Friday, August 10 - CONVOCATION!

Convocation!

In years past, whenever I've had to go to LISD's Convocation event, I've usually dreaded going, because it's usually long and boring. The superintendent usually makes a speech, some of the administrators make speeches, a school board member or two might have something to say, the teachers of the year have to make speeches, and THEN the GUEST SPEAKER make his or her long speech. And THEN, we had to go to our schools for more workshops and meetings. It usually made for a long dreary day, not the way to kick off the school year.

Tatum's (TISD) convocation was totally different and in the best way possible.

First, the Tatum high school cheerleaders and Eaglettes (I guess that's what they're called-) welcomed us at the door of the Tatum HS Auditorium with a smile and a "How are you doing?" That, of course, was different. Then after convocation started and the superintendent, who was dressed in his best jeans and casual Tatum t-shirt,  welcomed us, the cheerleaders, Eaglettes, and drum corps each gave a nice performance. The cheerleaders even led "Back-to-school" cheers. The superintendent, Dr. J. P. Richardson, was definitely NOT like other superintendents I've seen in the past- He was having fun, very down-to-Earth, and told us about his summer in a way we all could relate to. He seems to be very approachable and friendly, and not someone who looks down on others because of his position.

After the performances, the district held numerous drawings for money, jean passes, gift cards, a nice duffel bag, and even a big screen TV. I was really impressed. But what impressed me more was that everyone seemed to be in a GREAT and HAPPY and FUN MOOD, everyone was actually HAVING FUN at Convocation. (Wow) It was the perfect atmosphere to kick off the school year. Shoot, I was ready for the kids to come to the school right then myself.

Then we had our guest speaker, Mrs. Tammy Whitehurst. I tell you, she was the best speaker I've ever heard for a convocation. She was very funny and told some great stories and had all of us laughing. One of the main things she emphasized (and something Tatum emphasizes period) was that we are a TEAM and a FAMILY. We're supposed to laugh, cry, help, support, and love one another just like a real family. And we have to look at the humorous side of things whenever things do go awry and remember we're doing this for the kids. She played music (TV show themes mainly) and for each age group the song represented, they had to stand up and sing and dance to the song. I have no idea what song the younger generation was dancing to, but I know that the 90s song was the "Fresh Prince of Bellaire" theme and the 80s song was "the Jeffersons" theme. Somehow, "It's Not Unusual" and Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby" got played, and the superintendent did a great impression of the dance. That was probably the highlight of the day (besides many teachers winning $100 each).

Click HERE to play the Jefferson's theme

Anyway, when it was over, we took a group photo, and then we had lunch in the cafeteria prepared by the nice folks who work there. Then we were done for the day!

I should have come here years ago. :-)

Click HERE to play "It's Not Unusual" song

Sights from Convocation:

Thursday, August 9

District-wide SE Meeting

Today was our district-wide SE meeting, which was held at the middle school. Of course, I've been to those every year since I started working in education, but this would be my first one here at Tatum. The ones in the past usually lasted anywhere from two and a half to three hours, and of course, they were long and boring.

The first thing I noticed about this meeting was that there are not many individuals working in SE in the district; there was no more than 20 people attending the meeting- LISD usually had anywhere between 75-100 SE employees attending. So, due to it being a smaller district, Tatum's meeting was a lot more personable than Longview's.

I took a lot of notes, but there's not too much difference between the way Tatum does things in SE compared to Longview; Tatum seems to be ahead of the curve, so to speak, than Longview is, but Longview-LHS could get there if they'd start preparing and doing things early (like right now) to get ready for the school year instead of waiting until the last possible minute to get things done. Again, I know that there is a difference with Tatum being much smaller than Longview is, and having fewer students to work with, but if the system is in place and the system works, then no matter how many kids you have within that system, there shouldn't be many problems or difficulties. 

The main thing I got out of the meeting? Archiving- teachers should ARCHIVE everything within the system.

We talked about IEPs and accommodations, and since I've worked in Inclusion for the last 7 or 8 years, one thing I do not have to worry about anymore is getting those to each teacher- I helped this past year put in a system where the teachers could pull up the necessary documents on Skyward, and I still feel this is the best way to get those to the teachers- However, Tatum has their process, and since I don't believe that Tatum does inclusion (they have resource classes I think) or even a BAC, their process is probably what best fits their system. 

Anyway, the meeting lasted until 11:15, then we went to lunch. We came back at 12:15 and the teachers attended a gradebook workshop while we worked on all of the bulletin boards.

I think it looks pretty good-

Also, note to myself: Remember this letter:

I'll be seeing it again come December!