Sunday morning, February 29th, at 9:00am, and I'm sitting at the kitchen table putting my notes together for this blog when I get disrupted by my part time editor, part time consultant, and full time spouse, who is going into hobbit mode. "I'm hungry so I'm having a second breakfast, you will have to move," she tells me. Time out. I'm changing locations.
My version of WalMart, the BP gas station. It's pouring rain when I pulled in and park near the door to the convenience store part of the gas station and I notice someone standing outside the store. As I'm watching this man, who is using an extra large black trash bag as a rain jacket, he starts to wash an exterior window that is right by the cash register. As it is pouring rain, this gentleman raises up his arm and starts spraying a window washing cleaning solution on the window and promptly starts washing the window. He then removes from his pocket another cleaning rag and starts to dry the window. I've seen enough and get out of my car. Just as I reach the door the window washer is heading toward the same door so I hold it open for him. As he walks in ahead of me he says, "thank you," and as he passes me I notice the water running off his trash bag onto the floor. I head to the coffee urn, fill up my Styrofoam cup with the Kona blend, and head to the cashier. When I get there I say to my friend Sunny, "you're having the windows washed in the rain?" He laughs and says to me "just one." Sunny continues, "the window was so wet I couldn't see the gas pumps so I was going to wipe the window off myself but this gentleman (one of the regulars I finally realized) said he'd wash it for me." Knowing this I ask Sunny if the man drinks coffee and if he does I'd like to buy him a cup. Sunny tell me he does but says, "don't bother as I'm going to give him a cup of coffee and a breakfast sandwich for cleaning the window." There are two regulars that hang out at the BP gas station, one male and one female. I don't think they are homeless but all indications are that they are poor. The next time I see one of them I'm going to buy her/him a cup of coffee and a breakfast sandwich.
I went on a road trip to the urban area of Indianapolis over the weekend. I was chatting my granddaughter and telling her that this was the third time that I've seen her and I was a bit disappointed that she still was not walking. The conversation was interrupted by my daughter who told me it was time for dinner. As I'm sitting at the kitchen table eating, my part time editor, part time consultant, and full time spouse and my daughter were discussing an article in the Indianapolis Monthly magazine. My daughter gets my attention and says to me, "Dad, you need to do this." "Do what?" I say. "Story telling," she responds. She continues, "there is a book store called Indy Reads on Mass Ave. that has a story telling night. You should go." "What makes you think people will listen to anything I have to say," I respond. "You've been writing a blog for almost two years now and people read what you write every week. Rather that writing your blog you go, stand up in front of people, and tell the same stories," she states. Hmm! I'll have to think about that.
Uh-Uh-Uh is celebrating her tenth birthday. She arrives with a tiara on her head that reads, "happy birthday." When she gets her coat put away, basically drops it on the floor behind her desk, she walks up to Gnu to tells her that her mother is going to bring in cup cakes for everyone in the afternoon. Gnu says "that sounds great, what time will your mother be here?" Uh-Uh-Uh responds, "at 2:30." Gnu looks back at me and says, "2:30 is right in the middle of our reading block." I look at her, shrug my shoulders, and say nothing but I'm thinking 3:15 would have been a much better time. It's shortly before 2:30 and Uh-Uh-Uh and the other scholars are at the front table with Gnu reading and I'm watching from my view at the back of the room when Uh-Uh-Uh stands up and walks over to Gnu's desk. At first I thought she was just looking for a pencil but realize that she is straightening up the mountain of papers on Gnu's desk. When Gnu finally looks at Uh-Uh-Uh she says to her, "what are you doing at my desk?" Uh-Uh-Uh turns back to look at her and says, "my mother is going to be here soon and I'm straightening up your desk as it's a mess."
EM was struggling most of the day and we weren't sure why. Gnu asked him a couple time if he was feeling alright. He told Gnu that his head hurts. Later in the day our school social worker walked into the classroom and asked Gnu if she could speak to her for a minute. Gnu agrees, and the conversation was very brief. When there was a break in academics Gnu walked back to my table and quietly says to me, "EM's mother is being evicted, EM is homeless." The school day is over. Gnu and I are walking the scholars to the buses and we are walking silently as were both know that we are about to put EM on the bus to go home. Sadly, we don't know where that home will be and we believe EM knows that and it is the cause of his headache. This is the third time that EM, his little sister, and four older brothers, will be homeless. Please keep his family in your prayers.
The news that we have one to many EH (emotionally handicapped) teachers at our school took precedent over the results of Prophet's case conference during my last blog post. This was mentioned to me by as far west as Utah so I'm going to backtrack a little and give you the result of the case conference. From what I heard, the room was pretty crowded as overhead personnel from both the life skills and the emotionally handicapped divisions of our school corporation were in the room. Also present was Prophet's parental unit. The big push from the school corporations point of view was to convince the parental unit that the young scholar needed medication to control is behavioral outbursts. From what I've been told, the parental unit agreed and that is a huge step forward not only for Prophet's behavior at school but at home. The final matter to be resolved was which classroom should Prophet be placed in. The matter was quickly resolved when TheMD clearly stated that the medication Prophet will be taking will help improve his behavior but will do nothing to increase his intelligence level so he needs to be place back in his original classroom. For the record, the case conference was held over a week ago and Prophet is still in Gnu's classroom. Obviously, there is a delay and I don't know why.
She continues to come up with the best ideas to get the scholars excited about learning. Gnu has been introducing geometric shapes, angles, and lines to the scholars for a number of days now and the scholars were struggling with the material. Her initial attempt to hold their attention was to put together three by five cards and set them up similar to a game called Concentration. One set of cards had the name of the shape written on it in green marker. The other set of cards had the definition or description of the shape written on hit with a red marker. The cards were then spread out on the floor and the matching game started. That worked for a while but came to an abrupt end when two of the scholars starting cheating so they could have the most matches. The next morning when I entered the classroom there was a large flashlight sitting on my desk and Gnu was taping something onto the wall in our time out room. "What are you doing?" I ask. "Setting up a math assignment on geometric shapes," was her response. "Does this assignment require a flashlight," I ask. "Yes!" is the response from Gnu. After morning announcements Gnu moves on to our math block and she tell the scholars that they need more work on geometric shapes. That news is met with moans and groans until Gnu shows them the flashlight. One of the scholars, I forget which one, says, "Miss Gnu what are you doing with that flashlight?" "I need it for our math assignment," she says and directs all of the scholars to the back of the classroom. "Please line up outside the time out room and Mr. Schultz, will you please turn off all of the lights in the classroom," Gnu states. Gnu then gives the scholars a quick lesson on how to turn the flashlight on and off. At this point she has their undivided attention. EM is first in line and Gnu hands him the flashlight. She pulls out the three by five card that have a definition or description of a shape written on it and reads it to EM, "this shape has intersecting lines that cross and form a right angle." She then tells EM to turn on the flashlight and she opens the door to our time out room. Gnu then instructs EM to shine the flashlight on the words on the wall of the time out room until he finds the match to the description that she just read. The excitement at doing a math assignment on geometric shapes just went from moans and groans to total excitement. I'm working with an amazing person and as the days of the calendar click by I keep hoping that by the end of the school year the BigB tells my partner that she can keep her existing job.
I don't have a teaching degree. I don't have a teaching license. I do have over three and a half years experience as an instructional assistant. I know that I can't be alone in the classroom with our scholars because I don't have a teaching license. I also know this, Gnu is going to Hawaii and will miss six school days. I know you are wondering why, so I'll tell you, she is a bridesmaid in a wedding that is taking place on the island of Maui. Initially, she was going minimize the length of time she would be gone but realized that this trip to Hawaii may be a once in a life time opportunity so she got permission from the BigB to extend her stay. Obviously this poses a big problem as a substitute teacher is needed for six consecutive days and it is Gnu's responsibility to find one. She does what she is supposed to do, contact the school corporation on line and request a substitute for the length of her absence. My confidence that this will actually work is low so I send a text message to BaseG (Gnu's predecessor in our classroom) and ask him if he has any substitute names that Gnu could contact directly. BaseG responded and said that he was not aware of any but if he came across one he'd contact me. I also sent a text message to a substitute teacher that supported our school several times in the past and asked him if he was available. Unfortunately, I didn't get a response. As I was leaving school one day, I walked past our administrative czar who said to me, "I hear Gnu is going to Hawaii." "Yes," I said, "she is in a wedding and will be gone for six days. What are the chances that there will be a substitute teacher available while she was gone?" I ask. "Good luck with that," was the response I got from our administrative czar.
Gnu will be gone for six school days. I have a number in my head that states how many days there will be a substitute teacher in the room and a number in my head that states how many days I will be the teacher in the room. Now it is your turn to come up with the numbers. You can tell me in person, call me on the cell phone, text me or just post a comment on the blog as to what you think will happen.
It's sixty five degrees today. I'm going to take a walk outside. Thanks for sticking around to read my stories. Maybe one day, you can sit in a room and listen to my stories at Indy Reads on Mass Ave.
Sunday, February 28, 2016
Sunday, February 21, 2016
Some Smooth Days.......Then BOOM!
There is a BP gas station that I stop at every morning to get a cup of coffee. In case your are wondering, I like the Kona blend. It's near the school which puts this gas station in a lower income neighborhood. It's always interesting to watch the clientele come and go at this gas station. I guess it's my version of people watching at WalMart. This past Friday I stood in line behind a gentleman who was searching his pockets for some money as he just asked the cashier for a $5.00 lottery ticket and, as he called it, a pack of smokes. He finally pulls out some money from his back pants pocket and pays for his purchases. Just as he turns to leave, he reaches into another pocket and pulls out more money. So he turns to the cashier and says give me $3.00 worth of gas on pump number 3. With the price of gas listed at $1.75 per gallon and the car he was driving falling into the hooptie category, I'm thinking he'll have to start the process over the next morning.
I work at a great school and I write a blog telling about my view from the back of the room. Along the way several people starting following my blog and I need to tell you about the generosity of two of them. Staying consistent with past practice, I will not use real names. The United States Postal Service dropped off a package on my front door step a few days ago. When my part time editor, part time consultant and full time spouse handed me the package is was fairly heavy. Inside the package was a hand written note from Curbs and a dozen or so hand sewn pillow cases using material suitable for our young scholars. The note, I'll give you the short version, said I started to make a few pillow cases for your scholars but got a little carried away. Please distribute them as you see fit. I can't recall all of the pillow case themes but I do recall Spider Man, Star Wars, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Whales, and Basketballs. I showed them to Gnu and then we decided when to had them out and how to do that without starting any fights. We decided the Friday before Valentine's Day was the perfect day to hand them out and the order of the scholars was based on seniority in the classroom. That meant EM went first, and as expected, he chose the basketball themed pillow case. It felt like Christmas as the scholars were really excited. After each one made their initial selection they were allowed to make a second selection for a brother or sister. It didn't take long to distribute the pillow cases and at the end of the day the pillows cases were in backpacks and heading home. There were a lot of smiling faces in the classroom that day, thanks Curbs.
Gnu likes science projects. Nothing elaborate, just simple little projects that, when completed, are usually edible. Our latest science project was to research the history of ice cream and them make ice cream in the classroom. I good friend of mine, AO of VeeNo, was kind enough to provide some financial support for the ice cream project. The scholars gathered on a Thursday and, starting from scratch, made the ice cream. The flavor chosen was vanilla, boring, but it was decided that crushed up Oreo cookies would be added to the ice cream. Everything was going smoothly until it was time to crush up the Oreo's. Gnu divided up the Oreo's into zip lock bags and told the scholars that they needed to break up the cookies into smaller pieces. Quite promptly the scholars just started pounding of the zip lock bags with their fists. It was hilarious to watch when Gnu she tried to convince them that they didn't need to hit them so hard. At one point, MiniJ wanted to climb up on Gnu's table so he could step on the cookies. With the cookies literally crushed the ice cream making process began and was successfully completed. The last remaining step was to place the ice cream in a freezer over night. With only the waiting left to do before the ice cream could be consumed I ask Gnu if it would be alright to invite AO of VeeNo to join us in eating the ice cream. She agreed, so I sent the text message. A short while later I get a response, "Hell yes, I'll be there." So the next day AO of VeeNo arrives and joins the scholars eating the ice cream. It's always interesting to hear what visitors, who follow this blog, have to say after spending some time in our classroom. AO of VeeNo's comments were pretty consistent with what others have said. "I couldn't believe how polite and smart they were," he told me later. Yes, they are polite. Yes, they are, for the most, part smart. Unfortunately there are days when all hell breaks loose and someone gets to enjoy some time in our time out room. The ice cream research project was fun. The ice cream tasted great and AO of VeeNo can attest to that. To my friend AO of VeeNo, your willingness to support our ice cream projects as well as future science projects greatly appreciated.
Wednesday, February 17th, it's shortly after recess and lunch and something went wrong. I wasn't there but I could tell by the tone of Gnu's voice when she told the scholars to sit at their desks it couldn't have been good. As I scanned the room I noticed Grr! had his I'm angry look on as he stood behind his desk with his arms folded across his chest. Gnu is lecturing them about appropriate behavior when Grr! angrily yells, "will you stop laughing at me." Gnu quickly responds to Grr! , "why don't you just ignore him. We've had this conversation numerous times but you just will not listen." Again, Grr! shouted, "stop laughing at me." This time I catch the culprit and as it has been for months it's Prophet. It's now my turn, "there is no reason for you to be laughing at him. Get off the top of ShortTime's desk and go sit at your own desk." As Prophet moves toward his own desk, chairs are knocked over, he throws his pencil case on the floor, and he swipes across this desk with his arm and knocks all of his papers on the floor. I look at Gnu and ssy, "if our overhead personnel don't remove Prophet from our classroom tell them they may need to find another instructional assistance." "Do you think they care what you do? They don't even care what I do or have to say," she responds. For the first time there is friction between us in the classroom and I felt bad.
Thursday, February 18th and I was late arriving. Even though I was late the room was empty as Gnu was at a case conference that will again discuss Prophet and what to do with him. Just as I'm about to head to bus duty I get a text message from Gnu, "the meeting is almost over." I respond, "ok, I'm on my way to bus duty." Fifteen minutes later I'm in the classroom with the scholars and Gnu is still in the meeting so, despite the fact that I am not a licensed teacher, I start the academic day. While at Gnu's desk I get another text message, "almost over." I continue with the academics until she arrives. She doesn't say anything about the case conference and I'm moving to my table with a view from the back of the room. A couple minutes pass when she walks back to my table and sits across from me. "I'm not sure I can tell you this without starting to cry," she says to me. I remain silent but I'm thinking we are stuck with Prophet for the remainder of the year. She continues, "there are too many EH (emotional handicap) teachers in our school and I may loose my job." BOOM! "What?" "Are you serious?" "I have to meet with Knew2 (our other EH teacher) and we need to see if one of us would be willing to leave," she says. "Why is this happening?" I say. "The school needs to find a position for one of our inclusion teachers and in order to do so an EH teachers needs to be moved. The inclusion teacher will then be placed in the open EH teacher classroom. I guess I won't loose my job but I'll have to leave this school and find another job is our school corporation," she states.
Put your thinking caps on as I'm backing up a few days. "You are not a licensed teacher so you can't be in this classroom by yourself," the person wearing the crown says to me. The crown continues, "we have three choices to fill in for Gnu while she is ill." Which of the three (all inclusion teachers) would you like to work with?" "Which one do you think will be able to survive the day in this environment?" I ask. "I'll have to think about it" the crown wearer states. As a reminder, no licensed teacher showed up.
This is my best guess as to what is happening. My school needs to eliminate one inclusion teacher position. Apparently, one, or all of our inclusion teachers have a special education teaching license. So in order to find a position for a long term teacher a short term teacher gets bumped out of the way. It doesn't matter that a teacher who is about to get bumped absolutely excels in the classroom as this teacher does not have enough seniority so she/he has to go. Who is at the bottom of the seniority list of special education teachers, Knew2 and Gnu.
We hit rock bottom. We dropped to the subterranean level. Now BOOM! Imagine what is going through Gnu's head as she knows that at the end of the school year, she, under the best circumstances will have a job but at another school in our school corporation or under the worse case circumstances will not have a job at all in our school corporation. My part time editor, part time consultant, and full time spouse is aware and she is furious. "Why and hell would your school do something so stupid?" she asks me. "It's a seniority issue," I say. "Does you school realize how much she has done to improve these scholars behavior. Does you school know how much she has done to improve these scholars academic skills? "Why remove a teacher with such outstanding teaching skills from a classroom just because she doesn't have any seniority?" What is going on in our school right now is just plan nuts and I'm pissed. I'm also done for the day. Thanks for continuing the read the musing of an old man who has a great view from the back of the room.
I work at a great school and I write a blog telling about my view from the back of the room. Along the way several people starting following my blog and I need to tell you about the generosity of two of them. Staying consistent with past practice, I will not use real names. The United States Postal Service dropped off a package on my front door step a few days ago. When my part time editor, part time consultant and full time spouse handed me the package is was fairly heavy. Inside the package was a hand written note from Curbs and a dozen or so hand sewn pillow cases using material suitable for our young scholars. The note, I'll give you the short version, said I started to make a few pillow cases for your scholars but got a little carried away. Please distribute them as you see fit. I can't recall all of the pillow case themes but I do recall Spider Man, Star Wars, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Whales, and Basketballs. I showed them to Gnu and then we decided when to had them out and how to do that without starting any fights. We decided the Friday before Valentine's Day was the perfect day to hand them out and the order of the scholars was based on seniority in the classroom. That meant EM went first, and as expected, he chose the basketball themed pillow case. It felt like Christmas as the scholars were really excited. After each one made their initial selection they were allowed to make a second selection for a brother or sister. It didn't take long to distribute the pillow cases and at the end of the day the pillows cases were in backpacks and heading home. There were a lot of smiling faces in the classroom that day, thanks Curbs.
Gnu likes science projects. Nothing elaborate, just simple little projects that, when completed, are usually edible. Our latest science project was to research the history of ice cream and them make ice cream in the classroom. I good friend of mine, AO of VeeNo, was kind enough to provide some financial support for the ice cream project. The scholars gathered on a Thursday and, starting from scratch, made the ice cream. The flavor chosen was vanilla, boring, but it was decided that crushed up Oreo cookies would be added to the ice cream. Everything was going smoothly until it was time to crush up the Oreo's. Gnu divided up the Oreo's into zip lock bags and told the scholars that they needed to break up the cookies into smaller pieces. Quite promptly the scholars just started pounding of the zip lock bags with their fists. It was hilarious to watch when Gnu she tried to convince them that they didn't need to hit them so hard. At one point, MiniJ wanted to climb up on Gnu's table so he could step on the cookies. With the cookies literally crushed the ice cream making process began and was successfully completed. The last remaining step was to place the ice cream in a freezer over night. With only the waiting left to do before the ice cream could be consumed I ask Gnu if it would be alright to invite AO of VeeNo to join us in eating the ice cream. She agreed, so I sent the text message. A short while later I get a response, "Hell yes, I'll be there." So the next day AO of VeeNo arrives and joins the scholars eating the ice cream. It's always interesting to hear what visitors, who follow this blog, have to say after spending some time in our classroom. AO of VeeNo's comments were pretty consistent with what others have said. "I couldn't believe how polite and smart they were," he told me later. Yes, they are polite. Yes, they are, for the most, part smart. Unfortunately there are days when all hell breaks loose and someone gets to enjoy some time in our time out room. The ice cream research project was fun. The ice cream tasted great and AO of VeeNo can attest to that. To my friend AO of VeeNo, your willingness to support our ice cream projects as well as future science projects greatly appreciated.
Wednesday, February 17th, it's shortly after recess and lunch and something went wrong. I wasn't there but I could tell by the tone of Gnu's voice when she told the scholars to sit at their desks it couldn't have been good. As I scanned the room I noticed Grr! had his I'm angry look on as he stood behind his desk with his arms folded across his chest. Gnu is lecturing them about appropriate behavior when Grr! angrily yells, "will you stop laughing at me." Gnu quickly responds to Grr! , "why don't you just ignore him. We've had this conversation numerous times but you just will not listen." Again, Grr! shouted, "stop laughing at me." This time I catch the culprit and as it has been for months it's Prophet. It's now my turn, "there is no reason for you to be laughing at him. Get off the top of ShortTime's desk and go sit at your own desk." As Prophet moves toward his own desk, chairs are knocked over, he throws his pencil case on the floor, and he swipes across this desk with his arm and knocks all of his papers on the floor. I look at Gnu and ssy, "if our overhead personnel don't remove Prophet from our classroom tell them they may need to find another instructional assistance." "Do you think they care what you do? They don't even care what I do or have to say," she responds. For the first time there is friction between us in the classroom and I felt bad.
Thursday, February 18th and I was late arriving. Even though I was late the room was empty as Gnu was at a case conference that will again discuss Prophet and what to do with him. Just as I'm about to head to bus duty I get a text message from Gnu, "the meeting is almost over." I respond, "ok, I'm on my way to bus duty." Fifteen minutes later I'm in the classroom with the scholars and Gnu is still in the meeting so, despite the fact that I am not a licensed teacher, I start the academic day. While at Gnu's desk I get another text message, "almost over." I continue with the academics until she arrives. She doesn't say anything about the case conference and I'm moving to my table with a view from the back of the room. A couple minutes pass when she walks back to my table and sits across from me. "I'm not sure I can tell you this without starting to cry," she says to me. I remain silent but I'm thinking we are stuck with Prophet for the remainder of the year. She continues, "there are too many EH (emotional handicap) teachers in our school and I may loose my job." BOOM! "What?" "Are you serious?" "I have to meet with Knew2 (our other EH teacher) and we need to see if one of us would be willing to leave," she says. "Why is this happening?" I say. "The school needs to find a position for one of our inclusion teachers and in order to do so an EH teachers needs to be moved. The inclusion teacher will then be placed in the open EH teacher classroom. I guess I won't loose my job but I'll have to leave this school and find another job is our school corporation," she states.
Put your thinking caps on as I'm backing up a few days. "You are not a licensed teacher so you can't be in this classroom by yourself," the person wearing the crown says to me. The crown continues, "we have three choices to fill in for Gnu while she is ill." Which of the three (all inclusion teachers) would you like to work with?" "Which one do you think will be able to survive the day in this environment?" I ask. "I'll have to think about it" the crown wearer states. As a reminder, no licensed teacher showed up.
This is my best guess as to what is happening. My school needs to eliminate one inclusion teacher position. Apparently, one, or all of our inclusion teachers have a special education teaching license. So in order to find a position for a long term teacher a short term teacher gets bumped out of the way. It doesn't matter that a teacher who is about to get bumped absolutely excels in the classroom as this teacher does not have enough seniority so she/he has to go. Who is at the bottom of the seniority list of special education teachers, Knew2 and Gnu.
We hit rock bottom. We dropped to the subterranean level. Now BOOM! Imagine what is going through Gnu's head as she knows that at the end of the school year, she, under the best circumstances will have a job but at another school in our school corporation or under the worse case circumstances will not have a job at all in our school corporation. My part time editor, part time consultant, and full time spouse is aware and she is furious. "Why and hell would your school do something so stupid?" she asks me. "It's a seniority issue," I say. "Does you school realize how much she has done to improve these scholars behavior. Does you school know how much she has done to improve these scholars academic skills? "Why remove a teacher with such outstanding teaching skills from a classroom just because she doesn't have any seniority?" What is going on in our school right now is just plan nuts and I'm pissed. I'm also done for the day. Thanks for continuing the read the musing of an old man who has a great view from the back of the room.
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Subterranean Level
I have a bucket list. I've had it for number of years now and it's a pretty short list. Actually, it's not pretty short, it is short, as it only has one item on it. One of life's disappointment is that I never new my grandparents. Not only did I not know them, I can't say for certainty what their names were as they all either died before or just after I was born. That's bothered me for the better part of my life so when I put together my bucket list I knew what I wanted as the number one item. On February 14, 2016, as 7:11pm my bucket list was completed as my granddaughter Ellen weighed in at 7 pounds 6.5 ounces and measured 20 inches long. My daughter and granddaughter are doing extremely well and I am one proud grandfather who does not have to worry about his granddaughter never meeting her grandfather.
Recap. Wednesday, February 3rd, we hit rock bottom as we used our time out room seven times in one day.
Thursday, February 4th.
My cellphone rings and I have a text message. "I'm very sick but I hope to be there before you have to go to bus duty," is what the text message from Gnu stated. "Maybe you should stay home," I texted back. "I can't, there is to much work to do," she replies. It's approximately 8:40am when she walks into the classroom. "Why didn't you stay home?" I asked. "I haven't printed out my lesson plan and worksheets for the day so you would know what to do," she says. "Well, print them out and go home," I say. "Maybe I'll do that," is her response. I tell her that I have to get to bus duty and walk out of the room. As I'm walking down the hallway I see an overhead person but don't give it much thought. When I return from bus duty all the daily work is on her table at the front of the room so I move to the front and sit at her table. She tells me that she is going to tell the Big B that she is leaving. I let her know that the Big B will not be in today and she needed to talk to the back up that will wear the crown for the day. Gnu leaves and within a few minutes the person wearing the crown for the day walks into the classroom. "Gnu is leaving for the day," the crown wearer tells me. "Good," I say, "as she does not feel well." "You can't stay in the room by yourself as you are not a licensed teacher," the crown wearer says to me. I say, "ok," and remain silent. "We have three options for a replacement" and she tells me the names of the teachers and then asks me "which one would you like to work with?" I tell her that I don't have a preference but say to her, "of the three, which one do you think will be able to survive the day in this environment?" The crown wearer says to me, "I'll have to think about it," and walks out of the classroom.
The scholars are now arriving and as they enter the room I hear multiple times, "Mr. Schultz, where is Miss Gnu?" I explain to them what is going on and they then ask me, "who will be our teacher?" I tell them I will be for now but someone will arrive shortly so get started with your morning work. As I start to get the scholars settled down so the day can begin the overhead person walks into the room. The overhead person stands by a cabinet at the back of the room and is listening to me as I start the day. This overhead person then walks over to ShortTime's desks and asks him what he's working on. ShortTime is pretty active as his ADHD issues have a hold of him and he is just plain ignoring the overhead person. The overhead person makes a second attempt at getting ShortTime's attention but fails. A couple minutes later the overhead person leaves the room. During the time that the overhead person was in the room I don't think this person said five words to me.
The day is started and the scholars are working when Gnu finally walks back into the room. "Go home, I can do this," I say to her. "I can't yet," she responds. "I was told that I can't leave until I get teacher signatures on this document and fax it," she informs me. "Well, sit down and rest, I'll take the document and get the signatures," I say. "No, you stay here, I can do this," she tells me and walks out of the room. I sit back down at the front table and I'm doing everything that I can do hide my anger from the scholars. What kind of person, who encounters a teacher that is obviously sick, tells this teacher that she can't leave the school until she gets a few signatures and faxes a document is just plain cruel. A couple minutes later the crown wearer walks into the back of the room and says to me "are you going to be alright by yourself?" I respond "yes" as I'm walking toward her at the back of the room. Knowing that the person wearing the crown is not at fault for Gnu's delay, I do my best to temper my anger. "Are you aware that Gnu can't leave to go home until she gets a few signatures and faxes a document," I ask the crown wearer. The facial expression I got from the crown wearer tells me all that I need to know as she is not aware. I continue, "it's getting to be very frustrating to sit in the back of this room and watch people take advantage of my partner. This room is like a dumping ground for misbehaving scholars and it is negatively impacting academics. Are you aware that we have not had a group session for our scholars going back to fall break? Are you aware that no one ever comes into this room to check on how we are doing or ask us if we need any assistance." I decided to stop and wait for a response. "Well, both of you are doing a real good job controlling your classroom so that may be one of the reasons you don't see anyone." That is not what I wanted to hear. If doing a real good job is why our classroom is treated as a dumping ground for disruptive scholars from general education classrooms then maybe we need to stop being so good at what we do is what I'm thinking. The crown wear excuses herself saying she has to head back to the office and I decided not to say, "you do realize that I am not a licensed teacher."
A short time later Gnu returns to the classroom and she looks exhausted. "Did you get all of your signatures," I ask. "No," she responds, "I can't find three of the teachers." "Why don't you sit down and rest and I'll go look for the teachers," I say. She agrees and I'm off in search of three signatures that must be so damn important that someone would detain a sick teacher from departing the school until she gets them. I catch a break and find two of the teachers quickly. Unfortunately, number three is not visible so I head to our main office to ask our administrative czar if this teacher could be paged. "Sorry, I don't have the authority to page someone," is the response I get. I don't say anything but think to myself, you certainly don't have any trouble overhead paging me when a scholar in a general education classroom is tearing up the room and you need my help. I finally get the last signature and return to the classroom. I hand the document to Gnu and say fax this and go home. About thirty five minutes later I receive a text message, "made it home safely and I'm going to bed."
Friday, February 5th
It's 8:30am when she walks into the classroom. I take one look at her and say, "why are you here?" "I have all the material that you will need for the day. Let's go over it, then I'm going home," she says to me. As we are reviewing the material the crown wearer from Thursday, who is not wearing the crown today as the Big B is in the building, walks into the classroom. "Miss Gnu, your class is scheduled for mandatory testing today," she says. Gnu's facial expression indicates that we just reached the subterranean level. The test that the third and fourth grade scholars have to take has a lot riding on it. If they do poorly, their scores will negatively impact Gnu's performance appraisal, which then negatively impacts her ability to get a salary increase, and in extreme circumstances it could cost Gnu her job. So what do you think she does, trust someone else to sit with her scholars and take the test or stay and sit with them herself. I'm pretty sure you figured it out.
Gnu is gone for the day and I'm alone with four of our scholars in the classroom. It's just a little after 2:00pm and we are in our reading block. As I'm reading to them I notice that our classroom door open up but I can't see anyone. As I looking toward the back of the classroom a body appears from behind the large cabinet near the classroom door. "My teacher said this boy is being bad and I'm supposed to bring him to your room," the little scholar says to me. Before I can say anything this little scholar says to me, "opps, he just ran away," and she is in pursuit. About three minutes later the door opens again and in walks this little male scholar. When I see him, it is not the scholar I was expecting so I say to him, "why are you in my classroom?" "I was being bad and my teacher told me I had to come over here." A couple minutes later the classroom door opens again and it's an adult. "I believe this scholar is supposed to be in your classroom," the adult says to me. "Who is it?" I ask. When I'm told the scholar's name I say, "he's with me."
"You cannot be in this classroom alone as you are not a licensed teacher," I was told and for the better part of two days no licensed teacher showed up. "You cannot be in this classroom alone as your are not a licensed teacher," as scholar number one is dumped into the classroom. You cannot be in this classroom alone as you are not a licensed teacher", as scholar number two is dumped into the classroom. There is talk on the national level about a teacher shortage. I wonder why that is.
First rock bottom then down to the subterranean level but somehow Gnu and I survived to continue the following week. Obviously it was not one of our better weeks but I'm confident that I can say this for the both of us, we really do work at a great school. How great? One last little story. I'm doing math with Grr! in the back of the room. It's not going very well as Grr! arrived at school a bit grumpy and doing math is not his idea of fun. We are doing addition with two digit numbers and I can tell the sum will have three digits when I place the first math problem in front of Grr! The first problem stated 95 + 73. Grr! promptly adds 5 + 3 and arrives at 8. He then looks at the 9 + 7 and says to me, "Mr. Schultz, you can't expect me to add those two big numbers as my brain is not fully developed." I looked at him and just started laughing.
That's it, I'm out. Before I leave, did I mention that I'm a real proud grandfather of a little girl born on Valentine's Day?
Recap. Wednesday, February 3rd, we hit rock bottom as we used our time out room seven times in one day.
Thursday, February 4th.
My cellphone rings and I have a text message. "I'm very sick but I hope to be there before you have to go to bus duty," is what the text message from Gnu stated. "Maybe you should stay home," I texted back. "I can't, there is to much work to do," she replies. It's approximately 8:40am when she walks into the classroom. "Why didn't you stay home?" I asked. "I haven't printed out my lesson plan and worksheets for the day so you would know what to do," she says. "Well, print them out and go home," I say. "Maybe I'll do that," is her response. I tell her that I have to get to bus duty and walk out of the room. As I'm walking down the hallway I see an overhead person but don't give it much thought. When I return from bus duty all the daily work is on her table at the front of the room so I move to the front and sit at her table. She tells me that she is going to tell the Big B that she is leaving. I let her know that the Big B will not be in today and she needed to talk to the back up that will wear the crown for the day. Gnu leaves and within a few minutes the person wearing the crown for the day walks into the classroom. "Gnu is leaving for the day," the crown wearer tells me. "Good," I say, "as she does not feel well." "You can't stay in the room by yourself as you are not a licensed teacher," the crown wearer says to me. I say, "ok," and remain silent. "We have three options for a replacement" and she tells me the names of the teachers and then asks me "which one would you like to work with?" I tell her that I don't have a preference but say to her, "of the three, which one do you think will be able to survive the day in this environment?" The crown wearer says to me, "I'll have to think about it," and walks out of the classroom.
The scholars are now arriving and as they enter the room I hear multiple times, "Mr. Schultz, where is Miss Gnu?" I explain to them what is going on and they then ask me, "who will be our teacher?" I tell them I will be for now but someone will arrive shortly so get started with your morning work. As I start to get the scholars settled down so the day can begin the overhead person walks into the room. The overhead person stands by a cabinet at the back of the room and is listening to me as I start the day. This overhead person then walks over to ShortTime's desks and asks him what he's working on. ShortTime is pretty active as his ADHD issues have a hold of him and he is just plain ignoring the overhead person. The overhead person makes a second attempt at getting ShortTime's attention but fails. A couple minutes later the overhead person leaves the room. During the time that the overhead person was in the room I don't think this person said five words to me.
The day is started and the scholars are working when Gnu finally walks back into the room. "Go home, I can do this," I say to her. "I can't yet," she responds. "I was told that I can't leave until I get teacher signatures on this document and fax it," she informs me. "Well, sit down and rest, I'll take the document and get the signatures," I say. "No, you stay here, I can do this," she tells me and walks out of the room. I sit back down at the front table and I'm doing everything that I can do hide my anger from the scholars. What kind of person, who encounters a teacher that is obviously sick, tells this teacher that she can't leave the school until she gets a few signatures and faxes a document is just plain cruel. A couple minutes later the crown wearer walks into the back of the room and says to me "are you going to be alright by yourself?" I respond "yes" as I'm walking toward her at the back of the room. Knowing that the person wearing the crown is not at fault for Gnu's delay, I do my best to temper my anger. "Are you aware that Gnu can't leave to go home until she gets a few signatures and faxes a document," I ask the crown wearer. The facial expression I got from the crown wearer tells me all that I need to know as she is not aware. I continue, "it's getting to be very frustrating to sit in the back of this room and watch people take advantage of my partner. This room is like a dumping ground for misbehaving scholars and it is negatively impacting academics. Are you aware that we have not had a group session for our scholars going back to fall break? Are you aware that no one ever comes into this room to check on how we are doing or ask us if we need any assistance." I decided to stop and wait for a response. "Well, both of you are doing a real good job controlling your classroom so that may be one of the reasons you don't see anyone." That is not what I wanted to hear. If doing a real good job is why our classroom is treated as a dumping ground for disruptive scholars from general education classrooms then maybe we need to stop being so good at what we do is what I'm thinking. The crown wear excuses herself saying she has to head back to the office and I decided not to say, "you do realize that I am not a licensed teacher."
A short time later Gnu returns to the classroom and she looks exhausted. "Did you get all of your signatures," I ask. "No," she responds, "I can't find three of the teachers." "Why don't you sit down and rest and I'll go look for the teachers," I say. She agrees and I'm off in search of three signatures that must be so damn important that someone would detain a sick teacher from departing the school until she gets them. I catch a break and find two of the teachers quickly. Unfortunately, number three is not visible so I head to our main office to ask our administrative czar if this teacher could be paged. "Sorry, I don't have the authority to page someone," is the response I get. I don't say anything but think to myself, you certainly don't have any trouble overhead paging me when a scholar in a general education classroom is tearing up the room and you need my help. I finally get the last signature and return to the classroom. I hand the document to Gnu and say fax this and go home. About thirty five minutes later I receive a text message, "made it home safely and I'm going to bed."
Friday, February 5th
It's 8:30am when she walks into the classroom. I take one look at her and say, "why are you here?" "I have all the material that you will need for the day. Let's go over it, then I'm going home," she says to me. As we are reviewing the material the crown wearer from Thursday, who is not wearing the crown today as the Big B is in the building, walks into the classroom. "Miss Gnu, your class is scheduled for mandatory testing today," she says. Gnu's facial expression indicates that we just reached the subterranean level. The test that the third and fourth grade scholars have to take has a lot riding on it. If they do poorly, their scores will negatively impact Gnu's performance appraisal, which then negatively impacts her ability to get a salary increase, and in extreme circumstances it could cost Gnu her job. So what do you think she does, trust someone else to sit with her scholars and take the test or stay and sit with them herself. I'm pretty sure you figured it out.
Gnu is gone for the day and I'm alone with four of our scholars in the classroom. It's just a little after 2:00pm and we are in our reading block. As I'm reading to them I notice that our classroom door open up but I can't see anyone. As I looking toward the back of the classroom a body appears from behind the large cabinet near the classroom door. "My teacher said this boy is being bad and I'm supposed to bring him to your room," the little scholar says to me. Before I can say anything this little scholar says to me, "opps, he just ran away," and she is in pursuit. About three minutes later the door opens again and in walks this little male scholar. When I see him, it is not the scholar I was expecting so I say to him, "why are you in my classroom?" "I was being bad and my teacher told me I had to come over here." A couple minutes later the classroom door opens again and it's an adult. "I believe this scholar is supposed to be in your classroom," the adult says to me. "Who is it?" I ask. When I'm told the scholar's name I say, "he's with me."
"You cannot be in this classroom alone as you are not a licensed teacher," I was told and for the better part of two days no licensed teacher showed up. "You cannot be in this classroom alone as your are not a licensed teacher," as scholar number one is dumped into the classroom. You cannot be in this classroom alone as you are not a licensed teacher", as scholar number two is dumped into the classroom. There is talk on the national level about a teacher shortage. I wonder why that is.
First rock bottom then down to the subterranean level but somehow Gnu and I survived to continue the following week. Obviously it was not one of our better weeks but I'm confident that I can say this for the both of us, we really do work at a great school. How great? One last little story. I'm doing math with Grr! in the back of the room. It's not going very well as Grr! arrived at school a bit grumpy and doing math is not his idea of fun. We are doing addition with two digit numbers and I can tell the sum will have three digits when I place the first math problem in front of Grr! The first problem stated 95 + 73. Grr! promptly adds 5 + 3 and arrives at 8. He then looks at the 9 + 7 and says to me, "Mr. Schultz, you can't expect me to add those two big numbers as my brain is not fully developed." I looked at him and just started laughing.
That's it, I'm out. Before I leave, did I mention that I'm a real proud grandfather of a little girl born on Valentine's Day?
Sunday, February 7, 2016
We Hit Rock Bottom
On Wednesday February 3, 2016 we bottomed out.
MiniJ has been grumpy for a couple days now. I'm not sure what is going on but his anger or maybe his frustration has been growing. It's early in the morning and he's off task when Gnu says to him, "you need to get started on your morning work." "I'm not doing any morning work," he says in a bit of a defiant voice. "You need to get started on your morning work. If all you are going to do is disrupt the other scholars then get out of my classroom. You can go sit in the corridor outside our classroom door," Gnu responds. MiniJ is now standing up and kicks his chair and then his desk and in his best tough guy strut starts walking across the room. It's at this point that I wish I could take a video and share it but that will not happen. At best, I'll give you a description of the walk. As he walks, his shoulders are rocking back and forth, at first his hands are in close to his body, fists clenched, but as he continues, his hands go up and he begins using his best tough guy hand gestures. Unfortunately, mister tough guy uttered and obscenity as he walked past Gnu. "That's it, you've been disrespectful to me all week, get yourself into the time out room and you can stay there until I let you out," Gnu says to him. In less then 30 seconds he's in time out, the door is closed, and Gnu pushes on the button that engages the 1200 pounds of pressure magnet that holds the door closed. I roll my chair over to the time out room, suggest to Gnu that we switch places so she can start the academic day and now I get to hold the button.
As a reminder, overhead person speaking, "his (Prophet's) behavior has shown improvement so he'll be assigned to you classroom full time." The mentor that is assigned to this scholar speaking, "you need to quit walking around the classroom and bothering the other scholars. Sit at you desk and get to work." The scholar ignores the mentor so the request is repeated, "you need to get to your desk and start your work." The scholar's response, "I'm not doing any work so shut up B-word." "That is not how you can talk to me so you need to go into the time out room for five minutes and get yourself settled down", says the mentor. As the mentor approaches the scholar he puts up a fist and makes an attempt to hit the mentor but the mentor is took close to the scholar. In a matter of seconds the scholar, who has shown such an improvement in his behavior, is in the time out room for five minutes.
It's now around 11:25am and ShortTime's ADHD (attention deficit, hyperactivity disorder) is kicking into full gear. He has his hoodie and backpack on and insists that he is going to lunch prior to his leaving for home at 12:00 noon. Unfortunately, his telling time skills malfunctioned as he doesn't leave for lunch until 11:45am. Gnu asks him to take off the backpack and hoodie and sit down as it is not lunch time. He ignores the first request. He ignores the second request as his ODD (oppositional defiant disorder) is kicking in. After a third request Gnu's patients it at an end. "Remove you backpack and hoodie and get to work or you can spend the rest of your morning in the time out room." Still defiant so Gnu directs him, without incident, to the time out room with me following. When she releases him in the time out room and starts to back out of the room he moves quickly directly at her. I react, step in front of Gnu and he backs up. When ShortTimes's lunch period nears I open the door to the time out room and he calmly walks toward classroom door. As he exits the classroom he slams the door so hard that I'm surprised the glass didn't break. Because ShortTime is in a special education classroom an adult (that would be me) has to sit with him when he eats so I follow him to the cafeteria. With his food tray in his hand he moves to his assigned table and sits down. I also sit at the same table. As I sit down he says to me," I grabbed an extra vegetable tray and some hummus would you like to eat it?" I agree and ShortTime's day ends peacefully and I get to eat a snack.
It's 12:05pm, overhead person speaking, "his behavior has shown improvement so he'll be assigned to your classroom fulltime." When I walk into the classroom after taking ShortTime to lunch the mentor is sitting outside the time out room with her hand on the button for the magnet. The scholar is again in the time out room for knocking books on the floor and inappropriate language and all of this happened again because he is not going to do what he it told to do.
It's now 12:45pm and recess and lunch are over. Overhead person speaking, "his behavior has shown improvement so he'll be assigned to your classroom full time." Gnu returns to the classroom first and she has the scholar by the arm. I recognize what is happening and walk over to the time out room and open the door. Gnu moves him into the time out room and as she is backing out I step into the room as a precaution. Gnu speaking to me, "after recess he refused to come back into the school. He just kept running around our playground avoiding any adult until he was finally cornered and during lunch, for no reason at all, he hit MiniJ."
It's now around 2:05pm and it's a challenge to get the scholars focused on academics. I'm not sure what happened because I was working with Grr! at the back table but MiniJ left his seat and crawled under Gnu's desk at the front of the classroom. When I get Gnu's attention and point to MiniJ she responds, "he's fine right there. The room is too noisy and he is seeking a quiet, safe place to get away from everything." MiniJ has done this before so I refocus on academics with Grr!. Overhead person speaking, "his behavior has improved so he'll be assigned to your classroom fulltime." The scholar sees MiniJ under Gnu's desk and gets down on his hands and knees to look at MiniJ. Gnu tells him to move away from MiniJ. The scholar, rather than moving away, decides to poke MiniJ with the pointed end of a pencil. Within another thirty seconds the scholar is in the time out room where he will stay until his departure time at 2:30pm.
It's 2:30pm and I open the door to the quiet room. The scholar leaves with Gnu and the mentor and is heading to the bus that will take him home. Overhead person speaking, "his behavior has improved so he'll be assigned to your classroom full time." It's approximately 2:40pm and Gnu returns with the scholar with the assistance of another classroom teacher and I open the door to the time out room. Gnu speaking, "he got on the bus peacefully but as soon as the bus driver closed the door he erupted so the bus driver opened the door and said to me 'remove him from the bus as I'm not dealing with this again,' so he will stay with us in the time out room until his parental unit can come and get him." It's approximately 3:30pm and the scholar's parental unit has arrived so I open the door to the time out room and let him out and he departs for the day.
It's around 4:00pm and the scholars have left for the day. I'm straightening out the classroom as the day is over and Gnu has not returned from bus duty yet. When she walks into the classroom she looks completely drained and appears to have aged a number of years. "We can't continue to have days like this," she says to me. "I was hit in the mouth today, by accident, but this can't continue." I don't have a response. I don't even default to the standard, tomorrow will be a better day. I just remain silent.
I've been in this classroom for just over three and a half school years. Never, and I repeat never, have I had to use the time out room seven times in one day. Never, and I repeat never, have I had to assist with placing the same scholar in the time out room four times in one day. Overhead person speaking.......
It's now Thursday morning and I haven't even left for school when my phone beeps and there is a text message. "I'm very sick, I'm way behind schedule, hopefully I can arrive before you go to bus duty." We hit rock bottom on Wednesday but as you just read, Thursday isn't starting well and I'll give you a hint, we are moving toward a subterranean level. Adding Thursday's events to what I just wrote about will make this a pretty lengthy blog so under the advisement of my part time editor, part time consultant and full time spouse, I'm going to stop now.
It's Super Bowl Sunday. Do I have a preferred favorite? Yes! It's 0-2 and 9-1. Beyond these two number combinations, I really don't care who wins. Hmmm! I wonder if I have to explain those two number combinations to as far west as Utah? I'm out. No, I'm not as I forgot something. For the first time since mid October of last year we have a behavior therapist. I'll refer to this person as PhD(?)Pete. Now I'll wait and see if PhD(?)Sparty can figure that out. Now I'm out for sure. Bye!
MiniJ has been grumpy for a couple days now. I'm not sure what is going on but his anger or maybe his frustration has been growing. It's early in the morning and he's off task when Gnu says to him, "you need to get started on your morning work." "I'm not doing any morning work," he says in a bit of a defiant voice. "You need to get started on your morning work. If all you are going to do is disrupt the other scholars then get out of my classroom. You can go sit in the corridor outside our classroom door," Gnu responds. MiniJ is now standing up and kicks his chair and then his desk and in his best tough guy strut starts walking across the room. It's at this point that I wish I could take a video and share it but that will not happen. At best, I'll give you a description of the walk. As he walks, his shoulders are rocking back and forth, at first his hands are in close to his body, fists clenched, but as he continues, his hands go up and he begins using his best tough guy hand gestures. Unfortunately, mister tough guy uttered and obscenity as he walked past Gnu. "That's it, you've been disrespectful to me all week, get yourself into the time out room and you can stay there until I let you out," Gnu says to him. In less then 30 seconds he's in time out, the door is closed, and Gnu pushes on the button that engages the 1200 pounds of pressure magnet that holds the door closed. I roll my chair over to the time out room, suggest to Gnu that we switch places so she can start the academic day and now I get to hold the button.
As a reminder, overhead person speaking, "his (Prophet's) behavior has shown improvement so he'll be assigned to you classroom full time." The mentor that is assigned to this scholar speaking, "you need to quit walking around the classroom and bothering the other scholars. Sit at you desk and get to work." The scholar ignores the mentor so the request is repeated, "you need to get to your desk and start your work." The scholar's response, "I'm not doing any work so shut up B-word." "That is not how you can talk to me so you need to go into the time out room for five minutes and get yourself settled down", says the mentor. As the mentor approaches the scholar he puts up a fist and makes an attempt to hit the mentor but the mentor is took close to the scholar. In a matter of seconds the scholar, who has shown such an improvement in his behavior, is in the time out room for five minutes.
It's now around 11:25am and ShortTime's ADHD (attention deficit, hyperactivity disorder) is kicking into full gear. He has his hoodie and backpack on and insists that he is going to lunch prior to his leaving for home at 12:00 noon. Unfortunately, his telling time skills malfunctioned as he doesn't leave for lunch until 11:45am. Gnu asks him to take off the backpack and hoodie and sit down as it is not lunch time. He ignores the first request. He ignores the second request as his ODD (oppositional defiant disorder) is kicking in. After a third request Gnu's patients it at an end. "Remove you backpack and hoodie and get to work or you can spend the rest of your morning in the time out room." Still defiant so Gnu directs him, without incident, to the time out room with me following. When she releases him in the time out room and starts to back out of the room he moves quickly directly at her. I react, step in front of Gnu and he backs up. When ShortTimes's lunch period nears I open the door to the time out room and he calmly walks toward classroom door. As he exits the classroom he slams the door so hard that I'm surprised the glass didn't break. Because ShortTime is in a special education classroom an adult (that would be me) has to sit with him when he eats so I follow him to the cafeteria. With his food tray in his hand he moves to his assigned table and sits down. I also sit at the same table. As I sit down he says to me," I grabbed an extra vegetable tray and some hummus would you like to eat it?" I agree and ShortTime's day ends peacefully and I get to eat a snack.
It's 12:05pm, overhead person speaking, "his behavior has shown improvement so he'll be assigned to your classroom fulltime." When I walk into the classroom after taking ShortTime to lunch the mentor is sitting outside the time out room with her hand on the button for the magnet. The scholar is again in the time out room for knocking books on the floor and inappropriate language and all of this happened again because he is not going to do what he it told to do.
It's now 12:45pm and recess and lunch are over. Overhead person speaking, "his behavior has shown improvement so he'll be assigned to your classroom full time." Gnu returns to the classroom first and she has the scholar by the arm. I recognize what is happening and walk over to the time out room and open the door. Gnu moves him into the time out room and as she is backing out I step into the room as a precaution. Gnu speaking to me, "after recess he refused to come back into the school. He just kept running around our playground avoiding any adult until he was finally cornered and during lunch, for no reason at all, he hit MiniJ."
It's now around 2:05pm and it's a challenge to get the scholars focused on academics. I'm not sure what happened because I was working with Grr! at the back table but MiniJ left his seat and crawled under Gnu's desk at the front of the classroom. When I get Gnu's attention and point to MiniJ she responds, "he's fine right there. The room is too noisy and he is seeking a quiet, safe place to get away from everything." MiniJ has done this before so I refocus on academics with Grr!. Overhead person speaking, "his behavior has improved so he'll be assigned to your classroom fulltime." The scholar sees MiniJ under Gnu's desk and gets down on his hands and knees to look at MiniJ. Gnu tells him to move away from MiniJ. The scholar, rather than moving away, decides to poke MiniJ with the pointed end of a pencil. Within another thirty seconds the scholar is in the time out room where he will stay until his departure time at 2:30pm.
It's 2:30pm and I open the door to the quiet room. The scholar leaves with Gnu and the mentor and is heading to the bus that will take him home. Overhead person speaking, "his behavior has improved so he'll be assigned to your classroom full time." It's approximately 2:40pm and Gnu returns with the scholar with the assistance of another classroom teacher and I open the door to the time out room. Gnu speaking, "he got on the bus peacefully but as soon as the bus driver closed the door he erupted so the bus driver opened the door and said to me 'remove him from the bus as I'm not dealing with this again,' so he will stay with us in the time out room until his parental unit can come and get him." It's approximately 3:30pm and the scholar's parental unit has arrived so I open the door to the time out room and let him out and he departs for the day.
It's around 4:00pm and the scholars have left for the day. I'm straightening out the classroom as the day is over and Gnu has not returned from bus duty yet. When she walks into the classroom she looks completely drained and appears to have aged a number of years. "We can't continue to have days like this," she says to me. "I was hit in the mouth today, by accident, but this can't continue." I don't have a response. I don't even default to the standard, tomorrow will be a better day. I just remain silent.
I've been in this classroom for just over three and a half school years. Never, and I repeat never, have I had to use the time out room seven times in one day. Never, and I repeat never, have I had to assist with placing the same scholar in the time out room four times in one day. Overhead person speaking.......
It's now Thursday morning and I haven't even left for school when my phone beeps and there is a text message. "I'm very sick, I'm way behind schedule, hopefully I can arrive before you go to bus duty." We hit rock bottom on Wednesday but as you just read, Thursday isn't starting well and I'll give you a hint, we are moving toward a subterranean level. Adding Thursday's events to what I just wrote about will make this a pretty lengthy blog so under the advisement of my part time editor, part time consultant and full time spouse, I'm going to stop now.
It's Super Bowl Sunday. Do I have a preferred favorite? Yes! It's 0-2 and 9-1. Beyond these two number combinations, I really don't care who wins. Hmmm! I wonder if I have to explain those two number combinations to as far west as Utah? I'm out. No, I'm not as I forgot something. For the first time since mid October of last year we have a behavior therapist. I'll refer to this person as PhD(?)Pete. Now I'll wait and see if PhD(?)Sparty can figure that out. Now I'm out for sure. Bye!
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