Chicago!

So I know I'm way behind in posts, so I'll try to catch up on it over the next couple of weeks. I'll start with my trip to Chicago! The department chairs at my school all got to go to Chicago February 23-25th to visit a few schools out there that are leaders in Professional Learning Communities. Our flight on Monday morning was delayed, so I spent the time teaching the older teachers how to send text messages. They were so funny! Some of them caught on really fast, and others gave up after sending one. :)

When we got to Chicago, we were surprised to see limos waiting for us! Apparently it was cheaper to get a limo than a van. They weren't the nicest limos, but it was fun! Everyone got to see the real side of Shannon...We quickly checked into our hotel and quickly took a shuttle to a nearby brewery for dinner. I know you're probably worried that I have a drinking problem. I swear I don't. :) It was the closest restaurant, and we were in a hurry. :) The waiter and manager thought it was funny that none of the 14 of us ordered any beer. :) (I'm sure they also thought it was funny that there were 13 women and one man...we called ourselves the sister wives of our principal.)

That night we met with the superintendent of one of the schools out there. I'll spare you the details, but it was great information!! On Tuesday, we spent the day at Adlai Stevenson High School. It was HUGE! I think there were 4,600 students! It looked like a junior college! We had a really great experience there...seeing how they run everything and getting ideas for our own school.

On Tuesday night we took the train into Chicago! It was so fun! We missed the train by 5 minutes, so we entertained ourselves in the train station.

Dianne taking a little napI'm no photographer, but I thought this looked cool...I loved the benches!

We took the train into Union Station. I loved that place! It made me want to watch "My Best Friend's Wedding" :)
Terry put his debit card into the ATM and couldn't remember the PIN. After a few tries, apparently the ATM keeps the card. It was pretty funny. :)We went to Giordano's for dinner. We wanted REAL Chicago pizza, and we sure did get it! yum!
We also went to Sears Tower and went to the SkyDeck. I met Barack Obama there...or just this cardboard cut-out. :) (not the most flattering picture of me) :)
On Wednesday we went to Twin Groves Middle School to see how things were run there. Not as impressive as Stevenson H.S., but still pretty awesome. We left there at about noon to head back to the hotel and off to the airport. It was such a fun trip! It was really fun to get to know the other teachers better.

One last thing...while I was there I found out that one of the teachers at our school (Cathy Jolley) grew up with my mom in Santa Monica! Cathy was SOO excited when we figured it all out and made me call Mom on the spot. :) Here's a picture with most of us (Mom, Cathy is standing right above me on the far left)