Week 5 or week 6

How did this week’s coaching / observations go? Share stories / examples / wonders / questions / successes / challenges from the week.

I'm having trouble keeping the weeks straight. I think it's because I started writing the blog entries too early. Oh, well. No matter.
You can never have too much reflection.

This was a short week. Three days with students, two professional development days. I participated in a NMSI training over the summer (National Math and Science Initiative), therefore, I earned three days off during the year. My first day off will be this Friday. I'm traveling to NYC to visit my niece. Fun times!

The first PD day was today, Thursday, October 5. As a tech coach, I wasn't sure what I would be doing today. We have our own campus police/security department, and the chief asked me if I could train his staff how to use Google Docs, Forms, Sheets, Mail, and Hangouts. The rest of the staff was assigned training sessions with various visitors/trainers/staff members, so I really had no "assignment," so to speak. Of course, I said, "Yes!'

I planned a 30 slide presentation, and the four main officers showed up promptly, donuts in hand, at 8:00. I was thrilled they trusted me to train them. I had coffee, snacks, etc... set up for them, and we got started. They were ornery, to say the least!
One of the main issues was teaching them the difference between using the school google account and their own personal google account. Once we got that settled, the rest of the training went well. I made them create and share documents, and I asked them to manipulate forms, create sheets, and add items to calendar. Chief wanted to learn about Google +, so I showed them our DLP groups, and posted the pictures, below, as an example of how to interact with the site. They loved it all!

Google Police!

Practicing Forms

"Thinking"

They were with me until 12:30. We laughed and learned all sorts of things. It was an amazing experience for me, because we never get to "talk" to the officers. We see them in a different role during the day, protecting our students, keeping the order. Today, they needed me, and it felt nice! They appreciated me, and that also felt nice. A very rewarding training session!! They "booked" me for the winter ins-service dates already!

The rest of the day was filled with blogging, Google+, Hangouts, catching up with paperwork, and so on. All in all a productive day!

What's going well? Great conversation with Dee. Great conversations with Marc Berry. Great ideas flying around the middle school!

What's challenging? Getting it all done! LOL I think I work harder now than I ever did before, if that's possible. I feel like my thinking wheels are turning all day long! I'm constantly thinking of ways to help teachers, constantly looking for new ideas, looking for answers to their questions, or anticipating their needs. That's all good, BTW. It is, however, EXHAUSTING! haha

Next week is Parent/Conference Day. We hold conferences from noon until 7:30 at night. I'm using that time to meet parents, pass out the parent flyer shared with us, and pop in for meetings with teachers as time permits. Not all time slots are filled by each teacher throughout the day, so I will have ample opportunities to have meetings with teachers.
The main thing to remember, don't take yourself too seriously! :)