1.17.09: let's hear it for great teachers!

I was in Janesville for my UW-LaCrosse job this weekend. It is the highlight of my month to get together with these teachers and push them to take their practice to the next level. The learners are from schools all over central Wisconsin and teach everything imaginable. We invited a guest speaker on Saturday morning, a 40+ year veteran teacher from Iowa, who blew everyone away. Her passion and knowledge and creativity were astounding - I can only hope that I'll be (to quote her) as "balls to the wall" when I'm in my 70s.

Sadly, my co-facilitator was holed up in the hotel with that nasty 24-hour flu bug that has been going around. Though I always feel so incredibly lucky to work with her, her absence and the presence of a sub (another community's facilitator) reminded me of how serendipitous our placement together was. The sub was a very friendly and positive lady, but made it clear how special my connection to Jane is - we just clicked right away and developed a shorthand within the first weekend that allows to plan stuff without the use of full sentences. We joke that we have parallel lives - every story we share about our personal life is echoed in the other's. It used to be kind of creepy, but now it's just comical.

I'm so grateful for this job - to work with people like Jane and our community members and to meet people like Nancy who are incredibly inspiring. Professional development: woop woop!