Special Times in Special Ed.

       Well I have just finished my second week of my special education placement at a new school.  I am working in a resource room that services students young 5's -8th grade.  Needless to say this is quite an adventure.  I am at a new school, with new teachers, new rules, and a new feel.  This was not a change that I wanted to make, but I knew the importance of this transition.  I loved everything about my first student teaching placement, and I was comfortable with my skills as a general education instructor.  Now that I am off to the new school, I am feeling the awkwardness of transition.  I am not as comfortable in the special education area, and I am new to the school so I have been very reserved and observant over the past two weeks. However, now that I am settling in at the new school, I am beginning to take more risks and gain knowledge on how to effectively teach students with disabilities.  I know that God has me here for a reason, and I am not going to allow myself to waste time.  I need to be proactive and make the best of the situation that I am in.  I know that in the end this will make me the best educator that I can be.  Bridging the gap between the special education and regular education is my goal as a teacher. I will keep you updated on the new chapter of this journey!

Trail of Tears

      I am officially done with my regular education student teaching placement.  Yesterday was the last day in my second grade classroom...and man was it a hard day to get through.  On one hand I was excited that I am getting closer and closer to getting my own classroom.  On the other hand,  I never wanted this day to come because I love my students, my school, and the people in it.   Needless to say, it was going to be a very hard day.  All week my students had been asking why I had to leave, where I was going, and whether or not I would ever come back to see them.  I spent the majority of my week reassuring them that I was not getting kicked out of the school and I was only going to a new school ten minutes down the road...THEY WOULD SEE ME AGAIN!!!  Now it is finally my last day.  As soon as I walk in the classroom  I see that everything is decorated with streamers and signs for me.  This is when it really hit me that I would not be coming back to the classroom with these students.  It was a tough day to get through and it did not make it any better when the all of the kids decided to cry during their music class.  The music teacher could not even get through class because they were crying so loud.  I heard about this from another teacher who could hear my students crying in the office.  I went down to the office to get them, thinking I could calm them down and get them back into music class.  This was not the plan my students had because I spent the last 30 minutes of my prep sitting outside the music class with two students while they cried.  I was glad that they loved me, but it did not make it any easier to leave them at the end of the day.  Despite the sadness, it was a fun day in my classroom.  My teacher had a surprise party for me, which means lots of new goodies for my classroom!  After that we all went outside and ate popsicles and enjoyed the sunshine.  I am sad to be leaving,  I truly did enjoy my time with my second graders!

Look before you sit!

         Look before you sit...that is a lesson I learned a little too well yesterday during my math lesson.  We have been working with 3D shapes all week.  Yesterday, I thought that it would be fun to create some 3D shapes of our own using marshmallows and toothpicks.  I modeled how to make the different shapes for the class and I sat the finished products on the stool in the front of the classroom.  I was walking around the room helping students and monitoring their work and completely forgot that I had made some shapes and sat them on the stool.  After about 20 minutes I ended up back at the stool and without looking at the stool, I backed up to it and sat down.  I was sitting down for a couple of minutes and then I started thinking about the shapes I had made because I wanted to let a student use one at his desk for an example.  I could not find them and I did not remember where I had set the shapes.  I was convinced that a student had taken them when I was not looking and was now claiming the shapes as their own.  Finally, I stood up and turned around to write on the board.  What do I see when I stand up?  MARSHMALLOWS AND TOOTHPICKS SMASHED TO THE STOOL!  A couple of my students saw this on the stool and at about the same time we realized that if they were on the stool , then they must be on the back of my pants too!  We had some good laughs, and during my prep which was coming up in about 5 minutes I went into the teachers bathroom and cleaned them up.  This would happen to me on a day where I had a staff meeting after school.  I had to get the pants clean, I couldn't go to my last staff meeting with marshmallows dangling off the back of my pants!