The rest of the week

Wednesday morning was okay. In the afternoon, I had an IEP meeting that was less than stellar. There were at least 15 people present. One of the people representing the student's parents pounced on every word that came out of my mouth. She even went so far to imply that I looked tanned when the subject of my absence came up. It took every ounce of self control in my body not to strangle her. Sips of water, deep breaths, count backwards from 100... She interrupted everyone, dragging the meeting on and on. I wanted to tell her to shut up and actually listen to what people were saying instead of blurting something out every five minutes, to open a child development book, or better yet, find an article that lists the characteristics of a person with autism. After 90 minutes, I left. It was the end of the school day and my para needed help with my students at dismissal. I did not go back either as I had to scoot to a doctor's appointment.

Thursday was better and nothing too remarkable happened, thankfully. The kids were very excited to go outside for recess the few times that we were actually able to get out this week.

Friday morning when Mr. K1teacher woke me up, I was thoroughly confused and exhausted, thinking it was Saturday. After getting dressed and having breakfast, I snoozed on the couch. I certainly should have stayed there as the day only went down hill from there. It included a frustrating conversation with my principal, getting head-butted in the abdomen by an older student, and helping a colleague to restrain a physically dangerous student while other teachers stood by and watched. It was a full moon though, so hopefully things will be slightly less crazy tomorrow.

I'm back!

This is my first week back. It is hard.

Monday was especially challenging. First, we got a new student while I was out. It is a new student who already faced so many difficult issues in his life and he does not have a way of dealing with them. He is on some pretty heavy duty medication and has some non desirable and aggressive behaviors. So it is always lovely to come back to that. Second, it seems like some of the other students were either thrown off by my absence, thrown off by the arrival of the new student, or missed the structure. I felt thoroughly exhausted by 10 am on Monday and the day was not even half over. Students who are normally great students, students who typically serve as examples for other students seemed to be testing me, to see if I still meant what I said, to see if the rules still stood. The students who typically benefit from the modeling of the other students were down right nutty, defiant, and at times unsafe. At home Monday night, I was exhausted and overly emotional but riled up and unable to sleep.

When I got up yesterday, I felt worse than I did on Monday, probably due to lack of sleep. Yesterday was better though. For starters, no one threw a chair when they were upset. I felt more organized and prepared. The students who typically model good behavior went back to that version of themselves. I will start a new behavior plan this morning for one of my students who seems to be having a very difficult time.

Hopefully, each day continues to get a little better. One day at a time...

Personal Info

So I am still hopeful that I will be able to go back to work eventually. I want to keep this space for my work ideas and experiences. I have created a new blog devoted to the pregnancy. You can find it here http://pregnanttanya.blogspot.com/

Long Overdue

I haven't blogged in a quite a while. I haven't been in school in quite a while either. I missed a week of work in December and have not been back since the holiday break. My husband and I found out in November that I am pregnant with our first child. I have been basically quite sick since right after Thanksgiving. I am hoping things get better for me soon so I can get back to teaching! Until then, I would appreciate warm thoughts and prayers.