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.