Today was travel day! I’m in Austin after only about half a day of travel and roughly half a month of writing four days of sub plans. If you teach, you get it.  Really though, I’m fortunate to have procured a fabulous sub, and the same one for the whole week!  Also, my team is amazingly supportive.  The kids will be fine!

Tangent: My kids this year are a stellar group.  Somehow I’ve taught for over a decade, and when it clicks-when the group’s individual personalities fit together cohesively- you feel it!  I don’t take it for granted when the “class family” culture feels like more of the “Yay, we have friends to play with in the car on this road trip” moments, and less of the “He crossed to my side over the invisible line; but her shoe touched my pillow; don’t MAKE me turn this car AROUND” moments. My incredible class requested I bring them back something from this trip to Texas.  This made me nervous.  And yet, their number one request?  PEN PALS.  Seriously, these kids are amazing.  So now I have a new goal for the next few days.  Scout out a possible pen pal class. Without scaring anyone.

Austin (after exploring for only one afternoon) seems a fun city-and the hotel we’re staying in- the historic Driskill Hotel downtown- is charming, unique, and definitely an experience.  I’m enjoying learning interesting facts about the hotel’s story-and the city’s history.

Today I was PROACTIVE, and after downloading the conference’s handy-dandy app on my phone, rehearsed my walk to the conference location (just a few blocks away).  The weather forecast is a sunny, balmy few days in the 70s and maybe 80s, so… that helps. 🙂 Tomorrow is an optional add-on day to the STAND conference.  I opted IN of course!  While I’d like to say I have a fairly comprehensive understanding of the 7 Habits, my reasoning for registering for the Day 1 Habits Training is:

a) a refresher course- good to update the mental files and get fresh perspective.

b)(not-so) secret spy opportunity to gather effective training/implementation ideas for sharing/teaching in our own school and community.

Excited for tomorrow, and looking forward to a good night of sleep before heading to Day 1 early in the morning!