Summer Institute

Being a teacher means getting my head in gear for another school year. I still have a couple weeks, but I've just spent three days in Portland at the Summer Institute sponsored by the Oregon Department of Education (ODE), the Oregon Education Association (OEA), the Oregon School Board Association (OSBA) and the Confederation of Oregon School Administrators (COSA).

I'll be honest, when those four groups get together, most people would wonder what the agenda was. All are political, all have issues the others, and it just seems odd to have them all partner together. Surprisingly, what I anticipated to be painfully and possibly boring turned into a pretty good conference. They did an excellent job of putting together a wide variety of topics for sessions and classes. But I think three days was a bit much. As the only teacher on our district's team, I'm still mentally on vacation. The administrators, school board member and superintendent all have been focusing on school stuff all summer. In fact, it was a bit strange to be the only teacher on the team. Why me? I still haven't adequately answered that question. Maybe I never will. But I did enjoy spending time with my colleagues without student issues to interfere.