Welcome to Organization Day

A. Domain: III Professional Development
Time Spent: 8am-3:00pm
Order of Events:
8:00 Meet Cooperating Teacher
8:15 Meetings at the high school for all buildings
10:00 Intermediate (Grades 3-5)
Benchmarks for Science (LD, ED, MiMH)
10:30 Stop by District Office
10:45 Back to our elementary
Work in Room
Intro to Staff and curriculum
11:30 Out to lunch with all of staff
1:15 Our own school meetings, headed by the principal
3:00 Dismissal

B. Elaboration of significant episode:

Back to school already is here.
Waking up early is hard I fear.
Meetings all day, what a start.
Dig out the bags and folder cart.
Waiting 'til Monday to meet those kids.
I guess that is when all the real fun starts.

Summer is over and gone and back to school it is. This morning I met my teacher for the first time. She is young and seems like she will be great to work with. It was quickly off to the high school for our teacher meetings, one of many I presume. All the staff at all the schools had gathered together for our motivational speech. The speaker, Mamie McCullogh was hilarious. She was so positive and encouraging, a great way to start the year.

Here are some quotes from today's meetings:

Work is a blessing, not a punishment.

It's not where you start, but where you finish.

It's what you do with what is given to you.

Be better than you were yesterday.

Hurt never leaves you where it finds you.

Life is too short to gripe, grumble, and complain.

Fake it until you make it.

Today is the first day of the rest of your life.

There is power in WE! We need each other.

Inspire others to greatness

Teachers can encourage success.

Instead of "Why me?" Say "Why not me?"

Attititude makes a difference.

Maxamize your influence. Everyone can learn and do it.

When someone asks how you are. Respond by saying "I am supergood, but I'll get better."

Be proactive and respond by: YES. Yes, my students can learn. Yes, we can have positive relationships. Yes, we can make a difference.
Y: You E: Encourage/Educate S: Success

Don't accept "Yes, but..." or "WHYners"...Only believe.

God always has steps for you to take. If you don't think you can get there just...Start.

The main benchmark of today's focus was: "If it is to BE, it is up to ME!"

C. Analysis of Episode:

What a powerful message for the first day of school. This school district has make a tremendous impact just by their meetings on the first day. In our whole district meeting and in our individual school meeting, we opened in prayer. This shocked me, that a public school district would pray. It is great to see schools with their first priority as prayer. Not only was I impressed with the prayer, but also by their motivational speaker. She had such a positive vibrant energy about her. Everything that she said was so good to hear, especially at the beginning of the year. This district seems to have a major focus on positive attitude and inspiring learning in everyone. What an exciting day. It was just wonderful to meet my cooperating teacher and others in my school. I am still nervous because it only gets harder from here. There will be a lot to learn and adjust to throughout this semester. I am excited for what God has in store for this semester!

Psalm 32:8 The Lord says, "I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you."