Professional Development?

School starts on Monday. Today, Friday,was professional development day. It was divided into 2 parts. The am session was the highlight. A guest speaker was brought in. It was actually enjoyable and some of the things he talked about actually sounded good. His big thing is the "twelve important words". These are the words that can be found on tests that students should know but often do not. Words like describe, evaluate, explain, compare. Words that are given in the directions or in the question that tell the students what they are supposed to do. The problem is that many students don't understand the words and therefore do not answer the question correctly. It seemed to be good stuff.

Then there was a lunch break. At this point I don't really know any of the other teachers so I thought it best to bring my lunch. Most other teachers, I assume, went out to get food. I heated my left over chinese food in the lounge and the chowed down while watching CNN's coverage of Britney Spears meltdown. Wow! my life is exciting!

The after lunch session was held in the library. We were required to do a final check on grades for report cards. Now, here's the thing. I was not there last semester but I was still made responsible for making sure that the grades that were turned in for the teacher i replaced(who I never even met), were the same as those in the gradebook. I didn't so much mind doing, but I couldn't stop thinking that here we are on January 1st, dealing with grades from last semester. Shouldn't this have been done by now?

After that, we broke up into groups to work on pacing charts for the semester. This was also good. I found out who else was teaching my subject. and now I know who my neighbors are this semester. I actually talked to and was introduced to several other teachers today. I suppose that all in all it was a good day. I started the day alone, knowing next to no one. And by the end of the day, as I was leaving the building, two people told me to have a good weekend and a veteran teacher who shares my subject told me to come by anytime to borrow resources. I wouldn't go so far as to say that I made friends today but at least a few people know my name now. I think my new plan is just to introduce myself to one person every day. For now I'm focusing on getting ready for students on monday. Buddies and friends can wait a week or two. Man, how many days is it to spring break?