Today as I drove to work I had a feeling that it was a magical day. The music on the radio paired with the birds in the air and the fog curtains opening up to me on the ground set the stage for a perfect day.
Yukiko, last year's Teacher in Residence, came at 8:30. She was very easy to relate to, and knew my questions before they were even all the way out of my mouth. I didn't even know how to word them, and she knew what I was looking for. She showed me where to find some of the key materials I needed. We went into full thinking mode the second she got there and I picked her brain all the way up till noon, when we were to be at the 33rd Avenue building for lunch to meet with the other TIR's and Erica. There I got to meet Lori, the first TIR, and Susan, the second. They were all easy to talk to and had the passion for science that I love to be around. Erica had great moderator skills, which is always a plus in a meeting because it moves when it should move and it pauses for discussion when appropriate, it has meaning and it's meaning is not that a 'meeting occurred', but that there is meaning in what occurred at the meeting.
Some of the things I learned were that there are only 2 EIE kits for the EIE units (except for 2, and one of those has 1 and the other has none). The EIE kits are one of the most important things I need to learn about. Yukiko had a suggestion that I use my district as a place to learn a kit. Since the ELP teacher shows some interest, she thinks I should help teach it so I can get familiar with one before I train anyone. This way she can get trained at the same time I'm learning, and my district wouldn't have to pay for the kit because I'd be learning on it. My district would be getting something out of me being in this position, and it is a win/win. (Tell me what you think....Jeanne and Erica).
I went home feeling like one of the luckiest people on earth...getting to work with such professional and wise people with such great purpose. It was a magical day, indeed. And when I got home my husband called from the country club. He'd gotten a hole in one!
