Conferencing In Arizona

Areas In Which I Failed To Demonstrate Competence During My Professional Development Adventure in Arizona:

1. Booked a flight to Phoenix when the conference was in Tucson
2. Left my wallet at the gate in the 408, and then had to run from the back of the plane, down the jetway to the gate area, grab the wallet, and then head back on the plane, muttering sheepishly and looking like a moron
3. Forgot the print-out of my presentation schedule and had to call my buddy, give him my email password, and have him search my inbox for the correct email
4. Packed the navy suit pants with the charcoal suit coat and wore the mismatched outfit for about an hour until I looked down and felt like a kid who rides the short bus
5. Forgot the jump drive with the updated AZ presentation and had to make some furious edits at 6:45 am
6. Overlooked the fact that AZ is one hour ahead of CA time, and wandered into my presentation room thinking I had an extra 70 minutes before the start time, and couldn't figure out why there were so many people already there
7. Did not pack contact lens solution and went around looking like either a weasel, or an alumnus of Ridgemont High

Areas In Which I Successfully Demonstrated Knowledge and Competence:

1. Not crashing the rental car on I-10
2. Presented our school's model for structural and instructional reform to a host of teachers, principals, superintendents, state-level administrators to much acclaim

Takeaway #1: I was left with the feeling that everyone, everywhere, is exactly the same -- we're all struggling with the same issues, same problems, same roadblocks to success.

Takeaway #2: We've been informally invited to return an address the ELL Task Force -- an organization appointed to develop a whole-school model to foster success in ELL populations -- and wouldn't it be tremendous irony if our model is adopted (to whatever extent) by the state board of Arizona, when our own District is basically repudiating every single aspect of what has made our kids successful?