Have you ever seen The Wizard of Oz? You know, tornadoes, a flying house, ruby red slippers, yellow brick road, a scarecrow, a tinman, a cowardly lion, flying monkeys, a melting witch, a powerful wizard, and clicking heels? If you haven't seen it, that was a short synopsis! And also, in case you haven't seen it...when Dorothy is in Kansas the movie is in black and white...when she lands in Oz, the movie is in bright, bold colors!
So, for the last four years, I taught in a special ed classroom in a public school. I loved my students and a couple of my co-workers, but for the most part, I was ignored. Sure, teachers would say hi to me in the hallway, but no one ever really stopped by my room to say hey, or anything, really. It was different from other schools that I had been at in other states. Even in the special ed department, aside from the couple of teachers that I talked with, no one really paid me any attention.
I started at my new school this week, working with a couple of students to transition to middle school. My fiance also transferred to the same school as well! We've been up there every morning this week, me to work with the kids and him to set up his classroom. Let me tell you,! I feel like Dorothy landing in Oz! My old school is Kansas...black and white....my new school is like Oz, full of color! I've had pretty much all the teachers around me, stop in and say hi, tell me to let them know if I need anything! Administration has been great, guidance has been great! We went out of lunch yesterday with our younger cousins and two teachers from the school. I told my fiance on the way that this was the first time I was invited out to lunch with general education teachers! I am super excited for the school year this year!
And a quick student story from this week. I was working with a student who has behavioral issues. Yesterday, he trashed my classroom...today, I went in with a different approach. He did not trash my classroom, but he did grab a can of Lysol aerosol spray that was in the bathroom and started to spray it. In the process of trying to grab it from him without getting sprayed in the eyes, I managed to get sprayed all over the rest of my body! A little annoying, but, at least I am germ free going into the school year!!
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Friday, July 25, 2014
Very long time...no update!
I didn't realize I hadn't updated since October! Obviously, a lot has happened since then...we ended one school year and are getting ready to start another!
I did get my 9th student that I had mentioned in the October post, however, she was not as high needs as people kept saying. She was totally adorable and other than her getting out of the classroom and running across the playground, one shoe on and one shoe off, and the occasional run down the hallway, she was fairly easy to manage!
I came back from Christmas break, engaged! :-) <3 We are getting married in January 2015 and are so excited to start our lives together.
We managed to get through the school year up to May with relative ease. The kids started to get more verbal and demonstrate their abilities more consistently. We made it through alternate assessments as well as can be expected. And then came May...
My district last year started doing IEP's around the time of the kids' birthdays instead of waiting until the end of the year, like my first couple of years. This is supposed to cut down on the amount of meetings and paperwork....it doesn't. And just when you think you are ahead of your ten million deadlines, something else pops up, like another deadline...or...a new student...or the district deciding to move a student to middle school for next year, the day before all of the paperwork is due! And all of this happened this year...I DID get another student...the last week of school...with high medical needs and he needed to be fed by a tube for an hour and we didn't have the right doctor's orders, so mom had to come in and do it...it was a fun last week of school. We had a big end of the year party b/c I had one student moving to middle school, two students moving to a less restrictive program and I am moving to a new school next year...I'm moving up to middle school!
My fiance and I just got home from a vacation to visit family and friends in Ohio! It was a fun trip that included a wedding shower thrown by my maid of honor and one of my bridesmaids! Earlier this summer, we put an offer in on a house that we found and are set to close on August 15. We are super excited about this! Needless to say, we still have to pack and get some things done in the next few weeks. Teachers go back on August 11, however I am transitioning a couple of students back the week before for a couple hours in the morning! Throw in the fact that our wedding is a little over 5 months away! Crazy times ahead! Stay tuned for our fun adventures!
I did get my 9th student that I had mentioned in the October post, however, she was not as high needs as people kept saying. She was totally adorable and other than her getting out of the classroom and running across the playground, one shoe on and one shoe off, and the occasional run down the hallway, she was fairly easy to manage!
I came back from Christmas break, engaged! :-) <3 We are getting married in January 2015 and are so excited to start our lives together.
We managed to get through the school year up to May with relative ease. The kids started to get more verbal and demonstrate their abilities more consistently. We made it through alternate assessments as well as can be expected. And then came May...
My district last year started doing IEP's around the time of the kids' birthdays instead of waiting until the end of the year, like my first couple of years. This is supposed to cut down on the amount of meetings and paperwork....it doesn't. And just when you think you are ahead of your ten million deadlines, something else pops up, like another deadline...or...a new student...or the district deciding to move a student to middle school for next year, the day before all of the paperwork is due! And all of this happened this year...I DID get another student...the last week of school...with high medical needs and he needed to be fed by a tube for an hour and we didn't have the right doctor's orders, so mom had to come in and do it...it was a fun last week of school. We had a big end of the year party b/c I had one student moving to middle school, two students moving to a less restrictive program and I am moving to a new school next year...I'm moving up to middle school!
My fiance and I just got home from a vacation to visit family and friends in Ohio! It was a fun trip that included a wedding shower thrown by my maid of honor and one of my bridesmaids! Earlier this summer, we put an offer in on a house that we found and are set to close on August 15. We are super excited about this! Needless to say, we still have to pack and get some things done in the next few weeks. Teachers go back on August 11, however I am transitioning a couple of students back the week before for a couple hours in the morning! Throw in the fact that our wedding is a little over 5 months away! Crazy times ahead! Stay tuned for our fun adventures!
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Long time, no update!
Well, it has been a while since I have updated! We are a couple weeks shy of ending the first quarter. My students are slowly, but surely settling into our daily routine and making progress! I don't remember many specifics about the past month...I was able to get a second assistant for part of the day. It helps out, but i'm going to be getting 9th student next week who is high needs...I have no idea how that is going to work, but I guess we'll figure it out.
I was also told today, by an administrator, that I set unrealistic goals for one of my students and she doesn't think he'll ever learn to tell time or learn his phone number. And, apparently, I'm setting him up for failure and myself as well. She told me I know my students best and what is best for them, but my goals are not appropriate and I should decrease the number of goals so I can focus on the most important skills so I won't kill myself trying to fit in all these goals. I'm so glad she knows what is best for my classroom and what my students can and cannot do. After all, I have only spent 7 hours/day, 5 days/week with these kids the last few years...how could I possibly know better than my administrator who has never even observed any instruction in my classroom and whose only interaction with my students is if we see her in the hallway! And guess who will be the first person who we tell the time to WHEN we learn!?
I was also told today, by an administrator, that I set unrealistic goals for one of my students and she doesn't think he'll ever learn to tell time or learn his phone number. And, apparently, I'm setting him up for failure and myself as well. She told me I know my students best and what is best for them, but my goals are not appropriate and I should decrease the number of goals so I can focus on the most important skills so I won't kill myself trying to fit in all these goals. I'm so glad she knows what is best for my classroom and what my students can and cannot do. After all, I have only spent 7 hours/day, 5 days/week with these kids the last few years...how could I possibly know better than my administrator who has never even observed any instruction in my classroom and whose only interaction with my students is if we see her in the hallway! And guess who will be the first person who we tell the time to WHEN we learn!?
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Lessons learned
The second week of school started out with a bang. My assistant was out on Monday, which left me with a sub. Fortunately, the sub was fantastic (which is rare) and the day went fairly smoothly. The students were fairly well behaved and the day ran as normal as possible. I did learn a few valuable lessons yesterday:
1.
When you put up picture symbols of the steps to using the bathroom, it is best to put up ALL the steps. I left out two critical steps (pull up underwear, pull up pants). Last week, it wasn’t an issue. The students didn’t pay much attention to the pictures (other than “pull down underwear” and “go to the bathroom”). However, one student was absent all last week…and she notices EVERY SINGLE DETAIL! So, first thing in the morning, she called me into the bathroom to point out the pictures (in case I hadn’t noticed). And of course, she pointed out the “pull down underwear” and “go to the bathroom.” We didn’t have any issues in the morning. At snack time, she apparently decided she wanted to follow every single step. So, when she reached the missing steps, she stood in the bathroom, panties and pants at her ankles and spoke to me in her English/Spanish mix. When I walked in to see what was wrong, she walked over to show me the missing pictures. Do you know what happens when you try to walk and your pants and underwear are at your ankles? So, she fell, her butt up in the air and she looked back at me, as if to say, “What should I do?” I told her to get up and she did and finished telling me what I was missing. Lesson learned…we now have all the steps to using the bathroom in our bathroom!2.
Hell hath no fury like a child who just wants to eat alone! One of my little bitties just wanted to sit by himself at lunch and took offense to the other students who sat with him. Lunch started off fairly okay. The ABA therapist never came and the sub had one of the students at music, so it was just me and four children, eating in the cafeteria with the 8th graders, their teachers, and custodial staff. The kids all sat at the same table and we were peachy for the first few minutes. And then the student apparently realized he was not alone like he wanted to be. Although he is speaking a lot more than he was last year, he still does not have enough words to convey his feelings, so…he uses actions. It started off with him throwing a random sausage across the table and then his plastic container at another student. When I told him to stop and picked up the container off the floor…all hell broke loose. The whole debacle probably only lasted about 10 minutes, but in those ten minutes, I was hit, scratched, head-butted, slapped, and accosted with his nasty little sausages. He had a death grip on my shirt and name badge, which I finally pried myself loose. I knew what he wanted, but it was difficult to get to my other kids and help them move over one table while getting pelted with sausage, his lunchbox and his plastic container. I finally sang “Wheels on the bus” enough to calm him down for a few moments to move the kids over and the situation was resolved. Not one single adult came to check on me or ask if I needed assistance. The 8thgraders at the table next to me had a nice show and provided commentary during the sausage debacle (“oooh” “Oh, man” “shoot”). Fortunately, one of my students made sure I was okay and acknowledged my injuries by pointing to her face and saying “ouch.”3.
A student will improvise if he doesn’t have the desired toys to play with. One of my students loves to play with our doll house, horse and carriage, etc. He will ask for it all the time when he’s finished with his work. He also knows too much for his age and understands the whole man-woman thing. He apparently needed a date for Little RedRidinghood to go in Cinderella’s carriage. I don’t really have any male dolls, so he improvised…with an Elmer’sGluestick! I saw the carriage sitting out in the morning and looked in to find Little Red and Elmer Gluestick sitting in the seat. I thought it was strange and I removed thegluestick and put it away. Imagine my surprise in the afternoon when I saw him playing with the carriage and another gluestick (where he finds them, I don’t know)! I guess Little Red just really needed a date!4.
If there is a staple anywhere on the floor, a child will find it and put it in his mouth. This one is pretty self-explanatory, but it did happen yesterday! On a positive note, the student did sit longer in his seat! I guess spending an hour of putting him in his seat really pays off!5.
If you send home a note about a child being in a daze and asking if his medication has changed, you better be prepared for the opposite the next time the student comes to school. I learned this lesson today! One of my students seemed over-medicated last week and didn’t eat anything all week. He was a complete zombie and not himself. So, Friday, I sent a note home, just asking if anything had changed. He was absent yesterday, but came to school today...seemingly with no meds! He did finally eat, which was a good thing. But, in the morning, he ran around in circles, clapping his hands. And then, he was overly emotional. He cried over the most random things. One of my other students started wailing, which caused another student to put his hands over his ears and yell out “oohwah, oowah”, over and over, which in turn, apparently, caused this student to start crying! All the while, we had a new ABA therapist start, because apparently the other one quit. Fortunately, the student did calm down in the afternoon, which was a blessing and I happily sent them home.The main lesson to take away from all these other lessons is that we never stop learning! Even teachers need to be taught sometimes! I’m sure there will be many more lessons taught this year! Stay tuned!
Sunday, August 25, 2013
The first week....
Well...we survived the first week of school! Me, my assistant, and my little bitties! One of my students has yet to show up...she was sick all week! :-( That makes me fear even more for this week. Last week was hectic enough with the students that showed up!
My new student is a handful...and he was only there on Monday and Friday for half the day! You know it's going to be a day when, five minutes into the day, you're drenched in sweat! He needs constant supervision, which leaves only one other adult for the rest of the class. He puts anything and everything in his mouth, so keeping him up off the floor is the best plan of action. A lot easier said than done when the child likes to flop on the floor and go limp! He did flop on the floor in the bathroom and lick the toilet seat! On Friday, I literally spent an hour putting him in his seat and as soon as he sat for half a second, I said "Good sitting! You're sitting! Yay!!!" It worked...he did sit for a few minutes at a time in a rocking chair! Yay!
The biggest challenge so far (other than my new student) has been integrating my kids with general education students. When they go to related arts, the other students haven't been fully accepting of them...yet. And recess has been atrocious! The other students this year have decided to play tag on the playground equipment. It wouldn't be too bad, except they run up and down the stairs and several of my students almost got knocked down the stairs! One of my kids was trying to go down the slide and another student was sitting at the top blocking the way! I was so proud of my little bitty when I heard him saying, "Go, go, go!" I was very annoyed with the boy at the top of the slide who ignored him and I finally told him, "Excuse me! Please go down the slide, he wants to go down!"
On Friday, we were going down the hall at dismissal time and the hall was filled with lines of students everywhere. We couldn't get through with our wheelchair and the rest of our kids. One of my kids looked at one of the lines and said, "Excuse me! Scoot over!" Again, I was proud of her, and again, the kids just looked at her. All in all, it seems like my kids have made some big gains over the summer and I think we'll be able to make lots of progress this year! But, the ultimate goal this year is to get my kids more integrated into the school environment...which looks like it will be a bigger task than I originally thought!
My new student is a handful...and he was only there on Monday and Friday for half the day! You know it's going to be a day when, five minutes into the day, you're drenched in sweat! He needs constant supervision, which leaves only one other adult for the rest of the class. He puts anything and everything in his mouth, so keeping him up off the floor is the best plan of action. A lot easier said than done when the child likes to flop on the floor and go limp! He did flop on the floor in the bathroom and lick the toilet seat! On Friday, I literally spent an hour putting him in his seat and as soon as he sat for half a second, I said "Good sitting! You're sitting! Yay!!!" It worked...he did sit for a few minutes at a time in a rocking chair! Yay!
The biggest challenge so far (other than my new student) has been integrating my kids with general education students. When they go to related arts, the other students haven't been fully accepting of them...yet. And recess has been atrocious! The other students this year have decided to play tag on the playground equipment. It wouldn't be too bad, except they run up and down the stairs and several of my students almost got knocked down the stairs! One of my kids was trying to go down the slide and another student was sitting at the top blocking the way! I was so proud of my little bitty when I heard him saying, "Go, go, go!" I was very annoyed with the boy at the top of the slide who ignored him and I finally told him, "Excuse me! Please go down the slide, he wants to go down!"
On Friday, we were going down the hall at dismissal time and the hall was filled with lines of students everywhere. We couldn't get through with our wheelchair and the rest of our kids. One of my kids looked at one of the lines and said, "Excuse me! Scoot over!" Again, I was proud of her, and again, the kids just looked at her. All in all, it seems like my kids have made some big gains over the summer and I think we'll be able to make lots of progress this year! But, the ultimate goal this year is to get my kids more integrated into the school environment...which looks like it will be a bigger task than I originally thought!
Monday, August 19, 2013
Sunday, August 18, 2013
The night before....
Ahh...the day/night before the first day of school...the time when you're mixed with excitement (about seeing the kids) and the "oh no" feeling (am I prepared enough? What's going to happen? What if I didn't plan enough stuff?).
Last week was a week full of meetings and working in the classroom. We had our "welcome back" staff meeting on Monday morning in which we learned about district and school policies and procedures.
On Tuesday we had some small group meetings about more school policies and stuff. We are doing a new reading incentive program this year that will actually allow my students to participate (with modifications, of course) and we're doing a teacher incentive program too!
Wednesday was full of district staff development. The most exciting part was that on Tuesday, I was asked to attend an adapted PE training on Wednesday afternoon, to which I agreed to go. The morning session was about ABA therapy (Applied Behavior Analysis). Half of my class receives ABA services. The district has decided that some students can receive ABA therapy from the classroom teacher, which is totally doable (but a lot of extra work on the teacher) because the goals are basically the same. Fortunately, it was decided, due to the amount of hours my students receive services, I would have an ABA therapist come to my class to work with the kids! The rest of the training was fairly non-eventful. The beginning started kind of horribly...the woman presenting showed us a video in her powerpoint, of her at her house giving the information, while she (in person) stood to the side and watched! It looked like one of those videos that you make when you can't sleep. Fortunately, the presentation did improve as the morning went on.
The afternoon session was the adapted PE session, which I was looking forward to! The session did not disappoint. It included demonstrations of games and activities to use with the students and some data collection forms. Yours truly participated in one of the example activities (dribbling skills through cones). You'll be happy to know that I rocked at dribbling the balloon through the cones and the presenter said if I were an actual student that she would be giving something more challenging (like a soccer ball)! As great as the training was, it's not 100% effective if you don't have to materials that the presenters have...but, I plan to use my PTA mini-grant to get some equipment for us!
Thursday was just a regular old workday, not much going on.
Friday, we didn't have to be at school until 11 because we had meet the teacher night from 4-6. Because I felt like I hadn't gotten much done during the rest of the week, I went in around 8 and got A LOT accomplished! Only one of my students actually came to meet the teacher night. He got very long over the summer and is most likely going to require two people to lift him from his chair...which should be no problem, since there is only me and my assistant in the classroom! But, the kids can manage themselves for a few minutes, right?
I took the day off on Saturday from anything school related (except going to the store and buying snack foods and some more supplies for the classroom). And, FYI, Office Depot has the BEST Teacher Appreciation Day...complete with breakfast!
Today included a lot of picture symbols, laminating, messing with my schedule that will change tomorrow anyway because activities will take longer than I anticipated, and a small headache that led to a nap. If I could, I would have the first day of school and then skip to the middle of September when everyone is settled into their schedules! Well, I need to finish cutting out some lamination and get my stuff packed up! I'll try to check back in tomorrow! :-)
Last week was a week full of meetings and working in the classroom. We had our "welcome back" staff meeting on Monday morning in which we learned about district and school policies and procedures.
On Tuesday we had some small group meetings about more school policies and stuff. We are doing a new reading incentive program this year that will actually allow my students to participate (with modifications, of course) and we're doing a teacher incentive program too!
Wednesday was full of district staff development. The most exciting part was that on Tuesday, I was asked to attend an adapted PE training on Wednesday afternoon, to which I agreed to go. The morning session was about ABA therapy (Applied Behavior Analysis). Half of my class receives ABA services. The district has decided that some students can receive ABA therapy from the classroom teacher, which is totally doable (but a lot of extra work on the teacher) because the goals are basically the same. Fortunately, it was decided, due to the amount of hours my students receive services, I would have an ABA therapist come to my class to work with the kids! The rest of the training was fairly non-eventful. The beginning started kind of horribly...the woman presenting showed us a video in her powerpoint, of her at her house giving the information, while she (in person) stood to the side and watched! It looked like one of those videos that you make when you can't sleep. Fortunately, the presentation did improve as the morning went on.
The afternoon session was the adapted PE session, which I was looking forward to! The session did not disappoint. It included demonstrations of games and activities to use with the students and some data collection forms. Yours truly participated in one of the example activities (dribbling skills through cones). You'll be happy to know that I rocked at dribbling the balloon through the cones and the presenter said if I were an actual student that she would be giving something more challenging (like a soccer ball)! As great as the training was, it's not 100% effective if you don't have to materials that the presenters have...but, I plan to use my PTA mini-grant to get some equipment for us!
Thursday was just a regular old workday, not much going on.
Friday, we didn't have to be at school until 11 because we had meet the teacher night from 4-6. Because I felt like I hadn't gotten much done during the rest of the week, I went in around 8 and got A LOT accomplished! Only one of my students actually came to meet the teacher night. He got very long over the summer and is most likely going to require two people to lift him from his chair...which should be no problem, since there is only me and my assistant in the classroom! But, the kids can manage themselves for a few minutes, right?
I took the day off on Saturday from anything school related (except going to the store and buying snack foods and some more supplies for the classroom). And, FYI, Office Depot has the BEST Teacher Appreciation Day...complete with breakfast!
Today included a lot of picture symbols, laminating, messing with my schedule that will change tomorrow anyway because activities will take longer than I anticipated, and a small headache that led to a nap. If I could, I would have the first day of school and then skip to the middle of September when everyone is settled into their schedules! Well, I need to finish cutting out some lamination and get my stuff packed up! I'll try to check back in tomorrow! :-)
Sunday, August 11, 2013
End of summer search
Today is the last day of summer break! :-( While I look forward to the school year starting, it is always sad to see summer end! Over the weekend, my school district has sent me on an almost impossible search. In order to have stuffed animals or fabric covered items in our classroom, they need to be treated with "flame retardant" spray. Since the district is requiring this, one would assume that this would be an easy find, right? No...I believe it doesn't really exist. After searching online, I found a teacher forum and several people said they found spray at Joann's craft store. Looking on their website confirmed it. So, we went to find it. When I asked, the workers looked at me as though I had horns growing from my head. They didn't have it. So, we tried Lowes. Again, I had another horn growing. I kept getting asked the question, "What do you do with it?" My response, "Spray stuff to make them flame retardant???" All I really want is an empty bottle of the stuff. My little bitties put EVERYTHING in their mouths, so I don't really want to spray some foreign substance on things, just to have it end up in their mouth. It would be really fabulous if saliva is flame retardant! I would have no problem documenting that everything has been treated! My other option is to find some teacher who has found this substance and beg and plead with him/her...anyways, tomorrow will be here before I know it, so I should probably enjoy my last day of summer!
Welcome!
Welcome! Come and experience the ups and downs of a brand new school year and enjoy the roller coaster ride that is special education! I teach in a public school in "parts unknown." As mentioned, I'm a special education teacher for 8 elementary-age students with moderate-severe needs. Teachers report back to work tomorrow and the kids come back next week! The school year should be an interesting one as we begin the year with 8 little-bitties, me and one assistant! Look for updates a few times a week, maybe more, depending on my busy schedule! Comments and suggestions are always welcome! :-)
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