Hi everyone,
Hope you are having a great Wednesday! I am having a good day so far. It might be because my back talker/last word boy is not here today.
Angela, glad that you got your walk in last night. I bet you would be very sore after pushing both of them in the stroller. Atleast that is a great alternative to taking the trike. Hopefully you won't have to try and get in touch with the back talker's mommy in a hurry.
Melody, glad that your scales budged into the 230's this morning. Isn't that a wonderful feeling.?
Hi to Casey, Trob, Pam, Robyn and Ginny. Hope your days are going great.
Have a great afternoon.
Take care,
Kerry
Kerry!!!!!!!!!!! Woo hoo.......... So glad that the scale fairy was good to you, you deserve it! Keep up the great work. Try to come up with a game plan for the fatty holidays that are ahead of us- Halloween, THanksgiving and Christmas. Maybe we can all get to our goals by mid December. Wouldn't that be nice! (got my tape in this am......sister in sweat) Hope the rest of your day is a good one.
Angela- great that you got a walk in! Feels great, doesn't it? I have a solution for the chatty bratty........we can sit him in the first row with my MM and let them torment each other. Wish I could. How sad that you could not reach his mom. I have had that happen too. I had a mom who took herself to the movies on a half day.........oh, the kids got out at 12........her movie got out at 3...........what a wackadoo. Dont' you feel for these kids sometimes?
Melody- the scale fairy was good to you too!!!! Congrats. Enjoy the quiet afternoon with an early dismissal.
Mouse- glad you are ok. Shall we put your Ed kiddo, Angela's chatty bratty and my Mr Manipulator together??????? I promise to be my usual anal self and torment the heck out of them and insist upon good behavior..........which is tough while driving.
Gotta go.........Pam ,Trob and Robyn (miss you!) hope your day goes well.
Back to work.
Ginny
For the past couple of years we have gotten the Early Release day as part of a reading grant so that teachers can have time to get together and learn new strategies. I don't think we really make up the minutes. My day starts at 7:45am and ends at 3:30pm everyday. I don't know if we will get the early release days after this year because I think the grant is running out this year.
melody- did you do a little dance this morning when you stepped on the scale? i do everytime it moves down.
mouse- sorry you stinker is giving you so much trouble. there always has to be one in the bunch
ginny- i can see how you get attached to the kids on your bus. i looped on year and had four of the same kids and then i had those same kids again last year in art. they are still some of my favorite students of all time. i really got to know them and watch the grow up.
everyone else- hope that you had a great day. my family is calling me to get in the car. it is time for our wednesday night family food fest at my sisters.
Hi everyone. I finally did the Walk Away the Pounds video today. I started with the 1 mile. I have the 1, 2, 3 mile DVDs but I am going to stick with 1 mile until I build up my endurance again. I feel better now that I did it. I am going to committ to doing an exercise DVD at least 3 times per week so I can step up my weight loss and lower my blood pressure. Talk to you all later.
Good evening, all.
Melody: The private school I worked at had early release on Wednesdays as well so that teams could meet and IEPs and stuff could get done. Somehow, I never seemed to have my meetings or anything on those days. Congrats on your scale!
Kerry: Congrats!!!
Trob: Yea... This kid is truly emotionally disturbed, though, and gets no counseling or therapy to help. He must feel awful all the time because we jump on him everytime he does something inappropriate. We have to, we don't have a choice. And, it doesn't help when I require him to do 45-50 minutes of work in a 90 minute period... I set goals, and if he reaches them, he gets to play a game or do another activity, but he never ever reaches it because we spend half the period redirecting him. When he's in the ED program, they never make him read or write, they usually give him a math worksheet and when he's done with that, he's allowed to use the computer. I don't EVER let my kids free surf on the net. I have enough trouble getting everything done that we need to get done!
Ginny: That works for me. When would you like me to deliver him to New York for you? I can just ship him UPS Ground... He's pretty skinny. He totally lost the trip to go get lunch at the chinese restaurant on Friday. And here's an example of his behavior: We tell him he can't go with us, and he says, "That's okay, CBI is boring and I hate chinese food anyway!" 20 minutes later, he says, "When are you going?" I tell him, "During 7th period" (which is our CBI period, and during the lunches). He says, "Oh. I thought you were going all day, and I wasn't sure what I'd be doing." I say, "Why would we spend ALL DAY at a chinese restaurant?" "Oh, they're cool places. I love going to them, and spend all day there." :blink: This is a typical conversation in our classroom.
I did receive an interesting phone call from my insurance company: They have a wellness program that you're enrolled in if they think you have certain conditions. They must base it on the prescriptions you have filled and doctors/specialists that you see... They called today to ask me if I was interested in joining the program for diabetics, and those with high blood pressure. :snicker: Poor lady... I'm neither diabetic nor have high blood pressure. I take the medications to treat the symptoms of the endocrine disorder.
So... I'm sure there was something else I was going to stay, but I'm not at all sure now what it was.
My Principal postponed my schedule change and reevaluate it in two weeks. I try to let her know I didn't mind working with the teacher/student. I offered to work with her the second half of the morning willingly if she would just give me the first 1.25 hour in my classroom.
I explained that I like making lesson plans for my spelling center. If I move, I have to give up the only center where I'm the teacher. Because my teacher is on probation from having previous teachers report her as not pulling her weight and being overdependent, she assumed the rumors that she was overleaning on me. I told her that my teacher never gave me that center. The master teacher gave it to me last year when I kept suggesting games all the time. The teacher I have this year simply let me keep that part of the day for myself. Obviously I would be heartbroken if I have to give it up. I explained that not only do I like making the plans, etc, but I learn so much about these students by observing how they learn to things I have created. I go back and readapt them and learn something new from that adaptation every time. This helps me understand how to help them throughout the day in other language arts and even behavior situations. So I get additional brownie points for improving my teacher's reputation with the Principal.
The reason she postponed it has nothing to do with me though. She decided to go back and try to convince the parents to place the kid in first grade (my grade) instead of second grade (parents insist) because everyone involved says he is totally out of his league even in the mildly sped class in second grade.
The Principal did ask me if I would be willing to create games/etc for the second grade classes. I told her it depends on how the teachers feel about that. I love it, but I don't want to step on anyone's toes.
The truth is in some ways I do far less for this teacher than I did for her and the Master teacher last year. At the same time I do have a few new duties. One of them is the Newsletter at the end of the week. Also she asks me to assist on parent emails occasionally. Plus I write any forms, etc. I suggest crafts (but I did that last year) and help with them. Everyone assumes I'm overdoing it. I'm not really doing more than I did last year (of course everyone thought I was overdoing it then too). I tend to like to stay and clean up, sit in on planning meetings, look up new lessons/crafts/worksheets at home, come up with new projects, etc. Because I work for free, they assume the teacher over relied on me. I'm just an overachiever. There is a difference.
My son's after school program asked me to teach a sign class once a week. It's during the time I normally pick him up. They said my other son can join in on the class and they will give me a discount on the tuition I pay.
The reason I like my class is because my teachers don't have a strict boundary for our jobs. Sometimes they assist with mine and sometimes I assist with theirs. They don't mind me making suggestions for new stuff, creating homework, etc. They treat me as equals and include me on the planning meeting and keep me aprised of upcoming lessons. They ask my opinion and allow me to offer feedback. While the teachers really did most of the teaching work, they treated me as part of the team instead of "just an aide" or someone they tell what to do. THey always ask "Do you mind doing me a favor..etc" They give me choices "Would you rather make copies of this or watch and assist the children with the journal time?" Whatever I decide, they do the other. I'm blessed. In the process I work overboard (and for free..but not because they asked).
Friday's 1/2 day was planned by me (but she will do the prep). She mentioned a craft and cooking activity. I suggested No Bake Cookies (so we don't have to worry about getting things cooked in time and a Traffic Light craft (because we are studying transportation). We are also doing a spelling test. No biggie. I also make it VERY clear that any suggestions I do (even if it took time to get it) can be vetoed. It is up to HER to make the decisions of what plans based on what she thinks will best serve the curriculum and even based on what she already has prepped. My goal is NEVER to upsurp the teacher. I love my room!
Melody- congrats on getting a 1 mile "walk" in! Every mile counts....great way to start out, so you do not burn out.
Trob- hope your Wed nite food fest was not too fattening! I hear ya with watching the kids grow up.......I have had some of my route since kindergarten (now in 4th grade). You get so darned attached to them. A fellow driver (who for personal/schedule reasons had to change routes after many years) had actually driven some of the parents, and now was driving their kids. She stayed with her route one last year to drive one last "crop" of kindergarteners (the last child of a few families). You sure do get attached to them.
Mouse- UPS ground is fine. It must kill you to do your best with the ED student.......in that I can tell you know he is not really getting all that he deserves/needs. And yet somehow, you must manage and manage all the other students who need you just as much. We have all heard it before, you spend 90% of your time on 10% of the students. Sure doesn't seem fair.
As far as your health plan.........will they allow you in it anyway? (the wellness program that is). Would there be any benefit to you?
Casey- sure sounds as though you have a wonderful, cooperative environment to work in. It sure does make a person want to go the extra mile. For whatever reason, good thing that your schedule change has been delayed.
Me, I survived another day. Tomorrow will be long- I am teaching computer at Dd's school, then was asked to drive a 1/2 day kindergarten dismissal.
And all my regular stuff. Mr Manipulator and his brother are an interesting two. The little brother seems to hate school - think because he is made to toe the line and can't get away with murder. I had to ask the principal to take him off the bus this am- he hunkered down on the floor and refused to go in. (I have other kids in his class on my bus and the teacher is quite experienced- the other kids seem to like her). Then he refused to cooperate on the bus this afternoon, I told him he should be happy to get on the bus as it is going to take him back to Mom.......me thinks he dislikes anyone who does not allow him to do whatever he wants. Period. (why me?)
Other than that I am still declaring law and order.....meaning that at times it is hard to tell the difference between the wicked witch of the west and me.
Another week or so and I can loosen up. The bus is so crowded this year- I really need the kids cooperation to make this work.
I am pooped........perhaps I will not be here tomorrow. Nite
Ginny
Melody you are making up the minutes. We start at 7:45 and get out at 3:00 and that is 30 min more than when I was in Texas. I would stay an extra 30 min for 1/2 day of no kids every week.
I think I might have found a double stroller. The librarian said her daughter was trying to sell hers a few months ago. So I told her to find out how much she wants for it.
Hi Ladies,
It is a wet and cold Fall day here in Ohio. It makes it difficult when you have to leave your room which is in a portable to go to the main building to the office, restroom or gym. Then here in a little bit we need to go to the other building where our cafeteria is. Makes me just want to go home and crawl back in bed and sleep the day away. Looks like I will have to make a trip into Curves this evening, so I can workout. Since I don't feel like walking outside in the rain.
Melody, we are starting to have early release days this year. We will have them once a month and during that time we will be working on professional development related to rising the achievement scores for our school. The only bad thing about them is that they all take place on Friday's. That is not how I would like to spend my Friday afternoon at school. Glad you got your Walk Away the Pounds tape out and used it. I have all of the ones for Walk Away The Pounds Express (1,2,3 miles), Walk Away The Pounds for the Abs (1,2,3), Walk Strong (2), Walk and Kick(2), Walk and Jog(2), and the 4 mile super challenge. Right now I have only had the time for the 2 mile walks. I do a different one each morning. I think your plan to start out with the one mile and work up is great. Keep it up and you will be doing the 3 mile one in no time.
Trob, so how was your family food fest at your sister's last night? That sounds like a lot of fun. My sisters don't live close by me so we can't do that . Hope your day is going great for you.
Casey glad your schedule change hasn't happened for you yet. Sounds like you have a great working environment. Sounds like you enjoy going the extra mile for the children and teachers. Hope you are having a wonderful day.
Mouse, sorry to hear that your Ed kid is still giving you such fits. I think he is doing it becasue he likes all the attention he is getting. Does he crave the attention be it positive or negative? Sounds like you have been having a busy weekend. I would check into that Wellness program any way and see if there would be any benfit to you doing it. That is just my two cents worth. You can take it or leave it.
Angela, that is great about finding a double stroller. I will keep my fingers crossed and home that it doesn't cost too much for you and you are able to buy it. That would be great when your oldest grows a little bit more and you still want to go for walks.
Ginny, hope your long day is going well for you. Sounds like you are going to be very busy. Hope you are able to find sometime to walk. Remember it helps clear your mind and get that great brain power working. Wishing you lots of luck when you visit the scale fairy tomorrow at WW's.
Pam so how is your week going? How did the Teacher of the Year awards program go the other night? Hope all is well with you.
Hi Robyn. Miss you and have been thinking about you. Come back when you can.
Well ladies, I need to go and eat my lunch before I go to recess duty. Have a great afternoon. Talk to you all later.
For a truly inspiring story, go to General Chatter and check out the Prepared to be Inspired ( this is not a joke) thread. Makes you rethink some of the things we do and why we do them for our students on a daily basis.
Later,
Kerry
What a long stinking day. I am tired. I am also tired of being my husbands whipping boy (verbal, that is). He has not apologized but recanted sort of...I am too tired for this nonsense.
MM's little brother would not leave the bus again this am. I have spoken to his teacher (who is wondering if he does not transition well.....or perhaps the bus sound or smell sets him off?) I had to have the principal get him off again.
BLESS her, she actually rode my route with me this afternoon. What an amazing woman. She told me they are having issues with him in school too - suspecting aspergers syndrome. I have asked her to keep me up to speed,the teacher also. But mom is in denial. (you could have guessed that, right?)
Kerry- thanks for thinking of me. I did sneak in my WW tape. And I am such a burnout I will go for a short walk. The breeze feels wonderful here in NY. Hope you got to Curves this evening....later I will get to general chatter and check that out. Oh, and thanks for personally addressing me.
On a day like this it means a lot!
Good afternoon everyone. I am so glad tomorrow is Friday!
ECmom, it does sound like maybe that little boy might have Asperger's. I have a student with Asperger's and they can be quite a challenge. Luckily, the little boy I work is very well behaved and is only difficult when he is scared. He is easily frightened by rain and noises such as lawn mowers and vacuum cleaners.
Kerry, I hope you were able to get to Curves today. I am going to do another WATP DVD in just a little bit. I will probably do the 1 mile again.
D.Smart, I know how you feel about going into other's classrooms. That's what I do all day, but luckily all of the teacher's are very open and seem very appreciative of all the help I give to the Sped and regular children. I teach centers in some of the rooms and I like that part. I actually enjoyed teaching summer school, though, because it was nice to have my very own classroom. However, I do like to not have to worry about classroom management and discipline as much when I am inclusion teacher.
Angela, I hope you were able to get that double stroller today.
Trob, Anonymouse and everyone else,
I hope you had a good day today.
BTW, the scale is down another pound to 238! If I can get down 1 more pound before Monday I will be at the 10 pound mark since I joined WW.
Melody: As an inclusion teacher do you make up your own "pull out" lessons? That's what I would be missing. Also sometimes some teachers don't feel aides are on the same level and will do more ordering than cooperative teaming (I like that word..thanks). Plus many feel threatened if you have feedback/suggestions or too much of it. I'm interested too. I like to think of new stuff. In the end I let the teacher decide and I'm always happy to follow but at least I was heard and valued. That's what worries me about moving. I would think as an inclusion teacher you at least have their respect as a teacher and they WANT you to help them with their issues/etc.
I want to edit to say that not all aides want to be included. Some want to do just what they are supposed to do and have more firm ideas of what their duties are. My duties are more blurred and I like that.
I do have to write lesson plans. I do pullout my students for 30 minutes tutoring sessions on Wednesdays in groups of 3 (I have 18 students). The rest of the week I make lesson plans for small group instruction within the classroom. For example, in my 3rd grade class, I teach two groups during reading who need the most help (only 2 of my students are in those groups). In my second grade class, I just go in for 30 minutes at the end of the day and do extra practice remediation with just my 1 student in there. In my 1st grade class, I work with my two students plus two others who are struggling in reading and then I go back and help with math. In my two kindergarten classes, I help with math lessons in one class and reading centers in another class. I have a Special Education assistant who goes into another 3rd grade class, two more kindergarten classes, and he also goes to the 1st grade class that I go to as well. My Asperger's student is in 1st grade so he needs a lot of support.
At my school we have two Special Education Assistants. One for K-3 with me and one for 4-6 with the other Sped. teacher. The Sped assistants plan things to do and work with students, but they consult with the regular Sped. teacher and the Regular classroom teacher about what the student's needs are. Our Sped. assistants are treated with respect and are appreciated. I wish that all assistants could feel that way. Assistants are very important. I feel bad a lot that the assistant pay is so much less than teachers. When I taught at summer school my pay was $24/hour, but my assistants was only $8/hour and she worked just as hard as me and really cared about the kids. Finally, our school district is going to start a pay scale for assistants that would go up with every year that they work and I think that will be a lot better.
Melody, one thing I hear from teachers alot is they don't have training to work with an assistant. It seems simple but really it can be complicated, especially when you haven't hired the person yourself (as a boss would). There are so many personalities. Sometimes it's hard for teachers to realize aides are gasp...individuals. They have different expectations, needs and wants for the job. This is especially difficult when the administration comes in and doesn't even address the aide when they need to pull them for something. Hello..I am a person. My teachers last year started saying "ask HER" (this was code for, they didn't mind but I could tell them anything I wanted). Gosh. Then I have aides that give me crap because I do stuff they WON'T do. I never asked them to. So I like lesson planning. So I like making a newsletter. Get over it. By the same token, it's not fair for a teacher to put up with people that don't want to do their job. I guess you can tell I get frustrated with it all. Get a life. Get training. Move on.
So glad that the scale fairy was good to you, you deserve it! Keep up the great work. Try to come up with a game plan for the fatty holidays that are ahead of us- Halloween, THanksgiving and Christmas. Maybe we can all get to our goals by mid December. Wouldn't that be nice! (got my tape in this am......sister in sweat) Hope the rest of your day is a good one.
Wish I could. How sad that you could not reach his mom. I have had that happen too. I had a mom who took herself to the movies on a half day.........oh, the kids got out at 12........her movie got out at 3...........what a wackadoo. Dont' you feel for these kids sometimes?
Looks like I will have to make a trip into Curves this evening, so I can workout. Since I don't feel like walking outside in the rain. 
