In Georgia, our school systems have RESAs, which are Regional Educational Service Agencies. Ours is in an old school building from waaaaaaay back. This is where we come for Professional Development on new standards rollouts, content-based learning sessions, and other workshops and classes. Often, we attend these and take information back to our schools to redeliver in Professional Learning Communities. We can even hop over to another RESA that is outside our own district if we want to attend sessions in a different place. Since our entire state is implementing new ELA standards next year, this year and last year have seen a lot of standards deconstruction and preparation of new units.
Workday collaboration is a fabulous learning experience! I’m always thrilled to spend the day with colleagues from other systems, sharing ideas and……my favorite……eating lunch together.
collaboration
means discussing the menu
……….entree decisions………
Common Threads 
I love that you use COLLABORATION rather than INDOCTRINATION of ideas and knowledge. So often, professional development is a distribution of what to do without respect to why or where it might integrate into a real world of learning. I hope it really is collaborative for your today.
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We have that type of agency in New Jersey – or we used to. I haven’t been there in many years. Making me think – I should see if they are still around. Since I’m in private education – I sometimes lose track of all these great resources. And I agree – collaboration with lunch is VERY important!
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Kim,
Iām w/ you on the best part of PD days. Having lunch together feels grown up and normal. I do t think most business people understand what lunch is like for teachers, if we get it at all. Good luck w/ those new ELA standards. Do they feel as though theyāre actually focused on getting kids to read or skirting the issue?
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Yes, lunch is everything!
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Kim, my colleague and I joke about lunch being he most important part of our day – it really is a recharge. Although our schedules differ from day to day, we manage to eat together. LOVE those conversation cards! Each could be a Slice in itself!
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You had me at haiku. I love the turn from serious PD to serious food choices.
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Ah, I love eating together with colleagues. “entree decisions” are some of the best decisions to make, especially when work is keeping you busy.
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