Professional Development
My day started about 5:21am. I was tired, went to bed the previous night about 11pm. Since, I didn't have to stress about kids going wild, I did not have much difficult getting myself together and out on time.

I arrived at the school about 7:40. The class is a professional development for teachers. The class was scheduled for 8:00 to 3pm. The program is for the teachers to gain 30 hours of "development". About 8:00, the instructor came to the auditorium (where we were told to wait), to take us to the room. The room was located on the 4th floor, I decided to take the stairs rather than crowd into the elevator.

8:05 - The instructor explains that "paperwork" needs to be done(attendance, policies, etc...). Nothing has started.

A lady came to sit next to me. From her body language, I got the impression she did not know a lot about computers, and was looking to sit next to someone who could "help out". She sat, started pushing the monitor on button several times. And since it would not come on, she moved down one seat. She did not bother to try the power button. I thought I lucked out, but then...

20 minutes late, another person (a Russian lady) came (with the same "look") and sat next to me. She dropped her purse in my space, then starts giggling the mouse and repeating the same panic button push the other woman did. Wondering why the computer would not come on. I told her the class had not started yet, and that I was going to wait until the instructor told me what to do. But that was not good enough because "the others have their computers on". She was determined to get that computer on. She did manage the power button, but that wasn't enough, she then wanted to know the password. It amazed (and frightened) me at the behavior of a few of the teachers in that room. It is late, so I can give the details that I wanted to...sleeping, complaining, making shopping list, not paying attention, having to be told 4 or 5 times, and still not following directions, excessive talking etc...

8:50 - The instructor gives a 5 minute "talk" about the parking problem of last week. Still doing "paperwork". After the "talk" about parking, a couple of teachers were advised to move their cars. The instructor said that she would not start until they (two teachers) returned.

9:15 - Parkers returned. Instructor begins with...dismissal time. We (the class) have an option of leaving at 1pm with homework, or leaving at 2pm without homework. She tells us that it has to an all agreement, if even one objects, then 2pm will be the dismissal time. One guy honesty admits that he does not want homework, so he does not mind staying til 2pm. Then others agree with him. Others also don't want to do anything without the instructor to "help" them if they have difficulty. It is obvious to me that the instructor wants to leave at 1pm, but others can't see that, so they continue to defend their positions that 2pm is better than 1pm. After explaining the benefits of 1pm, again, the instructor tries to "take a vote". Again, it is not a unanimous vote. So, the instructors says that "since some are confused" we will revisit the discussion again later.

9:25 - The lesson begins with....individual introductions.

9:55 - The individual introductions are now finished. And...it is break time. After about 5 minutes of conversations, the instructor finally tells us the return time from the break is 10:15.

9:16 - I arrived back. The school is located in a residential area, the nearest store is a few blocks away. I returned. The instructor is having a one on one conversation with a student. The conversation finishes about 10:30am

10:30 - The lesson finally starts with the basics. "This is a mouse. This is how we hold a mouse." The first skill was typing our name two times, then saving the document. The next skill was typing our name three times, bolding the last one, then saving the document. Next, students were asked to type the Star-Spangled Banner lyrics, while the instructor left the room for something. I cheated. I cut and pasted the lyrics from the Internet. When the instructor returned, we were asked to changed the fonts, colors, etc...

12:30 - The subject of dismissal time is revisited. This time, the instructor clarifies, homework will be assigned whether dismissal time is 1 or 2pm. Then, instructor asked for a show of hands for those that objected to leaving at 1pm. No hands went up...Democracy at work.

Since we did not have a lunch break the instructor told us that we would be leaving earlier than 1pm. She is telling us this at 12:30. We only had to finish the Name Poems we were working on. We finished....1pm

I headed home. I stopped at 42nd street. I had lunch at the Japanese takeout restaurant "Yoshinoya". I returned to the Bronx about 5 minutes after the Metro-North leaving, so I went food shopping and stopped at the 99 cent shop. I bought milk, juice, and wheat bread at the supermarket, and disposable cups and plates at the 99 cent shop.

I returned home a little after 4pm. I was going to go to the post office to pick up anther package from Amazon.com, but I changed my mind. I laid down with a plan of resting for a couple of minutes, but ended up falling asleep. I woke up 5:31pm. I could have went on another walking event with the walking club I joined, but I did not want to risk pushing myself too much. Finishing at about 8pm, getting home about 10 (or 11pm). I finally dumped the 5 or 6 trash bags that have been laying around. I then decided to bake the chicken that had been in my refrigerator for a few days. I put the oven on low so that I could do my rowing and soak in the bath.
I rowed for about 45 minutes, and relaxed in the bath for about 30 minutes. Since it was late, instead of making a big meal, I ate about 3 chicken legs, 2 slices of wheat bread, and a glass of orange juice.

My day is finished, my blog entries are finished, and it is way, way past my bedtime.


199.6lbs / 29.2BMI / 125.6CalB.
Post Date - Tuesday, July 17, 2007 12:11am