Someone at school actually asked me that this week, but that is besides the point.
So on Tuesday, all of the teachers and the principal receive a memo from the speech therapist. She has listed out all of the kids she has to evaluate between April and May and then proceeded to state that she wouldn't be able to provide services to children during this time period. This is ridiculous:
1) First, I think it may be a violation of the students' privacy for her to put out a list like that
2) 2 of the names on her list are students who are in my classroom and she has already done their evaluations
3) Hello, I still have 6 more special education evaluations to complete before mid May, but that does not mean I can stop providing special education services to the children in the mean time.
4) The principal has not and will not confront her on this
5) She may actually have time to service children if she arrived at work on time, took a reasonable amount of time for lunch, and actually worked to the end of the school day. To be more specific, school begins at 830 and she typically arrives at 9, claiming that it just takes her too long to get to work and she cant possibly be there on time. Then she takes over an hr for lunch! By the time she returns from lunch, she works an additional 40 minutes and then leaves about a half hour before the school day is over.
6) And even though she lives too far away to drive in on time in the morning, she drives home for lunch almost each day. In a hummer!
There has to be a better way. its not right that children miss what they are legally entitled to for two months. that lapse in service ultimately effects their progress overall as well as their performance on the evaluation. Furthermore, the majority of our parents don't necessarily advocate for their own children. So it falls on the lap of me, the children's teacher to advocate on their behalf. There has to be a way for her to do both service and evaluation. I have to do it so why shouldn't she? Incidentally it takes about 4 hrs of contact time for me to do each evaluation, not counting observations or writing up the report. Her evaluations require an hr or so of contact time.
End of rant
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Friday, March 14, 2008
glimmer of hope
one of the people who is leaving today, who is fabulous, wants to co-teach with me. There are very few people that I give the satanding-O to in terms of job performance and professionalism, but this woman is excellent. SHe is working as a para right now and is actually certified as a special education teacher. She is competent and intellectual, intuitive, kind and gentle... I would be blessed to work with her, and she has so much to offer the students. I hope that THE BOSS is as enthusiastic about my latest plan as I am and that somehow, from somewhere, he finds the money to create this position.
It is sad that she has to leave our building next week because of her current assignment with the city. I hope he scoops her up because she can and would make a difference for the students in this school community
It is sad that she has to leave our building next week because of her current assignment with the city. I hope he scoops her up because she can and would make a difference for the students in this school community
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Maximizing Instructional time...
...or not. So one of my students, we will call him Abe, consitently leaves early and arrives late to school. Yet he has significant delays and his mother expresses concerns about his progress. This morning he came in at 9:15, which is a full forty five minutes after the school day begins. He typically leaves 45 minutes before the end of the school day. That means that he will loose an hour and a hald, a full 90 minutes of instructional time today alone. When you take out 45 minutes for lunch and 45 minutes for art, that is another 90 minutes, which only leaves three hours in the da. It would be frustrating of and in itself, but then the mother is complaining about his lack of progress.
Rethinking a behavior plan
I know I need to change the behavior plan for one of my students, we will call her Bianca. the current plan is only in place during part of the day, the part of the day where she was originally having the most the trouble. Now, after a few months, Bianca seems to be doing an excellent job during that one part of the day, but her behavior is not so great during the rest of the day! The question is how do I transition from one plan to the next? And also, when considering Bianca's specific situation, how do I determine if the behavior is a result of her disability or if it is a result of the recent stressful and traumatic events in her life? Does the distinction matter? If it is coming from the traumatic events, should I be more lenient with her? Trying to sort all of this out is a challenge. The counselor told me that she does in fact have PTSD and here is a link to an article about that:
http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/facts_for_families/posttraumatic_stress_disorder_ptsd
ok well i just needed to try to sort some things out this morning before heading in. I will review this article and some others at a later time.
http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/facts_for_families/posttraumatic_stress_disorder_ptsd
ok well i just needed to try to sort some things out this morning before heading in. I will review this article and some others at a later time.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Frustrated and job searching
The meeting for the child sucked today! As a teacher I feel that my opinions and experiences with the child should count at least equally to that of the hoity toity school psychologist who met him twice, once to test him one-on-one and once to observe him for a whopping ten minutes. Since this child was with me last year as well , i estimate that I have over 1600 hours of contact and interactions with this child. 1600 hours! Which looks like a lot more than 2 hrs of testing and a ten minute observation.
based on the tests I gave and my daily interactions with this child, I reccommended a special education setting that was substantially separate for the 08-09 school year. I recognize that the child has strong accademic skills however his behavior interferes with his learning. In other words, he is CAPABLE of doing far more work than he actually does as a result of his intensive behavioral needs, which can include bolting and hallucinating. (Note that both of these circumstances require individual attention over a sustained period of the school day to ensure the safety of the student).
However, his academic skills were good so "the team" feels that this child will do better in an inclusive classroom. The inclusive k2s in our district have 18-20 kids with one aide and one teacher. I believe that these numbers will be too stressful for him. Currently we have only 14 kids with one teacher and one aide and there are days when those numbers are too much for him to handle. He gets nervous with lage numbers of other kids, his behavior his disruptive to their learning as well as his own, and he requires intensive individual instruction. how exactly will that happen in a classroom with only 2 adults and 20 kids?
I tried again to state my point, that his disability his behaviorally based and NOT ACADEMIC. however the other members of the meeting were only focused on his academic skills. i know that his academic skills are in the low average range for his age, but i also know that his adaptive skills and social skills and behavior are significantly below average for his age. I honestly feel that placing him in a larger setting is a disservice to the child and asked that my feeling be recorded in his file.
At this point, I was asked to leave the room and rethink my feelings! What?!?!?! Are you kidding me?!?!?! that is ridiculous since I am the child's special education teacher and i am required to be at the meeting. I wasnt yelling, but I was fighting passionately for this child and his well being. When I returned, the faciliator said "that if in fact we are making the wrong decision by placing him in a larger setting, then they will have a meeting on it" Yeah I know how that goes and what a process that is. It can take a whole year. If it is the wrong placement for the child, then all we are doing is wasting time! Education is valuable, and especially for students with disabilities, every second counts. and how can the team make the decision to take the chance? In our large district, if a child is in the wrong placement, the teacher bears the burden of proof. Gathering the evidence, scheduling the meeting, testing and retesting the child, it all can take a whole school year!
Whats more enfuriating is that I had spoken to the mother before the meeting. She agreed that he needed a smaller setting, and restated her concerns for his safety and the need for her son to work on behavior and adpative skills in the coming year. At the meeting she clammed up and did not voice the concerns she shared with me. she did say that she wanted him in a smaller setting for safety reasons and the other members of the team did not even acknowledge that she spoke. I repeated what she had said to have the other professionals repeat themselves about his academic skills
WHY is it that a decision was made without a consensus?
Why is it that my opinion was completely disregarded even though I spend the most time with him?
Why did the parent feel intimidated and back down>
I just want this child to get what he needs, and I want my district to recognize that behavior can be a disability when it interferes with learning
its not just reading, writing , and mathematics
trying to calm down...
based on the tests I gave and my daily interactions with this child, I reccommended a special education setting that was substantially separate for the 08-09 school year. I recognize that the child has strong accademic skills however his behavior interferes with his learning. In other words, he is CAPABLE of doing far more work than he actually does as a result of his intensive behavioral needs, which can include bolting and hallucinating. (Note that both of these circumstances require individual attention over a sustained period of the school day to ensure the safety of the student).
However, his academic skills were good so "the team" feels that this child will do better in an inclusive classroom. The inclusive k2s in our district have 18-20 kids with one aide and one teacher. I believe that these numbers will be too stressful for him. Currently we have only 14 kids with one teacher and one aide and there are days when those numbers are too much for him to handle. He gets nervous with lage numbers of other kids, his behavior his disruptive to their learning as well as his own, and he requires intensive individual instruction. how exactly will that happen in a classroom with only 2 adults and 20 kids?
I tried again to state my point, that his disability his behaviorally based and NOT ACADEMIC. however the other members of the meeting were only focused on his academic skills. i know that his academic skills are in the low average range for his age, but i also know that his adaptive skills and social skills and behavior are significantly below average for his age. I honestly feel that placing him in a larger setting is a disservice to the child and asked that my feeling be recorded in his file.
At this point, I was asked to leave the room and rethink my feelings! What?!?!?! Are you kidding me?!?!?! that is ridiculous since I am the child's special education teacher and i am required to be at the meeting. I wasnt yelling, but I was fighting passionately for this child and his well being. When I returned, the faciliator said "that if in fact we are making the wrong decision by placing him in a larger setting, then they will have a meeting on it" Yeah I know how that goes and what a process that is. It can take a whole year. If it is the wrong placement for the child, then all we are doing is wasting time! Education is valuable, and especially for students with disabilities, every second counts. and how can the team make the decision to take the chance? In our large district, if a child is in the wrong placement, the teacher bears the burden of proof. Gathering the evidence, scheduling the meeting, testing and retesting the child, it all can take a whole school year!
Whats more enfuriating is that I had spoken to the mother before the meeting. She agreed that he needed a smaller setting, and restated her concerns for his safety and the need for her son to work on behavior and adpative skills in the coming year. At the meeting she clammed up and did not voice the concerns she shared with me. she did say that she wanted him in a smaller setting for safety reasons and the other members of the team did not even acknowledge that she spoke. I repeated what she had said to have the other professionals repeat themselves about his academic skills
WHY is it that a decision was made without a consensus?
Why is it that my opinion was completely disregarded even though I spend the most time with him?
Why did the parent feel intimidated and back down>
I just want this child to get what he needs, and I want my district to recognize that behavior can be a disability when it interferes with learning
its not just reading, writing , and mathematics
trying to calm down...
"because you work with children"
"because you work with your children" is no longer an adequate response to my question of the winter, "Why am I sick so much?" This is my fourth year teaching, I am supposed to have built up some immunity by this point in the game. Honestly, I have been sick every two or three weeks since thanksgiving. it is now nearly the end of february. My pcp has told me that she sees mumerous teachers from my district and that it is a combination of poor air quality in the old buildings of my district and being with sick kids all the time. Possible but tose factors are not in my control so what are some possible other theories? Here is a partial listPoor diet (according to my mom, I should eat meat, and lots of it)http://www.netwellness.org/question.cfm/10209.htmMy dr says that my diet is probably fine though but my husband recently gave up a similar diet in hopes finding something healthier that works for him.
Poor air quality in my school building ( this idea is from my dr)http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/indoorair/schools/teachers.htmthis article is funny and suggests that teachers should avoid " Keep your classroom free of dust accumulating materials, such as fabrics and stacks of papers.Minimize clutter". It also suggest students not eat in the classrooms which is not an option
too many germs in the environment? Is that really the sole explanation? If so, would a mandatory flu shot for all students really eliminate sicknesses in the classroom? How about an air purifier that is effective for viruses and germs as well as allergens? Such an investment will set me back between 250 and 400 dollars...
trying to be healthy
Poor air quality in my school building ( this idea is from my dr)http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/indoorair/schools/teachers.htmthis article is funny and suggests that teachers should avoid " Keep your classroom free of dust accumulating materials, such as fabrics and stacks of papers.Minimize clutter". It also suggest students not eat in the classrooms which is not an option
too many germs in the environment? Is that really the sole explanation? If so, would a mandatory flu shot for all students really eliminate sicknesses in the classroom? How about an air purifier that is effective for viruses and germs as well as allergens? Such an investment will set me back between 250 and 400 dollars...
trying to be healthy
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