Friday CATE day...

I woke up and didn't get on the road until 8:10am. That's sorta late considering the first session started at 9:00am and traveling a mere 37 miles at rush hour in LA is a feat in and of itself. Nevertheless, I arrived only about 15 minutes late to the first session. The session was about utilizing intertextuality when teaching texts. We did some fun hands on activities in which a short excerpt from "Life of Pi" was read, the teacher had us break into groups. We then were given a "thing" to work with to describe the grief the character experienced in the story. "Things" that were given out: playdough, a piece of art, an interior design book (choose the room which would help the character get through grief), a bendable figurine, shape blocks. It was quite creative. I liked it!

The next session was about preparing students for high stakes writing tests. Basically, we broke down the difference between the on demand writing tests and the essays kids get a chance to prepare for. We analyzed the differences and it became quite apparent that timed, on the fly, writing exams do almost nothing to benefit the students. Thank you NCLB and that guy that runs this country.

Thank goodness it was time for the lunch banquet, but not before I went through the booths and got lots of freebies. I will be writing a thank you note to the VP who payed for me to come. Every meal is covered, Disneyland, everything except the hotel in which my mentor is letting me share her room; she too will have a thank you coming her way. Lunch was tasty; white rice, salmon, salad, and a fruit tart for dessert. The keynote speaker was Orson Scott Card, author of "Ender's Game", amongst many others. I have not yet read his books but if he writes as well and entertaining as he speaks, I'm 'game' for a read. He is a phenomenal, energetic and animated speaker.

After lunch I went to a new teacher reception in which I was given Jim Burke's newest book of letters to teachers as well as ten novels of my choice. That rocks!! My kidsd need books to read! There were snacks and drinks and such, but I am pretty full from lunch. Oh yeah, during lunch I was also given an invite to the President's banquet tomorrow. It's at the same time as another banquet so I have to figure out what I should do. :) I am happy to have options!

Now I'm in my room for a quick rest. I just walked a long way in cute pumps to my car to grab my overnight bag. I came to the realization this morning that this carry-on is far too small to take to Europe for 2 weeks. I need to rethink this whole packing thing...but I digress for now. I am going to log off, change clothes and go wait for the DISNEYLAND shuttle. I'm actually sorta excited! I haven't been in 9 or 10 years. The sad thing is I have no friends or people here to go with, so I'll be making a friend to follow around while on the shuttle. :) There are other teachers from my school here but they aren't staying. I don't feel I've connected with them yet; I need to work on this. It's just a challenge when we rarely see eachother at school; and when we do it's for 20 minutes at lunch and they are all friends already so it's taking some time to break in. Maybe they're still trying to figure me out. I've heard teachers tell me that their first year they really didn't know or click with anyone.

I'm off now. Looking out the hotel window I can see The Matterhorn in the distance. WHOOOOEEEEOOEOEOEOE fun ride. Can't wait! Oh, yeah, and we have a special section roped off for the parade because one of our invited speakers is a Mr. Rodriguez who designs floats for the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena.

More reports to come...