Keep Austin Weird!

One of the perks about working for my current principal is that he is very interested in obtaining professional development for his staff, and doesn't balk at travel. I just got back from a trip to Austin, Texas to attend a regional International Baccalaureate workshop. My school will be a candidate school for the IB program this year, which requires the entire staff to attend at least one "category one" training. There are local workshops, but none this summer, and traveling with co-workers allows for greater processing of the material presented and for closer knit relationships to form. I have to say, it feels amazing to work for a principal who treats us like other professionals who regularly travel to attend conferences, classes, and workshops aimed at making them better at what they do.  

I attended this workshop with two of my three new co-workers, and we all knew someone in the Austin area. As a result, we didn't have to worry about transportation to and from the airport or what to do in the evenings or on the first day of the workshop, which didn't begin until 4:00pm.

Diana and I in the hotel lobby

When Kate, my new partner teacher, and I arrived, my mom's cousin, Diana, picked us up from the airport, and we went to dinner with her. In talking about the amount of unscheduled time we had the following day, Kate and I decided we needed to go shopping for authentic cowboy boots. Diana was excited at the idea and volunteered to pick us up and take us shopping and do a little local sightseeing. That's how we ended up at Cavender's Boot City before they opened on Sunday morning. I ended up buying three pairs of boots, but luckily two weren't in stock in my size, and are being shipped to my house free of charge. Kate bought two pairs of boots, and in the mix we each ended up with a matching pair of red ankle boots. I can't wait until mine arrive!


Some of the many shelves in Cavender's

Kate & I next to Roundrock's namesake

The hotel was beautiful, and we felt very lucky to be staying there even though we had to ride school buses on a half hour commute to the workshop's location at Roundrock High School, a campus so big it feels like a small college. No kidding, there is an actual food court in their cafeteria, but it was dark and behind locked gates while we were there so the photos I took aren't worth posting.

Outdoor deck off the hotel bar



Kate and I were in the same workshop, Making the PYP Happen in the Classroom. PYP stands for Primary Years Programme, and is the 3 to 12 year old curriculum framework in the IB system. Our newly hired PYP coordinator, Meaghan, whose job will be to ensure our pre-K through fifth grade curricula follow the IB requirements, and our teachers have support in implementing the program as well as regular professional development opportunities, attended as well, but she was in a different workshop for coordinators. Kate and I had our heads stuffed full of IB acronyms and lists of lists that we will be required to weave into our teaching. This was my second category one workshop, so I was spared feeling utterly overwhelmed on the first day of class this time around. At the end of the workshop Meaghan told us that her workshop had advised against sending teachers to the particular workshop Kate and I were in until after they had taught a year in an IB classroom. Oops. But I think Kate and I weathered through and have lots of amazing ideas for how to go about beginning to implement this framework into our classrooms.  We are already making plans for the next classes we want to take at future workshops, and have told Meaghan that while we know other people on staff need to attend training, if she ever needs to fill up slots for workshops to please invite us to attend!

Although there's a lot to think about when planning to bring an international mindset and a focus on action and inquiry into my classroom, I think I'm ready to begin printing, cutting, laminating, and cutting for the new wall displays of IB attributes, attitudes, and key concepts, skills, and themes (see what I mean by lists of lists?) that will need to be posted in my room and taught to my students before our school can become an authorized IB school. I am very grateful that I'm not in this alone - my principal and PYP coordinator will be with us on this journey to ensure Kate and I can keep our heads above water and our feet dancing in our new cowboy boots.

If I can manage the time, I'd love to go back to Austin and spend more time there. I have heard about, but still haven't seen 6th Street, the bats, or even the naked bicycle guy.