Don't Eat the Hotdogs

I returned yesterday from our Annual Staff Conference in Orlando. It's so hard to believe I've been with FLVS for a year now! This was my second staff conference - I was on-staff an entire week before heading down last year. I have to say that this year's experience was entirely different, which was wonderful. It was great knowing names and finally being able to put faces to them. Even if there were 600+ of us in attendance, it just didn't seem as overwhelming this year.

On the first day, Ron Clark was our keynote. Now I've seen a lot of keynote speakers in my 10 years in education and he was by far the best. His passion and enthusiasm for teaching is incredible and contagious. For those that aren't familiar with Ron, he was selected as America's Teacher of the Year several years ago. He worked as a teacher in Harlem with the most troubled students in the school and had such an impact on them, that by the end of the year they were the top performing class. He's appeared on Oprah twice, has several books out, and is even the subject of the movie "The Ron Clark Story" which stars Matthew Perry. After listening to him talk, you really do leave feeling like you CAN make a difference! It really makes me rethink my decision to not go into teaching. Guess I have lots to think about.

Working from home and not ever seeing the team of people you work for is surprisingly difficult sometimes. It was awesome getting to spend 3 days with them. Even though I did end up with a touch of food poisoning from eating a bad hotdog the first day, I pulled myself together and had so much fun at our banquet.

It was an amazing week and I can't wait until next year!















Me and my boss, Tina