School Improvements

In the last month the following projects were started at school:

1) New soap dispensers were installed. 2, to be exact, for 500+ students.

2) The new soap dispensers were filled (it took about a week)

3) They started to install an intercom system in my classroom. They worked on it on Thursday, did not finish and did not return on Friday.

4) School yard was cleaned, and all signs of fall were removed, including leaves and acorns that were on the ground. Note to self, rework that lesson plan

5) Technology support person was notified that the internet jack in my room does not work. Hopefully I will have internet in the classroom soon

Problem of the day

In my school, many of teachers give their students a mathematical problem of the day. I think this is also the case in some other schools too. This past week, I accidentally posed a very challenging math problem to my colleagues and principal.

Here is the situation. Last year the early childhood and special education classes took a trip to see a play in December. Last year the principal gave me the money for our tickets in advance and then as the students' families paid, he collected the money. This year, he said that was not doable because of some accounting problems he had last year with the school account. He asked me to pay for everyone out of my pocket and I think that is an absolutely unreasonable request. It is 5 dollars per student and we are planning the trip for fifty students. News Flash: that is 250 dollars!

Once I got over my initial shock at his request, I thought some more about it. I am comfortable putting up the money for the students in my classroom because I have good relationships with their parents and would be better able to follow up with them in case someone did not pay. I do not even know all of the other early childhood or special education parents, so how can I ask my them for money? My colleagues are little lazy and or unorganized so I don't feel that I can trust them to do it. I wanted to just take my class but my principal said that was wasteful because the bus would not be full at all.

So I asked each teacher to pay for his or her class upfront. I explained that it is five dollars for each student. Everyone with me so far? Then, I explained that the ratio of chaperones allowed by theater is 1:10. One chaperone for every ten students.Since some of our classes have fewer than 10 students and 2 adults, they are over the ratio and the second adult also has to pay 5 dollars.

Did I lose anyone yet? Because 2 of my colleagues and my principal could not follow this reasoning. I gave an example: If I have 2 adults in my classroom and only 9 students, I need to pay five dollars for each student (45 dollars) and five dollars for that second adult. 45+5 = $50.

Still blank stares and confusion. So I explicitly talked about the numbers of students in each of their classes. One has 6 students and one has 7. Each of their classrooms has fewer than ten students and they have an extra adult. Therefore, they need to pay for that extra adult.

Chaos erupts. My principal whips out his scientific calculator. The teachers explain that they want to combine their classes. They will then have 13 students and four adults, and will still need to pay for two of those four adults. The math was beyond all of them. My early childhood colleagues may have the excuse that they don't teach such complicated math to their students, however, my principal, the person who is somewhat in charge of school finances, should be able to comprehend this.

Frustrated with their lack of understanding, I resorted to drawing pictures. I started drawing stick figure representations. After 25 minutes, I still don't think they truly comprehended the math. They did agree to pay up front for their students. I was annoyed. I find I have a lot of patience for helping students understand something, but very little patience for explaining something that I take to be basic math to adults. People who have been teaching longer than I have been alive. People who are supposed to be mentoring me.

I explained this math problem to other people and they could follow the reasoning. Could you follow the math in this post?

"It's just another manic Monday..."

... and Tuesday!

Things are very busy in the classroom. We started to implement both the reading and math curriculum last week. It is my first time using this math curriculum, so there is a learning curve. While I had been teaching my students math all of the other years, I hadn't been trained or given the district wide early childhood math curriculum or materials. I was finally trained over the summer and picked up the materials a few weeks ago. So far, it seems like I was already implementing many aspects of the curriculum so I am focusing on the parts that are new to me. The materials we have used so far seem to be exciting and actively engaging my students.

Last week was a really rough week emotionally. My kids are dealing with some pretty rough stuff at home and I was working hard as their advocate to clear up confusion with parents and get them the proper services that they need.

Yesterday, Monday, I was startled by their behavior around food. More than half the class came into the classroom in a frenzy. They were desperate to have breakfast, and even though I have assured them several times that everyone can eat at school, my words don't penetrate. Some of the kids became very aggressive and protective around their food. "That's my food, don't take it from me" and other troubling statements. The frenzy died down once everyone who wanted to eat was sitting with a breakfast in front of them. I knew before Monday that many of them are hungry or worry about food but I was still shocked by their aggressive and protective behavior about their breakfast. I hope that their out-of-school situations improve sooner rather than later.

I continue to really struggle with supporting one of my students who has intensive behavioral challenges. I have a behavior plan in place that he seems to respond to, sometimes. I am working on training my para and the other teachers on how to support this student. In addition to attempting to decrease this student's non desirable behaviors, I am working with him and the whole class to build better social skills.

As I write this though, I am optimistic. My principal finally changed the schedule so that it is more consistent. Consistency is an essential ingredient in academic learning and in reducing problematic behaviors. My principal and I have had this same conversation each year. Each year it seems as though he has completely forgotten all of the points I have made to him about this topic. When I got to him and express the need for routines and consistency in the lives of my students, I am not asking for me. I am not asking to have all my prep periods in the morning so I don't have to do any planning on my own. I am asking on the behalf of my students, who do not need more chaos and disorder when they come to school. I am optimistic that a set schedule will help my students adjust. Once they learn the routine, hopefully they will feel less anxious at school and problematic behaviors will sharply decrease.

I must remind myself that it is still early in the school year. This is only my students' fourth full week of school. Things will get better.

From hitting to biting and sentence writing

I am still feeling quite sick with a nasty cold. It appears to be making its way away from my head though. Celebrate progress in all forms. I dragged myself in today for two IEP meetings that didn't happen. The parents did not show, the special ed chairperson was meeting with her financial advisor in person in the meeting room, and the speech therapist did not show. So my sick self is there specifically to attend the meeting that, for all intents and purposes, did not happen. After fifteen minutes, I finally told the chair that I needed to go back to class. My reports were placed in her mailbox last week. She had the nerve to tell me to be patient. Excuse me? She was not even doing anything relevant to the two students at hand. I explained that if we were not going to have a meeting that I needed to be in the classroom, with my students. Sounds reasonable, right?

One of my students who has been very physically aggressive decided that biting his friends would be better than hitting them. I did not agree with his plans and so the day was.. a little challenging in that regard.

On a positive note, one of my very young students has taken to writing sentences. He wrote two full sentences this week, complete with capitalization and punctuation. Hooray for him!

Wondering what else will happen this week...

Quotes

Another look at the week, this time through random quotes:

Me to the class: Oh, it looks like the lights are out in the bathroom. I wonder what happened

One student: Someone spilled turkey bacon in there!

One of my students to me during recess: He is in trouble, I brought him over so you can whoop him, Mrs K1 teacher

Me, as a student gets off the bus in the morning: Good Morning!

The student: I hate you. F*** You!

Me to parent at open house: Excuse me, that is my desk, it is a personal area.

Parent: Oh I was just looking at your stuff

Me: Well , you can look at the student work or the centers. I can answer any questions you have....

Parent: I just wanted to look at your files and papers....

Week 2

The second week is over. This week was a challenge because of illness. My husband was sick for th beginning part of the week. I wanted to stay home with him to monitor his health. I used my prep periods and lunch time to call whenever I could.

I had a severe stomach ache for several days, complete with loss of appetite, nausea, and other unpleasant digestive situations. It got worse and worse over the course of the week. Finally on Thursday night at open house, I had to sit down. I apologized to the parent I was speaking with. I was really scared to drive myself home and thought of calling my loving husband. I jotted down some sub plans before I left school Thursday night and a letter of apology to my para. Most teachers would agree that it would be very difficult to miss a day so early on the school year.

When I finally made it home, my husband looked at me and determined that it was necessary to go to the ER. I tried to convince him that I would be fine, but I was too scared and too weak. Off to the ER we went. A few iv bags of fluid and medicine later, I was feeling a little better. I slept soundly through the night and felt much better Friday morning. I went into work, storing my letter of apology for another day. As the day wore on, I marveled at this sensation called hunger and I picked at simple, bland foods. By Friday evening, I had the makings of a pretty nasty head cold, complete with chills, heavy head and sneezing. It appears like the third week of school for my students will start pretty much the same as the second one did,, with me feeling under the weather.

Oh, the ER doctor was helpful and had some possible theories about my seemingly very frequent upset stomach. One of which involves following up with a GI doctor. It is definitely time for me to this. As a teacher, I know I can not meet all of my students needs. I often look to other teachers, specialists, therapists, parents, and community resources. I need to apply that same theory to caring for myself. I cannot ignore my problems and hope they go away. I need to take care of this situation. I cannot simply expect to handle it by myself without some specialized support.

Thankful that the first week is over

Sometimes in the school year are more challenging than others. The first week of school is certainly one those times. On Monday morning, I was ready. The room was clean and organized. Their first activity was set out on the table. The clipboard was loaded with bus information and blank pages for notes. I had made fairly detailed notes in my plan book for the first three days of school.

Then the students and their families arrived and I detailed some of that an earlier post on this blog. By the end of the day, I was thoroughly exhausted and frustrated with the prep period schedule. It is at a different time each day, which makes teaching routines to children inexplicably difficult since we literally had a different schedule every day this first week. I have plead my case to the administration several times, and carefully explained that a consistent schedule is not about me or my needs but it is about what is best for the children. Since they cannot advocate for themselves, it is my responsibility to advocate for them. It was to no avail. My concerns were answered with shoulder shrugs and a wiping hands gesture, which only aggravated me more! Use you words, Mr. Administrator!

Tuesday came and I was determined to make it a better day. The students arrived to find their laminated picture name cards on the table. For some of them, this seemed to ease some of their worries and anxieties. They saw their picture and relaxed a little, feeling just a tad more comfortable. Oh and then there was the observation. A therapist came to observe on of the students. One the second day of school. I protested and didn't think this was fair to anyone, including the student who was being observed. For some kids, it can take a while before they settle into the routine and are performing to their best ability. Again my protests were seemingly in vain.

A new student arrived on Wednesday. On the bus with no name tag, no identifying information and a very styling hairdo. When I approached to ask what his name was, he greeted me with a string of expletives. So that teacher -student relationship was off to a great start, as you can imagine. He eventually told me his name and he was one of the students on my class list who did not show up at the beginning of the week. He was angry and aggressive throughout the day. I read through his IEP later in the day and familiarized myself with some of his goals and his history.

In addition to helping a new angry and aggressive student adjust, more people arrived to observe the same student who was observed on Tuesday. The message I received said they would come "late morning". That to me is before noon. They did not arrive. So as any classroom teacher knows, the show must go on. When they arrived slightly before 1pm, the students were resting. They were baffled and annoyed. I tried to be professional and polite as I explained that I was expecting them earlier in the day. I also told them when the students would be getting up from their nap and told them that they were welcome to come back then. This did not work for them and I did not see them for the rest of the day.

So that brings us to Thursday, meeting day. By this point in the week, I was marveling at how much my students don't know. In other words, I forget every year how much they learn by June. When we start in September, everything is brand new. I am tired from lack of sleep and stressed. I am still trying to help my students with routines but still have not received any administrative support. The parents of the student who was observed have requested a special meeting. Many people were involved in the case, including private and district therapists. The parents are requesting extra services. The district claims the student does not need all of those services.

I did not want to go to the meeting. I felt like it was more important for me to be with my students since it was only the fourth day of school and all. Even though Ms. S, my para, is fabulous, the kids still need a lot of support and I worried about them. Unfortunately, my presence is mandatory. So off I go to a 2 hour meeting. Everyone in the room is tense. Not much was accomplished. I felt vulnerable, anxious, personally attacked and generally sick to my stomach. Chaos was brewing in the classroom when I returned. I couldn't wait to go home. When I had my prep period at the end of the day, I was distraught and unproductive. Finally, the kids left and I headed to yoga class with a wonderful teacher. Thank goodness for yoga.

Thursday night I was angry about the meeting and some specific things that were said. I felt sorry for myself and for the student. I was bothered by some other unresolved issues from the week and worked feverishly to plan and organize. Mr. K1 teacher, my wonderful husband had worked hard to fixed my computer and I was extremely grateful for all of his hard work. And because of all the stress and intense emotions, I ended up erupting at him about some stupid little thing not working just right on the computer.

Friday was probably the best day of the week. I was buoyed somewhat with the knowledge that it was in fact Friday and that weekend was approaching. The students were adjusting and I started to develop a behavior modification plan for the angry and aggressive student. We will start to implement that plan on Monday. I worked on some paper work type tasks during my prep period, including copying emergency cards, and starting student files. And I taught. That's the point.

Stress, lack of administrative support, and general lack of understanding in my building about early childhood special education drive me insane. I want to teach. I want to enrich young minds. But sometimes, I find all these other things get in the way. I start looking for other jobs and wondering if I should quit. Then I look at the calendar and try to remind myself that its too early in the school year to feel this badly and that things will get better. I hope.