Teacher Training

I will start with the latest on Sarah. She is scheduled to see a doctor from MD Anderson, a world class cancer hospital here in Houston. The doctor specializes in young women with breast cancer. Her appointment is in two weeks. In the meantime, they are testing the lump at their labs since it's common for other labs to make mistakes. We should get the lab results back in the next few days. They seem to think this is less urgent than the other doctors and they are the specialists. They are also saying they prefer to shrink the cancer and don't always recommend something as radical as a double masectomy. I will keep you posted.

Today I went to my second day of teacher training. This one seemed far more beneficial than the first one. The first one was for new HISD employees and at times felt like an HISD pep rally that no one really wanted to attend. They kept telling us what a good choice we had made. After about ten times, I started to think the over-reassurance could mean I'd made the wrong choice.

This training was for elementary school teachers new to the district. I was in a room with only fourth grade teachers and we were given a lot of information that will be helpful for setting up a classroom. I learned most of this in school but it's been four years and I certainly could use the refresher. I especially needed the part about classroom management. I am good at getting kids pumped up but not as good at calming them down.

During the lunch break, I decided to get food at the food court of Sharpstown Mall. I used to live in that part of town and remember going to that mall as a child. Apparently the area has changed a lot. It looked like most stores were either selling athletic shoes in colors I didn't even know existed or selling bling. For those of you without an adequate ghetto vocabulary- bling is flashy jewelry. There was a sweet silver Spam can-sized belt buckle featuring a bejeweled outline of the state of Louisiana. Now, that was hard to pass up. I am normally fairly unfazed by things going on around me but today I noticed all the young men looking me up and down. One guy said, "hey," and without thinking, I said, "hey" back. Big mistake. Then, he says, "Hey baby." And proceeds to look me up and down. I started walking quickly and luckily he continued on. This was not the best choice of lunch location but I survived.

After lunch I went to a room full of people trying to give me free stuff and get me to sign up for things. I came away with a lot of free candy and pens. Pretty sweet deal. I also signed up to win some free iPods but I think I will end up getting some annoying solicitation phone calls instead. I did win a laminated chart to assign classroom managers and a book about teaching Math. Too bad I will be teaching English.

I also noticed at the end of class that one of the guys in the room will also be teaching at my school. I didn't have time to say anything to him but I will definitely look for him at the next training. He seems fun and not too dorky, which is good. I'd like to have more male friends since mine keep getting married.