A Monday is a Monday is a Monday

Today was my first official Monday as a teacher.  I feel like saying it was Monday should be description enough.  I mean, seriously, who really does Mondays.  I sure wish I didn't have to.  Apparently, some of my students don't either.  We had some serious meltdowns, today.  Wowza!  "Weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth" is a actually a most accurate description of our Monday.

During some of our most intense moments of meltdown, our new speech pathologist came for a visit.  Poor woman.  We really did not make a very welcoming group.  I also had a visit from the local VoTech because some of her LPN students complete practicums in our room.  Nothing like finding out that you're getting "observed" in your second week of school!  I did manage to talk her into coming in after our students were dismissed.  YAY!

Overall, I am just glad to have survived my first Monday.  We did actually get to work with some of the kids one-on-one and it was pretty productive.  We are still short one aide for another week, so we are stretched a little bit thin.

Looking forward to another great week.

Thanks for reading!

Day One

Day one is over.

The morning was a little crazy.  Our students all arrive at different times, and after picking kids up from the office, meeting parents, meeting the bus from Okarche, eating breakfast, and taking morning restroom break, we finally got class started around 9:30.  We started with music, which the kids LOVE.  Then we had a period of work, followed by a short "station/center" time--playdoh, math games, train sets, and books.

Then we went to lunch.  WARNING:  grossness to follow!!!  The lunch ladies must have decided to really initiate me on the very first day, because we had spaghetti.  MY GOODNESS!!!!  If you can survive spaghetti lunch day in the multi-handicap classroom, you can handle absolutely anything.

I learned several things during lunch today.  First of all, spaghetti is better eaten with your hands, even if your teachers cut it up to bite-sized pieces and load it up on your fork for you.  Also, green beans shouldn't be eaten at all (I kind of agree with this.  I don't like them, either).  So, if your teacher feeds you a forkful of them, the best course of action is to spit them  back into her hand, along with the particles of spaghetti that may still be there.  Something else I learned is that if you don't like grapes, if grapes in fact are a gag-inducing fruit to you, it is perfectly ok, acceptable even, to eat the stems instead, then laugh maniacally while your teachers try to pick them out of your mouth.

After lunch, we did some more work, while the the aides and I rotated eating our own lunch.  Then some more centers before our 35 minute recess.  After recess, we have snack time and clean-up.  Then it was time to go home.  Our students dismiss about a half hour before the rest of the school.

All in all it was a good day.  We're getting a new student tomorrow.  Another boy!  We'll see how it goes.

Tomorrow's the Day

Well, folks, tomorrow is the day.

Tomorrow, I will have my first official day as the multi-handicap instructor at Kingfisher Heritage School.  I am INCREDIBLY nervous, but I am also SUPER excited.

To tell you a little bit about my class (while maintaining confidentiality)...

I will have ten students ranging in age from Pre-k through 10th grade.  These ten kiddos represent a wide range of abilities and special education categories.  They are ALL boys.

It was a little overwhelming to sit down with the previous teacher to gain a little history on the students.  Thankfully, she is still in the building.  She moved to a different aspect of special ed.  She has been a great resource so far.

In addition, I was told early on that I will have four amazing aides.  I have had the opportunity to meet two of them and work pretty closely with one of them.  After that time with Sharon, I will concur that she is AMAZING!  This will be year twelve for her in the multi-handicap classroom.  She is familiar with the students and their learning styles, discipline needs, and personal/health needs.  However, even with her years of experience, she has been emphatic that I come in and take control of the classroom.  She told me she was a little worried the first day I met her that I would let the aides walk over me.  She's gotten to know me a little better, and I think she may just have more confidence in me than I do in myself.

I will definitely face some major challenges and it will without a doubt be a learning experience for all of us.  I'll be sure and let you know tomorrow how my first day went!

Thanks for reading!