Where Have I Been?!

It's been a hot second since my last update. Apparently after my half, my legs weren't the only part of me that needed a break.

I took most of the week off from running, so here's a different kind of post. I spent the weekend in Houston, TX with my administrative and curriculum teams for the annual Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) conference. It was a great opportunity to soak in some serious PD while bonding with the leaders of curriculum at my school.

The ladies at the assembly hall...

Education conferences are seriously like race expos on steroids.

We arrived in Houston late Friday after a full day of work. Saturday was our first day at the conference. Six of us attended and there were dozens of sessions to choose from, so we made sure to divide and conquer.

Teachers in their natural habitat...despite traveling from all over the world, we all seem to speak the same language.

3D art by Don't Let Them Drop.

What my day looked like.

 The keynote speaker on Sunday, Nicholas Negroponte at the One Laptop Per Child Foundation, talked about connectivity as a human right and providing laptops and tablets to every child in the world, no matter where they are. The photos he showed from the work he has done were really moving.

Needless to say, our days were packed. I was able to see four or five sessions each day, but it was hard to choose which to go to!

I obviously overbooked myself.

We finished each long day of note-taking (and honestly, I miss being a student sometimes, so it's fun to hear about new strategies and rewarding to hear that the strategies I already use are effective) with dinner and debriefing.

It was Elisa's first time at a hibachi grill!

I really wanted to run in Houston but our hotel wasn't in a very good spot for outdoor running. Monday morning I ran on the treadmill for the first time in about a year. I also did some squats and lunges, planks, and push-ups. It was a nice little workout.

I forgot how much I hate the treadmill. Even with Burn Notice and Law & Order: SVU I was bored out of my mind.

After one last session Monday, we all packed into our ginormous car (not to sound like an advertisement, but if you ever need to fit six adults and six huge suitcases in one car, the Suburban is the way to go) and headed to the airport.

Tomorrow it's business as usual as we return to school for the last couple days before spring break. I'm excited to begin implementing some of the new things I learned, and I'm really looking forward to planning some bigger new projects over the summer!

Do you attend professional conferences for your profession?

Have you ever been to Texas?

How do you fit working out into your work-travel schedule?

ABK