Hi all! I wonder if I will survive! We are neck deep in FCAT practice here in Baker County. I am feeling overwhelmed. I am looking at my data, with an eyeball on the abstract due date. :) I plan to meet with my co-inquirer Kathy to go through the protocol. It should be a great meeting!

later,

Sherri

Happy New Year! I don't know about you all, but I am tired. The students returned today, and we are really working on our FCAT skills. After several weeks off,I do need to refocus on my inquiry. Thanks for the heads-up! I am anxious about how things are going for my inquirers. Several dropped out due to being overwhelmed...other things coming first. I was so disappointed at first, but now I am staying positive and focusing on the ones I have left. There are three of us now.

I am excited about our upcoming meeting, and the planning for our next showcase. See you all there!

Hi everyone! I am at home watching Deal or No Deal and I just remembered that I rec'd my contract papers today. I was reading it and it says will pay $200 to someone I do not know (sorry I can't remember the name) but it did say two payments of $200 to someone I have never heard of. I thought it would say it would be payment to me...?? I will have to find time at work to look at it and blog again. It is so very hard for me to find time to blog!! I WISH I had time, but honestly I do not have time to get on my computer until the day is over and then I am slammed with email and many things I need to do before I go home. I was impressed to see that I have blogged 8 times so far, so I guess I am not doing too bad. (9 counting this one). I was just wondering about the contract...did anyone else get theirs and notice this?

Also, I had three drop out due to basically being over whelmed with other duties! I am hanging in there. I still have three, so all is good.

Sorry I am rambling!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

I have a stupid question...well I think all questions as good questions. So, here it is: where is my contract? I see where the teachers' contract was attached to the email, but I did not get my contract. I have not signed it yet! Help!

Sherri :O)

One aspect of my first local meeting (Developing Your Wondering) that went well was that we were all at the meeting on time. Also, I have teachers from the high school participating this year! I am so excited to see inquiry spread outside of my own school, where most of our past inquirers were coming. This is so exciting to me! We had a very informing, and organized first meeting. I presented my inquiry from last year since most did not attend the kick-off. (As I mentioned before in my blog I was very concerned about that!) We went around the circle and discussed our wonderings, and were already on the way to assisting others. I feel like we are a great team! We all seem confortable with each other, and respectful to each other. This was a big issue last year to me, because I had many who were "talkers" and were always taking us off task. (Drove me crazy!!) I hated to be "bossy" but I had to constantly steer us back. I did not see this happening this year..yet! LOL! Anyways, we are not meeting again until after the Thanksgiving holiday.

One question about teacher inquiry or about coaching teacher inquiry
that emerged for me or for members of my group as a result of our first
two meetings is when is the best time to take our "sub day". We discussed this and tentatively decided to use it at the end when we are organizing our information and getting reay to present our projects. So, it all worked out.

Baker County is on a roll! :O)

Please pray for our community. The principal of Westside Elementary School died in a tragic car accident this morning on I-10. Our teachers, students, and community are shocked and hurting. Kim Brannan was a leader, and a wonderful christian woman. She will be dearly missed by us all. We feel like we can hardly breathe. Please pray for us, and for her family. She leaves behind her husband, Chuck, and her son, Chase. I believe Chase is in 6th grade. This is very hard on us all, but I can not imagine how they feel.

Please remember to always wear your seatbelt.

Greetings Everyone!

I am so excited adfter our first local meeting! I was so disappointed after only 1 person showed up for the kick-off. I kept positive, and contacted everyone by email. (different schools) And guess what! They all came to the meeting, and they are focused and ready to go! Our meeting was so productive. (Last year I struggled to keep on track, due to random talking! :O( but not this year!!) I have three teachers from the high school,one is working with emotionally disabled students, so that should be very interesting. I also have a team of teachers who are ESE Support Facilitators for our school, and then myself.
Things are looking brighter! We planned for our next meeting, decided when we want our sub. I presented my last inquiry from last year to start with, since they did not have the opportunity to attend the kickoff. That was a genius idea on my part. :O) If I may say so myself! Our next meeting is scheduled for after Thanksgiving. We decided to meet on Wednesdays at 3:30. We also decided to use our sub day for writing our projects, and presenting them to each other as practice. So Baker County is on their way!

Well, the kick-off is over, and I have mixed feelings. I am so excited about participating again. I tried recruiting, expecially from the other grade levels (high school and middle school). I actually had several email responses, and expected at least 4-5 to show up today. However, no one came!!! I expeect some of this is due to our Protocol. And of course, some of it may be because some schools are doing "school wide action research projects" where teachers are being told to do an inquiry and what they will do it on! Ugh! I can't tell you how much that upsets me....but that's another story. Sorry, I am rambling...it's just that I had a FANTASTIC day. I really wanted to share the experience with other teachers from my district. I feel so disappointed! Any words of encouragement?? Words of wisdom?? I could really use them about now....

The highlight of my day was an email I did recieve from two highschool teachers that are interested, but could not come today.

Everyone was fantastic today! Jack and Debbie - I watched both of your presentations and they were so informative! Awesome job!

I notice I rec'd my points for the year before last, but not last year! Sabrina, can you correct this, or tell me how to correct it myself? I really want my points. :O)

Sherri

I just want to say that I am getting responses from other schools that have not participated in an inquiry before! I am so excited. I was worried that the same people would participate, and there would be no new blood! Well, you know what I mean! :O) So far I have 7 teachers I have never met before asking questions and wanting to go to the kick-off.

I want to add, I agree with Nancy and Jack, that we need to participate, and sometimes we can't be brief.

Sherri