Retreat!

It has been a while, but it was kind of like I remember dorm life. The past two days were spent in a hotel up in Marin, while my days were filled with meetings and conversations about high-minded ideals and meta-cognitive thinking, the evenings were ours to do with as we pleased. When I say "we," I am referring to the staff of my elementary school. We had an off-site retreat to get us ready for the start of a new school year. Now that I am back home again, I believe that we achieved that goal.
But not without some challenges. As a group, we all do an excellent job, and we have a unique ability to get along both professionally and socially. That second part is what puts some of the adventure in our enterprise. There are plenty of moments when a candid snapshot of our staff unwinding after a hard day's "vertical articulation" might cause a stir. This is especially true when one adds the caption: "Elementary School Teachers." What does one expect from a group of young adults, cloistered away in the hills above Marin in a hotel with a pool and a hot tub. If it sounds a little like the beginning of a TV reality show, you're starting to get the picture.
In the end, however, we are still dedicated educators, and we all showed up the next morning in one piece. Some of us were a little worse for the wear and tear, but I was clever enough to bring my family along and enjoyed the morning's recap of the previous night's amusements. I heard some of it out in the hallway as I drifted off to sleep, safe in the knowledge that my youth was behind me, or in this case, just down the hall.