Meetings, etc.

I just got done with our weekly staff meeting. They are generally not under 2 and a half hours. I have been to some meetings that I thought were drawn out and stressful but these take the cup. I just don't feel like meetings have to be like that. Everyone's blood sugar is so low by the end and people are stressed and ooh...i don't enjoy them. I have an idea that we could do staff development in training to have more skills for those meetings. There are some people who seem to be resistant to change and not very receptive to criticism (not in theory, but in reality/action).

This morning was great. We had an activities meeting then a 7th and 8th grade class meeting, and then I went to the natural history museum with a group of 4 students. The afternoon I felt a little more tired. I read a chapter from a book to a student and then I helped another student build a coffin for her dead bunny.

I am a little stressed out to night cause the second packet is due in a week. I have been reading Alfie Kohn's Punished By Rewards and I think I will have a real good time writing a reflection paper on it because I worked at a school that was run on a behaviorist model so I have lots of experience to relate to the issues the book relates to.

I am also a little stressed out cause I interviewed for a job as an after-school educator at the natural history museum. In the interview I was asked to design a unit outline and a specific lesson plan which I will implement with the children on a trial run to "try out" for the job. It seems like a great opportunity, especially since I need practice in designing lessons and units. The program is designed around hands on, integrated education that utilizes the resources of the museum. I design week long to month or two month long units that the children choose from. I would be paid for one hour of lesson planning time and one hour of teaching time, four days a week. So yea, I am stressed in finding the time to create an impressive lesson plan.

I got three recommendation letters from past bosses and parents which are always rewarding and fun to read over.