It has been two weeks since I posted. And it has been a very busy two weeks. I wish I could say that I have been out partying, trying out new endeavors and having fun, but sadly no….. As we have begun getting ready for the new year the counselors have come back to begin making changes on the master schedule and getting ready for the kids to come back. Starting on the 12th of August, I have been working till 7:30 or 8:00 pm each night trying to get things ready for the new teachers coming in as well as our returning teachers and students. I also put together a New Teacher Workday on August 14th for the new teachers coming into North - we have 12 and two long term subs. This is the first time in about 6 years that North has had this many new teachers. While it is exciting it is scary because we are using every room in the school and we literally do not have enough desks or chairs for all the students. LOL!!! One more challenge!
On August 15th we had out District Leadership Day where all the administrators in the district meet together for one day of professional development. Since we have a new superintendent and new chief academic officers then it was somewhat of a stressful event at the same time as being fun. It was more of a get to know you day than a learning day. We started the day with getting to know people at the table and then expanded to the rest of the group doing activities that were icebreakers as well. We were provided lunch and had a chance to eat with our admin teams from the sites before proceeding the afternoon's activities. The afternoon included more teamwork and bike building for the students of RUSD. The team built 54 bikes to be given to students in RUSD. It was a good thing there were not a lot of parts to the bikes and it was really just attaching a few things with nuts and a few bolts. The kids showed up to pick up their bikes and it is safe to say, none of them fell apart as they left with their bikes - YEAH for our team!!!!!!!
I worked on the weekend with the guidance counselors to balance classes and to work on the Middle Years Project with Rich and Christy on Saturday. It was a very long and tiring day but at least we were in a great position for Monday since that was schedule pick up day for seniors and juniors. On Sunday I got somewhat caught up around the apartment trying to get laundry done to be ready for the official start of school. Monday was busy, busy, busy at school with two grade levels picking up schedules and having the guidance counselors complete schedule corrections. This process continued for sophomores and freshman as well during the week. I did not get home much before 9:00 on any of the evenings this past week.
On Saturday, the guidance counselors and I met at 8:00 to begin work on balancing classes to make sure teachers had the smallest possible class size they could for the start of school. I also did two Chromebook Cart trainings to make sure that teachers are able to check out the Chromebooks in the next few weeks also. Overall, it has just been a busy few weeks and I have not had a lot of time to myself or to be at home of which Squeak is being sure she let's me know.
Probably not the most exciting post but that is the reality of what is going on in my world right now.
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Monday, August 11, 2014
1 Year Anniversary
Hello Everyone,
Well it has officially been one year tonight since I started living in California. The past year has been exciting and a little scary as I embarked on an adventure of which had many strangers in my future who have turned out to be very close friends. Over the past year I have grown as an individual professionally. I started as an Assistant Principal with one set up duties of which I learned and became relatively proficient at to change to another job this year with a new set of duties and responsibilities. When I think back over it in the last five years, I have changed jobs three times and each time had the chance to increase my knowledge base and apply my talents in a variety of ways. In the past two years I have changed jobs from one in SC to one in CA and have had to learn three different jobs. I think this year may be my most challenging year with the increase in responsibilities. I am looking forward to the new challenge as it prepares me for whatever lies ahead. Change does not bother me, it is part of life and many times I am influencing the change that is going on and pushing others to move forward.
Cute little Squeak joined me in CA in November and has been a constant companion and friend. She lays down with me at night, is there when I get up as my alarm clock, welcomes me home and sits with me wherever I am. She is being a little demanding right now, always wanting to sit on me or with me making it difficult to get things done when I am home. I am not sure if it is because she is getting older or more needy. I feel bad leaving her sometimes when she cries in the morning and follows me around the apartment. However, she does not want a friend. I tried that with Megan's cat Gizmo and therefore it did not work - she wants to be a only kitty!
I have made some fabulous friends though professional relationships. I have gotten to know my Assistant Principals in the district well and enjoy all the gifts they bring to the table to share with each other. They have been accessible and open with information so we can each help one another as we develop as Assistant Principal's. I have some great friends personally as well that I have bonded with and spent time with over the past year.
I have also finished all of my research for my doctorate and have been awarded a one year extension for the writing portion. I have been working on a regular basis but not moving forward as quickly as I would like, but mainly because I don't like writing and it seems like any time I write anything down, it has to be changed four times and goes back to the original at times.
While I love California, the weather, the activity, my job, my apartment and my friends, the last 6 weeks have been difficult. I am staying positive but I will say that in the last 6 weeks there has been more changes in my life completely outside of my control than I ever thought would be possible and they have been quite challenging for me. I am hoping to ride out these changes and have things settle down and the sooner the better, however, again, much of it is dependent on other's decisions.
Sorry for the shortness and the brevity of this post. It seems like for the one year anniversary I should have more details and information but to tell you the truth I have been so busy at work with new job responsibilities and the new year getting ready to start, getting up to try and get a workout in before work and with the PhD writing, I have not had a lot of time to blog.
Well it has officially been one year tonight since I started living in California. The past year has been exciting and a little scary as I embarked on an adventure of which had many strangers in my future who have turned out to be very close friends. Over the past year I have grown as an individual professionally. I started as an Assistant Principal with one set up duties of which I learned and became relatively proficient at to change to another job this year with a new set of duties and responsibilities. When I think back over it in the last five years, I have changed jobs three times and each time had the chance to increase my knowledge base and apply my talents in a variety of ways. In the past two years I have changed jobs from one in SC to one in CA and have had to learn three different jobs. I think this year may be my most challenging year with the increase in responsibilities. I am looking forward to the new challenge as it prepares me for whatever lies ahead. Change does not bother me, it is part of life and many times I am influencing the change that is going on and pushing others to move forward.
Cute little Squeak joined me in CA in November and has been a constant companion and friend. She lays down with me at night, is there when I get up as my alarm clock, welcomes me home and sits with me wherever I am. She is being a little demanding right now, always wanting to sit on me or with me making it difficult to get things done when I am home. I am not sure if it is because she is getting older or more needy. I feel bad leaving her sometimes when she cries in the morning and follows me around the apartment. However, she does not want a friend. I tried that with Megan's cat Gizmo and therefore it did not work - she wants to be a only kitty!
I have made some fabulous friends though professional relationships. I have gotten to know my Assistant Principals in the district well and enjoy all the gifts they bring to the table to share with each other. They have been accessible and open with information so we can each help one another as we develop as Assistant Principal's. I have some great friends personally as well that I have bonded with and spent time with over the past year.
I have also finished all of my research for my doctorate and have been awarded a one year extension for the writing portion. I have been working on a regular basis but not moving forward as quickly as I would like, but mainly because I don't like writing and it seems like any time I write anything down, it has to be changed four times and goes back to the original at times.
While I love California, the weather, the activity, my job, my apartment and my friends, the last 6 weeks have been difficult. I am staying positive but I will say that in the last 6 weeks there has been more changes in my life completely outside of my control than I ever thought would be possible and they have been quite challenging for me. I am hoping to ride out these changes and have things settle down and the sooner the better, however, again, much of it is dependent on other's decisions.
Sorry for the shortness and the brevity of this post. It seems like for the one year anniversary I should have more details and information but to tell you the truth I have been so busy at work with new job responsibilities and the new year getting ready to start, getting up to try and get a workout in before work and with the PhD writing, I have not had a lot of time to blog.
Sunday, August 3, 2014
AVID
This week has been busy and I am very tired as I type this so it will most likely be short. Monday started out well at work with interviews for a Spanish position. We found a girl we absolutely loved out of the four interviews we conducted. However, when the district offered her the job, she said that she wanted to wait until the end of the week to accept but they only gave her till Wednesday. I am thinking that she has other interviews this week and just needs some time to find out and make a choice of where she wants to go. Our second and third choices would be fine as well, but the first one has the personality we would like to have. :) The rest of Monday was spent trying to get a few things done like the invoices, working on getting summer school cleaned up and finished as well as some documents like the calendar done. We had an admin meeting at 9:00 am that took some time and discussion as well. Monday night we welcomed our new assistant principal to the school Diana Ochoa. She is very nice and I really like her. I think she will fit in well with our team.
Tuesday was productive….. One of the teacher came in and we planned for the Credit Recover class we will be offering this Fall and Spring. We identified the requirements for students to go into the class and we created a brochure for parents and students to understand the requirements and what will be happening in the class. The morning was productive. However, then we hit interviews for the Special Education position and needless to say, these did not go as well. The first interview did not show up and called to say that he was going back to school and therefore had an interview today for his master's program and therefore would need last period planning to be able to work for us and therefore he did not think he would be hired or could work it out. The second interview really did not meet our needs as far as personality. Then the third and fourth interview did not show up….REALLY!!! No show, no call - how rude and odd!!! I can't say this has EVER happened to me before. Most of the time people call or show. The afternoon was filled with a few phone calls to get things done, responding to emails and getting reports finished. I got home and had to finish packing to go to San Diego for the AVID conference Wed - Friday. While I really want to go to AVID. I truly have so much to do and I really need to be at work since school starts in a month.
Wednesday morning was the start of the AVID conference and we had fun and I learned a lot. Megan was back from Washington for the event and she "snuck" into the same strand I was in. As you guys know, I follow the rules, so I was not sneaking into any other event. My luck is that I always get caught and get kicked out. or asked to leave.
I know that the program Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) is a fabulous program and something that all students, especially schools who have first time college goers, struggling learners and high poverty, need to do but I was very impressed with the conference and how it was set up. I was in the Advancing Leadership strand and we discussed how to evaluate AVID at our sites, what to look for and how to maintain AVID. The best part was having time with our Site Teams to plan out the AVID goals for this upcoming year and getting to know everyone and the wonderful food places that we tried. On Thursday, the site team when to eat together at Old Town to a place called the Coyote Cafe. The food was excellent.
Victor, Jenny, Megan and I did go and eat together on Wednesday night. We ended up for dessert at a place called Extraordinary Desserts, needless to say it was delicious!!!
Friday afternoon Megan and I dropped my car off at the Park N Fly and Victor and Jenny drove us to my apartment. Megan and I got into her car after I briefly re-arranged some items and took off to Washington to take her car to her new home. We stopped in Pasadena to eat dinner with her good friend Chris and then continued on the way till about 2:00 am in the morning when we stopped to sleep at Residence Inn. Now, let me tell you that I don't normally drink a lot of carbonated drinks. However, for this drive I needed the caffeine. I really am not fond of this "Name on your Coke" thing right now, mainly because no one is going to put the name Leann on any drink! So in honor of my friends, these are the two cokes that I found.
We were up and going by 9:00 am the next morning and made it to Washington by 8:28 pm. The drive was very pretty. It reminds me a lot of driving through Greenville, SC and Asheville, North Carolina. The main difference is most of the trees are evergreens but the short weeds / plants / wildflowers and such remind me of the east coast up this way. We made pretty good time, of course, for anyone who has ever ridden with me on the Interstate, you know that we make good time. Hee Hee Hee
So the plans for the rest of the weekend is to see my good friend Sarah Abel today, Sunday, who moved here for a residency in Nuclear Pharmacy. She moved in June and I am so excited to see her today!!! While she is 17 hours from me on the coast, it is still on the same coast!!! I am working on getting some things caught up while I am here and have some time to just sit and decompress. I will be back in Sol Cal on Monday night!!! Ready to TAME the Master Schedule Beast on Tuesday and Wednesday because it has to be locked in on Wednesday night!!!!
Tuesday was productive….. One of the teacher came in and we planned for the Credit Recover class we will be offering this Fall and Spring. We identified the requirements for students to go into the class and we created a brochure for parents and students to understand the requirements and what will be happening in the class. The morning was productive. However, then we hit interviews for the Special Education position and needless to say, these did not go as well. The first interview did not show up and called to say that he was going back to school and therefore had an interview today for his master's program and therefore would need last period planning to be able to work for us and therefore he did not think he would be hired or could work it out. The second interview really did not meet our needs as far as personality. Then the third and fourth interview did not show up….REALLY!!! No show, no call - how rude and odd!!! I can't say this has EVER happened to me before. Most of the time people call or show. The afternoon was filled with a few phone calls to get things done, responding to emails and getting reports finished. I got home and had to finish packing to go to San Diego for the AVID conference Wed - Friday. While I really want to go to AVID. I truly have so much to do and I really need to be at work since school starts in a month.
Wednesday morning was the start of the AVID conference and we had fun and I learned a lot. Megan was back from Washington for the event and she "snuck" into the same strand I was in. As you guys know, I follow the rules, so I was not sneaking into any other event. My luck is that I always get caught and get kicked out. or asked to leave.
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| Megan and I at AVID |
Victor, Jenny, Megan and I did go and eat together on Wednesday night. We ended up for dessert at a place called Extraordinary Desserts, needless to say it was delicious!!!
Friday afternoon Megan and I dropped my car off at the Park N Fly and Victor and Jenny drove us to my apartment. Megan and I got into her car after I briefly re-arranged some items and took off to Washington to take her car to her new home. We stopped in Pasadena to eat dinner with her good friend Chris and then continued on the way till about 2:00 am in the morning when we stopped to sleep at Residence Inn. Now, let me tell you that I don't normally drink a lot of carbonated drinks. However, for this drive I needed the caffeine. I really am not fond of this "Name on your Coke" thing right now, mainly because no one is going to put the name Leann on any drink! So in honor of my friends, these are the two cokes that I found.
We were up and going by 9:00 am the next morning and made it to Washington by 8:28 pm. The drive was very pretty. It reminds me a lot of driving through Greenville, SC and Asheville, North Carolina. The main difference is most of the trees are evergreens but the short weeds / plants / wildflowers and such remind me of the east coast up this way. We made pretty good time, of course, for anyone who has ever ridden with me on the Interstate, you know that we make good time. Hee Hee Hee
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| Looks a little like the East Coast |
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