Some kind of record

Tune in next week for the full detailed report of where we went and what we did on our Central European Road Trip, but I had to share yesterday's highlights with you:

We ate breakfast in Poland.
We ate lunch in the Czech Republic.
We booked our hotel in Slovakia.
We ate dinner in Hungary.
We had ice cream for dessert in Austria.

Life is good!

It's in my blood

No, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth. We've just been driving around central Europe... For a more detailed description of where we've been and where we're going, see here.

We've spent the last few days driving through Poland. We're at our third and final city in this country: Wroclaw. And one thing has been consistent in all three Polish cities (well, you know, besides all the Polish people): ice cream, which is called "lody" here. Every where you go, people are milling around with waffle cones or soft serve cones piled high. You can't pass ten people without at least one person eating ice cream. There are lody vendors every few yards, and the going rate is pretty cheap!

So needless to say I'm in ice cream heaven here. And it's totally justified that I pig out on lody everyday because I'm part Polish and this is apparently what Polish people do!

I knew there was a good reason I'm addicted to ice cream...

Finally in Europe

... and we'll be here for about three weeks to visit with my parents. Ordinarily, we would have just gone to their house, but this time, Mom and Dad picked us up at the Frankfurt airport and we are going on a European road trip for two weeks!

First stop? Berlin. It was quite an adventure getting there. After twelve hours of transatlantic flying, we got in the car for what was supposed to be about a six hour drive. The drive ended up taking TWELVE hours. Yes, 12! We got stuck in a four hour traffic jam (called "Stau" here in Germany). We were inching. We drove one mile in two hours. People were getting out of their cars and socializing. Others were walking along the median (and making much better progress than the cars!). After the traffic jam was over, it took us about an hour and a half to detour around the accident that caused it all--thank you, GPS!

We finally made it to Berlin after 24 hours of travel. It was good to pull up to the apartment and meet my parents' friends that we were staying with.

The next day, we set out to See Berlin In One Day. We took the underground train into the city and then we walked around to see the sights. We saw the Holocaust Memorial (new in the city since 2005), the Brandenburg Gate, the top of the Reichstag (parliament building) overlooking the city, and Checkpoint Charlie. I so wish I had pictures to show you the sights, but I haven't uploaded them yet...

The Holocaust Memorial (especially the museum underneath) was definitely very heartbreaking and haunting. But a must if you are visiting the city. The Brandenburg gate was a very cool structure. And it was at the Starbucks right across the street that we ran into some old missionary friends of ours that are now living in Sweden! There was much excited screaming when we recognized each other. They were in Berlin with the family for the U2 concert! Then later we stood in line for about an hour to get to the top of the Reichstag (long lines for free stuff!) to get a great view of the city. And Checkpoint Charlie was definitely worth it--especially to see parts of the wall that were still hanging around. We ate dinner at a little Persian place in former East Berlin with excellent prices and very yummy food!

But maybe the highlight of Berlin (for my dad anyway) were the Dunkin' Donuts locations that we saw. Donuts!!! In Europe!! This trip rocks...

Later this morning, we are heading to Rostock on the Baltic Sea. Let's hope that there are no more massive traffic jams!

Small preview of a 20 hour horror film

Well, we've finally moved out of our apartment and into our in-laws. You'd think that moving in stages over a period of weeks would be a smart thing to do, but you'd be wrong. It was a terribly drawn out business... Glad it's finally over!

When it was finally over and we had thrown out the last bag of trash, we captured the cats and brought them out to the car. They were not pleased. In fact, Mrs. Hufflepuff was so upset, she left a permanent claw mark in the fabric ceiling of our car! We set out for our in-laws' (a 90 minute drive) to the tune of three angry cats yeowling in three part harmony. We stopped briefly at Burger King for dinner, and while Max ran out to get our food, I took some footage of the cats' indignation (you'll note that Gizmo, our calico, is suffering in silence here):



And this was them relatively calmed down! When we were about thirty minutes away, Mowgli decided she had had enough and barfed in the little plastic basket she was sitting in. (Max: "Hey what's that smell??"). Then, as she had barf on the end of her tail and on her paw, she decided it wasn't very comfortable to sit there anymore, so she moved to a different plastic basket and sat down. I thought she sat down, anyway, but it turns out she was just squatting to poop. Poop! In our car!! With no litter on it!! Do you have any idea of the stink we went through for the next thirty minutes?!?

On top off all the hoopla, Max's allergies decided that three cats shedding hair in such a small confined space was not acceptable and so he spent most of the trip sneezing violently and trying to breathe.

If this is going to be a preview of the twenty hour trip it will take to drive down south in August, we're in BIG trouble...

And everything's wrinkly

We've been living out of a suitcase since the middle of June, first with our trip down south, and now splitting our time between the in-laws and our nearly empty apartment. When we're at my in-laws, it's all fun and food and new barn kittens and reading and crafts. When we're at the apartment it's all cleaning and scrubbing and packing and apologizing to our cats for being gone!

In early August it will be Go Time with all of the unpacking and setting up and getting comfortable. We will also be hunting for the best deals on our shopping list: refrigerator, washer/dryer, dining room table, dishes, TV stand, and guest room furnishings. Oh yeah, and it will be time to go back to school and start my job.

But let's not think about all of that right now... too much fun to be had first!

Overheard

What happens when a frugal man has to sift through hundreds of dollars worth of groceries to throw away/give away before a big move? A lot of gut-wrenching emotion, that's what.

Today I cleaned the bathroom from top to bottom, while Max cleaned out the cupboards and fridge in the kitchen down the hall. In between my trips to the kitchen faucet and back (refilling my soapy bucket), I witnessed his progress as he systematically put all the food we owned (opened and unopened) onto our counters. Our kitchen looked like this (but with all the counters filled):


And as I scrubbed down the bathroom, I would hear these comments every so often coming from the kitchen (imagine a gut-wrenching-whiney tone of voice):

"Aargh!! So. Much. Food."
"EIGHT CANS OF GREEN BEANS?!?"
"We have FIVE whole jars of spaghetti sauce. FIIIIIIIVE!"
"What are we going to do with all of this food?"
"OOOHHH! My bread flour!! That stuff is EXPENSIVE!!"
"Hey, how long have we had these croutons?"
"We have so much uneaten food, this is making me sick. SICK!"
"Did you know these two boxes of cereal aren't even OPEN?"
"Seriously, this is making me want to vomit..."
"I think I just vomited."


Here he is, choking back the tears. Note to self for future moves: stop stocking the pantry months ahead of time, not just weeks....

On a related note, Hannah, do you need any food?

You're welcome

If you are a teacher, then you know that dissing the No Child Left Behind legislation is part of the territory. If you don't like something about your job as a teacher, it most likely has something to do with NCLB. In fact, lots of things can be blamed on NCLB... it's a perfect scapegoat in so many ways.

If you're a teacher and you love dissing NCLB (who doesn't?). Or if you're not a teacher and are wondering why we all constantly whine about NCLB, then this hilarious comparison is for you!

But mostly I just want the house, please

It's too bad that buying a house isn't like buying a shirt. With a shirt, you just pick out the one you like best, bring it to the cash register, and voila! Pay for it and go. With a house, it's more like: pick the one you like best, hold your breath till the offer is accepted, spend the next week knee-deep in paperwork, run up your cell phone minutes talking to the realtor and the mortgage lender, pack pack pack, clean clean clean, pray pray pray. And in the end, it might fall through anyway.

Of course, it doesn't help matters when the seller is being a jerk. Not only is she in the midst of what I can only assume to be a nasty divorce (aren't they all though?), she has actually sold the house twice before in the last month and both sales have fallen through. So she's been fighting her ex, she's been burned by two previous buyers, and she's making us pay for the sins of them all by rushing us along (and trying to rush the 75 other people involved in buying/selling a house).

I alternate between wanting to give her a hug and wanting to kick her in the pants.

Found and Lost and Found

We found The Awesome One yesterday. We promised ourselves that we wouldn't fall in love with a house but OOPS, it happened. In a way, that's a good thing because the first day we were having issues with Max loving one and me hating it or me loving one but Max hating it.

The Awesome house has many wonderful features: all hardwood floors, super energy efficient because of the top of the line AC unit and the double paned windows, 3 bedrooms/2 bath/2 car garage, FANTASTIC neighborhood, beautiful landscaping and fenced backyard just to name a few.

That evening we put in an offer. When we got home, we looked up the address on zillow and it told us that the house was already pending sale. Max and I were crushed, to put it mildly. We emailed our realtor but had little hope. We had a back up house that was almost perfect, but it wasn't The Awesome One, you know?

The next morning, our realtor called us and said, yep, come on over this afternoon and we'll look at more houses because this one is taken. So basically any hope we may have had was gone. Max was very upset (it's a money-saving house....he was in love!) and we both were quite sad. We went about our day's errands (fingerprinting for my new job and visiting Max's new school) feeling quite subdued. I was praying the whole time that Max especially would have peace about this unfortunate situation.

We were in the truck, and I asked Max how he was feeling. He quite calmly said that he was starting to feel okay about this whole situation, feeling like it was all going to be alright anyway. No sooner had the words left his mouth when our agent called!

She told us the house was still available. [Excuse me, can you repeat that? I'm not quite sure I heard you correctly over the traffic!] Apparently the buyer had committed loan fraud! So the seller was kind of back at square one.

To say we were shocked and overjoyed is a bit of an understatement. I believe Max cheerfully cried: "God's MESSING with us!!"

After our offer, her counter offer, our counter counter offer, and her counter counter counter offer, we accepted. Then she accepted our acceptance. Then there were rainbows in the skies, it rained down candy, and unicorns frolicked in the fields.

So barring any other catastrophe, we are going to be PROUD homeowners! We cloae in mid-August so keep praying and keep your fingers crossed! Pics are up on Facebook for family :)

We'll take The Awesome One

The last three days have been the longest and sweatiest of my life. Day 1, we drove over thirteen hours to a hotel in Arkansas in the hillbilly-pickup-with-no-air. By the time we got out of truck, I could have wrung out my underwear and created a nice salty pond on the side of the road. Day 2, we drove about 7 or 8 more hours until we found our storage unit, at which point we spent three hours unloading 90% of our earthly belongings from the truck. In the middle of the day. In the sweltering heat. There was a short moment of panic when we were wondering whether the couch would fit into the storage unit, but we made it work!

Today we spent all afternoon looking at houses with our very nice realtor in her very nice air conditioned car. We saw twenty houses. I would say about eight to ten of them, we walked in and then walked right back out. A piece of crap is a piece of crap; it's that easy to tell. Many of the homes we looked at were between 20 and 40 years old, 3 bedroom, 2 bath. We saw so many houses, took so many notes, that it started to all blur together. We started dubbing houses by their characteristics: The Smoky One, The Eighties One, The Moldy One, The Wheelchair Accessible One, The Wood Paneled One, The Busy Corner One .... the list goes on!

Tonight, we are going over some paperwork and thinking about our top three choices. Tomorrow we'll meet with the realtor again to go revisit our top three, and then she'll show us the next set of houses. I don't know if there will be twenty houses in this set (I imagine not), but she's been great in working with us to maximize our time here!

Despite the heat, this is definitely shaping up to be an exciting time for us!!

It is WAY past my bedtime

The pickup truck is packed to the hilt (and not everything fit!). We've nailed down the tarp as best we could. Now, all that's left is a very short night's sleep before we attempt to drive at least 12 hours down South (we'll still have about 8 more to go on Day 2) driving a contraption that looks suspiciously like the Beverly Hillbillies!! No air and no cruise control either. Should be fun.

But hey, at least we get to do some serious house shopping when we get there and after we unload all of our stuff in a storage unit! So that will definitely make up for the trip :)

Sometimes I wish I was a cat

Because cats don't have to pack. In fact, cats don't have to do anything except eat, drink, sleep, and poop. Max and I, however, have been very busy with putting things in boxes. And then putting more things in more boxes. It never seems to end!

Here is how Mrs. Hufflepuff has been helping out:


And if you're really a cat lover, you'll enjoy this one too:


I can hear you go "Awwwww..." all the way over here!

Moving On

I've been mildly enjoying my summer vacation. I say mildly because Responsibility sneaked up on me outta nowhere and bit me on the butt. I have a final paper due this Saturday for my grad class. I have to go back to school and hold another meeting to finish up an IEP on Thursday for this girl. That has great potential to be World War 3, but I'll keep you posted. On top of that, we are attempting to pack up about 87% of our stuff so we can bring it down to Texas next week when we go house hunting (we'll be dropping it off in a storage unit). Nothing stresses me out more than seeing this:

Packing up and moving is a tiring, back-hurting process! And I shudder to think how many times my dear mom packed up a family of five to move us across the country, and across the Atlantic.

But I do have some fun things to look forward to. Lunch out with friends! House hunting! Visiting with family! A trip to Europe! I guess it's all about perspective...

Stick a fork in me...

.... I'm DONE!

And to celebrate, I went to a local park with lots of my colleagues and ate pizza and ice cream and cake. Then we all went mini-golfing (I even made a hole-in-one! By bouncing the ball off of three different sides! So totally planned!).

For round two of celebrations (have I mentioned I like to milk celebrations??), Max and I went to see "Star Trek" at the movie theaters because I had won free tickets from a radio contest a few months ago. Max was very annoyed with me when I couldn't seem to say "trek" and always said "track" ("It's 'treeeek', 'trEk'!!!) After that, we went to the Melting Pot for some very yummy cheese fondue. And the grand finale? Ice cream at Cold Stone!!!

I wish every day was the last day of school!

Can I Crash a Bonfire Somewhere?

All week, I've been stalking the lunch ladies. Not because I'm hungry all the time (that is completely unrelated), but because they are the ones with the steady supply of boxes. And I'm in desperate need of cardboard boxes as I am packing up my classroom AND the apartment. So I've been lurking in the hallways, and snatching up box after box before any other teacher can take them. I'd created a literal TOWER of boxes in the corner of my office, waiting to topple over at the slightest sneeze.

Tomorrow is the last day of school, and all week I've been procrastinating on filling those boxes. Today I finally forced myself to pack up... and it was surprisingly easy! I didn't realize how little of my stuff I had actually brought to the job as this particular resource room had a lot of resources already there! So I ended up filling seven boxes, then cramming most of the rest of the empty ones into our car. I made sure I could see out the windshield and the rear-view mirror, but other than that, my long drive home was PACKED! Haha.....

On a related note, now that I am leaving this job behind me for good, what's a girl to do with 997 business cards??!?

Say It Like It Is

I have a little first grade boy with autism on my caseload. Let's call him Tommy (I know I've written about him before, but I can't remember what fake name I gave him!). Tommy has a full time aide to help him successfully mainstream in his general education classroom. You should also know that Tommy has a very powerful imagination and he will frequently make up stories or exaggerate what is going on.

 

Yesterday, Tommy came to school with mosquito bite on his forehead. This, of course (as anyone who works with kids on the autism spectrum might know), was devastating. It completely paralyzed him from getting any of his morning work done. Miss W (his aide) decided that some quiet time in his bean bag chair with an ice pack on his head may be just the cool down time he needed in order to start his day. So there he was, holding a blue bean-bag-type of ice pack on his head, calming down. Miss W was sitting off to the side with her back to him as she completed some paperwork.

 

Suddenly, Tommy says: "The ooze monster is here! The ooze monster is here!!"

 

Miss W responds (without turning around): "We're not telling stories today, Tommy. Please sit quietly while your classmates are working"

 

One minute later, Tommy pipes up again: "No, Miss W, I'm SERIOUS! The OOZE MONSTER IS HERE TO GET ME!"

 

Miss W finally turned around, and when she did, she saw that the ice pack had exploded and there was indeed OOZE all over the poor kid's face and shirt!

 

And that is why SOMETIMES we should take kids seriously....

Five more days until pee-pee freedom!

It's the beginning of the end.

 

And I've come to realize that I am very thankful that I'm in the type of job that has a clear beginning and ending. Our occupational therapist, who works part time in the hospital setting when she's not at school with us, said how lovely it is to have a job that ENDS. At the hospital, it's constant; sure, there may be patients that are discharged, but there are always other patients waiting to take their place. There is no automatic vacation. Nothing depends on the seasons.

 

Gosh, it must suck to have a "real" job....

 

Then again, when you are doing the potty dance in front of all your students, you start to envy all those other people in those other jobs who have the luxury of peeing whenever the thought occurs to them.

Hoarse as a Horse

Today was Field Day. Why we don't save Field Day for the last days of school, I will never understand, but there you have it. All the teachers are now wondering what they are going to do with their students for the next six days of school...

 

I was recruited to be in charge of the 4-square station. Remember 4-square? It was huge when I was a sixth grader. Anyways, we had K-2 rotating through all the stations this morning, and grades 3-5 rotating this afternoon. Each station lasted between 9 and 15 minutes. This means that I yelled out directions (you know, to be heard over all of the other field day events) TWENTY-ONE times to twenty-one different classes. So you can imagine I'm pretty hoarse.

 

It was pretty amazing to see the progression of physical coordination that each grade/age was capable of. For the Kindergarteners, the directions were simply to "bounce the ball to your friend"... but even that proved to be too difficult when I realized that some groups weren't playing because LOOK I SAW A CATERPILLAR or LOOK I HEAR AN AIRPLANE!! The first and second graders weren't that much better--they even had trouble running after a ball when it was hit out of bounds to go pick it up. It was almost like watching a cartoon: a child would run to get it, but just as they were picking it up, they would inadvertently kick it further, until they were halfway across the field!

 

As soon as I got the third through fifth grade groups, there was a big jump in physical ability. But then it I had to shout out complicated directions about what constituted an "out" because they were SO COMPETITIVE. The fifth graders were downright cutthroat--they had NO mercy!

 

After a full day of standing and walking around, sun exposure, and yelling out directions, I am BEAT!

Almost Summer

Is anyone else out there having trouble focusing on the tasks at hand instead of anticipating all the glorious things you'll do once summer break is here!?

Kids Gone Wild

Only two weeks (nine more days) until the end.

 

It's that time of year where the kids forget every rule and procedure you've taught them since September. No one can sit still or keep quiet. Kids are jumping up from their seats like popcorn and blurting out more often than bidders at an auction. Teachers are walking around looking tired from the strain of staying patient. Teachers are scrambling for any activities that would pass the time and at least are semi-educational. Administrators are strongly encouraging us to "stay strong until the end" and cram all the learning we can in these last few days (ha!).

 

This final whirlwind of activity with field trips, field day, and packing up the students' work and projects, and boxing up the classrooms will all end on June 12th with one collective sigh of relief from teachers and students alike (not parents though... let's face it, some of them may be mourning that day!). 

 

I, for one, CANNOT WAIT !!!!!!!!!! 

And I only passed out once from holding my breath and biting my tongue

Yesterday morning I had an IEP that I had been just dreading. (An IEP is a yearly meeting for a student with special needs where progress on goals, results of current testing, and setting future goals are discussed). Do you remember my sixth grader with Down Syndrome who sometimes has "accidents" at school? It was for her. Let's call her Greta this time.

 

The meeting had potential to be very contentious as we were recommending a different school/program for her and the parents are adamant about keeping her here. We only have a resource room here, not a self-contained classroom for the mild to moderately cognitively impaired (which is what she needs). She's been getting by with a full time one-on-one aide, but next year with four different teachers... she would end up full time in the Resource room! And that's good for nobody.

 

I hate leading the kind of meeting where you know at the outset that no one is going to get along. For days and weeks I had imagined an impassioned screaming match, with upset parents poking us in the eyes with pens or paperclips. I wanted to be sensitive to these parents: they are still in a kind of denial about what Greta can and can't do and I haven't felt like they've come to grips with the kind of education her future necessitates. You know... like they want us to make sure that she knows her science and history when she clearly has bigger fish to fry. Functional skills, anyone?

 

So there I was yesterday morning, feeling like I'm walking some kind of tightrope: trying to keep the peace, stay calm, stay objective. I wanted so badly to communicate to the parents that we care a great deal about Greta and aren't just trying to kick her out, and at the same time be assertive about what the team feels is the best placement for her.

 

In fact the meeting didn't turn out to be the World War III that I had imagined. Yes, the mom threw a silent temper tantrum (thinned lips, head down, brows furrowed, and body turned away from us). Yes, the parents made not so subtle accusations against me as well as the classroom teacher. Yes, there were tears from mom. Yes, there was shocking information presented at the meeting (such as she won't be able to get a high school diploma in the state of Michigan because she wouldn't be able to pass Algebra II and Chemistry). Yes, it was VERY tense when the principal explained that the only way they would be able to keep Greta here is if they took us to court. But ultimately? The parents agreed to go visit some different programs next week. A victory... of sorts.

 

So after a TWO HOUR meeting (a personal record in my four years of holding IEPs), we adjourned.

 

The mom pulled me aside afterwards and said: "I really appreciate the way you handled the meeting. You've grown a lot too this year".

 

Wait a minute... was that even a compliment?!?

On Becoming a Professional Hoop-Jumper

One of the reasons why I am still an untenured teacher after four years of teaching is because we move around a lot. I was certified in Michigan, then taught in California for 2 years; I've been teaching in Michigan these past two years, and next I'll be teaching in Texas for who knows how long?

 

You might be able to imagine that it caused some major headaches (and even tears!) when I started teaching in California and had to deal with countless hoops to jump through to get my California teaching license. I won't bore you with the details but suffice it to say that two years wasn't anywhere CLOSE to enough time to complete the endless list of requirements.

 

But at least California let me start teaching before I started hoop-jumping. I just got off the phone with human resources in Texas they were all like: "Oh by the way, you can't step foot in your classroom until you get your Texas teacher certification". What??? Why wasn't I informed of this earlier? You mean I can't start hoop-jumping once I get there? The lady hinted that I might want to get that started soon since it can be a long process.

 

I am so sick of each state having such a GOD COMPLEX. Here's been my experience.

 

CA: "We are soooo special. We really can't trust Michigan to do a good job training their teachers. I mean, we have English Language Learners here. What's that, Sarah? Your Hearing Impairment certification equips you to teach ELL as a language acquisition expert? I don't understand. You had better just do what we say. Also, you have to go through a rigorous mentoring program called BTSA (don't worry, it will only take 80 hours on top of your day job to complete!). Because as a Michigan teacher, you just might strangle your students, and we want to make sure you're not doing that. Because we are the best state ever and we have to make sure we weed out those whackos from the midwest...."

 

TX: "No, no, no, you can't even start being a teacher out here until we give you a special piece of paper saying that you are qualified. You already have piece of paper from Michigan, you say? Well, you probably just colored a coloring book in college to get that. Or maybe you sang a song. In either case, we need to make sure you pass our basic skills test, for one thing. Michigan basic skills are SOOO much different than Texas basic skills. I mean, can you even add? Texas is special. You have to do special things to teach here or else you're going to screw up our students..."

 

MI: "Hey, we made this teacher do THREE SEMESTERS of student teaching--one for each area of certification--which we can guarantee is more than any other state requires. Because Michigan is superior. So just let her teach in your state. Trust me."

 

My next move? Get Nationally Board Certified!!

The Final Stretch

After finally becoming an aunt, and after a fabulous long weekend spent in Washington DC with old friends, we're finally back home. Back home, and back to reality.... These days, reality involves our car dying--the entire electrical system seems to be fried. We drove all the way back to Michigan without being able to touch the blinker, or the headlights, or the AC, or the radio, or the windshield wipers because if we did the car would stall. On the turnpike! On long stretches with no shoulder on the side of the road due to construction!

 

I also came back to three more weeks of school (that's 13.5 days of school, to be precise), and three more Saturday classes. I know the light is coming closer at the end of the tunnel, but it sure seems like an eternity from here to summer break!!!

I'm an Aunt!!

My nephew, Romeo, made his grand entrance yesterday!

Let's be Honest

moar funny pictures

Next I'll Teach her the Poker Face

Have you ever seen school age children try to shuffle a deck of cards? It's comical, unless you're in a hurry, and then it's just maddening. I was playing my favorite game ("BLINK!") with a second grader today who insisted on shuffling. I watched her awkwardly try to move cards around by taking two or three cards at a time and put them in the middle of the deck. Finally I asked her if anyone had taught her how to shuffle. Then I tried to show her where to put her thumbs and her fingers and her index fingers so that it would work. It took her two or three tries before it kinda-sorta-kinda worked. It was all pretty funny, especially when cards went flying through the air at one point.

 

I'm not sure at what age you're supposed to master shuffling cards, and it's definitely not a goal in her IEP (ha!) but some life skills are worth interrupting academics for ... right?

Nothing but the Truth

I had two fourth grade boys in my writing group today. One is so ADHD, he has the attention span of gnat. Actually, a gnat's attention span may be an improvement. The other boy has Aspergers and struggles mightily with anything abstract. We are working on something their classroom teacher wants me to help them with: to write a personal narrative about truthfulness, or a time you were truthful.

 

My student with ADHD (we'll call him "Wayne") hasn't started his graphic organizer/thinking map yet. I tell him to draw a big circle in the middle of his paper and write "Truthfulness". I blink, and he's out of his chair, looking for a sparkly pencil grip.

 

I turn my attention to my student with Aspergers (let's call him "Paul"). Paul has written a first draft already. I read it over and it is all about the bass he caught with his dad. Something about a boat and a live well. I ask him to tell me what part of the story is about being truthful. He launches into a monologue about how the boat didn't have a live well and he decided to make one, and his dad said it didn't have one, and he felt something heavy on his fishing pole, and it was a mackerel, and, and, and, and....

 

I glance over at Wayne, who has drawn all kinds of tiny circles on his thinking map that are clearly too small to write his ideas in. He spends the next few minutes interrupting Paul and erasing.

 

I grab a blank piece of paper for Paul. We're going to write a new story together, one that's actually about truthfulness. I ask him to draw his circles. He's a pro at drawing circles.

 

Meanwhile, Wayne is writing things like "I don't lie" and "I tell my dad the truth" in his thinking map. I prompt him: "Can you think of a time when you told the truth when it would have been easier to tell a lie?". He responds: "I'll tell you the truth: I like racing cars. Do you know the speedway off of exit 140?". He launches into a discussion while I attempt to redirect his thinking.

 

I turn to Paul and ask him about a time when he told the truth. "I sleep in the morning and my mom kept waking me up and shaking me and I said no and she said go take a shower." He looks very hopefully at me, wondering if this is the answer I'm looking for...

 

Truthfully? I hate teaching writing!

When Your To-Do List is Bigger Than Your Motivation

I worked hard today. I plowed through much of my IEP paperwork. I was busy doing actual work during every minute of my planning time and every minute of my unexpected free time when some students went on a field trip.

 

Why is this actually blog-worthy? Well......... let's just say I'm generally not this productive at this time of year.....

Saturday, I Miss You

I'm taking a class this spring for my Masters of Curriculum and Instruction. It meets over the course of five Saturdays, the first of which was this weekend.

 

I'm lucky enough to be taking the class with four other teachers that I work with, so that made it a bit more bearable. I generally like going to class and learning new stuff, but I'm finding that it's easier to like that kinda stuff when it's in the summer and I don't have lots of Other Stuff going on to distract me. You know, like teaching...

 

Anyways, there have been a lot of complaints about this particular professor (let's call her Judy) because she assigns so ... much ... work. And, as teachers, we feel it is our indisputable right to be spoon fed and coddled when it comes to higher education simply because we are required to continue our education if we want to keep our teaching certificate. See? So it's only fair: if you're making me do this, then you had better be making it easy!!

 

So as much as people complain about Judy, I rather think she's ingenius. Instead of teaching us every Saturday, she's divided us into groups and given each group an article to read, summarize, and present to the class (complete with assessment activity). Brilliant! We all learn, and she doesn't have to teach! She also seems big into group work and presentations and projects. This may be fine for some people, but personally? I would just rather you lecture for four hours, and give me a test. Tell me what to memorize and I'll regurgitate it perfectly later, you will be so impressed.

 

But no....

MOM is "WOW" Upside Down!

It's the season to be thankful for mothers... And I'm sure that kids across the nation are busy making homemade gifts and writing sweet sentiments as a part of their classroom activities.

 

This year, I had the opportunity to see some completed "MOTHER" accrostic poems in a second grade classroom. I took the best of their responses to share with you here:

 

M om is kinda messy

O ften lets me take two cookies

T alks so much I think my head will explode

H ere was a rose and I gave it to her

E xpert at teaching

R emembers a lot

 

Haha! I'm sure those moms will be thrilled no matter what the kids say...

 

I was talking to one of our paraprofessionals who used to work with a third grade boy with autism. Students with autism typically have no tact and will just say it like it is. That is why the paraprofessional had to have a conversation with that kiddo about why "obese" might not be a good choice for the "o" in "mother" !!

 

Best Week Ever

It's called "Teacher Appreciation Week" and it's the coolest. There are treats in our boxes every morning (one time, a gift card!!). Between parents and the district, lunch is provided all week! Monday was Italian; today was soup and salad; tomorrow is Olive Garden and ice cream sundae bar (!!), and yesterday we had a chocolate fondue fountain in the lounge with lots of goodies to dip!!

 

It's so nice to feel spoiled...

Life List

Have you ever heard of a "life list"? It's basically everything you'd like to do or experience in this lifetime. And since I just turned 27 on Saturday, I thought now would be a good time to share my life list!

 

It's not complete, but here it is in no particular order...

 

1. Go to a STOMP show.
2. Ride in a limo.
3. Take an art class (painting or drawing).
4. Own a dog (working on it!!)
5. Plant a vegetable garden.
6. Win a free trip (to anywhere)
7. See newborn kitties (will accomplish this on Saturday!)
8. Spoil my grandchildren.
9. See a play on Broadway.
10. Go on an African safari in South Africa (so you-know-who will stop bragging that he's been somewhere I haven't been!)
11. Write and publish a book.
12. Own a house with a nice backyard.
13. Early retirement ;)
14. Host a murder mystery dinner party.
15. Surprise my parents by showing up unannounced on their doorstep... in France.
16. Learn how to work the sewing machine and then make stuff!
17. Take a year off of life and travel with the hubby in a motorhome all over North America.
18. Eat a greek salad... in Greece.
19. Play a small role in a community theater/play house.
20. Read "Les Miserables" en francais.
21. Live really close to my sister.
22. Have a reason to carry and give out business cards.
23. Eat freshly caught fish.
24. Go on an Alaskan cruise!
25. Visit either New Zealand or Australia... or both!
26. Eat an entire gallon of ice cream at once. Or, at least, as much as I can eat...
27. Go on a short term missions trip.

What's on your life list?

Yee Haw!!

I had the phone interview for down south at 10:00. I learned that it's a co-teaching position in an elementary school teaching both general education kids as well as a small group of children with hearing impairments. I felt really good about the interview. It lasted until 11:05.

At 11:25, they called my principal as a reference. She confided in me that she gave me rave reviews and revealed that they thought "I was too good to be true". Honestly that response sounded too good to be true.

By 2:00, they had offered me the position!!!

Hello, South, HERE WE COME!!

Two Phone Interviews Today!

Shhh! Do you hear that noise? It's a thousand little butterflies fluttering their wings in my stomach.

 

Our Speech-Language Pathologist's advice? "Speak more slowly. You're a rather fast talker..."

Dad's advice? "Just be yourself. You're the best!"

Max's advice? "Say what comes to mind, except if it's stupid"

 

 

Woof?

Lots of interesting things going on over here. I wake up every morning wondering what new developments in the job hunt will happen! In other news, there are other reasons to be excited... My birthday is Saturday (the big Two Seven!) and I usually manage to squeeze several days of celebration out of it so I'm definitely looking forward to this weekend :).

Max and I are also ready to throw caution to the wind and get a dog already. It doesn't mean we're going to go out and get one tomorrow, but we are officially on the look out for the perfect one for us. We visited a local animal shelter on Sunday. I've never ever been to one and it was an interesting experience. An exercise in self control, if you will. Because if we had stayed any longer, we would have brought home a trunkful of kittens and a couple of dogs on the side. As it was, we didn't see the dog that had our name all over it, but we were able to narrow down what we did and didn't want.

 

When we got home from the shelter on Sunday, our three cats must have sensed that Something Was Up because they were super cuddly and affectionate. Like, see?? What do you need a dog for??

Focus Interrupted

Do you realize how difficult it is to focus (on, say, your job) when you have Things on your mind? I'm trying to teach kids, or do paperwork, and thoughts about the future keep crowding my brain. It's like the very act of trying to NOT think about something makes you think about it.

 

Like if I was trying really hard not to think about pink rhinos... My thought process would go like this: "Pink rhinos. Wait! No! Stop! You can't think about pink rhinos right now because (pink rhinos!) you have to teach these kiddos. Focus on the pink rhinos. I mean, DON'T focus on pink rhinos. Hey do pink rhinos live in zoos? How much is real estate in pink rhino land? Would pink rhinos hire me as a teacher? Teach! Teach the kids! Stop it with the pink rhinos already! If God wants you to have a pink rhino, he will give you a pink rhino and that is that. But pink rhinos........."

 

And on and on it goes. Thinking and not thinking is exhausting.

Job Mob

I'm back from the meat market. I mean, teacher job fair. And I've come to a few conclusions:

1. It never hurts to get somewhere an hour and a half early.
2. Cutting back on liquids will eliminate bathroom breaks and maximize time spent with potential employers.
3. The booths representing Michigan schools had lines a mile long full of teachers wanting face time. I'm pretty sure that for every single student in Michigan, there is a qualified, certified teacher!
4. Some districts from out of state were ready to give out contracts and hire on the spot! Apparently the prospective teachers weren't the only desperate ones. Poor Alaska and Arizona!

But back to how things went for me. I had encouraging talks with districts in Virginia, Maryland and the west side of Michigan. I had very encouraging talks with two districts in Texas. I'm not sure what it all means or where it will all lead (if anywhere). But I can't wait to find out!

Restless

I am so impatient. About this week to be over, about this month to be over, about this school year to be over, about getting a teaching job somewhere else, about finding out where we're moving, about moving. Every day I check 30+ districts for openings. I run to my computer and compulsively check my email every 73 seconds. I keep hoping some school somewhere will see my application and email me to say that they've hired me on the spot, and the job comes with relocation money, and also? a beautiful house down the road! I submit online applications while my students are working independently (I know! I'm terrible!). If I could will this process to go faster, I would!

 

In the meantime, I'm attending a GIANT Teacher Job Fair tomorrow morning. Districts from around the country will be there and already, 800 teachers looking for work have registered to attend. Despite the odds, I have high hopes. I also got my first job interview scheduled for this Thursday afternoon with a school district in South Carolina. We'll see how that goes.

 

I am just SO tired of NOT KNOWING!!

Countdown

Eight more weeks left:


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A Proud Moment

After I pull out two certain kiddos for resource room support in my classroom, I send them back to their general classroom with some independent work to do. The girl always finishes it. The boy typically will do half, or a quarter of it. I've mentioned my disappointment about his work ethic a few times this week. Today, he came to my office, waving his worksheets and exclaiming very triumphantly:

"Look, look, Mrs. B! I stop being dumb and stop playin' around and I done it ALL!"

Never Debate Your Job Description With a Parent (and other lesson's I've learned along the way)

I wish you could take a picture of a conversation. Because, then, I could just post the picture here on my blog and you could all look at it and see immediately that it is wrong, wrong, wrong. Instead, let me relate it to you via the written word...

 

A face-to-face conversation between the father of my 6th grade student with Down Syndrome, and her classroom teacher [it all started yesterday when the teacher wrote the parent that "Suzy" had been a little "trying" lately]:

 

Dad: "What's causing you to say that Suzy has been "trying" lately?" (he asks, as 25 other students wait for the teacher to start class)

 

Teacher: "She has had a lot of bathroom incidents in her pants lately. Fifteen to date. Have you brought her to the doctor to rule out medical reasons?"

 

Dad: "No, not really. And I can see that you've really turned against my Suzy"

 

Teacher: "Absolutely not! I love Suzy and treat her with the utmost respect, even when she has an accident. Special needs or not, though, when a student is taking away learning time from 25 other students, like when my class sat for 30 minutes during math while I helped Suzy get cleaned up, then it becomes a problem."

 

Dad: "When we've met before, Mrs. B [that's me!] told us there were other placement options out there for Suzy. Why hasn't she told us about what these other options are?!?"

 

Teacher: "Isn't that something you should be looking into for YOUR daughter?"

 

Dad: "It's HER job to inform me of what the options are. I don't have the resources to look for a different placement" [I'm sorry; does he not have a PHONE???]

 

Teacher: "What are YOU doing about looking for placements next year?"

 

Dad: "It's not my job. SHE's the special ed. teacher. SHE should know what's out there and then tell me."

 

 

Special education teachers do play an important role with these kiddos. But let me set the record straight: it's the parent's responsibility to be the best advocate for their child. That is just Common Sense 101. Next, I'll bet Dad will be whining about how I don't come over to their house and get Suzy dressed, and feed her breakfast, and drive her to school, and help her with homework, and drive her to gymnastics........

 

This Could be my Free Ticket Home

It's been a slow day back at school today, so I thought I would share a story that just had be to be told from last Thursday. You'll remember from my previous post that last Thursday, I discovered that a charming young second grader was wearing her glasses to be just like me. What I didn't get a chance to tell you was that Thursday was also a very stinky day.

 

I had two students poop their pants ON PURPOSE (by their own admissions). My sixth grader with Down Syndrome pooped out of spite because earlier in the day, we had made her apologize to her friend for pouring water down her shoes. I am so mean for making her apologize, aren't I?

 

Later on, one of my second graders pooped to get out of math. I had been helping him and another student for about thirty minutes during the lesson. I had to go back to my office at 1:45 to help another group of students. As I left the room, the boy in question looked at me like his dog had just died. His teacher informed me that it was right after I left (and when he had to start working on his own) that the Stink happened.

 

One of the school deans jokingly said that I must scare the poop out of my students!

Imitation is the Best Form of Flattery

I have two identical twin girls on my caseload. They are in second grade and they both have very mild learning disabilities. I'd had the one sister "Celia" all of last year; then just last month, her twin "Lisa" was added on as well (identical twins = identical learning disabilities? Hm.) They are almost impossible to tell apart. Same long brown hair. Same dimples. Same irresistable smile. The only time you can tell them apart is that Lisa will on occasion wear her blue-rimmed glasses to read.

 

I started working with Lisa on Tuesday. She warmed up to me right away and we had a fun time doing our Read Naturally program, and then reading picture books in my tent with the Sleeping Beauty blanket. I noticed on Wednesday, she wore her glasses the whole time we were together.

 

I see the sisters separately, and yesterday, Celia told me that Lisa decided to wear her glasses all the time now so that I (me, specifically!) could tell them apart. That's kinda cute, I thought to myself.

 

Then today, Lisa's classroom teacher told me that the girls' mother (who is frequently helping out at school) confided in her that Lisa has started to wear her glasses all the time because I wear my glasses all the time.

 

I laughed, but my heart kinda melted a little. You know. Just a little...

Juggling Act

So, I'm finally back to school after one week off plus one bonus snow day. It's been great to see the kids again... It hasn't been so great to see the stack of IEP's waiting to be signed, copied, distributed, and finalized. Also? It wasn't a good feeling to suddenly remember that I have report cards due AND progress notes due in two days. TWO DAYS! How could such a responsible, dedicated teacher forget about something so major?? I have no idea... maybe selective memory? That excuse probably won't fly if I don't have my documents in order by Thursday...

 

As if it wasn't hard enough to get all of this stuff done (and teach some kids, don't forget to teach the kids...), I have major life issues on my mind right now like moving to a city 650 miles away with a school that has a deaf/hard-of-hearing program and an opening in the fall. And they're interested in my resume.

 

My mind is juggling between: thinking about the "what ifs", praying, and trying to do my job.

Spring Break Just Got Longer

The downside? Four to six inches of snow in April...

The upside? SNOW DAY!!!!!

Happy Distractions

I'm trying to hold on to the last two days of my Spring Break and to squeeze out all of the fun, relaxing, laziness of it all without thinking about Monday. Because Monday? Monday starts the Last Ten Weeks. And the first eight of those ten weeks, I still have to get the energy and motivation to teach.... won't be time to slack off until those last two weeks (at least, that seems to be the unwritten rule).

Fortunately, I won't have time to dwell on unhappy thoughts today because there is family to visit and a baby shower to attend!! Good food to eat, presents to be opened, a new house to see, and games to play....

Tricked into Learning

If there's one thing I've learned from being a Resource Room teacher, it's that Games are my best friend when it comes to teaching students. It keeps student motivation high, and behavior low. And it may take time and creativity, but just about anything can be made into a game. There are the obvious card games (a must!)--you can turn just about anything into Go Fish, Old Maid, or Memory. Or create your own game board and cards through free sites like this one.

Recently, I've added a new kiddo to my caseload. He's at the end of his first grade year, and he can only recognize numbers up to 5, can only count to 12, knows maybe 4 sight words, and still doesn't know about 6 or 7 letter sounds. He obviously needs a lot of support, and I only have an hour a day to give him. Every time he comes to me he asks what we're going to "play" first. His academic needs are so basic, it's been no problem coming up with an arsenal of games to choose from. Among his favorites are a redesigned version of "Cariboo":


I created cards to go on top of the actual game cards. In the picture, he needs to identify the letters of the alphabet (I say the sound, then he has to find it and open the window with the special key. If he collects all the balls underneath, the treasure chest opens!). We also play with identifying numbers. I've played this game with a fourth grader last year: I gave her a word and she had to find the synonym. See? The possibilities are endless!

My new kid also LOVES to fish. For real. Real fish. So this game was designed especially for him (and thanks, J, for the fishing pole you left behind!):


There's a magnet taped to the end of the line, and the die cut fish have sight words on them. Each fish also has a paperclip, thus making it possible to catch them with the fishing pole! In this picture, the words are facing up, but we also play with them facing down. He gets to choose which fish to catch, and if he reads the word on the back, he keeps it, if not, he throws it back!

What worksheet have you been able to turn into a game?

The Anti-List

Things Not to Do:

1. Do not wake up at 5:20
2. Do not drive 104 miles to work and back every day
3. Do not stand outside in the cold for parking lot duty
4. Do not wear a watch
5. Do not rush to and fro
6. Do not wear make up
   
7. Do not prepare a lunch the night before
8. Do not drink the morning tea on the go
9. Do not get out of pajamas (unless you leave the house)
10. Do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars....
    

SPRING BREAK!!

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If I Was a Cat, I Would be Hissing

My day started with a 7:00 meeting. Maybe not a big deal for you, but when you have to leave for work before six to get there, well, you see the problem. I met with a classroom teacher and the speech/language pathologist to discuss how we were going teach "Adam" how to regulate his own attention. Because when he focuses for ten seconds at a time, it's a good day. And mom is unwilling to help him out by seeing if maybe medication might help. (But that's a post for another day.) So we are going to try a MotivAider, which is a bit like a timer that goes off (vibrates) every sixty seconds then resets itself to go off at the next sixty second mark. The idea is that every time it vibrates, it will wake Adam up and he will have to mark on a piece of paper if he was doing what he was supposed to be doing.

 

The principal happens to stop by to listen in on the meeting, and when we start talking about me showing Adam how to use this device (and guiding him through it during a lesson in his classroom for a couple of days), our speech pathologist pipes up to point out that it would be so much easier if Adam had a one-on-one aide to help him attend and stay organized.

 

At this point, the principal asks me if I could "push in" for an hour every day to help him out with this. [As a resource room teacher, you use the term "push in" when you go into a general ed. classroom to help a student, and "pull out" when you take that student out of the classroom to provide services]. So here's how that conversation went down:

 

P: "Sarah, can't you just push in for an hour every day?"

 

Me: What? When did you get the impression that I have hours upon hours at my disposal instead of kids to teach? "No, my schedule is booked solid back to back with kids. I can definitely carve out some time for one or two days temporarily to train him how to use this, but not everyday"

 

P: "Yeah, but your caseload numbers are low. You and the other resource room teacher only have 12 to 13 students each! The RR teachers before you had over twenty each! Can't you just double up on some kids to find the time?"

 

Me: Ummm, no. I'm not going to run my classroom like a 3-ring circus, crowding in five to eight kids at a time like the teachers before me. If you want to see growth and progress, you must invest one-on-one or two-on-one. Also? The reason our caseload numbers are down is because students have made so much growth with me that they've moved back into general ed. full time. Also? Stop telling me how to do my job. "If I doubled up on kids, I would be doing a much less effective job. The reason I need to keep my groups small is to maximize growth and progress."

 

P: ...

 

Later, the principal sent one of the deans to come talk to me to find out why I couldn't "push in" with Adam for an hour every day. [Can you hear that banging sound? That's my head against the wall...]

So How Was Yours?

Max: "How was your day?"

Me: "Well, we had a thirty minute lockdown at the end of the day because there was a gunman loose in the city. After that, a student with an emotional impairment snuck out of the building and it took four teachers with walkie-talkies twenty-five minutes to find her! So, you know, the usual..."

Beggars Can't be Choosers

I just added thirty (yes, thirty!!) school districts' employment listings to my list of favorites. That way I can check for openings every day without having to play hide-and-seek to find the right link. Although not many schools have job openings listed right now, I can be on the ball about checking. Compulsive? Maybe. Okay, okay, probably.

 

I received my second letter of recommendation today via fax. I asked our school psychologist from last year to sing my praises so I could have a better chance of landing a job. Unfortunately, I don't know if I can use his letter. He's an older gentleman, so he probably thought that saying that I was "knowledgeable about meeting the educational needs of handicapped children" was perfectly acceptable... but it made me cringe a little. I cringed too when he wrote the exact same sentence at the end of two different paragraphs. I also wondered why he didn't just say "dresses professionally" but instead wrote "She always looks very nice".

 

Although I'm thankful he took the time to write it, I'm just not convinced that this particular letter will be helpful! I guess that means I'm off to bother another colleague for another letter....

Seven Years Ago

Max proposed on March 22, 2002. Here's what I wrote two days later in my journal:

"I cooked us dinner and then we went to see Ice Age. It was over pretty soon and it was 8:30 P.M when we got back to my car. We were debating what to do... restaurant? my place? your place? We didn't know. Finally after like 20 minutes, he said 'Why don't we go back to campus, change into really warm clothes [it was well below freezing] and then go to our coffee house?' And then I said: 'Why do we need to dress warmly to go get coffee at the coffee house?'. And he said: 'Because then we can walk around on our bridge!' I said that was a great idea so we went and changed. We basically were doing our first date over again, except this time the coffee was to go...

We got to the lit-up bridge downtown and it didn't feel quite as cold because I was wearing four pairs of pants. We walked around the water's edge and finally found a place to sit down and sip our coffee. We were talking about us and our relationship and he said: 'You know I would never ask you without the ring, right?' I said 'Yeah...' He said: 'So, wanna marry me?' And then I hit him and said 'don't joke about that kind of stuff!'

And suddenly, he moved his hands back towards his pocket then stopped. My heart lept into my throat, I gasped and then I started to laugh. I told him: 'You'll never guess what I just thought you were doing--I thought you were reaching towards your pocket for the ring! Haha!' And then he said: 'Was that a good feeling or a bad feeling?' And I said: 'A good feeling, of course!'

Then he faked it two more times.

All of a sudden, he really DID reach into his pocket, got down on one knee--in the snow!!--and proposed! I was so overwhelmed at what was happening that I kept my eyes on his face and couldn't bring myself to look down at the ring he was holding out. In fact, I was so overwhelmed with emotion that I barely remembered what he said. I think it was along the lines of: 'I love you so much and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?'

Of course I said yes, then gave him a long, long hug. We finally pulled away when he asked me if I wanted to see the ring. I hadn't even given it a glance. I put it on and the diamond was sparkling even in the darkness!!"

So we're going to Outback Steakhouse tonight to celebrate. Also? We have a gift card that's burning a hole in my pocket. So it seemed like a good excuse to use it...

Seven More School Days to Go!!

Signs of a Teacher in desperate need of Spring Break:

1. You're wearing open-toed shoes in forty degree weather.
2. You heave a great big sigh when the morning bell rings and your students come in (interrupting that internet game you were just playing).
3. You invent clever excuses under the guise of academics to take the students outside in the nice weather.
4. You spend your planning time fantasizing about all the fun projects you'll be able to do with your upcoming free time.
5. Your motivation and energy level sink to dangerous depths.
6. The kids are extra jittery.
7. You are extra jittery.
8. You develop violent feelings toward your alarm clock.
9. You reassure your cats before you leave the house that very soon you will have a lot more time to rub their bellies.
10. Time seems to tick backwards, or at the very least, stay in one place. This is especially true after lunch.
    

Perspective Matters

Since we found out we will be moving to a different part of the state this summer, I've been checking that county's website for every single school district's job openings. It's been a little discouraging so far (but then again, it is only March!). Then, I wander over to Craigslist or to Remax and look at all the cheap houses we could be buying in that area. Houses with a place to put a dining room table, and with a washer and dryer hookup. And maybe a backyard for a dog.

 

Basically, I spend a lot of time thinking about the next job I want, and the next house I want.

 

But I hope I never lose sight of what I already have: according to this, I am the 120,869,566 richest person in the world! That means I'm in the top 2.01%!! [I bet you're rich too... try it.]

 

Whew! That's a lot of blessings to count....

Timeline

7:49 AM
I come very close to being run over by a car in the school parking lot. Despite my orange vest, my giant stop sign, and my hand extended in the universal sign for stop, the man in the green mini-van looks right at me and keeps driving. If I hadn't stopped, I would have been hit... not to mention the two kids I was crossing.

7:51 AM
I chase down the man in the green mini-van and give him a vigorous tongue-lashing about the safety of students and staff during drop off times in the school parking lot. Also? I kick in his door to make a point. Also? This whole paragraph is made up, but part of me really wish it happened.

8:00 -- 11:06 AM
I sit through one loooooong special education meeting. I have a break in the middle where I get to see kids for a whopping twenty minutes!

Sometime in the ten o'clock hour
I am embarrassed in front of the district lady because my paperwork isn't in order (you wouldn't think it was a big deal, but it actually has legal implications). It isn't actually all of my fault, but I can't explain that to the district lady without sounding whiny.

2:55 PM
It's my planning time. Instead of planning, I am filling out a mandatory online survey about my job and my district. The first question is: "How satisfied are you with your job?" I freeze because I'm at a loss for words. I proceed to fill out the survey with very thoughtful answers. I even censor myself when there's a place for comments titled: "What can we do to improve?" [And by censoring, I mean that I wrote quite a biting paragraph but then erased it all when I reread it and it sounded like I was throwing a tantrum.]

3:40 PM
My computer betrays me and I lose the entire survey. I'll now have to retake it tomorrow.

4:27 PM
I'm in the middle of my 54 mile commute home and I suddenly realize that I feel very cranky. I can't figure out why.

6:12 PM
In my rush to get dinner, I open a low cabinet so fast and so hard, I fail to notice that Mrs. Hufflepuff (one of the cats) was right in front of it. When the door hit her face, she did a back flip and an angry meow. She is no longer speaking to me.

As I tell the kids who get in trouble.... "Don't worry. Tomorrow is a brand new day"

Caught ya!!

As part of our National Reading month, all of the teachers have been "asked" to call a certain number of kids during a certain time in the evening (once a week for three weeks). If we catch them reading, they are entered into a drawing for a bike or some such prize.

I just got off the phone with "Johnny" and his mom.

Me: "Hi, I'm calling to catch Johnny reading"

Mom: "Okay, here's Johnny"

Me: "Johnny, were you just reading?

At this point in the conversation, I can hear one of them say yes and one of them say no at the same time. I can't tell whose voice belongs to whom.

Me: "Hello?? So did I catch you reading?"

... [scuffle, scuffle]

Mom: "Sorry about that. No, he wasn't reading. He was just about to go play, and when you asked him your question over the phone, he grabbed the nearest DVD box and started reading from the back. Ha ha!"

Well, I guess I caught him doing something!

Forced to Resort to Raw Sugar and Espresso Beans

There are a lot of things that teachers do to keep their sanity within their classrooms. For some, it's making sure they get out of their rooms at some point throughout the day--escaping to the lounge, visiting a colleague, or lingering in the hallway for a brief conversation with another grown-up. For other teachers, it's just grabbing a few minutes of peace and quiet whenever possible. For me, it's surfing the internet for a few minutes before I get down to the business of my planning time.

For a lot of teachers, it's caffeine.

Many teachers purchase their own mini-refrigerators and coffee pots for their classrooms so they can have access to a fresh supply of caffeine at all times. Sure there's usually a fridge and a coffee pot in the lounge, but it's simply not feasible to leave the room every time you need a kick (or a refill!). So I'm sure some teachers are annoyed in Glendale, California when the local school district decided to ban personal coffee pots and refrigerators in an effort to save money.


see

On the other hand, is saving 60,000 dollars worth sacrificing teachers' personal comfort? I think that it's debatable. A lot of schools could use an extra sixty grand. But also, it's like I always say: A happy and healthy teacher is a more effective teacher.

How do you stay happy and healthy in your job?

Boundary Issues

When is enough enough?

 

As teachers, we are expected to help each of our students succeed. Many teachers are willing to go above and beyond the school day to tutor students after school, to help with homework, to head up a club, to provide extra curricular activities, to meet before and after school with parents, to participate in professional committees, to pay for supplies out of pocket, and the list goes on....

 

But then there are other expectations that maybe shouldn't be expectations at all. Call 14 students every week for the next three weeks from 6:30 to 7:00 P.M to "catch them reading" (in honor of reading month)? Attend the soup dinner in the school gym with your family (for no discernible purpose)? Host and attend "Reading night" from 6 to 7:30 PM? Attend fundraisers on a Saturday? Where do you draw the line?

 

My line is very clear: if it doesn't have a direct impact on my students' achievement, then I don't want to do it. Sometimes, I am pressured to do things anyway. But should I be?

 

Other professions seem to set their limits and live by them. You wouldn't expect a grocery store manager to ask all of his employees to stay for two hours after closing to help with inventory just because they should be committed to this establishment and to the customers that shop here. And you wouldn't expect a restaurant manager to require all of his employees to eat dinner there twice a week just because they should be committed to this establishment.

 

Some days I just think teachers are awesome because they are willing to do anything for their students. Other times, I think we are the biggest suckers out there for letting other people take advantage of our helpful nature. Three days ago, at a parent-teacher conference, the parents of my sixth grader with Down Syndrome asked her classroom teacher if she could babysit her this weekend! "Oh, you have plans with your daughters? That's okay, she can just go along with whatever you're doing!"

 

But maybe that's a post for another day....

Favorite Story Character Day

To kick off March as our Reading Month, students and staff were told to dress up as their favorite book character. This year, I forgot (again), so if anyone asked me who I was, I just stood on my tiptoes and said that I was "Sarah, Plain and Tall" (again). I saw lots of princesses and superheroes, Dr. Seuss characters, Junie B. Jones, Bob the Builder, Charlotte's web characters, and Wizard of Oz characters.

 

I've never really thought about who my favorite book character would be... It would be a difficult decision if I had to pick. I'd say it would be a toss up between Ramona and Molly Lou Mellon (from the recent classic "Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon").

 

Who is your favorite book character from a children's book?

Can I Get a Clone?

I was slated to have a really easy day today because of Parent-Teacher Conferences. Usually I pop in on four or five throughout the day... one of the perks of being a resource room teacher, I guess.

I had two high priority items to check off my list (boss' orders!). But as soon as I stepped in the door, I had two teachers stop me with things they needed on a deadline. So there went my day. I was super busy running around all day, finding, printing, making materials, grading papers, popping in on conferences, and generally feeling bad about not getting to my "high priority" items.

But what's a girl to do? The answer may have included chocolate...

Looking Ahead

I've been spending a lot of time thinking about the future. We're moving to the other side of the state this summer, which means job hunting and house dreaming/hunting. Of course, it will be apartment living once more if I can't find another teaching job. This is a definite possibility in a city that is so over-flooded with teachers that even the substitutes and the paraprofessionals/aides all have their teaching certificates.

I spend my planning time compulsively checking remax.com and craigslist for places to live, and school district websites for places to work. The problem is, to get most jobs you have to know someone. I do know someone, but I don't know if there will be any positions there in the fall.

It's a bleak picture, but I'm trying not to give up faith!

Also? Four more weeks until Spring Break!!!!

And the Crowd Goes "Awwwww...."

You may remember "Leslie". Well, she proved her utter cuteness again with this darling letter she wrote to me:

I'm pretty sure that "cet" is "cute". Also? She signed it "Sincerely". Also? She signed it from me! Haha!! Have I mentioned lately how much I love being a teacher??

My New Boyfriend

I'd always heard about little kids having crushes on their teachers, but I've never been on the receiving end of it until recently. Recently, I added a first grader onto my caseload. He is extremely anxious, has zero self-confidence, and exhibits a lot of internalizing behaviors like hiding his head into his shirt. He's a bit hard to understand because he also has speech and language issues.

 

Anyway, I was concerned about transitioning him from the aide he was working with in the hall, to me and my office (anxiety about strangers was the issue). So last week, I made it a point to stop by every single day for five or ten minutes when he was working with his aide in the hall. Every single time, he was very shy and hesitant around me. But apparently on Friday he was telling his classroom teacher how excited he was to start with me on Monday (yesterday).

 

Also on Friday? He drew me a picture of a cat and a dog. He labeled them "cat" and "dog" (good thing too, because they look remarkably similar). At the end of the day, he gave me his favorite soccer pencil. I thought: "This is a good sign. Monday will be easy". And it was! He came out of his shell; he was chatty; he smiled a lot; he was highly cooperative. At the end of the day, he gave me a pink heart with a lot of letters on it. I could make out "like" and then my name. There were some other "words" there, and when I peeked at the sheet of paper his teacher had written on for him to copy, I realized he had written "I like you. I like your games."

 

Max better watch out... there's a new man in town, now!!

Crisis Averted... I Think

Well, the final decision about my Facebook Debacle of 2009: I've decided to accept her as a friend, but I chose to limit what she can and cannot see on my profile (I blocked my wall and my status updates from her).

IN THE FUTURE, all of you teachers out there who are afraid the same thing may happen to you: go to the "privacy setting" of your Facebook account. There will be section entitled "Block". Type in the name of your principal (or other people you don't want stalking you). That way, they can't search for you or find your Facebook profile in the first place. I wish I had known about this last week!!

Oh well.

A Regrettable Conundrum

My principal has "friended" me on Facebook. There is no link back to this blog from my facebook profile, but still.... what should I do???

A Crying Shame!

Issued by The National Weather Service
3:53 pm EST, Thu., Feb. 19, 2009

... WINTER STORM WATCH IN EFFECT FROM SATURDAY MORNING THROUGH SATURDAY EVENING...

A SNOW STORM COULD IMPACT THE REGION ON SATURDAY. SNOW IS FORECAST TO MOVE INTO THE AREA EARLY SATURDAY MORNING AND CONTINUE THROUGH THE DAY. SNOWFALL COULD BE HEAVY AT TIMES. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS IN EXCESS OF SIX INCHES ARE POSSIBLE.

This is what we in the business refer to as "wasted snow". As of January 5th, 2009, it is the number one cause of all pouting, ranting, hysterics, and general tantrum-throwing in our household...

I Like This Hidden Curriculum

Last Friday, I threw a party for a student. She's a sixth grader with Down Syndrome, and she was being rewarded because she did various things (mainly, following directions) to earn her enough marbles to fill her marble jar. She's been working toward this since about November, so it was a BIG deal.

Since it was such a big deal, I made sure I ordered in her favorite pizza, provided drinks and colorful decorations, and borrowed the plastic bowling pins and bowling ball from the P.E department. She was thrilled to invite her many teachers, as well as two friends from her regular ed. sixth grade class. I was eager to have a front row seat to see her interact with her regular ed. peers....

I know that her sixth grade teacher had been saying wonderful things about how accepting and friendly the 25 other students are towards her. I also know that the teacher herself has been a HUGE part of setting up that accepting and friendly classroom atmosphere. She handles situations beautifully in front of the other students when my student does odd things like lick her desk, or give that one boy in her class graphic love notes, or have a bathroom accident in class. This teacher has been WONDERFUL, and I'm so thankful for that.

Back to the two friends at the party (one boy, one girl). I was so incredibly impressed with how they interacted with her. They never condescended or talked down to her. They knew all the right questions to ask her in order to carry on somewhat of a conversation (she's not an eager talker). They smiled and ate and took turns bowling down the hallway with her.

It made my special ed. heart just melt! To think! Irregardless of your view on inclusion and mainstreaming, aside from what good it may or may not be doing for my special ed. kiddo, just think of all the life lessons her regular classmates are learning. Whether they know it or not, because of their sixth grade year with my student, they are going to be better prepared to handle someone who is different. They will know how to interact with people who look different or who act strangely. They are learning patience, acceptance, and kindness.

There are a lot of adults I know who could have used a sixth grade year like that!

Lists Are Your Friends

Are you a list person? I am definitely a list person. I like to have everything I need to do in one handy place so I don't have panic attacks thinking about it all (Have I forgotten anything? Where do I start?) My dad is the ultimate list person. On the phone today, my mom mentioned that he has been trying to get her to keep lists as well, but that making a list and looking at it is depressing!

So here is a list (ha!) of some handy tips for keeping your very own to-do list:

• Start with fun paper because it's more motivating that way. Short on cash? Print your own whimsical list paper here! (The tortoise and the hare are my favorite!)
  
• Add fun things to your list so that every item doesn't feel like a chore. For example, "eat some chocolate" or "waste ten minutes surfing the web" provides a nice break from all the humdrum.
  
• Make yourself feel better by adding in three or four items that you've already done! Nothing will motivate you to accomplish stuff like seeing the stuff you've already accomplished. Plus, it just feels good to check things off a list, even it's just "wake up".
• To avoid using your list as a dust collector, give yourself a deadline for checking three things off (any three except your fake ones like "eat chocolate"!). When you've met your deadline, REWARD YOURSELF! (More chocolate anyone?)
• Don't keep any more than two lists at any one time. If you have so many lists that you have to keep a list of your lists, than you've gone too far (yes, I'm talking about YOU, Rebekah!)
  

I hope I've inspired my five readers out there to keep lists. You'll be amazed at how it makes you feel. No more walking circles around your office feeling so overwhelmed you don't know where to start!

TGI (Almost) F

I'm so glad this week is wrapping up! My back has been bad, I've been congested, I've been near exhaustion during every waking moment, and I've had to stay at school late several days.

Also? I'm considering changing my job title from "special education teacher" to "professional meeting attender". Does anyone else think that EIGHT meetings in the span of TWO days is much too much? Don't I have to teach some kids at some point? On the other hand, I'm getting really good at sitting in my chair and nodding my head a lot...

I Want One Just Like Her

I have the cutest little girl ever on my caseload. She's in second grade, and I'll call her "Leslie". Leslie is so darling that there are days when I consider taking her home! Except for, you know, Max might object to suddenly having a seven-year-old around the house, and her mom and sisters might notice she's missing...

She surprised me the other day with her complete and utter innocence. We were playing a new game on the computer (Earobics); kind of a phonics thing. The pirate on the screen said: "Hey kids!". In the short pause that followed, Leslie answered "Hi!". I looked over at her and she was completely engrossed. I didn't think kids actually answered back when fictional characters talked to them (and now I realize that by saying that, I've betrayed the fact that I don't have any children of my own, or else I would have known better!). A little later, the pirate said: "Do YOU know all your letter sounds?". Leslie nodded enthusiastically and answered "Uh-huh!!". And so the fictional conversation continued.

By the end of it, I was so enamored with her charming display of innocence, it was all I could do to let her go back to her regular classroom!!

AchoooOOOOWWW!!

I'm not an athletic person. Sure, I took my share of basketball and tennis lessons, but I always found a reason to quit. I don't find strenuous activity pleasant whatsoever; my exercise routine consists of walking on the treadmill. Never jogging. Never running.

So I can't easily relate to people like my husband who have sported many injuries in many different places. But today? Today I finally felt like I knew what he goes through when he pulls something in his back. Unfortunately, I can't say that I hurt my back doing anything sportsy; it's a bit of a mystery: I just woke up this morning in a LOT of lower back pain!

I didn't realize how much I needed my back until I tried to do really hard things like: get in and out of a car, reach for a pen, sneeze, get up out of my chair, bend over...

I'm off to go get some ice...

Look at it This Way

There's this thing called "reframing". It basically means you reframe a (potentially negative) situation by looking at it in a different way... a more open-minded, positive, hopeful way. The idea is a bit more complicated and involved, but I've simplified it for the non-psychology people out there...

An example might be:

situation: We came back after a six week vacation to find all of our stuff and our apartment covered with mold.

reframed: Free shopping trip!!

I've found that I've been needing to reframe more and more these days at work... like this:

situation: I'm being micromanaged.

reframed: My superiors want to be involved!

situation: Stuff keeps coming up to prevent me from servicing my students. My instructional time has shrunk to almost non-existent with some students...

reframed: More opportunities for me to help the classroom teacher to differentiate!

situation: No potential snow days in the ten day forecast.
reframed: It's going to be SO warm!

situation: In-service day tomorrow and nobody thought to include any content relevant to the special ed. staff (again!)
reframed: An opportunity to slip under the radar and get paperwork done!

Yay!!

70 x 7

We've been having some drama in the special education department recently among our staff. Things were said. Feelings were hurt. The situation was quickly careening out of control. In an effort to smooth everything over, our Dean of Intervention called for a meeting with all parties involved (including me) at 7:00 this morning. She talked about what "teamwork" meant and got input from each of us about what we needed to be a better team for a certain student that we all service.

She told us at the meeting that we need to leave the past in the past and to start to move forward. I applaud her efforts to reconcile the people involved. But it was like I was telling Max yesterday: "No one will be able to move forward unless they can truly forgive each other. And you can't make people forgive each other".

Then two separate incidents with the administration happened later on today which made me angry. It seems I've been angry often this month at the injustices of the education system. So angry, it keeps me up at night! One incident involved another proof that the administration wants nothing to do with our special education kiddos and would rather sweep them out the door off to another school. The other incident involved something professionally disrespectful said to my face.

The disrespect happened ten minutes before the end of the day. I scowled all the way to my room and thought about how doggone angry I was and how sick I was of just everything. I got into my car and thought about how I was so angry, I couldn't even move on....

Wait, move on?? Wasn't I just talking about moving on and forgiveness? And all of a sudden my own words were haunting me and I realized that the hard thing to do was the right thing to do: to forgive the administration. [Thankfully, the Lord makes the impossible possible!!]

There is a lot that is wrong with the educational system. It is B-R-O-K-E-N. There are thousands of injustices that happen to teachers and to students every day. And sometimes, it's hard to see past our long lists of grievances. So much of a teacher's job ends up being trying to shield our students from all that crap. And when it feels personal, the best (and hardest!) thing to do is to try and forgive and move on.

And to keep on forgiving and moving on...