Today was a truly life-changing experience as I embarked upon the campus of Anaheim High School for an AUHSD educational summit. Never beyond my wildest imagination could I imagine such a marvelous overlapping amount of events back to back.
First, some inspirational messages from our keynote speaker. With of course beautiful inspirational messages such as “life is beautiful” and “you can if you think you can” printed on cards given out to us, who wouldn’t be inspired?
Then, seeing as I’m kind of in a mid-life crisis when it comes to being in a department, I opted to follow friends to 2 sessions. Photovoice, which provided a great opportunity for me to practice having students examining photos in class. The speaker Jeff Kim gave great advice – that if you don’t use something from professional development within 72 hours, you probably won’t use it. I doubt I will be able to implement said strategy… maybe in the future when I’m back to my own classroom. So… 3 years from now?
Then, some pilates and meditation, which gave me some delicious moments to break free from the stresses of everyday teaching.
Then, a science session where we got to look at other school’s performance tasks. I bonded with another Vietnamese teacher at Ball Junior high over being Asian.
Then, some lunch. I rushed quickly to the lunch line, much like the 7th graders, and was near the front of the line (to avoid having to wait 60 minutes like other poor souls). The burger was overpriced but good enough.
Finally, a beautiful ending session where we got to see opportunities and seize chances for recording student voice and reflection on 5 C’s through an audio app. Not before another amazing message from our keynote speaker to close off a wonderful day of learning.
I can’t wait for more beautiful opportunities in the future to learn.
