Monday…I could’ve slept in, I could’ve but….I came in at 9:00 to go on field trip. Our awesome bus driver making us feel welcome and driving us around downtown Chagrin Falls. We got there at around 10:00 because that’s when we were told to get there, and whaddya know…no kids and we’re told they didn’t get there for another 30 minutes. This gave us time to explore their space; we realized that our room is a little more welcoming. Even though they might have a larger area to work the walls were a barren tan color and there were 3 couch-like chairs, 2 large, circular tables, and a couple rectangular tables put together. Where in the world do they conference? I mean, seriously I feel like I would get claustrophobic sitting right next to someone conferencing with me.

Then the interns came in and they presented their OWL (Online Writing Lab) program to us, which is something we have been thinking about since the beginning of the year. But when we heard what their numbers were in terms of OWL t submissions vs. walk in conferences we were a little taken aback. They said in the 2015-2016 school year they had 1,100+ OWL submissions and way under 1,000 face-to-face conferences. This was concerning to us because in our model, in terms of peer tutoring, helps create a greater sense of community in the school and build personal relationships with peers. Then we got to present (to a new group of 6 students).

These 6 students were a little on the fence of what we were showing. But they helped us in the fact that they told us how they train the incoming new interns. We mentioned how Shaker is so economically and racially diverse and they gave us looks like I have never seen before. We ran out of time in our presentation so it was a little rushed but all in all our presentation went well.

So, we then got back on the bus to have a nice lunch together as “family.” We planned on going to Yours Truly and get a 15% (thanks for working there Hadas), but when we got in at 12:30, they told us it would be a 45minute wait and we had to be back on the bus by 1:40. So there went that plan. Next door was a little take-out diner that was very reasonably priced and we all ate outside at a table, together. We then went over to Jenni’s to get ice cream and head down to the Falls viewing area. I have learned that Jenni’s ice cream is overpriced and isn’t as much of a big deal as everyone makes it out to be.

The falls were beautiful and had shades of both blue and green. We took a picture and everyone thinks they look horrible in the picture but I used it for the blog because I like the falls in the background. Anyways, the field trip was a success and we learned a lot about what we can work on for next year and what they have that doesn’t model our structure. It was a learning experience