IvyL, our behavior therapist, walked into the room on Tuesday morning and said to me "I don't think I'll be able to find my car in the parking lot when I leave at the end of the day." "I'm driving a friend's car today and now that I'm in the building I can't recall the make, model or color of the car." "I hate to be seen wondering around the parking lot at the end of the day and have people asking me what are you doing." I was fully prepared to say something but chose to remain silent. As she headed towards the door I said to her that "you really need to be careful what you say to a guy that writes a blog." I'm not sure if what I said registered with her but it put a smile on my face.
I'm going to jump forward to Friday now. I was the first one to arrive in the classroom which always makes me nervous. When I'm first, my thoughts go immediately to substitute teacher and that means I do the teaching and the substitute watches. Fortunately, she walked into the classroom about five minutes after I did so forget about substitute teachers. As she walked in she was carrying two sleeping bags in her arms plus one more attached to her like a backpack. I say to her, "you must be going camping this weekend." Her response was "not this weekend but today and here in the classroom." She then says to me "I'm running late so would you go to the grocery story and pick up a few items"? "Ok!" Off to the grocery store I go to get aluminum foil, graham crackers, a bag of marshmallows and four chocolate bars. When I arrive back in the classroom the camping inventory grew as there are now six sleeping bags and an electric lantern sitting on the floor. As I walked in Gnu's says "great you're back so you can now make the s'mores." "What?" "We started reading Hansel and Gretel in our campsite and it's a long story so you have to make the s'mores." In ten minutes or so I'm back in the classroom. The window shades are down, the lights are turned off and there in the middle of the room is an electric lantern and spread out in six sleeping bags are the scholars with Gnu reading to the them. I'm pretty sure I've said this before but in case you missed it, I'm working with a wonderful first year teacher and I couldn't be happier.
My wonderful first year teacher is not a happy camper. Despite all of her good intentions to get the overhead personnel to revisit a scholar's individual education plan the case conference was blow'd up. The response she received was no. No comments, no explanation, just no. She sent me the news via a text message and I knew she would be disappointed so I called her. "What are we going to do?' I simply said "we'll wait a while and start the process over." So right now we are in the waiting game. So why are we going through all of this aggravation and frustration? Because this scholar has been labeled in a certain manner and we believe it is wrong. Here is where we are today with this scholar. He has three labels attached to him.
our classroom? Yes! Does this scholar exhibit the characteristics of someone with an oppositional
defiant disorder? Yes! So, is Gnu doing the right thing by trying to hold this case conference so this scholar gets placed in the best classroom setting possible so he can get the help he needs to succeed? Yes! So why did the overhead personnel blow up the case conference? Who knows.
It's the weekend.
I'm going to jump forward to Friday now. I was the first one to arrive in the classroom which always makes me nervous. When I'm first, my thoughts go immediately to substitute teacher and that means I do the teaching and the substitute watches. Fortunately, she walked into the classroom about five minutes after I did so forget about substitute teachers. As she walked in she was carrying two sleeping bags in her arms plus one more attached to her like a backpack. I say to her, "you must be going camping this weekend." Her response was "not this weekend but today and here in the classroom." She then says to me "I'm running late so would you go to the grocery story and pick up a few items"? "Ok!" Off to the grocery store I go to get aluminum foil, graham crackers, a bag of marshmallows and four chocolate bars. When I arrive back in the classroom the camping inventory grew as there are now six sleeping bags and an electric lantern sitting on the floor. As I walked in Gnu's says "great you're back so you can now make the s'mores." "What?" "We started reading Hansel and Gretel in our campsite and it's a long story so you have to make the s'mores." In ten minutes or so I'm back in the classroom. The window shades are down, the lights are turned off and there in the middle of the room is an electric lantern and spread out in six sleeping bags are the scholars with Gnu reading to the them. I'm pretty sure I've said this before but in case you missed it, I'm working with a wonderful first year teacher and I couldn't be happier.
My wonderful first year teacher is not a happy camper. Despite all of her good intentions to get the overhead personnel to revisit a scholar's individual education plan the case conference was blow'd up. The response she received was no. No comments, no explanation, just no. She sent me the news via a text message and I knew she would be disappointed so I called her. "What are we going to do?' I simply said "we'll wait a while and start the process over." So right now we are in the waiting game. So why are we going through all of this aggravation and frustration? Because this scholar has been labeled in a certain manner and we believe it is wrong. Here is where we are today with this scholar. He has three labels attached to him.
- The primary label says he has seizures. I'm sorry but you shouldn't be placed into a special education classroom for scholars with emotional disabilities for seizures.
- The next label is called learning disabled. I could almost buy this one. Let me explain myself. If the classroom task at hand appears to be too hard or too lengthy the scholar objects. If you give the scholar the exact same task and say there are rewards (food) for successfully completing the task there is a very good chance the assignment will be completed. Given what I just said, should this scholar be in a special education classroom for scholars with emotional disabilities? No!
- The last label is ADHD. Does he have an attention deficit issue? Yes, unless food is involved. Does he have a hyperactivity disorder? No, in a normal day he is easily the slowest moving scholar we have in the classroom. So, once again, does this scholar belong in a special education classroom for scholars with emotional disabilities? No!
our classroom? Yes! Does this scholar exhibit the characteristics of someone with an oppositional
defiant disorder? Yes! So, is Gnu doing the right thing by trying to hold this case conference so this scholar gets placed in the best classroom setting possible so he can get the help he needs to succeed? Yes! So why did the overhead personnel blow up the case conference? Who knows.
It's the weekend.
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