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October 30 How Did I Get So Old? I went over to another Kindergarten teacher's class today with my own class for music. All the children were sitting down on the rug waiting for the other teacher to start. She brought out her record player and set it up. All of a sudden one of the Kindergarten students spoke up and said, "Teacher, what IS that"? I could have died! Not a single child in class had ever seen a record player or a record before. Talk about suddenly feeling old! October 28 Catching Up Sorry everyone! I am so far behind on blogging this week it isn't funny. I've been running ragged with the after school kids and being involved with our Red Ribbon Week for "Just Say No To Drugs". Even though my class participates in that week, I find it slightly hypocritical in the fact that we like drugs in our room-the prescription anti-psychotics :) My bad..I know. We have decorated our classroom door in a door competition. We have worn our favorite sport team's shirts. We have brought our stuffed animals to school and hugged them (Hugs not Drugs). We have worn our sweats to school and our cool sunglasses. Monday we have to wear something red on our head and the final coup de gras is Tuesday when we all wear our Halloween costumes. It is any wonder WHY my students have been higher than kites all week? Crikey..I think I need some drugs to get through it all :)
I was lamenting in one of my blogs that I couldn't decided on my Halloween costume. I finally made my choice of being a geisha and ordered the costume. Four blooming days later I get an email from the company saying they were sold out. Boy was I mad! I had to scramble to find one here in town that wasn't all hootchie mamma or cost a fortune. That was no small task given that the selection here was totally picked over. I ended up having to go as a cheerleader. I know my family will find this amusing given my absolute loathing of cheerleaders in general. Now I find myself having to don the costume. I'm half tempted to just wear my cap and gown from my Master's ceremony.
Now then, my students have been so bad that I had to institute the excerise program back into practice. We already do Physical Education during the week. My exercise program is something that sprung out of my MA research on the use of physical exercise for behavioral modification. This week, my class has learned what interval training is all about. They were introduced to this on Wednesday when I had finally had enough. I took them outside and much to their surprise, I ran them. Three of my students had been at speech and weren't the trouble makers so they didn't have to run as much as the others. My other eight...let's just say if I had not taken them outside, none of them would have lived to see Halloween much less the next day. This is what happens when you have ten boys and only one girl in a class. My eight had ran about five laps up and down the field before the other three joined them. Kim, Pedro and Luis thought the running was fun since they weren't tired yet. I decided I would only do two more laps (and yes, I got out there and ran some of them to keep the other ones from cheating) before going back in. I teasingly said, "Shall we run one more"? Talk about your complaining. That did not set well with me. Pedro spoke up and said, "Yes, I like running". I smiled and said, "Ok everyone, one more for Pedro". You should have seen the look of sheer disgust and hate from the others toward Pedro. When I blew the whistle to run, everyone was running and bitching at Pedro all the way down the field for speaking up. It was hilarious.
Friday was "Shade Out Drugs" day which basically meant wear your sunglasses to school day. Only Kim and Issac had their sunglasses. I decided that I would make sunglasses for others. I had some soft foam left over from other projects we have done along the way in red and white. I decided to make the sunglasses out of red. My design was somewhere between Raybans and a Zorro mask. Anyway, the kids love the fake glasses. They thought they were superheros with them on and actually wore them all day long. Kim and Issac wore the fake glasses over their own sunglasses which made the glasses look even more comical. Because my kids all thought they were superheros, this lead to an animated discussion between Ricky and Isaiah during our memory game. I was sitting nearby so I could hear the whole conversation. It started out with Ricky and Isaiah smelling their breath along with each other's and deciding whose breath was the most stinky. I quickly broke up that little contest by informing them both that superheros brush their teeth every day and also take a bath or shower every day. I told them you can't go around saving people and being smelly at the same time. Nobody would want to be rescued if that were the case. This caught the attention of the rest of my class which lead to a whole discussion about who brushed their teeth today and who took a bath. And I wonder why I've lost the ability to converse with adults. After that, there was a fight about who had what superpower. I ended up having to assign powers to everyone. Some of them were legitimate and some I had to make up depending on the student. Let's just say in my room I have people who have the power of fire, ice, strength, hypnosis, rubberband arms, speed, and the ability to drive one mad. October 23 New State Curriculum-Break Dancing Apparently in my spare time between teaching the alphabet, numbers and why we cannot hit our classmates, I've been teaching my kids how to break dance according to Samuel. My Principal was out doing lunch yard duty (imagine that people) and the kids were putting on a show for him. Samuel decided to do a little dance and then broke it down into some break dancing. Let me put it this way, it's "special" break dancing at best. The Principal asked Samuel where he learned how to do that and he told him that I taught him! I wonder if I can find a way to make that meet state standards before I am toast? The Prinicipal jokingly said to Samuel he wanted him to go find me to so I could go out there and show everyone. Luckily, I was hiding in the classroom eating lunch or I would have been dragged out to the playground. October 19 Quick Update On The Pot Stirring I could not help myself but stir that pot one more time. I was so troubled and angry over the whole incident, I emailed my Prinicpal explaining to him what took place and that I knew it was beyond my jursidiction. I'm blessed to work with such a great guy because he said to me that when my other boss (The School Psychologist) comes back from vacation, he's going to force the issue. He's loves Janie just as much as I do.
As for today, come back later and hear all about our fieldtrip to the cotton field. (That is if I don't die from allergies first!) October 17 Miss. B Stirs The Pot A Little Bit More Maybe I have overstepped my bounds this time but I cannot sit by and watch one of my favorite students be bullied, tormented and picked on by students at her new campus. The student I am talking about is Janie. Long time readers know my affection for her and her antics. My aide was over at the other campus picking up her son when she witnessed other children torementing and laughing at Janie. Janie didn't understand what was going on and thought the other children were her friends. After a few minutes, she realized that they were laughing at her and not with her. She then threw herself down on the ground in a temper tantrum which only made the children laugh at her more. The aide did nothing to stop the children or help Janie. Instead she just said, "Come Janie..let's go". My aide was in a quandry about what to do. She didn't know if she should step in since it wasn't her school or if she get involved. She relayed the story to me today and of course you all know I about burst a vein in my head I was so angry. I'm sorry but nobody has the right to torment another person like that whether they are disabled or not. And that aide should be fired for not taking care of the situation and letting it get to the point where it did. And of course, since this was my student, it was ten times worse to me. I can't help it.
My boss (The School Psychologist) refuses to let me take Janie back to my class on this campus where she had friends and the staffed loved her. Nobody would have even thought to have harassed Janie here. That's because they all know they'd have to face me which is probably worse than the Prinicpal himself. I do not take kindly to my students being picked on by others. My Prinicpal has said he is more than willing to have her come back. I have the room and I'd gladly take her back in a heart beat.
Janie's sister is the new Mild/Moderate Special Ed teacher here on our campus. I decided I had to let her know what is going on with her sister. She was really thankful that I said something. She said her mom has been wanting to pull her out of her new class because there have been so many problems. The teacher in Janie's class is the one I have been raving about (in not a good way) all year long as being completely incompetent and having no training in Moderate/Severe disabilities. Quite frankly, the woman has no business in Special Ed and I hope she quits at the end of the year. I've never felt that so strongly about another teacher ever until now. I told Janie's sister that it was our boss (The School Psychologist) who wouldn't put Janie back with me even though I wanted and asked for her back. She asked me what her mom should do. I told her she needed to call a meeting with the Prinicipal and Vice Prinicipal of the new campus and explain to them the situation. I also said that "Janie's civil rights were being violated" which could also be brought into play if needed. They needed to be aware that Janie and probably her entire class was being harassed by the Gen Ed students. If they didn't take care of the situation, Janie's mom has every recourse to take the district to court.
I don't have tenure yet but I don't really care. Something as serious as this can not go by ignored. Maybe it wasn't my place to say anything but I don't care. I have to stand up for my students whether they be past or present to make sure that the right thing is done by them. A huge problem is that this new campus is a 4th-6th grade. None of those students have been expsoed to children with special needs and nothing has been done to integrate the special needs students into the campus. Cultural attitudes out here are much more harsh about people with disabilities. Mostly, they would prefer that they hide away the kids with special needs. My district has dropped the ball all over the place with not preparing the new school for the new class and by the way they have handled Janie's case. However, the biggest fault I place on them is putting a teacher with no training in Moderate/Severe in a classroom where she has no control or classroom management skills. They stuck a warm body in there because they couldn't fire her. That is so insulting to me as a teacher and somebody who has worked hard to obtain the proper credentialling and an MA in my field. October 16 All's Quiet On Room 1's Front-Just Gearing Up for Halloween And we are back....
Wow! This is the first time I have not wanted to come back from vacation. I really enjoyed not doing a darn thing for an entire week except watch bad tv and give my cats some much needed attention. Usually I'm chomping at the bit to come back to work. I know I must be really tired. It's the afterschool program which zaps me. I have no time between when my kids leave and the next group shows up. I'm not sure if I will do this again in the Spring. Saturday school is different and I would do that again if asked.
It was a very quiet day on the classroom front. Everyone managed to bring their brains to school with them so there wasn't this general look of deer caught in the headlights I usually get from them after a break. That made everything run much more smoothly. I did bring in some different colored pumpkins today just to blow my students' minds. They think pumpkins only come in one color-orange. I went to a pumpkin patch with my mom and my two nieces this past weekend and we bought white pumpkins, green pumpkins, a deep orange and green variety, some speckled orange and white pumpkins and one that can only be described as beige-pink. One of my afterschool students said it was "flesh" color like the crayola named that way. I was most impressed with that comparison and told him so as he was actually dead on in the description. I've been around Special Ed so long that all my Gen Ed kids seem like small Einsteins to me.
The debate on the Halloween costumes rages on for me. Ack...when did costumes become outrageous in price? And when did costumes for women become so hootchie mamma? Holly heck! 3/4 of the stuff I see I could not wear to school let alone out in public without someone thinking I was trying to turn tricks. I guess that's the problem. All the ones that are tolerable without causing too much gossip on campus are more expensive since I guess there is more fabric. And on my campus, people will talk about you. In fact, there is still talk about a teacher on another campus who wore a cat costume last year which was deemed inappropriate by many. This is the downfall of working in a small district. The gossip runs rampant! It's down to the Flamenco Dancer costume with a giant Mantilla on my head or a Geisha in the running. Both are going to run me some where around $100 by time it's all over. I'm leaning towards the Geisha in full Kabuki makeup.
As I think I have said before, Halloween is HUGE at my school. So many schools don't allow it anymore but bless mine, it's as big as Christmas. I love that since this is my favorite holiday. Right now in my class I'm expecting Superman, Batman, Three Power Rangers of assorted colors, two Skeletons and a few undecided choices. I did find two full costumes for a dollar at the DollarTree (you people rule!) incase I had some students that couldn't afford costumes. (A doctor and a Ninja) I also have stuff left over from last year including my cap, gown and hood from my Master's degree ceremony. The kids love the put that on and pretend that they are Harry Potter. October 07 Hiatus Hi everyone! The blog is now on hiatus for a week since we are officially now on holiday! (Can you hear me screaming for joy?) I'll be back for more fun in Room 1 on October 16th. We have a field trip and Halloween coming up so there should be some great stories to come. I love year round school! October 05 The Special Ed Salute I mentioned this back in June 2005 about the special salute that is known to Special Ed. It happens when your student is trying to flip you the bird for whatever reason. Today I was treated to such a salute. Isaac was being hell on wheels again. He was bothering his neighbors during quiet time and I asked nicely to stop. He turned to look at me with a scowl and then proceeded to flip me off. However he gave me the Special Ed salute. He was using his index finger to flip me off. I would have laughed if I weren't so ticked off at him. I smiled though and said, "Oh Isaac...thank you for saying that I'm number one. You're number one too". This proceeded to confuse the heck out of him which only frustrated him more. He then crossed his arms across his chest, huffed and scowled at me again. I couldn't help myself and said, "I'm so happy I'm number one today". (Just for more torture..of course!) October 04 Life in Room 1
The day started off as usual. Then we received a phone call. Mrs. Jackie answered the phone and on the other end was my student Isaiah. He was sick and was calling in to excuse himself from school. His mom must of have had to dial the phone because the kid doesn't even know his own phone number. I was amused that he wanted to let us know over the office that he had a cough and "wasn't going to make it in today". We made it through breakfast and then my Principal and Superintendent show up. They have come to observe. My class is just finishing coming out a transition so everyone is still a little unsettled. My Principal goes and sits down next to Samuel who is working on a puzzle and starts to help him. Samuel apparently is our own little natural gas resource. He lets out a "fart" which pratically lifts him out of the chair. I'm mortified. My Principal says to Samuel, "Did that one hurt"? Samuel laughs and says, "yes". Why is it that no matter how old a guy gets, they take great pride in their flatulence or the flatulence of others? October 02 The Migrants Weigh In On Miss. B.'s Single Life
I haven't been blogging as much because I'm exhausted. Teaching after school plus on Saturdays is wearing me down. I do enjoy working with regular Kindergartners but I love my own students. Today's blog comes from my afterschool migrant program kids. I'm not sure how we got on the subject but one of the kids called me "Mrs. B.". I said politely that was my mom and that I was "Miss.B.". Then I said to my students in Spanish that I wasn't married and didn't have a husband at home. You should have seen the looks on their faces and then heard the noise come out of all of them. Apparently I offended my entire class because they insisted I was married and that was that. I guess I got married and didn't know it. If that's the case, where is my husband to come kill the spiders? Typical...nowhere to be found! Thank goodness I didn't tell them I didn't have any children or I think there would have been anarchy. |
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