Oh, Retire Already!

There's a 1st grade teacher that has Ken, one of my high functioning autistic students, in her class. A short background on her is that she is CONSTANTLY complaining, and she never asks for advice or help. She rolls her eyes at me whenever I ask to speak with her, and in the past she has said to other teachers that I am the worst special education teacher in the school. She has never observed my teaching, so I try to brush off her attitude and these comments to her own dissatisfaction of her job. He only gets 200 minutes per week in my classroom. He's in her room for 85% of the school day. At the beginning of the year he was crying often and very anxious. He has a difficult time with change and transitions. She was constantly bringing him to the Special Ed office and saying things like, "I just don't know what to do with him!", "He doesn't belong in my classroom!", and "He never stops crying!". Ken is very smart, and he does not cry when he's in my classroom because I understand his needs and I don't yell at him. He LOVES trains, so I made him a daily schedule using trains and Boardmaker pictures that he can switch using Velcro. It took me a good 2-3 hours to make. When I showed it to her, she just said, "OK." No thank you, nothing. Then my teaching aide comes into the class 10 minutes later and tells me that this teacher stopped her in the hall and asked who made the schedule. My aide responded, "Mrs. Jones did." Then the witchy teacher said, "Well, she's finally doing something!" WTF, lady!? She has no idea what I do and don't do in my classroom because she's never even set foot in it! Then when I went to give the schedule to Ken, she said, "He doesn't belong in this classroom!" IN FRONT OF THE WHOLE CLASS AND HIM! I'm sure that made him feel horrible and embarrassed. I responded loudly, "Ken is a very smart boy." Every time I try to say to her, "You need to be professional about this situation", she turns away from me. She's very disrespectful. For these reasons, coupled with other instances, the case manager and I talked to the Assistance Principal about the situation. The response was positive, and I'm hoping the situation will dissipate. The whole thing pisses me off just writing about it.

First week of school

After the first week of school, I am exhausted! I have 20 special education students on my case load. One is self-contained (Jessica) and 17 are resource and 2 are consultation (30 min. per week). All the self-contained boys I had last year moved up to the 4-6th classroom. Their teacher is very strict and I get the feeling she doesn't like it when they talk to me. When I walk by their classroom or see them in the hall, they wave at me with sad faces.

I have about 10 of the same students, and the rest are new to the school or in kindergarten. The group is younger this year, and they appear to have less behavior problems than my group last year (yeah!). The majority are Learning Disabled, but I have 2 autistic and a few Developmentally Delayed students. Stephen's younger brother Owen is in 1st grade and in my class. On Thursday he saw Stephen in the hall and immediately had a hysterical crying melt down for over an hour because he wanted his mom and dad. Beth is in my class again, and she is talking more and more! She remembers my name and students' names, and she is following directions well. She's sitting with the group for Calender time and at her desk to do work! George (high functioning autistic) is also following directions very well. His 1st grade teacher, however, is having a difficult time with him because on the second day of school she says, "I can connect with him!" Well shit lady, he's autistic! She said she knew about autism, and I told her that many autistic children do not have well-developed social or communication skills. He will connect with you if you get on his level and really force the eye contact.

The Principal stories continue this year: The teachers wear a uniform to school because the Principal wants us to model for the students. I get that, and I really don't have a problem with it because it's easy to pick out what to wear. Many teachers would rather not wear the uniform, which prompted a 30 min. (pointless) discussion about the topic. The Principal said, "Wear your nice clothes when you go out." One of the older teachers said, "Well I don't really go out." So the Principal responded, "Don't you go to Church!? Everybody knows I wear my best outfits to Church!" Hello separation of Church and State? Now last year she put "Does not wear uniform" as a weakness on my teacher evaluation. I wore it 90% of the time, so I asked her about that and she informed me (in private) that my shirts are too short and my pants are too tight! Well, let me know that and give me a chance to fix it before you write it on my eval. Now I dress pretty modestly, and I would not walk around a school baring my stomach. The Principal is a rather large woman with a huge butt, and she often comments about her weight and how she wishes she could be smaller. So when she told me that my pants are too tight, I innocently responded, "Really? Because I wear a size 4, and I have to wear a belt to keep my pants up." I don't think she liked that comment. Well I told her I'd go shopping, so I went out an bought huge shirts and very baggy granny pants. My co-workers say she's just jealous of my size, so she's going to pick on me to make herself feel better. Then on the first day of school at our staff meeting before school started, the Principal said, "I guess some of you didn't get the memo about the uniform!" I looked around, and all the teachers were wearing it. Then she says to the group, "Would you wear that to a corporate office?" Ummm, hell no. I wouldn't help kids that have accidents on themselves or chase them down the hall at a corporate office either! And so it begins...

Summer's over :(

The 2009 - 2010 school year is upon us. Complete craziness has yet to ensue, although the stress is quickly mounting. The good news is that the only student I have on my class list for full day in my room is Jessica. Yes, this means I still have to deal with her crazy mother; however, all the boys that were in 3rd grade (including Rob) have moved up to the next Special Education teacher. I do have 14 other resource students, but some of them are new so interesting challenges await. It's only a matter of days before the good stories come flowing in.

Oh Lord

Last week my principal had a staff meeting about the swine flu issue. She said that we (the school community) are all safe from the swine flu because she prayed for all of us that morning. Oh lucky me. Then she went on the say, "I believe I am susceptible to the swine flu, but I will not get it. I am protected because I am covered in Jesus' blood!." Amen sister!

Jessica's birthday was on Friday. Her mom wanted to bring pizza in to celebrate. She said to me, "I'll bring the napkins, can you bring the plates and cups?" What!? After everything you put me through lady, you're going to ask me to buy something for your kid's birthday celebration?
I told her twice that she could bring in pizza at 1:50 p.m. She confirmed it Friday morning. Then she shows up at 1:25 with cupcakes and acts all put off that the student's aren't ready for the big birthday blowout.
Another classic about Jessica's mom - Our school started a new free breakfast program where the kids pick a hot or cold breakfast when they walk in the door and eat it for the first 15 minutes of class. My teaching aide saw Jessica's mom walking out of the school the other morning with two of the bags under her arm. Moocher.

Don't throw stones in glass houses.

Thursday could quite possibly be the best school day of the year. Jessica punched a girl's arm during lunch with another classroom (per her mother)! Yes, innocent, fragile Jessica. I asked her what happened during lunch and she said, "How did you find out?" Ha! I told her that she can't trick me because I know everything. She was crying and crying, but could not tell me, the principal or her mother why she punched the girl. So the principal suspended her for one day! Jessica's mom was shocked by the whole thing, but understood the consequence. Of course it doesn't end there. Right before dismissal time I heard yelling in the office, so I poked my head out of my door and saw Jessica's crazy grandmother. She was threatening the principal and screaming profanity. There were other parents and students around, so the principal called the police. When Jessica saw her grandmother she said, "Hey that's my Nanna!" I responded, "Yes, your Nanna needs to control her temper." The grandmother is not allowed in the school anymore.

You need a break!

Yesterday Stephen came up to me and said, "Mrs. Jones, you need a day off. You need a break!" Ha! I must have looked really stressed out.
This morning Jessica's mom asked me if I wanted to buy a raffle ticket to support Jessica's softball team. After all the shit she's put me through, she asks me to give her $5!? I actually bought a raffle ticket a few weeks ago from Rob for $2...so I think she's jacking the price up! So Ghetto.

Get Your Bikini On!

It is finally Spring Break! One whole week when I do not have to think about all the BS at school. Doesn't mean my mind won't go there, but I can try at least.
The "surprise" visitor came last week. It's not a big deal at all - in fact, she told me that she didn't even know the situation or why she was there! I filled her in a bit, and she said she observed the students for 45 minutes, and she didn't see any negative interactions between Rob and Jessica. She said he didn't stick out as being a threat or problem and I was doing a good job. She then went to talk to the principal to tell her the same thing. She said this isn't even part of her job - she's more of a coach to help struggling teachers.
Last week we handed out report cards for the quarter. When Jessica's mom came to pick hers up, I asked if she had any questions about her report card. She said, "Yeah, are yous having an Easter party on Friday?" (yes, she said "yous") What!? That's your concern about your child's report card? Yes, lady. During the Easter party we are also going to have a Seder dinner.

What is it?

We were playing a new game today called "Picture Rhymes." This game has a variety of levels, the easiest is for the teacher to pick up a picture card and give the students clues about what the picture is of. There is a game board with all the pictures on it so they can use visuals to help make a conclusion based on the clues. I picked up a card and gave the clues: this is a part of your body, you use it to smell or sniff, and it is on your face. The students raised their hands excitedly and I called on Aaron. He said, "A shoe, a shoe!" (Ok, so shoes - stinky feet - smelling) I asked him if there was a shoe on his face, and he disappointedly said, "No." So I repeated the clues again, and Daisy told me it was a cat (She has cats, and maybe hers does lay on her face at night). Finally I told them to touch their eyes, noses, and mouths as I reviewed the clues one last time. "Nose!" they all shouted and high fived each other.

Later Beth was looking at a book of pictures. She pointed to a picture of a present and said, "Happy Birthday!" I was very excited because she made a personal connection, and she verbalized it too.

Also, last week we had spring picture day. When it was Stephen's turn to go, he turned to me and asked, "Mrs. Jones, will you pop my collar so I can get all the ladies?" Classic.

Insomnia

It's 4:22 a.m. on a Monday morning and I can't sleep. This is what this ongoing stressful parent problem at school has done to me.
We had a safety meeting (me, Principal, police officer, case manager, both parents) on Tuesday morning. Jessica's mother came in already pissed off and yelling. There's no working with this irrational lady. At least her husband is more sane, and he will actually listen to us and talk to us about the situation. The officer told Jessica's mom that if she threatens violence again to Rob's mom or about her in front of a school staff member, then Rob's mom can file assault charges and also file a restraining order. This would be good for my class because she probably wouldn't be allowed near Rob eaither - so that means she can't come into the school. She dot so mad when she found that out that she yelled, "I'm done with this fing meeting!" and left in the middle! Good - let every one see that she is out of control.

Hello Crazy Pills!

I have a feeling I'm going to get a "surprise visit" this week. Probably why I can't sleep. Damn this woman.

Crazy Pills

I think I'm going insane, but I'm not the one on crazy pills. I think Jessica's mom and granny are. Thursday The principal, case manager, myself, spec ed. district coordinator, Jessica's mom, Jessica's maternal grandmother had a meeting. Oh, and Jessica's mom called the head of the parent council as an advocate to be there. Jessica's grandmother did most of the talking and here are just a few of her lovely words:
1. Jessica is being "abused" at school
2. The school didn't do anything after the kissing incident (really, then what was the whole talk about no hugging/touching and role playing good touch/bad touch w/ the social worker about?)
3. Jessica should get her special education rights, but Rob's rights don't matter.
4. If Jessica gets hurt AT ALL from now on she's going to the local news channels and suing the district (um, good luck with that one).
5. She's going to ask all the parents in my class to sign a petition to get Rob kicked out of the class. HA, the spec ed. coord. turned to her and said, "That's illegal". Then when the case manager told her she was on the verge of harassing an 8 year old boy (Rob) she stood over the case manager and yelled, "I haven't harassed anyone!" Way to prove your point lady!
6. She said she's going to the central office to look at his file and read though all the things he's done. We told her that was also illegal. Hello, privacy!?
7. She asks Jessica almost every day ("Oh, and believe me, I ask!") if she likes her teacher (me). Jessica does like her teacher. Then in the next sentence she tells us that you can't trust teachers and she sent her own son to school with a tape recorder in his pocket to catch a teacher using inappropriate language.

C - R - A - Z - Y ! I couldn't make this shit us if I tried.

The mom and granny just wanted to go on and on about shit that happened over 1 1/2 years ago! The principal asked them what they wanted us to do and they had no answer. They don't want to solve the problem because we've done everything we can for them and they are still not appeased! They're looking for something. And they think they are a lot smarter than they are. I pointed out that Jessica needs to follow the teacher's directions if we tell her to stay away from someone/something she needs to do that.

So the spec ed. coor. is going to send a spec ed. coach to my room 3 times unannounced in the next month. Then granny says, "Yeah, because I don't want the teacher tells the kids to be all good and then it's a horse and pony show!" For goodness sake lady. I said that was fine, and she is welcome whenever she needs to come. I'm doing my job (or trying to in the midst of all this).

After the mom and granny left the principal told the spec. ed. coor. "Mrs. Jones is an excellent teacher, and I'm afraid this whole thing is going to drive here away from teaching." She also said she wouldn't put up with all of it and she would have quit by now. The next morning I saw her and she said, "Can you believe that shit? Those are some crazy bitches!" HA! I've never heard her talk like that before. At least I know we're together on this. I know she has my back now.

The next day after the meeting happened:
I was helping students clean out their desks when I saw Jessica walk over to throw trash in the trash can while Rob was spinning around with his backpack on 5 feet from the trash can. Then Jessica told me, “Rob hit me with his backpack.” I asked her if he “hit” her or “touched” her. She said hit. I demonstrated a “touch” and a “hit” on my own hand. Then I had her demonstrate on my hand a “hit” and a “touch.” I said, “He touched you, Jessica.” I replayed what happened with my aide (being Rob) and me (being Jessica) (They bumped into each other when he was spinning around) and I asked her, “Is that what happened?” She said, “Yes.” Then I asked her what she was going to tell her mom, and she said, “That Rob hit me with his backpack.” I told her that she walked over near him, which was not allowed. I then took her to the office to tell the principal and make her aware the most recent events. She was mad at Jessica. At dismissal I walked her outside and told her mother what happened. The mother immediately asked Jessica, “Is that what happened?” Then I told the mother that Jessica needs to learn the difference between “hit” and “touch” because she is referring to a “touch” as a “hit.”

OH. MY. LORD. Is it ever going to end?

I heart Obama

This afternoon right before dismissal Jessica tripped on her own foot and bumped her knee. She came and showed me that her knee was red and it hurt. Any other kid I'd just say, "Are you ok? Tell me if it still hurts in 10 minutes." (usually they forget it even happened) With Jessica, however, it was like the fire alarm went off. I took her into the office, got her an ice pack and went outside to tell her mother (who waits outside of the school for 45 minutes before dismissal and gossips with parents). When I told her what happend she said, "How did she trip?" and I said, "On her own foot." Then she immediatly walks over to jessica and asks her how she tripped. Jesica said that she didn't know. Ha! Can't blame any one but your clumsy kid for this one lady!

Speaking of which, the meeting with Jessica's mom, the head of Special Education, the principal, etc. is tomorrow. I must admit I'm anxious about it, but what's really going to come of it? Probably nothing. I and the school have done everything we can to please this crazy lady - and I have it all documented to prove it.

Yesterday I was at a conference and the principal was there. After she left half day (of course) one of my colleagues told me that she thinks the principal is a good judge of character, even if she doesn't know you well. I responded that I am completely insulted by that. When the principal first met me (over 3 years ago) she accused me of being an "elitist" because of how I said, "I though I was testing my own students" when they told us who we were testing for the statewide assessment. So this other teacher then told me, "When we came to this conference in October and you walked in with your Obama coffee cup from 7-11, the principal turned to me and said, 'Well, I didn't know she was a Democrat.'"

No, I'm a rich bitch Republican because I'm white and from the south!

Treading Water

Jessica is out sick with the flu FOR THE WHOLE WEEK! Don't get me wrong - I do not want a child to be sick and have to miss an entire week of school. At the same time though, I am selfishly doing backflips because I feel like I can actually breath. I don't have to watch her all day while trying to teach. A few events of note over the past week:

1. My students know I am already married, but they don't quite understand what that means. Usually Stephen asks me when I'm going to get a new boyfriend. Tuesday he asked me to marry him. I said I already had a husband. Then Aaron said, "When I grow up, I'm going to have a husband." Of course he doesn't really know what that means, but he already kissed a boy so you never know.

2. We play a game called "Silent Ball" in my room as a short break from work. The kids stand in a circle and throw a squishy ball to each other. They get out by: talking or making any noises, dropping the ball, making a bad throw. The only thing you CAN say is the name of the person you are throwing the ball to. We also have a rule that if you do get out, then you have to be a good sport or we won't play again.

Usually during this game Beth (autistic) will be off in a corner doing her own thing. Today she stood in the circle and played the game! She caght the ball when the kids threw it to her. I would point and say a name for her to throw it to, and she did! Very exciting.

3. Stephen threw up right after lunch in the doorway of my classroom. Thankfully, there was no domino effect. Nasty.

Drama

A little update on the recent Jessica situation: The case manager told me that she got a phone call on Friday from the Head of the Special Education Department for the district. The Head of the department told my case manager that Jessica's mom said to her, "My child's life is being threatened on a daily basis." WHAT!?
Yes, because every day I hand Rob a gun and tell him to go crazy.

OK, she's really lost it. This is completely false! The case manager told her that we switched Jessica's preps and lunch, and she is basically my shadow all day. She also told her about this mother. She's a hypochondriac for her child. The head of the department still wants to have a meeting at our school with the principal, Jessica's mom, case manager, social worker, and me. I will gladly march in there and show all my notes and documentation about every time Jessica does not follow the directions or initiates any conversation, touching, or closeness to Rob. Bring it!

And so it goes...

Of course the story couldn't end there. The saga continues. I'll try to make this short:

All day on Monday I keep my shadow (i.e. Jessica) with me. When I take the students to library, I explain the situation to the librarian and tell her Jessica and Rob must not go near each other. When I pick them up Jessica tells me Rob hit her on the back with a book when he was walking by her. I tell her to show me how he hit her. Well, "hit" is more like "tap" when she shows me. I ask Rob if he did it, he says, "yes because she stick her tongue out at me." Jessica says she did not. I tell Rob if he is lying, then he will go to the office. He then says, no. I ask him why he lied and he tells me "I wanted to get her in trouble."
So I know Jessica is going to go home and tell her mom he "hit" her, so I see her in the lobby (of course - she's stalking me at this point. OH, and have I mentioned that my classroom is diagonal from the lobby right across from the office?) and explain what happened. She's pissed, and demands something happen to Rob. She also says that if she's in a meeting with Rob's mom then there needs to be a police officer there because she'll "hit her and I don't care if I go to jail." Hello Ghetto! This mom is P - S - Y - C - H - O ! She's called her daughter "fragile" in front of the child in a meeting. No wonder every time the girl has a paper cut she shows me and acts like it's a crisis!

- So Rob is suspended for 1 day (although if his mom wanted to, she could get the school in trouble because tapping a student with a book is not a suspend able offense in the code of conduct).
- Jessica is now going to gym, art, library, and computers, and lunch with another class. These times differ from my classes prep times, so when my students go to their preps and lunch, guess who stays with me? Those are my breaks and planning time. Now I have to cart her around.
- To top it off, when I went to get my post-conference from my principal, she told me the following:
1. I don't know what kind of parent I'm dealing with and she will not go away. I have to be "on my toes" always.
2. The mother is looking for a lawsuit, and she doesn't care if she ruins my career. (she even said this the day before she apologized to me saying, "I wasn't trying to get you in trouble." um, OK.
3. Any time ANYTHING happens to Jessica I should call her mom asap. Also, write down every time Jessica doesn't follow directions (like when she hugged a teacher this morning) and give it to her mom.

Basically she's throwing me under the bus - she's saying that I need to this mom happy, but if I don't then it's going to be all on me. it's bullshit.

Secretly, I hope Jessica does screw up and go near Rob or not follow directions. Then I can give It to her crazy mom. She's making my life hell right now.

The Shit has Hittith the Fan

So I get to school 15 minutes late on Thursday (damn traffic) and I'm already frazzled. When I walk into the office, the clerk says that the principal wants to see me in two minutes. Then I see Jessica, her mom, and her father-in-law sitting in the office. Oh joy. I go into the Principal's office and Jessica's mom is saying that her daughter was sexually assaulted in my classroom. Jessica told her that Rob told her to kiss him, she said she didn't want to, he told her he wouldn't be her friend, so she kissed him. The principal wants to hear from me what happened, and she scold me for making a poor judgement choice letting the students have "rest time". I admit to all of them that I made a bad judgement, and I say it will never happen again.
Meanwhile I am trying to keep it together and not start bawling. I feel awful that all this happened because I made a bad choice. Jessica's mom wants Rob kicked out of the school pr put into another classroom. The principal explains that this is not legal, and he has rights just as Jessica has rights. The mom keep referring to two past incidents last school year between Rob and Jessica saying that she doesn't want her daughter anywhere near him. We have been through this before, and all last year I had to make sure Jessica and Rob were separated. I pointed out to her mother that many times I catch Jessica hugging Rob or playing with him (her going over to him). I told her I have said many times, "Jessica, do not hug Rob. Your mother does not want you near Rob or playing with him." So she is not completely innocent in this problem relationship.

So at this point I go back to my classroom and the students are just arriving at school. I'm trying to say hello to them, but every time I try to talk I start to cry. Then my aide walks in the room and she asks me what's wrong and I just loose it. I'm really upset at this point, which is, of course, when they tell me the principal wants to see me again.
So, after talking to the case worker and the social worker, the principal and Jessica's mom decided that I need to keep Jessica away from Rob at all times. She has to go with me and hold my hand (or my aide) everywhere we go. Also, there is absolutely no touching and no hugging allowed in our classroom anymore. At all. This is a shame because my kids love to ask me for a hug because a lot of them don't get any affection at home. Jessica will also go to lunch with a separate classroom, and if I am ever absent she will go to separate class as well (and I have to have a work packet ready for her in case).

Then we go into the classroom and my aide immediately makes a HUGE red stop sign that says, "NO TOUCHING" and "NO HUGGING" on it with crosses through the phrases. The social worker comes into the class and talks with the kids about good touch and bad touch, they role play and practice saying, "NO!" She tells me that the case manager, her, and even the principal were defending me in the meeting and saying that I am a very good teacher. That is reassuring.

Once she leaves I start a lesson about Washington D.C. and the monuments. Of course the Principal, walks in to do her official observation of me! I swear she's seeing what I can handle. The lesson is actually going great, and the kids line up for lunch. She asks one of the students if he kissed another student, and he gets embarrassed and starts crying. Then she says, "It's OK" and proceeds to HUG HIM! "I know there's no hugging," she says AS SHE IS HUGGING HIM! What the heck? We just got through this whole freaking incident and there is to be no hugging at all. She saw the new big sign we put up. These kids especially need consistency and clear rules. Yes, let's confuse the special ed students even more! When she walked out of the room, she did say she enjoyed the lesson.

So, the rest of the day Jessica is my shadow and I don't even go eat lunch because I'm too afraid to leave her alone. I also notice that her mother is talking to the Robocop (security guy) in the lobby, and then he keeps walking by my room every 15 minutes and looking in. Apparently I'm in Big Brother now.

I leave school that day as fast as humanly possible and cry about all of it to my husband that night. You may think I'm making a big deal out of all this and I'm too sensitive. Maybe I am. But before you judge, try spending 7 hours a day being these studnet's teaching, role model, mother, therapist, security and sometimes only positive, reliable person in their lives. And then making a bad call that makes them feel unsafe. One of my first priorities is to make my classroom a safe enviornemtn, and I didn't do that. I know I'm only one part of the equation, but I'm the first step.

K-I-S-S-I-N-G

Rob and Jessica sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G.

Today Aaron came up to me right before lunch and said, "Yesterday, during rest time, Rob and Jessica were kissing." (rest time is 10 min. after lunch they can take their jackets and lay down with the lights off. Sometimes I hear giggling from the corner.)
"Kissing?" I asked. He nodded his head "yes". I asked, "Where were they kissing?" He pointed to a desk. I said, "No, I mean where on their bodies?" He told me on their lips.

This baffled me. Rob and Jessica have had problems in the past. Last year he pushed her and slammed her finger in a door. Her mother came to the school with a police officer in tow and demanded to see the principal. Twice.

So I asked Jessica if she kissed Rob, and she started crying her eyes out. She said "yes, but I didn't tell her mom and dad" because she didn't want to get in trouble. She said, "Rob told me to kiss him so I did." At this point I could't tell if she was crying because she thought she was in trouble or because she really didn't want to kiss him. Then she said, "Aaron and Brad were kissing Rob too!"
WHAT!?

So after lunch I said, "Raise your hand if you kissed someone yesterday during rest time." Slowly their hands went up. One, two, three. "Be honest, please," I said. Four, five. Six. Seven. Every one of my kids had their hand raised! Girls kissing boys, boys kissing boys.

So we talked about why it's not OK to kiss each other. Germs, feelings, no touching, etc. I told them I have to call all their parents an tell them about this. Jack started getting very worked up, red in the face, panting, saying he's going to get grounded and get a detention. I called all their parents and told them to talk to their child about no kissing and no touching at school. Jessica's mom was worried that she kissed a girl. She says her own sister is gay, so Jessica might pick up on that.
Yes, it's that contagious.

Liar Liar, Pants on Fire!

This past week the investigator from the department that I reported Rob's family to called to update me on her findings. She told me that when she went to the house, she asked Rob to show her the knife that his brother cut him with. He went and got his mother's shaving razor and showed it to her. When he showed it to her, he ended up cutting the top of his finger. She asked him if that's how he cut his finger, and he said, "yes". Then when his brother came home, Rob started apologizing to his brother for making up the story. She also said the mother was very upset and showed the investigator how they hide all the sharp objects in the house and put them out of Rob's reach because he is "obsessed" with sharp objects.

OK. So last year I had a meeting with his mom and told her about how he cut his own hair with scissors, cut holes in his clothes, and took a razor apart and put the blade in his mouth! She NEVER mentioned that she has to hide the sharp objects at home. She just said, "OK, I'll talk to him." Like it doesn't even faze her. I'm sorry, but what the hell, lady? You would think she would tell me about this - so I could be reassured that she is also concerned about this situation and handling it. You would think.
So I end up feeling kind of duped for calling and reporting this incident. Yes, it's better that I call just in case; however, this situation reminds me of the fable, "The Boy Who Cried Wolf." Rob has been know in the past to make up stories. For example:

1. Last year he said his brother took a cell phone from Best Buy. When I asked his mom about it, he said, "Ha ha - I tricked you! The lady gave it to us." Turns out it was a display phone that a Best Buy employee was throwing away, so she just gave it to him.
2. A few weeks ago he moved Lacy's clip down one spot on the behavior chart. I asked the class if anyone moved the clip (If they touch a clip it's automatic blue, which means phone call home). He said, "no" when I directly asked him. Then I said to the whole class, "If I find out someone moved the clip and lied about it, he or she will get a detention. So if you moved the clip, you should tell me now." Sure enough Rob said, "OK, I did it."
3. Last year he came to school and showed me his new watch. I asked him where he got it, and he said, "I got it at Wal-Mart. I stole it." "You stole it? Why did you steal it?" I asked. He said, "My mom told me to. She said we didn't have enough money. I got one for my brother too." Now I don't know if this story is true.

Like I said, "The Boy Who Cried Wolf."

Oh no she didn't!

I have an update on the cut finger and phone call to the abuse department. So Thursday morning Rob came in over an hour late to school and tells me some lady came to his house in the morning and asked him about his finger. I asked him what he told her and he said, "I told her I cut it." "You said that you brother cut your finger," I said. He shook his head and said "no." Then he said his mom was in the office talking to the principal. Oh joy. Sure enough, two minutes later she marches over and says, "Can I see you two in the hall?" (to my aide and I). She asked us if we called the department, and we both said, "No." Then she said, "Well, I didn't think you would call over a little cut on his finger."
I was pissed. It's so illegal for her to even ask who called. It's a completely confidential process. Later that day I come to find out that other teachers at my school have called the department on his family before.

Then on Friday morning I was reading a story, and there was a picture of a kitten sleeping in fresh laundry. When I asked, "Why do kittens like to sleep in fresh laundry?" Rob raised his hand and said, "Once my cousin made me get in a dryer and closed the door and I went around and around." "That's very scary. Did you tell your mom?" I asked him. He said, "Yes, she didn't say anything."

I rest my case.

Dumbo

Jack has great hearing. It's like he has Dumbo sized ears. Yesterday he was on the other side of the classroom when I asked one of my students, "Daisy, why weren't you at school yesterday?" Immediately Jack runs over and yells, "We don't have school tomorrow!? Guys, we don't have school tomorrow!"
Wait, what just happened? Then I have to calm him down and tell him we do have school tomorrow, he's making things up, and to mind his own business. His face falls. Poor Dumbo.

The Complaint Box

My students love to complain. "He touched me", "He took my pencil", "Stephen said the B word" etc. Non-stop all day. So to deal with this immature and annoying behavior, I have a "Complaint Box" in my room. The box has a bunch of scraps of paper, and when a student is going to complain he/she writes it down on the paper and puts it in the box. At the end of the day I read all the complaints. This system works out well because if they are about to complain, I just say, "Put it in the box" or "Is this a complaint?" That triggers them to go write it down instead of saying it because if they do complain, then I move their clip down on the behavior chart. Plus they are forming sentences on their own and writing them down, which is always good.

Now the complaint box is amusing for a few reasons:
1. Most of my studnets cannot spell well. So most notes read something like, "Rob teld me the B wurld." Some are spelled so poorly I just give up.
2. When I read them all the studnets are quiet and watch my face to see what I'll do. I read (or in most cases pretend to read) them and make comments like, "really" or "wow, I'm surprised at you, Jack." That seems to satisfy the kids who wrote them enough.
3. My all-time favorite complaint so far this year is, "Aaron called me told me I'm a black kid." Hey, he spelled all the words correctly. Writing grade = A.

Down for the Count

Friday I was not feeling well all day at school. By the end of the school day I could barely drive home. I fell into my bed, slept for two hours, woke up and promptly vomited my lunch into the bathroom sink. Fun. Despite getting a flu shot this past fall, I got some variation of it anyway. My teaching aide sent me a text message at 9 p.m. that night saying she had just vomited and now had the flu as well. Figures - my students constantly sneeze into their hands, the air, and put their fingers in their noses and mouths. There's only so much hand washing and sanitizing one can do. We had to cancel the Superbowl Party we were going to have and I slept basically all weekend.

This morning I woke up debating going to work because my body is very weak (and my job is not exactly one you can throw worksheets at the kids and expect to sit at your desk). Then I thought about the lecture our principal gave us on Friday saying that she may have to "talk to some of us about our positions" and "maybe some of you just aren't the right fit for this school when you have too many absences or don't work an after-school program." It's really unfortunate when teachers feel their job is threatened if they say home because they really are sick. Obviously I made it through the day, but it was very long.

In other school news, Rob came to school and showed me his index finger. It had a band-aid around it, but not on the tip. The tip looked like it had been sliced with a knife 5 or 6 times. I asked him what happened, and he told me that his older brother cut him with a knife. I asked, "on purpose or accident?" he said on purpose. I asked him if he showed him mom, and he said he tried to tell her but she wouldn't wake up to look at it. This is not the first time this student has told me abusive things his brother has done to him (choking him, starting a fire on the stairs) and how his mom doesn't pay attention or care. Now I don't know if I can completely believe this child, but at the same time, what if this is true? So, as an educator it's my duty to call the abuse hotline and report this incident. I called and they said my information will remain completely confidential, which is good because the last time a teacher called this hotline the principal found out. She got pissed because the cops came to the school. It's interesting that she always says, "We're here for the studnets", but when the police get involved she doesn't want the school (or herself) look bad. Can you see a pattern developing here with her?
Well, they (the department) has to send an investigator to the home within 24 hours. They won't tell the mother it was me who called, but I am having visions of me walking into school tomorrow and getting attacked by his crazy mom with her cat pajamas on. I can already tell it's going to be an eventful week.

Full Moon

So it's not a full moon right now, but you would think it is upon walking into my classroom today. Today proves my theory that when one student is having a bad day, the others can feel that enegry and it trickles down. Loud, not following the directions, just out of control.

1. Beth (autistic) had a few tantrums today over stickers in the morning. She didn't want to eat her lunch and ended up dropping the tray all over the floor and her shirt. Then she tried to take her shirt off in the middle of the lunchroom because it was dirty. That was fun.
2. Lacy was reading a story with me, and when she read the character's name "Sally" she stopped and said, "Oh, that's my imaginary friend's name. She'll be here in a minute." ok. she's going to be 10 mext month. she also had put some sort of lipgloss/lipstick on and it was all over her mouth. she looked like a clown.
3. Stephen came up and said, "Rob put boogers on my pants!"

Juniors

Today my students walked by some pictures of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and at least two of them said, "That's John McCain!" Ummm, no. I think we need to have a history lesson.

At the beginning of the school year, George (one of my highly intelligent autistic kindergarten students) did not speak or follow many directions. He is now saying a few phrases like "hello" "goodbye" and "What are you doing teacher?" This afternoon the class was playing Monopoly Jr. (practicing the value of money, counting, and social skills). George wanted to be in charge of the die, and he accidently elbowed Jack in the nose when he was trying to grab it. I told George to say, "I'm sorry" to Jack. So he said, "I'm sorry." Then he said, "Are you ok?" and rubbed his back to sooth him! To some people it may not seem like a big step, but to me it is. He formed an appropriate question of concern by himself AND initiated appropriate human contact. Smile :)

Elephant!

Today I did a read aloud of a book called "Tooth Trouble." It's about a walrus who's tusk hurts and he has to go to the dentist. Brad, who is mildly autistic, really likes elephants. So I asked Brad, "What other animal has tusks?" I pointed to the tusks, said the animal is grey, and pointed to a picture of an elephant. He finally said, "elephant!" The only problem with this question-answer was that for the rest of the day, every answer was "elephant!"

Mrs. Jones: "Where does the story take place?"
Brad: "Elephant!"

Mrs. Jones: "Why did the walrus go to the dentist?"
Brad: "Elephant!"

Mrs. Jones: "What did you have for lunch?"
Brad: "Elephant!"

Inauguration Day

This past weekend I went on a trip, and I was not at school on Tuesday (Inauguration Day). Last week I talked to the students about how I would not be in class on Tuesday and where I was going (NOT to Washington D.C.). I wanted my students to watch Obama being sworn in as the 44th President of The United States, so my teaching aide turned on the television.
Throughout the day I sent her text messages asking how the students were doing. Here's the run down:

1. Rob threw a chair because he didn't want to do his work
2. Jack got very worked up and threatened to hit Rob many times because "he was looking at me."
3. Stephen, who is usually well behaved, cried and hid in the corner of the room and under his desk all day because he was "last" in line for the bathroom.
4. Rob tripped on his untied shoelace and fell on his face. Then Jack jumped up yelling and blamed Lacy for tripping Rob. Lacy was sitting in her desk on the other side of the room.
5. The whole class kept claiming they saw me on T.V. at the Inauguration. They said I was at the White House all day. When my aide asked them to point to me, they pointed to one of the 60 yr. old men on the stage with Obama. I feel so pretty now.

Thank you

One of my autistc students does not speak or respond to questions often. She will usually sit in her seat when I offer her Hello Kitty stickers. She wants the whole sticker page though, so she gets mad when she only is offered one or a choice between two. Eventually she will take one when I say, "Ok, then no sticker," but be angry about it. Today I gave her a sticker for sitting in her seat and she said, "Thank you!" I almost cried.

Eyeballs

Today my teaching aide turned to me with a piece of paper in her hand. On it was a drawing of two circles with a dot in the center of each. She said, "Mrs. Jones, this is a picture of two eyeballs, right?" as she looked over at Rob and Stephen. I said to them, "That better just be a picture of eyeballs. If it's not a picture of eyeballs, then we will have to go show it to Mrs. S" (the assistant principal, who can be very intimidating). "Is that a picture of eyeballs?" I asked them. The looks on their faces was hilarious as they nodded their heads up and down vigorously.
Speaking of principals, I went to a professional development session yesterday at another school. I went to school for 1 hour, and then went to the other location. When I signed in and out I noticed that my principal's name was printed and signed on the sheet as well. There were 15 people at the pd - none of whom were her. Must be nice to pretend you're back in college and get your "friends" to sign you in.

Family Guy

Every Monday I ask my students to tell me one fun thing they did over the weekend. At least one child tells me that they watched "Family Guy." This show is animated, but every episode involves either sex, violence, drinking, rude behavior, swearing or all of the above. My students are ages 6-9, and they tell me that they watch this show with their parents! I must admit that Family Guy is a funny show - for adults. No wonder Jack said, "I'm going to suck your mom's titties!" to Stephen when he was mad.

I thought these days were over

Jack is one of my 3rd grade students. He is diagnosed with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and cognitively disabled. I think he is also dyslexic, but the doctor has not diagnosed this. He is a very nice, caring boy 90% of the time; however, he is very impulsive, which gets him in trouble. He can have a conversation with me about football, the weekend, his mom, etc. He talk constantly, and very loudly. He only knows 22 of 26 alphabet letters, and can only count to 13. I love him so much though, because he wants to learn and read so badly. There's just something missing in his brain.

Unfortunately, he had a horrible day. This was the first really bad day he's had all year (this kind of day happened at least 3 times per week last year) : He told Daisy: "you're fired" when playing "store" and made her cry like her leg was being run over or something, then he ran out of the room and kicked the door as hard as possible 5 times. Later he hung out in the staircase when he should have been in my room, so he missed computers and was mad so he threw a desk over. He cried hysterically while trying to run out of the room. I had to wrestle with him to keep him in the classroom. Then he cried for 20 more minutes yelling, "I want my mommy" even though he said she's going to "whoop me" when he gets home. Tomorrow is a new day (Friday!)

Needless to say, I have drinking a glass of wine as I write this.

We have school!?

Yesterday was the first day back at school after holiday break. Rob, one of my students who had 30 unexcused absences last year, did not come to school. That's 25%of the school year! He showed up today and told me there was no school yesterday. He said his mom didn't know we had school. Really? It's written on a huge sign on the school, and it was in a newsletter that went home before break. Then again, this is the same kid who we caught riding his bike in front of the school at 11:30 a.m. one day last year when he was out "sick." Right.

Welcome to Special Ed

Let's start from the beginning:
Yes, teachers have a summer, holiday, and spring break. Yes, teachers get out of school earlier in the day than most jobs. No, teachers do not have it easy. 6.25 straight hours of having 14 pairs of eyes and ears, anticipating every students' moves and thinking, modeling positive behavior, teaching (or trying) academics and social behavior, and never having a chance to go to the bathroom. 6.25 hours of being "ON". But I love it.

I teach a cross-categorical classroom of 14 students (currently) in a low income, 95% Hispanic population large city public school. All my students understand English, but many of their parents do not. Most parents work two jobs to support the family, so parental involvement and help at home is rare. In fact, a few of the parents are not legal U.S. citizens. I have a full-time bilingual teaching aide who is strict and I can trust.

There is a mixture of full-time students and resource students (meaning they only come in my classroom for reading and/or math). Some of my students have a learning disability, while others are diagnosed with a cognitive delay, emotional or behavior disorder, or autism. This makes teaching academic subjects very challenging because I have students that are reading at the 2nd grade level and others who cannot even have a conversation or respond to their own name.

Every day teaching special education is an adventure. Some days are great, some are not. Some days are fun, some feel like hell. If one kid has a bad day, then pretty much every one in the class does too. This blog is my therapeutic tool for handling the roller coaster of my job. It will make you laugh. It might make you cry. It will keep me sane.