the word)
• Provide multiple exposures and practice over time (have students repeat the word several times)
• Have students create sentences (answer 3 or 4 of these: what, where, when, how, who, why)
• Discuss the difference between new and related words
• Use more than one new word in a sentence
• Discuss the meaning of the same word in different sentences

Friday was definitely a crazy ugly day. Nonstop madness. Naughty kids. Tagging on the front of the school. Tagging in the bathroom. And of course just the normal stuff that needed to get done. Definitely a day to forget!

Thursday's Reading First Convention actually wasn't a convention at all, but a "summit." It was held at the Terrace Theater. I tried to check in, but according to their paperwork I wasn't registered. For a brief moment I thought **cool, I'm outta here!!!** Of course I didn't leave. The people at the table unceremonisously took the "summit" handouts away from me. **Oh no, you can't have those materials, you're not registered - how dare you try to crash our summit!!!** I was sent to the "Solutions Table." Oh yes, that's right, the "Solutions Table." At the "Solutions Table" I had to fill out a bunch of papers and then I received a card with a number on it. I guess the number indicated my spot "in line" to get any left over handouts. I think I was number 34. I slinked away from the table, thinking everyone was looking at me, pointing and whispering "OMG, he's not registered, how sad." I met up with another principal, drank some coffee, whined a little bit about not being registered. Sherrie and Shirley found us, I whined a little more to them. They immediately offered me their handouts. I graciously refused to take their handouts. I suggested they could "summarize" them for me at a later date. Then it's off to the theater. Six hours. Three speakers. The last speaker was great. Her talk was about vocabulary. Specifically, teaching vocabulary to English language learners. Not only do we have to teach the word and the definition, but we also have to make sure we give kids lots of opportunities to hear and use the newly learned words in context. I'll share some of her wisdom in future posts. It turns out that I was registered. Lisa registered me under the name Garcia-Whittier. I guess that confused the "Summit" staff. From what I hear, Lisa raised a HUGE stink about me not getting my materials and name badge. I'm so sad I missed that scene. It must have been great! Lisa S. is my hero! The moral of the story, "Don't f*$k with Lisa S!!!"

First, let me just say that yesterday I did my twice (sometimes three times) weekly check of everyone's blogs. I'm totally blown away by the quality of the writing and the incredible reflections that are being shared. I wish I could put everyone's blog reflections in a book. It's great stuff! Thank you.

I'm happy to report that I wasn't the only principal sans tie at this morning's principals' meeting! However, I did notice two principals wearing suits. Whatever. I personally can't imagine walking around school all day in a suit. I am going to have to wear a suit tomorrow. I'm going to the Reading First Summit/Convention. **begins to cry uncontrollably** I'm sure it will be a day filled with information that I can bring back to school that will cause us to gain at least 50 API points. I found out at this morning's meeting that we didn't qualify for the STAR Award. **again cries uncontrollably** I'd be lying if I didn't say I was completely disappointed. I know how hard everyone has been working. Awards or no awards, I know that we are doing a great job for our kids.

I guess tomorrow I will report on all the wild and crazy happenings at the Reading First Convention. What happens at the RF Convention will most definitely not stay at the RF Convention. I'll be naming names. But now that I think about it, the boss will be there too. So probably everyone will be on their best behavior. Damn.

So far I have two potential dance partners :) Yeah for me! I love being silly. I wish I could be more silly more of the time. I've been told that principals are supposed to be serious. Principals are supposed to dress a certain way. I think I'm the only principal who doesn't wear a tie. This is very noticeable when I'm at the principals' meetings. When I do wear a tie, some of my colleagues tease me...but they do it in a nice way. It's actually kind of funny. Ties are uncomfortable. I'm not a big fan of ties. At least I don't smell. I think I don't smell. That should count for something. Right? When I was in the classroom, I loved making my kids laugh. I loved doing fun things for and with them. It built such a great community. I think I was a fun teacher. Hopefully I taught the kids a few things too. It probably wasn't math, LOL! Sometimes I really really really miss having my own set of 35 kids to mess with! :)

I just finished watching Mad Hot Ballroom for the billionth time. I absolutely love that movie! It's just amazing to watch these kids, some of whom are poor inner city kids like mine, learn to dance and love it. The dance teachers did more than just teach the kids to dance, they inspired the kids, they gave them confidence, and they taught them that they could achieve and succeed. I love that! I'm so not a dancer, but now I even want to learn how to dance...go figure. Teachers have such amazing power to make a postive difference in the lives of kids. I see it everyday...even on the busiest, craziest days. It's amazing what a smile can do for a kid's confidence or just taking ten seconds to listen to a kid tell you about what happened to their pet hamster the night before. So who wants to dance with me?

All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think, we become.
Buddha

Twice this week my office window has been egged. Hmmm, wonder if it was a kid or a teacher??? Or maybe someone in the office. Let me think...who did I really piss off this week...hmmmmm. I really would like to catch the f*#ker.

I got a lot accomplished today. Worked on the tutoring stuff. Hopefully I'll finish tomorrow. Finished our board for the Education Celebration. I'm so glad that it's done! Got caught up with all the evaluation stuff. It's great to finish a task, but there are four or five more jobs waiting to get done. It's like the magician who keeps pulling the scarf out of his mouth...it just keeps coming and coming and coming and coming out of his mouth.

Another one of my "resolutions" was to keep my political/non-education type opinions that might offend/piss people off to myself. Ooops. Screwed that one up too. Twice. I need to learn to keep my mouth shut. Guess I just feel too comfortable around everyone. Or maybe I just like pissing people off. Hmmmm, wonder which one it is.

If you care, which you probably don't, but I do so I'm going to continue, thank you...one of my "resolutions" this year was to eat "less" carbs...well, I just ate half a bag of "NEW! Pita Thins TOASTED Chips." Well, guess I fu*%ed up that "resolution." But DAYUM, they were good! Oh, I ate the other half of the bag yesterday. :)

Yikes! Can't believe over two weeks have gone by without me posting something. It's not like I don't have anything to say. I usually have a lot to say. Not sure if anyone wants to listen though. It's weird being back on track. It was a very quiet first day back for the most part. I think mostly because a third of the kids still think they're on vacation. The last five weeks FLEW by. Unbelievable. We had a very successful intersession, IMO. I'm totally happy about that! I got a lot of work done (but there's always more to get done). I managed to take a whole week off and only come in one day, actually a few hours. Not bad. **pats himself on head** I think I managed to have breakfast and/or lunch with every single one of my friends during that week. Many thanks to those two people!! So sad news. We're losing one of our best teachers to another school. I'm really going to miss her. I'm happy for her, because I know this is something she really wants to do. I just hope the LTS we hired can handle that class. **he says biting his finger nails** I hope you all have a wonderful 2007. I've made a couple resolutions this year, which I normally don't do. I'll share them with you the next time I post. I'll give you a preview...one of them is to post more often.