I'm back in the world of reading and writing instruction and I'm loving it. Bring on the spelling and grammar and figurative language - can't get enough of it. However, it all takes a bit of a twist when you're dealing with students who read at least two grades below their current grade. Or sometimes three and four grades below their current placement. Throw in some attention deficits, dyslexics, a few in foster care, ED, OD and a partridge in a pear tree along with their learning disabilities. That's what I'm working with this year. Some days I feel just as challenged with modifications, accommodations and paperwork as the kids I teach. We're all struggling, for a variety of reasons, within a federally dictated framework that must also have us jump through state mandates which sometimes seem to NOT be in the best interests of our kids. Hopping off my soapbox now before I really get on a roll.
But there are definitely moments of levity. Instead of bashing my head against the wall in frustration, I often find myself amused on any given day. For example, one of my 5th grade girls asked to go to the restroom right before I returned to class from my lunch break, and stayed gone for quite a while. The regular ed teacher in the classroom asked me to go check on her since this student has been known to roam the halls instead of going directly from point A to B.
I trekked from the computer lab down to the bathroom, knocked on the door and inquired if she was OK. The child promptly responded in her best impression of a well educated person speaking to a dullard that she was pooping and would be in there a while. Bahahaha! I need to start writing this stuff down, publish my little memoir of life as a special ed teacher and retire early.
