If you have not read the blog posts dated September 12th and September 21st you may want to so the following conversation makes sense.
On the day the scholars wanted to celebrate my day of origination individuals got bitten, chocked, slapped in the face, scratched, and knocked off a chair. All of this occurred in the same classroom in a seven hour time frame. This is a perfect situation to bring up the matter of S.H.I.T (Scholars Hinder Involved Teaching) again. I thought and thought about how having more visuals in the classroom would have prevented this disaster of a day. I racked my brain trying to determine which violent behavior(s) should have been ignored. Being sensitive to there needs never even crossed my mind when I saw a teacher wearing a band aide to stop the bleeding after being scratched by a scholar. Shortly after I posted the S.H.I.T. blog conversation I received and email message from a good friend of mine. A.O'D. is his name and he made me smile when he shared with me his thoughts on the mantra put forth by overhead personnel. I'll share it with you. The overhead person contributes "only worthless over-simplified feel-good platitudes.". As I sit here laughing to myself I have to say well stated my friend.
Speaking of overhead personnel one of them paid us a visit few days ago. As this person met with Gnu it was recommended that more visuals were needed in the classroom. There needed to be a visual for her instructional assistant (me) that would outline the days activities plus what my role would be. There also needed to be a visual for the scholars stating what the consequences were for negative behavior. Consequences for negative behavior? If you are ignoring bad behavior and are being sensitive to their feelings why do you need a visual with consequences for negative behavior? After the overhead person left I asked Gnu how the visit went. She told me about the need for more visuals. She also said when am I going to find time to do all of this stuff. Dear reader can you keep a secret? I wrote them and then stuck them on the wall so please don't tell anyone what I did. When I showed them to Gnu she said you didn't have to do that. I said you focus on lesson plans and academics and I'll take care of the minutiae of crap that needs to be stuck on a wall.
Despite the disaster that took place in the classroom on my day of origination I really had a great birthday. First I received a wonderful birthday card from Gnu, IvyL and Oreo. Their kind words about me and what I add to the classroom are special and they will stay with me for a long time. Next, the meal at home was excellent and included wine, cake and ice cream. My daughter and son-in-law as well as two very long time friends who didn't have to drive 353 miles to get here joined us. I got gifts. No, let me restate that. I got some real nice gifts one of which is a trip to Italy at some point in the future. Yes, the country that is shaped like a boot. Now that is what I call a birthday gift. Enough with my day of origination. On to more education related events.
Once a year I get invited to a professional development day. Well technically it's not a day but closer to three and a half hours. Those in attendance include only instructional assistants like me and I was surprised to see how many were in attendance. I also like to pay close attention to how, as an instructional assistant, I'm treated on these development days. As you've read I work in a pretty intense classroom. The average life of an instructional assistant in a special education classroom is two years before they are burnt out and move on. I'm into my third year. In the three years I've been in this classroom I am now working with a third teacher. Knowing how difficult my job can be I'm thinking the people putting on the development day would make a serious attempt to make me feel welcomed. I'll let you decide if I felt all warm and fuzzy inside as I arrived. First is the sign in process. As I sign in I don't here hi, good morning or thanks for coming. I hear you need to be sure you sign out at the end of the day or you will not be paid! Thanks, it's nice to see all of you wonderful overhead personnel. We do have coffee and donuts so help yourself. The donuts were gone and the styrofoam cup for the coffee held about six ounces. As I approached the conference room I hear pay attention to where you are walking so you don't fall down the stairs. The overhead person telling me this is someone I see at my school. No hi, good morning or thanks for coming just pay attention to where you are walking. Can you feel the love?
Despite what you've read I enjoyed the professional development day for one huge reason. The new school superintendent addressed the group. As he spoke he said he had three goals; improve our level of service to our customers, build our brand and student achievement (grow academically every year). Some of the terminology caught me a little off guard. There was no mention of students or parents. There was no mention of a school system or school district. There was no mention of passing those worthless statewide standardized tests. The words he used were customers, corporation, build our brand and grow academically. I like those goals. One last comment on our new corporation head. At his conclusion he said it is a "pleasure to serve as your superintendent." That certainly is refreshing to hear given our last superintendent.
I'm out. Thanks for taking time to read my blog.
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Sunday, September 21, 2014
The Scholars On My Day Of Origination
Origination? I wonder if that is even a word. Spell checker didn't place a red line under it so I'll just move on.
The King and Yo! are absent today so we only have five scholars in the classroom.
9:00am
The Collector walks into the room and says I bit Straw's sister while on the bus. You did what? I bit Straw's sister. A short while later Straw comes flying into the room going a hundred miles per hour as he has not stopped by the office yet to take his medication. Straw confirms what The Collector said.
9:10am
MiniJ apparently heard a new word and wants to share it with the class because he thinks it's funny. While walking around the room he is repeatedly saying vagina.
9:14am
NoFouls is now agitated because he's had enough of MiniJ's talking and tells him to STOP TALKING. Naturally MiniJ continues because he knows it upsets NoFouls. The term we use for MiniJ's actions is called "fishing" and he's about to catch his fish. NoFouls aggression is escalating and he is moving toward MiniJ. I step between them.
9:26am
It's time for Math. The Collector, NoFouls and Uh-Uh-Uh are at the front table. The amount of talking is too much for The Collector and he walks away from the table. His decision to walk away rather that get involved and cause the situation to escalate is a good thing.
During this same time frame I have MiniJ and EM with me. We are doing a measuring project with rulers. This lesson is asking the scholars to measure in centimeters. Gnu spent quite a bit of time previously on measuring so I'm thinking this should go fairly well. EM is doing a decent job placing the ruler in the correct location to get the measurement of a required item. MiniJ on the other hand appears totally clueless on properly placing the ruler to measure an object. The instructions said to measure the length of the tigers foot. MiniJ sets the ruler down in the middle of the tiger's body. There were a total of six objects to measure. For each object MiniJ placed his ruler in the wrong place. At one point he tried to measure a horizontal object by placing the ruler in a vertical position.
9:38am
NoFouls his reached his limit with Math as his whining and complaining is getting excessive.
10:07am
We have moved on and are now reading in combination with a social skills session. The subject matter is sequencing and the book that is being read is about baking cookies. NoFouls continues to be in his whining and complaining mood about doing academics. Gnu asks him to move away from the table. He folds his arms and puts on his stubborn look and doesn't move. Gnu asked him three more times to move away from the table before he actually moves. While getting up his folder, paper and pencil are aggressively pushed off the table.
10:30am
Math Quiz on measuring. This went surprisingly well except for MiniJ who appeared to have a problem with his neck. He frequently had to turn towards Uh-Uh-Uh's desk and stretch his neck in her direction to work out some kind of kink.
11:10am
We've been in PE (gym) for about ten minutes. The instructions were to get a jump rope and a hula hoop. When the bell sounds start jumping rope. When the bells sounds stop jumping rope and put the rope on the floor and pick up the hula hoop. When the bell sounds use the hula hoop and the process repeats itself. The Collector decides it will be fun to walk up to the girls during the hula hoop process and grab theirs hula hoops. He is laughing and the girls are upset. As I'm moving toward him he approaches the next girl but instead of grabbing the hula hoop he kicks it. I collect The Collector and transport him to the main office for the remainder of PE. When I return MiniJ is running and spinning his hula hoop on his extended arm. With the hula hoop moving rapidly he moves his arm position and the hula hoop soars up in the air. I collect MiniJ and he spends the remainder of PE sitting by the stage.
11:30am
Yoga time. Yes, yoga. It's an attempt at giving the scholars a tool to use to help them calm themselves down when they feel that their anger is rising. We do yoga daily with the scholars from the upper grade level so at times there are ten to twelve scholars with anger control issues in the room. Fortunately at the same time there are six adults in the room. The Collector is still agitated and is not participating. Instead he is pacing around the room. He is asked to stay still but chooses to just walk out of the room. Gnu follows in pursuit.
12:04pm
We are six minutes from lunch and MiniJ is fishing again and as usual NoFouls is his target. NoFouls takes the bait and aggressively moves toward MiniJ and knocks him off his chair.
12:10pm
Lunch and I'm in my quiet place were for twenty minutes there is no one around me.
12:30pm
Lunch is over and I head to the cafeteria to pick up the scholars for recess. When I walk into the cafeteria I see Gnu physically struggling with The Collector. As I move towards them The Collector sees me and all his aggression ends abruptly. Gnu tells me he scratched her. I look at her arm. The scratch mark is about eight inches long and a band aide is required for the worse part of the scratch.
12:55pm
Recess is over and I'm are heading back to the classroom. As I approach the room there is a lot of activity at the door. That is not a good sign. As I get closer I see Gnu and IvyL inside the room. Oreo is standing at the door and steps in front of me as I attempt to enter the room. Quickly EM closes the door and turns out the lights. I now know what is going on so I wait a few moments and them enter the room. SURPRISE! All the scholars are really excited as they want to celebrate my day of origination. There is a pan of brownies with candles and IvyL is lighting them. When it is time for me to blow out the candles NoFouls can't control himself and blows out half of them. I sit at my desk at the back of the room as everyone eats a brownie and cookie. Then I'm handed my day of origination cards. NoFouls grabs one from my hand and opens it. It's one of those cards that plays music and is signed by all the scholars. The song playing is Shake Your Booty. MiniJ and NoFouls decide to sing along but alter the words slightly. They are singing Shake Your Ass over and over. NoFouls then grabs my other two cards and opens them. One is from Gnu, IvyL and Oreo. The other is signed by just about the entire staff at my school.
Approximately 1:20pm
EM is upset. He is saying loudly Mr. Schultz didn't even get to open his own cards. Every scholar is running in overdrive and that is an environment that EM doesn't like. For him there is way to much activity and noise. I'm not sure exactly what happened but suddenly EM is shouting loudly at Uh-Uh-Uh. He is right up in her face shouting and interestingly Uh-Uh-Uh doesn't give any ground. IvyL steps in and takes EM to Oreo's office to settle down.
Approximately 1:30pm
With all the activity in the classroom The Collector manages to leave the room without being noticed. He went to Oreo's office and for some reason walked up to EM and slapped him in the face. He is returned to the classroom.
Approximately 1:40pm
I leave the room to go to the restroom. When I return Gnu is frustrated and tells me that The Collector had an aggressive choke hold on Uh-Uh-Uh and she had to physically separate them. The Collector is removed to the front office for the remainder of the day.
Approximately 2:00pm
Gnu is standing by the classroom door leaning against a counter top. I'm sitting at my desk. Gnu says to me I don't know what to do as they are out of control. I respond I know. For the first time since I starting working with scholars with emotional disabilities I was at a loss as to what to do so I just sat there silently. Only Uh-Uh-Uh, MiniJ and NoFouls are in the room. If aggressive behavior started I'm not sure I how quickly I would have moved to shut it down.
Approximately 2:05pm
I start to put the classroom back in order. Desks and chairs are everywhere. Paper plates and food crumbs are everywhere. Either IvyL or Oreo step into the room and inform us that EM wants to spend the remainder of the day with CorP, Floss and Straw in their classroom. It is agreed as the expression on EM's face is sad and emotionless.
2:30pm
Attempting a reading block. It starts fairly well and we are settling down.
2:53pm
MiniJ and NoFouls are again in a verbal discussion leading toward anger. MiniJ is fishing.
2:59pm
NoFouls throws his reading book across the room and is constantly whining and complaining about having to do school work.
3:04pm
NoFouls just threw another book, paper and pencil.
3:06pm
NoFouls is now getting angry over a simple word game. To play this game you have to follow the rules. He is not following the rules. In his mind there is only one rule, his rule.
3:12pm
Gnu is reminding everyone about an upcoming spelling quiz. NoFouls starts whining. His aggression is building and he says I don't want to get a good grade. You don't get anything for good grades. I don't want to go to high school and I don't want to go to college. This is a simple conversation about a quiz and he's on the verge of an another eruption.
3:40pm
The scholars are on the bus. You've just read how I spent the first seven hours of my day on the day the scholars wanted to celebrate my birthday. This is not the first time that a fun activity for the scholars turns out badly and I suspect it will not be the last time.
It was a tough day. I'm out.
The King and Yo! are absent today so we only have five scholars in the classroom.
9:00am
The Collector walks into the room and says I bit Straw's sister while on the bus. You did what? I bit Straw's sister. A short while later Straw comes flying into the room going a hundred miles per hour as he has not stopped by the office yet to take his medication. Straw confirms what The Collector said.
9:10am
MiniJ apparently heard a new word and wants to share it with the class because he thinks it's funny. While walking around the room he is repeatedly saying vagina.
9:14am
NoFouls is now agitated because he's had enough of MiniJ's talking and tells him to STOP TALKING. Naturally MiniJ continues because he knows it upsets NoFouls. The term we use for MiniJ's actions is called "fishing" and he's about to catch his fish. NoFouls aggression is escalating and he is moving toward MiniJ. I step between them.
9:26am
It's time for Math. The Collector, NoFouls and Uh-Uh-Uh are at the front table. The amount of talking is too much for The Collector and he walks away from the table. His decision to walk away rather that get involved and cause the situation to escalate is a good thing.
During this same time frame I have MiniJ and EM with me. We are doing a measuring project with rulers. This lesson is asking the scholars to measure in centimeters. Gnu spent quite a bit of time previously on measuring so I'm thinking this should go fairly well. EM is doing a decent job placing the ruler in the correct location to get the measurement of a required item. MiniJ on the other hand appears totally clueless on properly placing the ruler to measure an object. The instructions said to measure the length of the tigers foot. MiniJ sets the ruler down in the middle of the tiger's body. There were a total of six objects to measure. For each object MiniJ placed his ruler in the wrong place. At one point he tried to measure a horizontal object by placing the ruler in a vertical position.
9:38am
NoFouls his reached his limit with Math as his whining and complaining is getting excessive.
10:07am
We have moved on and are now reading in combination with a social skills session. The subject matter is sequencing and the book that is being read is about baking cookies. NoFouls continues to be in his whining and complaining mood about doing academics. Gnu asks him to move away from the table. He folds his arms and puts on his stubborn look and doesn't move. Gnu asked him three more times to move away from the table before he actually moves. While getting up his folder, paper and pencil are aggressively pushed off the table.
10:30am
Math Quiz on measuring. This went surprisingly well except for MiniJ who appeared to have a problem with his neck. He frequently had to turn towards Uh-Uh-Uh's desk and stretch his neck in her direction to work out some kind of kink.
11:10am
We've been in PE (gym) for about ten minutes. The instructions were to get a jump rope and a hula hoop. When the bell sounds start jumping rope. When the bells sounds stop jumping rope and put the rope on the floor and pick up the hula hoop. When the bell sounds use the hula hoop and the process repeats itself. The Collector decides it will be fun to walk up to the girls during the hula hoop process and grab theirs hula hoops. He is laughing and the girls are upset. As I'm moving toward him he approaches the next girl but instead of grabbing the hula hoop he kicks it. I collect The Collector and transport him to the main office for the remainder of PE. When I return MiniJ is running and spinning his hula hoop on his extended arm. With the hula hoop moving rapidly he moves his arm position and the hula hoop soars up in the air. I collect MiniJ and he spends the remainder of PE sitting by the stage.
11:30am
Yoga time. Yes, yoga. It's an attempt at giving the scholars a tool to use to help them calm themselves down when they feel that their anger is rising. We do yoga daily with the scholars from the upper grade level so at times there are ten to twelve scholars with anger control issues in the room. Fortunately at the same time there are six adults in the room. The Collector is still agitated and is not participating. Instead he is pacing around the room. He is asked to stay still but chooses to just walk out of the room. Gnu follows in pursuit.
12:04pm
We are six minutes from lunch and MiniJ is fishing again and as usual NoFouls is his target. NoFouls takes the bait and aggressively moves toward MiniJ and knocks him off his chair.
12:10pm
Lunch and I'm in my quiet place were for twenty minutes there is no one around me.
12:30pm
Lunch is over and I head to the cafeteria to pick up the scholars for recess. When I walk into the cafeteria I see Gnu physically struggling with The Collector. As I move towards them The Collector sees me and all his aggression ends abruptly. Gnu tells me he scratched her. I look at her arm. The scratch mark is about eight inches long and a band aide is required for the worse part of the scratch.
12:55pm
Recess is over and I'm are heading back to the classroom. As I approach the room there is a lot of activity at the door. That is not a good sign. As I get closer I see Gnu and IvyL inside the room. Oreo is standing at the door and steps in front of me as I attempt to enter the room. Quickly EM closes the door and turns out the lights. I now know what is going on so I wait a few moments and them enter the room. SURPRISE! All the scholars are really excited as they want to celebrate my day of origination. There is a pan of brownies with candles and IvyL is lighting them. When it is time for me to blow out the candles NoFouls can't control himself and blows out half of them. I sit at my desk at the back of the room as everyone eats a brownie and cookie. Then I'm handed my day of origination cards. NoFouls grabs one from my hand and opens it. It's one of those cards that plays music and is signed by all the scholars. The song playing is Shake Your Booty. MiniJ and NoFouls decide to sing along but alter the words slightly. They are singing Shake Your Ass over and over. NoFouls then grabs my other two cards and opens them. One is from Gnu, IvyL and Oreo. The other is signed by just about the entire staff at my school.
Approximately 1:20pm
EM is upset. He is saying loudly Mr. Schultz didn't even get to open his own cards. Every scholar is running in overdrive and that is an environment that EM doesn't like. For him there is way to much activity and noise. I'm not sure exactly what happened but suddenly EM is shouting loudly at Uh-Uh-Uh. He is right up in her face shouting and interestingly Uh-Uh-Uh doesn't give any ground. IvyL steps in and takes EM to Oreo's office to settle down.
Approximately 1:30pm
With all the activity in the classroom The Collector manages to leave the room without being noticed. He went to Oreo's office and for some reason walked up to EM and slapped him in the face. He is returned to the classroom.
Approximately 1:40pm
I leave the room to go to the restroom. When I return Gnu is frustrated and tells me that The Collector had an aggressive choke hold on Uh-Uh-Uh and she had to physically separate them. The Collector is removed to the front office for the remainder of the day.
Approximately 2:00pm
Gnu is standing by the classroom door leaning against a counter top. I'm sitting at my desk. Gnu says to me I don't know what to do as they are out of control. I respond I know. For the first time since I starting working with scholars with emotional disabilities I was at a loss as to what to do so I just sat there silently. Only Uh-Uh-Uh, MiniJ and NoFouls are in the room. If aggressive behavior started I'm not sure I how quickly I would have moved to shut it down.
Approximately 2:05pm
I start to put the classroom back in order. Desks and chairs are everywhere. Paper plates and food crumbs are everywhere. Either IvyL or Oreo step into the room and inform us that EM wants to spend the remainder of the day with CorP, Floss and Straw in their classroom. It is agreed as the expression on EM's face is sad and emotionless.
2:30pm
Attempting a reading block. It starts fairly well and we are settling down.
2:53pm
MiniJ and NoFouls are again in a verbal discussion leading toward anger. MiniJ is fishing.
2:59pm
NoFouls throws his reading book across the room and is constantly whining and complaining about having to do school work.
3:04pm
NoFouls just threw another book, paper and pencil.
3:06pm
NoFouls is now getting angry over a simple word game. To play this game you have to follow the rules. He is not following the rules. In his mind there is only one rule, his rule.
3:12pm
Gnu is reminding everyone about an upcoming spelling quiz. NoFouls starts whining. His aggression is building and he says I don't want to get a good grade. You don't get anything for good grades. I don't want to go to high school and I don't want to go to college. This is a simple conversation about a quiz and he's on the verge of an another eruption.
3:40pm
The scholars are on the bus. You've just read how I spent the first seven hours of my day on the day the scholars wanted to celebrate my birthday. This is not the first time that a fun activity for the scholars turns out badly and I suspect it will not be the last time.
It was a tough day. I'm out.
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Sports and Our New Scholar
Welcome to the world of professional sports. In the past few weeks we've read about prescription drug abuse, alcohol abuse, illegal drug abuse, spousal abuse and child abuse among professional athletes so I'm thinking it's time to introduce you to our new scholar as he plays and interesting version of basketball and football. So waiting not very patiently in the tunnel to the stadium for his formal introduction is a second grade scholar that has increased our class size to seven scholars with emotional and/or psychological issue. Ladies and gentlemen please give it up for NoFouls.
It's recess and we are outside on the basketball court. Sides have been chosen rather unfairly in my opinion but I guess no one cares. Our newest scholar is responsible for making the inbound pass to start the game but instead takes two dribbles with the ball and runs to his right trying to shoot. His lane is blocked and despite the calls from his teammates to pass the ball he reverses course and without dribbling runs to the other side of the court. He then stops and despite being triple teamed shoots and misses badly. An opponent rebounds and after a couple dribbles picks up the ball and sprints with our new scholar in pursuit towards the other basket. When just short of the basket he stops to shoot but our scholar bangs into him. The opponent calls a foul. Our scholar responds in a loud voice there are NoFouls in this game.
A couple days later we are again outside at recess but the sport is now football. The playground in the area for football is covered with about a foot of wood chips so it is well cushioned. The game is one hand touch. NoFouls team is kicking off and the game is on. The opponent is moving up field in NoFouls direction when NoFouls just jumps on him and tackles him and tries to wrestle the ball away. Flag on the play. NoFouls is hugging the fence for two minutes. This time the opponents kick off. A teammate of NoFouls gets the ball but NoFouls wrestles the ball away from him and heads toward the end zone. There is one opponent to beat and rather than avoiding the opponent in this game of touch football he just barrels into him and knocks him over. Flag on the play. Give me the ball the game is over.
Occasionally when I watch professional sports and I see aggressive play that leads to fights I stop and think to myself. How many of these professional athletes were designated as emotionally disabled in grade school. Maybe I'll get out a device and see if I can find the answer. If I find it I'll let you know the results.
As a reminder NoFouls is in the second grade and the aggression he exhibits on the play ground carries over to the classroom. Sadly for Gnu and I he has chosen MiniJ as his most popular target. These two have gone face to face and chest to chest once or twice daily and had to be separated. Unfortunately for us MiniJ has already figured out how to push NoFouls hot buttons so with these two new scholars in our classroom it is going to be a constant battle to maintain order. In addition it is going to be a constant battle to focus on strong academics and not slip into nothing more than a room to warehouse scholars with major personal problems.
Thank you again for reading the blog. To keep everyone current here is a scorecard update.
My Scholars
The Collector - 4th grade
Yo! - 4th grade
EM - 3rd grade
Uh-Uh-Uh - 2nd grade
The King - 3rd grade
MiniJ - 2nd grade
NoFouls - 2nd grade
New Scholar - yet to arrive but you've met him, he's called Grrr! Presently on hold waiting for further evaluation.
It's recess and we are outside on the basketball court. Sides have been chosen rather unfairly in my opinion but I guess no one cares. Our newest scholar is responsible for making the inbound pass to start the game but instead takes two dribbles with the ball and runs to his right trying to shoot. His lane is blocked and despite the calls from his teammates to pass the ball he reverses course and without dribbling runs to the other side of the court. He then stops and despite being triple teamed shoots and misses badly. An opponent rebounds and after a couple dribbles picks up the ball and sprints with our new scholar in pursuit towards the other basket. When just short of the basket he stops to shoot but our scholar bangs into him. The opponent calls a foul. Our scholar responds in a loud voice there are NoFouls in this game.
A couple days later we are again outside at recess but the sport is now football. The playground in the area for football is covered with about a foot of wood chips so it is well cushioned. The game is one hand touch. NoFouls team is kicking off and the game is on. The opponent is moving up field in NoFouls direction when NoFouls just jumps on him and tackles him and tries to wrestle the ball away. Flag on the play. NoFouls is hugging the fence for two minutes. This time the opponents kick off. A teammate of NoFouls gets the ball but NoFouls wrestles the ball away from him and heads toward the end zone. There is one opponent to beat and rather than avoiding the opponent in this game of touch football he just barrels into him and knocks him over. Flag on the play. Give me the ball the game is over.
Occasionally when I watch professional sports and I see aggressive play that leads to fights I stop and think to myself. How many of these professional athletes were designated as emotionally disabled in grade school. Maybe I'll get out a device and see if I can find the answer. If I find it I'll let you know the results.
As a reminder NoFouls is in the second grade and the aggression he exhibits on the play ground carries over to the classroom. Sadly for Gnu and I he has chosen MiniJ as his most popular target. These two have gone face to face and chest to chest once or twice daily and had to be separated. Unfortunately for us MiniJ has already figured out how to push NoFouls hot buttons so with these two new scholars in our classroom it is going to be a constant battle to maintain order. In addition it is going to be a constant battle to focus on strong academics and not slip into nothing more than a room to warehouse scholars with major personal problems.
Thank you again for reading the blog. To keep everyone current here is a scorecard update.
My Scholars
The Collector - 4th grade
Yo! - 4th grade
EM - 3rd grade
Uh-Uh-Uh - 2nd grade
The King - 3rd grade
MiniJ - 2nd grade
NoFouls - 2nd grade
New Scholar - yet to arrive but you've met him, he's called Grrr! Presently on hold waiting for further evaluation.
Friday, September 12, 2014
Scholars Hinder Involved Teaching
For better than a quarter of century I worked for a management services company called ServiceMaster. The company was consistently rated as the top management services company in the country by various business publications. ServiceMaster had four company goals that will stay with me forever: 1. Honor God in all we do 2. Help people develop 3. Pursue excellence 4. Grow profitably. ServiceMaster was also notorious for using acronyms which at times drove me nuts so I'm chuckling to myself as I sit here typing because I'm about to use one.
Use more visuals, ignore bad behavior and be sensitive to their needs. That is the mantra of overhead personnel in our school system that claim to be an expert when working with scholars with emotional and/or psychological problems. That is the mantra spoken when Scholars Hinder Involved Teaching (S.H.I.T.) happens. This mantra is spoken by someone that spends less that fifteen minutes in our classroom about once every three weeks. You are about to hear what I think about their mantra.
Use Visuals To Keep Them On Track
Of the three this is the one that irks me the most because we have visuals everywhere in the classroom to keep the scholars on task. The class schedule is posted in three locations. On the chalk board in outstanding penmanship there is information on the time of day for yoga, speech therapy, group social skills and library. On each scholars desk is a listing of our four main academic requirements for the day that the scholar can check off as they are completed. There are classroom rules, hallway rules, restroom rules, cafeteria rules, golden rules and anger rules that are posted in locations that can be easily seen by the scholars. So for some overhead person to say we need more visuals is frustrating. From my view at the back of the room I studied our visuals and racked my brain trying to figure out how to improve them and then it hit me. We don't have definitions for certain words so that they can be used in a sentence correctly. So today I'm making more visuals to help our young scholars. The visuals will be definitions of the words most often spoken when a scholar has erupted and is directed to the timeout room. I won't bore you with the definitions but I will tell you the words are B-Word and F-Word. Dear speakers of the mantra. When S.H.I.T. happens I don't think adding visuals is going to help.
Ignore Bad Behavior
Let me tell you some of the bad behavior I've seen in the past three years. During my first year my teaching partner was head butted, punched in the face and bitten by a scholar all within ten minutes. In an art class I watched a scholar practically destroy the classroom to include tearing a phone off the wall, finding a tray of scissors and throwing them so hard that when they hit the wall they broke. In my own classroom I watched as a large container of Lego's was tossed, a computer mouse thrown against a wall, a container of chocolate milk thrown so hard at a wall that it broke open sending chocolate milk everywhere. I've seen chairs thrown across a room that flew higher than my head, books tossed and desks flipped over. I've been kicked and punched by scholars numerous times. Dear speakers of the mantra. When S.H.I.T. happens ignoring it is only going to get someone hurt.
Be Sensitive To Their Needs
"Shut up you fat ass B-work". "F-Word you" so many times I stopped counting. You "N-Word because that is what my Dad calls them". "Shut up you F-Word B-Work". And for this first time this week out of the mouth of one of my scholars I'm called a "c---sucker". These vulgarities were spoken by scholars from Kindergarten through 4th grade. Dear speakers of the mantra. When S.H.I.T. happens it gets shut down immediately. Why? Because these words are not in any of our text books. These are words that came from home and I suspect may be part of daily conversations. They may get ignored at home but not in my classroom.
What brought this topic up? When Gnu was talking to an overhead person recently about her frustrations with such volatile and out of control scholars she heard the mantra you need to use visuals to keep them on track, ignore bad behavior and be sensitive to their needs. Dear overhead person. You need a new mantra as the one you are using is not working.
I have two closing comments. I first thought of using this acronym during a Saturday morning cycling class. I new what letters I wanted to us in the acronym but I couldn't come up with the wording. I mentioned this to a good friend of mine in the class that just happens to be a teacher. Right in the middle of the class she got my attention and said I have it. I told you about her a few blogs ago and called her Gunpowder and Lead. Thanks for the assistance G&L the wording is perfect. Today is Friday and earlier in the week on Tuesday I think I passed the 2000 pages view mark. To all of you who have stuck with me, thanks.
I am now cracking open a Bell's Oberon Ale and pouring it into a frosted glass. Cheers!
Use more visuals, ignore bad behavior and be sensitive to their needs. That is the mantra of overhead personnel in our school system that claim to be an expert when working with scholars with emotional and/or psychological problems. That is the mantra spoken when Scholars Hinder Involved Teaching (S.H.I.T.) happens. This mantra is spoken by someone that spends less that fifteen minutes in our classroom about once every three weeks. You are about to hear what I think about their mantra.
Use Visuals To Keep Them On Track
Of the three this is the one that irks me the most because we have visuals everywhere in the classroom to keep the scholars on task. The class schedule is posted in three locations. On the chalk board in outstanding penmanship there is information on the time of day for yoga, speech therapy, group social skills and library. On each scholars desk is a listing of our four main academic requirements for the day that the scholar can check off as they are completed. There are classroom rules, hallway rules, restroom rules, cafeteria rules, golden rules and anger rules that are posted in locations that can be easily seen by the scholars. So for some overhead person to say we need more visuals is frustrating. From my view at the back of the room I studied our visuals and racked my brain trying to figure out how to improve them and then it hit me. We don't have definitions for certain words so that they can be used in a sentence correctly. So today I'm making more visuals to help our young scholars. The visuals will be definitions of the words most often spoken when a scholar has erupted and is directed to the timeout room. I won't bore you with the definitions but I will tell you the words are B-Word and F-Word. Dear speakers of the mantra. When S.H.I.T. happens I don't think adding visuals is going to help.
Ignore Bad Behavior
Let me tell you some of the bad behavior I've seen in the past three years. During my first year my teaching partner was head butted, punched in the face and bitten by a scholar all within ten minutes. In an art class I watched a scholar practically destroy the classroom to include tearing a phone off the wall, finding a tray of scissors and throwing them so hard that when they hit the wall they broke. In my own classroom I watched as a large container of Lego's was tossed, a computer mouse thrown against a wall, a container of chocolate milk thrown so hard at a wall that it broke open sending chocolate milk everywhere. I've seen chairs thrown across a room that flew higher than my head, books tossed and desks flipped over. I've been kicked and punched by scholars numerous times. Dear speakers of the mantra. When S.H.I.T. happens ignoring it is only going to get someone hurt.
Be Sensitive To Their Needs
"Shut up you fat ass B-work". "F-Word you" so many times I stopped counting. You "N-Word because that is what my Dad calls them". "Shut up you F-Word B-Work". And for this first time this week out of the mouth of one of my scholars I'm called a "c---sucker". These vulgarities were spoken by scholars from Kindergarten through 4th grade. Dear speakers of the mantra. When S.H.I.T. happens it gets shut down immediately. Why? Because these words are not in any of our text books. These are words that came from home and I suspect may be part of daily conversations. They may get ignored at home but not in my classroom.
What brought this topic up? When Gnu was talking to an overhead person recently about her frustrations with such volatile and out of control scholars she heard the mantra you need to use visuals to keep them on track, ignore bad behavior and be sensitive to their needs. Dear overhead person. You need a new mantra as the one you are using is not working.
I have two closing comments. I first thought of using this acronym during a Saturday morning cycling class. I new what letters I wanted to us in the acronym but I couldn't come up with the wording. I mentioned this to a good friend of mine in the class that just happens to be a teacher. Right in the middle of the class she got my attention and said I have it. I told you about her a few blogs ago and called her Gunpowder and Lead. Thanks for the assistance G&L the wording is perfect. Today is Friday and earlier in the week on Tuesday I think I passed the 2000 pages view mark. To all of you who have stuck with me, thanks.
I am now cracking open a Bell's Oberon Ale and pouring it into a frosted glass. Cheers!
Monday, September 8, 2014
Why I Dislike What I Do
The unofficial word is "crisis at home." I know that is pretty vague but one thing I know for sure is that he's been gone for almost a week. What appears to have occurred happens quite a bit at our school. Here one day and gone the next. Why does this happen? When your school is located in a low income neighborhood it could be for any number of reasons.
You met this scholar in my August 31st post. A third grade scholar with a lot of energy who could really test a teacher's patience wrote me a letter telling me how much he appreciates me for dealing with all his problems. His letter is laminated and taped to a cabinet behind my desk. Right next to this letter on a 3x5 card I wrote the following. People often ask me why I do what I do. This letter tells you why.
Well, as of this post he is gone and it really bothers me. Please keep the young scholar who is involved in a "crisis at home" in your prayers. If the situation changes and he returns to school I'll let you know.
You met this scholar in my August 31st post. A third grade scholar with a lot of energy who could really test a teacher's patience wrote me a letter telling me how much he appreciates me for dealing with all his problems. His letter is laminated and taped to a cabinet behind my desk. Right next to this letter on a 3x5 card I wrote the following. People often ask me why I do what I do. This letter tells you why.
Well, as of this post he is gone and it really bothers me. Please keep the young scholar who is involved in a "crisis at home" in your prayers. If the situation changes and he returns to school I'll let you know.
Saturday, September 6, 2014
Academic Setting Or Warehouse
I just completed a forty five minute cycling class and my wife walks up to me and says by the look on your face I'd say you are about rip someone's head off. I look at her, smile and say I was just thinking. The word thinking is accurate but her comment about my facial expression wasn't accurate but also wasn't too far off.
From my view at the back of the room I monitor scholar behavior and maintain a daily behavior log. The log is nothing complicated but it plays an important role when it comes time to evaluate a scholars behavior so I take it serious. At the start of the year when we only had four scholars there wasn't much to write. I'd make a note or two in the comment section and occasionally a couple of notes on the back side of the form. During this time period we were pretty solid in doing academics and I was real excited. When The King arrived I began to notice that my behavior notes had increased and now I was taking up right at half of the back side of the form. Seeing this I decided that I needed to write smaller and I added lines to the back of the form to conserve space. Today for the first time I filled up the entire back side of the form. What changed today? I'll tell you shortly. Just before I leave for the day I hand the behavior log to Gnu. When she looked at it she said oh my God you filled up the entire back side. I shrugged my shoulders and said we didn't have a very good day. She responded I know. This should not come as a surprise but the more I write on the behavior log the less academics we do and today for the first time academics took a major hit.
At 10:00am, right in the middle of math, Mini-Jake LaMatta arrived. Yes, he is a new scholar and he is in the second grade. We are now at six scholars and shortly it will rise to seven and eventually eight. Going forth I will refer to MiniJake LaMatta as simply MiniJ. Like Jake LaMatta he has a look about him. I'll describe it as best I can. It's like a blank, emotionless stare. I recall my first encounter with him during a behavior problem. It was a minor issues and as I walked passed him I said to settle down and get some work done. When doing this I made eye contact with him and he just stared right at me. No emotions but the look in his eyes said I ain't afraid of you. I made eye contact with him for about five seconds and his eyes never left me and I'm pretty sure he didn't even blink. Two and a half hours after his arrival we are outside at recess. Within ten minutes of the start of recess MiniJ took his first swing at another student but missed. After another five minutes he was near EM and pushed him. Between the hours of 1:00pm and 3:00pm in the classroom he punched EM and Yo! and pushed The Collector. That's five aggressive outbursts in five hours. I going conservative on this next statistic and will say MiniJ is in his fourth different school and he is in the second grade. I wonder why.
From the first day of school Gnu's emphasis was on academics. It was not uncommon for her to voice her concern about how far she was behind in what she wanted to do for the week academically. With the arrival of The King and then MiniJ academics is really suffering and it's frustrating her. The other thing that frustrates her is why would the school system send two scholars with emotional and/or psychological issues into a classroom in such quick succession where the teacher has less than four weeks of experience. This is where I need to be careful because what Gnu is saying and feeling at this point in her career has set off my hot buttons. How hot am I? Read the first paragraph again.
There are, right now, Emotional Disability (ED) classrooms without teachers in my school system. There are students in the classroom but no teachers. How can this be possible? The person(s) responsible to be sure there is a pool of teachers available for those scholars that are at the most risk failed miserably in performing their duty. So now scholars are being moved to a new school. Scholars that require consistency in their daily school life are being moved. Parents have to now deal with their scholar going off to another school. Parents who have exhibited that same emotional issues as their scholar have to potential to get angry. Who do they take out their anger on? Potentially at the person closest to them, their scholar. The scholar now steps into a new classroom and has to make new friends and adjust to a new teacher and instructional assistant. That is not easy for them and when they encounter a change or a person they don't like they get angry. How angry and how often do the get angry? I'm now filling out both side of my behavioral report and the log that is maintain outside of our time out room is full. My classroom is not a good academic setting right now and I'm pissed. We are five weeks into the school year and the person(s) responsible for hiring teachers still doesn't have teachers for a number of classrooms. How and the hell is that possible. And now it gets better. Read the first paragraph again.
Dear compliance monitor, you are now a major irritant. What gives you the right to send a barrage of emails to a first year teacher on a Friday morning and demand, if not immediate action, quick action. Dear compliance monitor why are you sending a first year teacher email messages using acronyms? Listen carefully, she doesn't know what those acronyms mean and she doesn't know where on the school hard drive the form you want her to fill out is located. This is a first year teacher compliance monitor and when you are in our school why can't you walk that forty or fifty feet from your office to our classroom and say hey how is it going and it there anything I can help you with. Dear compliance monitor we are not talking rocket science here.
I feel better now for two reasons. First, I got that off my chest. Second, BaseG made himself available for Gnu at the start of the year. Five weeks into the school year he is still making himself available to help and has driven miles out of his way to do so. Thank you my friend.
With MiniJ in the classroom here is a score card update.
My Scholars
The Collector - fourth grade
Yo! - fourth grade
EM - third grade
Un-Uh-Uh - second grade
The King - third grade
MiniJ - second grade
New Scholar #1 - you'll meet him shortly
New Scholar #2 - you've met him. He is called Grrr! On hold for about a month for evaluation by experts.
From my view at the back of the room I monitor scholar behavior and maintain a daily behavior log. The log is nothing complicated but it plays an important role when it comes time to evaluate a scholars behavior so I take it serious. At the start of the year when we only had four scholars there wasn't much to write. I'd make a note or two in the comment section and occasionally a couple of notes on the back side of the form. During this time period we were pretty solid in doing academics and I was real excited. When The King arrived I began to notice that my behavior notes had increased and now I was taking up right at half of the back side of the form. Seeing this I decided that I needed to write smaller and I added lines to the back of the form to conserve space. Today for the first time I filled up the entire back side of the form. What changed today? I'll tell you shortly. Just before I leave for the day I hand the behavior log to Gnu. When she looked at it she said oh my God you filled up the entire back side. I shrugged my shoulders and said we didn't have a very good day. She responded I know. This should not come as a surprise but the more I write on the behavior log the less academics we do and today for the first time academics took a major hit.
At 10:00am, right in the middle of math, Mini-Jake LaMatta arrived. Yes, he is a new scholar and he is in the second grade. We are now at six scholars and shortly it will rise to seven and eventually eight. Going forth I will refer to MiniJake LaMatta as simply MiniJ. Like Jake LaMatta he has a look about him. I'll describe it as best I can. It's like a blank, emotionless stare. I recall my first encounter with him during a behavior problem. It was a minor issues and as I walked passed him I said to settle down and get some work done. When doing this I made eye contact with him and he just stared right at me. No emotions but the look in his eyes said I ain't afraid of you. I made eye contact with him for about five seconds and his eyes never left me and I'm pretty sure he didn't even blink. Two and a half hours after his arrival we are outside at recess. Within ten minutes of the start of recess MiniJ took his first swing at another student but missed. After another five minutes he was near EM and pushed him. Between the hours of 1:00pm and 3:00pm in the classroom he punched EM and Yo! and pushed The Collector. That's five aggressive outbursts in five hours. I going conservative on this next statistic and will say MiniJ is in his fourth different school and he is in the second grade. I wonder why.
From the first day of school Gnu's emphasis was on academics. It was not uncommon for her to voice her concern about how far she was behind in what she wanted to do for the week academically. With the arrival of The King and then MiniJ academics is really suffering and it's frustrating her. The other thing that frustrates her is why would the school system send two scholars with emotional and/or psychological issues into a classroom in such quick succession where the teacher has less than four weeks of experience. This is where I need to be careful because what Gnu is saying and feeling at this point in her career has set off my hot buttons. How hot am I? Read the first paragraph again.
There are, right now, Emotional Disability (ED) classrooms without teachers in my school system. There are students in the classroom but no teachers. How can this be possible? The person(s) responsible to be sure there is a pool of teachers available for those scholars that are at the most risk failed miserably in performing their duty. So now scholars are being moved to a new school. Scholars that require consistency in their daily school life are being moved. Parents have to now deal with their scholar going off to another school. Parents who have exhibited that same emotional issues as their scholar have to potential to get angry. Who do they take out their anger on? Potentially at the person closest to them, their scholar. The scholar now steps into a new classroom and has to make new friends and adjust to a new teacher and instructional assistant. That is not easy for them and when they encounter a change or a person they don't like they get angry. How angry and how often do the get angry? I'm now filling out both side of my behavioral report and the log that is maintain outside of our time out room is full. My classroom is not a good academic setting right now and I'm pissed. We are five weeks into the school year and the person(s) responsible for hiring teachers still doesn't have teachers for a number of classrooms. How and the hell is that possible. And now it gets better. Read the first paragraph again.
Dear compliance monitor, you are now a major irritant. What gives you the right to send a barrage of emails to a first year teacher on a Friday morning and demand, if not immediate action, quick action. Dear compliance monitor why are you sending a first year teacher email messages using acronyms? Listen carefully, she doesn't know what those acronyms mean and she doesn't know where on the school hard drive the form you want her to fill out is located. This is a first year teacher compliance monitor and when you are in our school why can't you walk that forty or fifty feet from your office to our classroom and say hey how is it going and it there anything I can help you with. Dear compliance monitor we are not talking rocket science here.
I feel better now for two reasons. First, I got that off my chest. Second, BaseG made himself available for Gnu at the start of the year. Five weeks into the school year he is still making himself available to help and has driven miles out of his way to do so. Thank you my friend.
With MiniJ in the classroom here is a score card update.
My Scholars
The Collector - fourth grade
Yo! - fourth grade
EM - third grade
Un-Uh-Uh - second grade
The King - third grade
MiniJ - second grade
New Scholar #1 - you'll meet him shortly
New Scholar #2 - you've met him. He is called Grrr! On hold for about a month for evaluation by experts.
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
I've Never Seen Her So Upset
Mr. Schultz could you please go to.... What? It's just 9:15 and the scholars have only been in school a few minutes. I get Gnu's attention and tell her I have to go upstairs and leave. As I'm walking down the hallway I'm thinking to myself what is in room 216? As I approach the room there is an inclusion teacher standing in the doorway and I recognize that I'm about to enter Duck's room. Two steps into the room and I see Stretch with Duck nearby. I also see that Duck's room has been trashed. In fact I don't recall ever seeing a room trashed like this one. I look at Duck and say what do you need me to do? Duck makes a motion with her hand and I know the game plan. We need to maneuver Stretch into a corner and then get him into a safe place where we can contain him. The problem is there is no time out room in Duck's room and Stretch was extremely angry. We start to close the trap and Duck gets to him first. Stretch surprisingly offers little resistance and he is placed in a chair in the midst of the disaster he created. Duck is seated right next to him to stop him quickly should another eruption occur. I pull up a chair and sit about six feet from Stretch and then it starts.
In an animated voice I hear, I've been teaching for twenty six years and no one has ever trashed my room. No one, do you understand that? Look what you did. Never in twenty six years has this happened in my room. I've called the police and they are on the way. I don't care in a loud angry voice. I re-position my chair and I am now within three feet of Stretch. Still loud and angry, let the police take me to jail. I don't care. I don't care if I get beat up in jail. Do you know what you called me? You called me a bitch. Never in my twenty six years has a scholar called me a bitch. NEVER! Now visibly shaking, I've taught gang bangers in school and never did I have a gang banger trashed my room and called me a bitch. NEVER! My vision switches from Stretch and now I'm looking at the person who is the only reason I keep returning to this school. With PhD(*)Sparty gone this is the one person that I feel comfortable talking to when I'm struggling and I'm thinking I need to do or say something but what. I finally decide to suggest we change places but the police arrive. I've stayed with Duck way to long so with the police in the room I leave.
Later in the day I'm on the second floor and decide to stop by the ED room just to see how things are going. Sadly not well as Floss is standing just inside the room yelling at someone. As I step in the room he grabs a hardcover text book and throws it at Straw and CorP. They avoid the book and say nothing which is exactly what they should do and I'm so proud of them. I put my hand on Floss's should and say let's take a walk. He hesitates then turns and walks out the door mumbling something about a scholar I'll call AromeA. Taking the walk gets Floss calmed down and we head back to the classroom. I check with the teacher (I'll call her Knew) and she said they will be fine and thanks me for helping. Just as I turn to leave AromeA says to Floss as he is picking up his stuff you can have the time out room.
The day ended fairly well for Stretch. The police did not remove him because his Aunt came to school to take him home. I do believe that Stretch will be suspended for his behavior and so will Floss. The atmosphere in Knew's room is bad. Floss and Stretch are not compatible so the volatility between these two will continue until they are separated. Two years ago when Floss and AromeA were in the same classroom the situation was volatile and I saw for the first time that their relationship hasn't changed. The disturbing part for me is the length of time it will take for the school decisions makers to make a decision. The decision needs to be made now but sadly it may take weeks.
Scorecard update.
My Scholars
The Collector - 4th grade
Yo! - 4th grade
EM - 3rd grade
Uh-Uh-Uh - 2nd grade
The King* - 3rd grade
* Rapper is a mentor that works with The King
Guest Scholars
WhiteE - Kindergarten
Grrr! - 1st grade
ARomeA - a former scholar that I worked with in the 3rd and 4th grade, now in the 6th grade
CorP - a former scholar that I worked with in the 3rd and 4th grade, now in the 5th grade
Straw - a former scholar that I worked with in the 3rd and 4th grade, now in the 5th grade
The Staff
Gnu - teacher that I support
Knew - teacher, 5th and 6th grade
IvyL - behavior therapist
Oreo - behavior specialist
Duck - inclusion teacher for upper grades
The Big B - in charge of the school
Staff Emeritus
PhD(*)Sparty - a now departed behavior therapist who spent fours years at our school but more
important, my friend.
BaseG - a now departed teacher that I worked with and just as important as above, my friend.
In an animated voice I hear, I've been teaching for twenty six years and no one has ever trashed my room. No one, do you understand that? Look what you did. Never in twenty six years has this happened in my room. I've called the police and they are on the way. I don't care in a loud angry voice. I re-position my chair and I am now within three feet of Stretch. Still loud and angry, let the police take me to jail. I don't care. I don't care if I get beat up in jail. Do you know what you called me? You called me a bitch. Never in my twenty six years has a scholar called me a bitch. NEVER! Now visibly shaking, I've taught gang bangers in school and never did I have a gang banger trashed my room and called me a bitch. NEVER! My vision switches from Stretch and now I'm looking at the person who is the only reason I keep returning to this school. With PhD(*)Sparty gone this is the one person that I feel comfortable talking to when I'm struggling and I'm thinking I need to do or say something but what. I finally decide to suggest we change places but the police arrive. I've stayed with Duck way to long so with the police in the room I leave.
Later in the day I'm on the second floor and decide to stop by the ED room just to see how things are going. Sadly not well as Floss is standing just inside the room yelling at someone. As I step in the room he grabs a hardcover text book and throws it at Straw and CorP. They avoid the book and say nothing which is exactly what they should do and I'm so proud of them. I put my hand on Floss's should and say let's take a walk. He hesitates then turns and walks out the door mumbling something about a scholar I'll call AromeA. Taking the walk gets Floss calmed down and we head back to the classroom. I check with the teacher (I'll call her Knew) and she said they will be fine and thanks me for helping. Just as I turn to leave AromeA says to Floss as he is picking up his stuff you can have the time out room.
The day ended fairly well for Stretch. The police did not remove him because his Aunt came to school to take him home. I do believe that Stretch will be suspended for his behavior and so will Floss. The atmosphere in Knew's room is bad. Floss and Stretch are not compatible so the volatility between these two will continue until they are separated. Two years ago when Floss and AromeA were in the same classroom the situation was volatile and I saw for the first time that their relationship hasn't changed. The disturbing part for me is the length of time it will take for the school decisions makers to make a decision. The decision needs to be made now but sadly it may take weeks.
Scorecard update.
My Scholars
The Collector - 4th grade
Yo! - 4th grade
EM - 3rd grade
Uh-Uh-Uh - 2nd grade
The King* - 3rd grade
* Rapper is a mentor that works with The King
Guest Scholars
WhiteE - Kindergarten
Grrr! - 1st grade
ARomeA - a former scholar that I worked with in the 3rd and 4th grade, now in the 6th grade
CorP - a former scholar that I worked with in the 3rd and 4th grade, now in the 5th grade
Straw - a former scholar that I worked with in the 3rd and 4th grade, now in the 5th grade
The Staff
Gnu - teacher that I support
Knew - teacher, 5th and 6th grade
IvyL - behavior therapist
Oreo - behavior specialist
Duck - inclusion teacher for upper grades
The Big B - in charge of the school
Staff Emeritus
PhD(*)Sparty - a now departed behavior therapist who spent fours years at our school but more
important, my friend.
BaseG - a now departed teacher that I worked with and just as important as above, my friend.
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