The Mother of All Meetings

Tomorrow after school, I head out to the west of the state for a thrilling, two day professional development conference with the entire staff. They are even putting us up in a hotel, no less! A cheap hotel, but still. While I'm looking forward to getting to know the other teachers better, I'm not looking forward to spending two days discussing assessment. I feel good about what I know about assessments and how I use them. If I have to sit through two days of meetings, I'd rather it be on a more fascinating topic, but I was not consulted on the matter. My interests are just too specific. Or maybe it's because I teach special ed., and everyone else is general ed. I've never had to work through an entire pile of paperwork to grade. I don't own a red pen. I don't even have the "gradebook" system installed on my computer like every one else.

When I (tactfully) inquired about the relevance of these meetings for me and my special ed. colleague, I was assured by the people in charge that no special breakout sessions were needed for us--that the general topic would be appropriate for us as well. If I find out they're wrong, they'll be getting some pointed looks, and some pointed yawns...

We shall see, my friends, we shall see!