Internship update

Due to my recent illness, I have not been working much on my internship. Yesterday I did some work from home though, and I think I will be doing more of that this weekend. Even though we are the Charter School's Association, the head of my dept has managed to get a contract with Scottsdale school district. We will be doing a workshop for them about using data to monitor student growth. I think it's pretty cool, since I'm sick of the animosity between districts and charters. There is no reason we can't work together, and this is a good thing for both parties. The workshop is in a week, so we have to get the data together for their schools before we go out to present it. It also helps to target the presentation more towards their needs. Yesterday I started putting data profiles together based on the charts provided by another employee. If we can get them together sooner, rather than later, we can start working on the next set of schools and actually be ahead for once. It looks like things are going well for now!

Sick, again

Arg! I hate my stomach. I have been feeling sick for a couple of weeks, so I went to the doctor and they thought that I had a hernia. It has taken me 3 weeks to get an appointment and it has just gotten worse. This morning I called and said I was in too much pain and needed to see them today if possible. The hospital managed to fit me in and I had an X-ray series. Of course, as is my luck, they didn't really find anything. I do not have a hernia, I have a little bit of acid reflux, but that was all he said. Supposedly my primary doctor will be calling back with a more detailed report. I am so tired of not knowing what is going on and feeling sick all the time. It is so frustrating!

Conference - part 2

Wow, working at that conference was exhausting! The first day I got there at 7:30 am and worked until 7:30 pm. We ended up leaving the reception and going to bed at like 9 because it was so tiring. It was fun, but there were so many complications that it was physically draining. The resort screwed up our meals, so the sponsors were irritated and yelling at association staff. Then the volunteers that were supposed to help the presenters didn't show up to do their jobs. It was annoying. Eventually the conference planner got fed up and took on the resort personnel - which was highly effective!

On the second day things went much smoother. The volunteers still didn't do their jobs (for the most part), so we just took over those duties. After getting in trouble with us on Monday, the resort actually started doing what they were supposed to do. Then we could focus more on what the attendees actually thought. Many of them seemed happy with the conference, so that made it better.

I just can't believe how many problems there were when it had been planned so carefully. I feel like I have so much to learn about these things. It was definitely a learning experience, to say the least, so I'm glad I got to work on it. Hopefully I will be able to use these lessons later in my career.

Conference

Tomorrow begins the Charter School's Association annual conference. At first I was only going to be able to attend on Tuesday due to an inservice on Monday at my school. Turns out the inservice was really just a work day, so now I get to attend both days. I'll be heading up to Carefree at 6 am tomorrow (the downside of going on Monday), and I get to help out with a couple of sessions that I might actually like. The coordinator set it up so that I'd be supervising rooms during some of the teaching sessions. Friday all we did was make copies and organize everything, and the first group of Association employees headed up today. I think it will be fun, and I'm looking forward to blogging about it when I get back.

Workshop

Well, it all worked out. The workshop on Friday ended up being moved from 1 pm to 1:45 pm, so ran out of school at 1 and made it to Surprise just in time. Unfortunately I was the first one there. I wandered around the school for a bit, waiting for my team to get there, and they finally got there close to 2 pm. I hate being late for things, so that was pretty stressful for me. Since we got started late, a few things were cut out of the program and we didn't get to debrief at the end. It was anxiety inducing - to say the least!

After the workshop I headed back to the office to pick up some stuff I left there. While there I saw my beautiful new cubicle. They are actually really nice, they have windows and a nice design. I'm excited to work in it!