Today, I did not go to school. Instead, I attended a work shop at ESU #13 just down the road from me here in Scottsbluff. I normally like to sign up for a workshop in the fall because I find then that you can pick and choose the professional development opportunities that are available when you can get more out of them.

This particular workshop was about closing achievement gaps among students through the use of vocabulary. It provided some useful ideas about encouraging students to learn and build up their vocabulary because research has shown that students with stronger vocabularies do better in school.

Another reason I like to go to these events is because sometimes I get burned out in class and it is nice to get away from the kids. It is also good to meet with other teachers from other schools to find out what they are teaching. It is also nice for me because where the workshop was held is only a few minutes walk from my house. I did not have to leave home until 7:45am this morning.

Because I left home later that allowed me to take D’Argo outside for a walk. For the last few months, we have been letting him outside on a leash. We do this because there are a few busy roads in the area and we don’t want him to be hit.

The trouble with D’Argo is that he is now a fully grown cat that always wants to go out. He is a pretty big cat, about 16lbs, but not fat. We are pretty sure he is a Maine Coon, which is the largest species of domestic cat. When I took him out this morning, it was very hard for me to get him back inside when we were done. He ended up getting very aggressive and he hissed at me and also bit and scratched me.

This sort of behavior has been going on for a while now and also he always wants out at night. Recently, we have had to keep him in his kitty carrier at night because otherwise he will not let us sleep. I am hoping that as he gets older he will settle down and grow out of this behavior. I guess we will see.