Exxon Mobil Teachers Academy

I left for the Phil Mickelson Exxon Mobil Teachers Academy on Father's Day which made me so sad. I was even more sad to be leaving Michael for the first time. The first night I spent away from James was when I was in the hospital when I had Michael and James was 21 months old! So to leave Michael for three nights when he was just 5 monts old was very hard, even though I knew his Daddy would take great care of him and his big brother!

The Academy was held at The Woodlands Resort and Conference Center.

One of my favorite things at the resort was the golf carts with drivers that took us where we needed to go!

I was so happy when Sean and the boys joined me on Wednesday! We all had fun at the pool.

Jamesie

Sean playing pool basketball

The first night at the welcome reception I ran into an old friend, Melissa, I used to dance with growing up. We had not seen or spoken to each other in 15 years and both recognized each other right away! She is a teacher in Austin. We were in different groups but saw each other all week long. It was so fun catching up!This picture is from the dinner the last night we were there.

The speaker at our dinner was Barbara Morgan, the first teacher that went into outer space! She showed us pictures and video from her mission and was one of the most interesting speakers I have ever heard. We had a cocktail reception after dinner and she walked around talking to everyone. My brother called as I was heading back to our room and asked what I was doing. I said, "I was just talking to the first teacher that went up in space!" He said, "You met Barbara Morgan?" I of course asked how he knew that and he said, "Your niece and nephew go to Barbara Morgan Elementary!" What a small world, especially since my brother and family live in a small town in Idaho. I of course went back in and told her!

We celebrated my good friend Bonnie's birthday while we were there! Bonnie teaches with me at my school.

Happy Birthday Bonnie!

I only took a few pictures of us during our workshop time. This is from the last day-me with Mia, another teacher from Dallas that was in my group.

An example of th kind of work we did. The academy was for 3rd-5th grade Math & Science teachers. The presenters would model lessons and we would act as the students and do experiments and present our findings. It was fun!

When I accpeted the invitation to go to the Academy I had no idea what to expect but I am so glad that I went! I met teachers from all over the world, including Alaska and Australia. I learned many things that I will actually use in my classroom next year!

The last day I decided I wasn't ready  to go back home. We had everything we needed to continue our mini-vacation. We decided to go and visit friends and family in Austin, which I will recap in the next post!