Spring Teacher Blogger Retreat -- Weekend In Review Linky!
Passion.
We all had it when we started. You remember… fresh out of student teaching, getting the call that “you got the job!” WOAH!! Talk about excited! You were ready to change the world! YOU were going to be the best teacher ever and bring joy and excitement to every single moment in your new classroom. You remember being excited to create a new bulletin board…and how much you looked forward to bonding with your supportive and encouraging colleagues at the next staff meeting!
… Hmmm.
While I certainly hope you still feel that way…I’m guessing that it is not the reality of most teachers reading this post. The fact is… Teaching is HARD… and what we do is often very under-appreciated. By spring, most of us are feeling worn down… in need of some help in re-discovering the passion that we had when we started this crazy adventure!
Well… re-discovering and/or re-igniting that PASSION for teaching was what the Spring Teacher Blogger Retreat was all about!
Here’s a little recap of MY experience…
I arrived on Friday night with my girly-girls, Heather (Smack Dab in the Middle) and Brittany (Nifty in First Grade).
These girls are my positive peeps, who keep me uplifted and encouraged on a daily basis at our school. We unpacked, settled into our room at West Baden, and then met up with dozens of other teacher bloggers at the West Baden dome for teacher-chat!
French Lick Resort is a BEAUTIFUL place, my friends. As in, breathtaking!
In case you don’t know, the resort has two main buildings…
The French Lick Springs Hotel…
…and the West Baden Springs Hotel.
Check out the dome lobby at West Baden!!!
This is a picture from the balcony in our room! AWESOME!
If you are looking for a unique vacation experience,
checking out the French Lick Resort is a MUST!
This place has an AMAZING history!
(Favorite vaca spot of Al Capone, where the Bloody Mary drink was invented, home of multiple "medicinal" springs and more!)
(Favorite vaca spot of Al Capone, where the Bloody Mary drink was invented, home of multiple "medicinal" springs and more!)
The French Lick staff treat us like royalty…and let’s face it…
usually teachers are NOT treated like royalty! LOL
We all LOVE-LOVE-LOVE this place!
As the director of this event, I spent Saturday morning with the most amazing group of friends and HARD WORKERS on the planet in preparation!
Here a pic of Brittany Banister (Mrs. Banister's Kindergarten) and I welcoming the crowd!
I couldn't have pulled this event off without her help! We make a good team.
Finally, it was time for the luncheon meet-up event to begin!
We started the day off by introducing our retreat theme “Take Your Passion… And Make it Happen!” The brilliant and talented Chad Boender (Male Kindergarten Teacher) created and shared this awesome video to get us all thinking about our own teaching PASSION. Take a peek…
Amy Borrell Berner, the one and only TPT Director of Happiness, also inspired us all with a wonderfully uplifting keynote.
Since our hearts were full…it was time to fill our bellies! LOL
A delicious lunch was served by the French Lick staff, and then we moved right into a fun & creative "Get-To-Know-You" activity where each table decorated a giant letter with words that told all about each teacher. The letters were colorful, cute and creative...and packed with info about each teacher (blog name, describing word, favorite subject to teach, and of course, included the passion of each teacher.) Every table group then came up and shared their letter to introduce everyone. When complete, it came together to spell…
After that we hopped right into our Teacher Tool Swap activity! This is one of my fav parts of the meet up! Basically, every teacher brings his/her favorite “teacher tool” and then we do a fun exchange activity in which everyone opens a gift…and the “giver” explains why they love that “tool” so much! It's fun to see "tool trends" every year!
This was followed by a series of "Round Table Discussions!" Eeks! Another highlight of the event, in my opinion! :) Teachers were invited to choose from dozens of different topics for 15 minute round table discussions, led by the best of the best! We had four different rotations, and over 60 sessions in all! I wish I could have gone to them ALL!
Finally came the
BIG Teacher SWAG Give-Away!
The following sponsors LOVE to support educators!
After the swag giveaways, everyone's arms were literally OVERFLOWING with teacher swag...so we broke up for dinner on our own, and came back together at 9:00pm for...
THE MOST EPIC
80’s Party
IN HISTORY!!!
this
night was like none other!
Seriously, my friends...
when it comes to TRULY supporting educators, GoNoodle and TPT rock! We
came to them with this crazy idea...and they believed in our vision and helped
us make it happen!
#GoNoodleRocks #everyteacherlovesTPT
We were spoiled with
dozens of varieties of cookies and brownies, pizzas, beverages and some 80's gear sunglasses, friendship pins and neon buttons!
And... did I mention the EPIC full blown professional photo booth??!!
Check out just a few of the hundreds of pics from our Saturday night social event...
The night was SO MUCH FUN!
I can't even begin to put it into words!
I CAN tell you that about a dozen of us prepared a flash mob to the song Footloose and we surprised the crowd! It was a blast!
Have YOU ever been to a teacher blogger meet-up?
If you have been considering attending one, just do it!
Check out this awesome little video that All Y'all Need and the Male Kindergarten Teacher put together to tell you why you need to attend a meet-up!
Wanna' read more about this amazing weekend???
Check out the other posts in our linky below!
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