Just a quick comment before I get started. Dear Microsoft, every time you do a system update you screw up every thing. Why do you do that because it thoroughly ticks off your customers? I've been writing this blog for over two years and because of MicroJerk's latest update the blog site I use says I'm using a browser that is unsupported and may result in unexpected behavior. The blog site wants me to choose a new browser and I have no idea what to do. I guess I'll just move on and see what happens.
At 4:00pm on Friday, Gnu and I agreed on one thing, this may have been our worst week of the year. Three times during the week we had to put a scholar in our time out room. S&T was placed in our time out room twice. Both were due to his parental unit failing to give him his medication. Knapper also paid a visit to the time out room. This was his second visit in two weeks. Again, like S&T, it was a medication issue. As I'm quickly approaching the end of my fourth year in this classroom it continues to amaze me when parental units fail to do their job. They know what their scholar is like at home when they are off their medication so why would they send them to school without their medication and ruin the day for an entire classroom.
The search for a replacement for the BigB continues. I was informed that the committee that was put together to interview candidates for the job has done their job and chose a candidate. There person they selected needs school board approval and that should happen in the middle of next week. I can assure you that when the school board minutes are posted on line next Thursday there will be numerous people logging in to see who the next BigB will be. In addition to the BigB departing, three classroom teachers are leaving via retirement. That has caused a domino effect as teachers jockey for the open positions. The school is also losing our library assistant and this loss has a little sting to it. Our library assistant is the person who said to me almost four years ago, "Mr. Schultz, we have the perfect job for you." We've become pretty good friends over the past four years so I'm going to miss her as she always found me a quiet spot in the library where I could go on the days when I needed to get away from the scholars and de-escalate. Oreo has also left the school. This is another big loss as she spent a lot of time with our scholars in our group settings. Oreo's departing is a bit of a concern as she essentially disappeared. I tried to text her a couple times but didn't get a response. Gnu also tried texting her several times and only got one response in which she said she'd be back at school soon. That never happened. There may also be one more change in the workings. Gnu told me that the BigB offered her a job that sounds like it's an overhead position. Gnu spoke to me about this unexpected opportunity one day after school. She explained to me what she would be doing but I had trouble following it. As she put it, "I'll still have this room as a classroom but I will be out of the classroom working with other students." Although I had trouble following what she was telling me, the part I did understand is that she may not need an instructional assistant in her classroom. Knowing that, the last eleven days of school are going to be interesting as I wait to see what Gnu will be doing.
On to the academic stuff. Despite our bad week Gnu continued reading Peter Pan to the scholars. When she selected this book a couple weeks ago I was a bit uncertain if the scholars would enjoy it. It will easily be the longest book she's read to the scholars and pictures are scarce. Once Gnu started reading the story I was quite surprised at how much the scholars were enjoying the book. I also like the way Gnu is reading the book. There are been multiple times that she would just stop reading and so to the scholars, "I can't go on, something bad is about to happen to Peter or Wendy or one of the lost boys," and close her book. The scholars, almost in unison would say, "Miss Gnu, you can't stop now, keeping reading." After stalling around for a minute or so, she'd continue and the room fell silent. I'm sure you are aware that our best reader in the classroom is a marginal reader at best and we have two scholars who can barely read but I can tell you this. They may not be the best readers but they are the best listeners and they are thoroughly enjoying Peter Pan.
One last Peter Pan story and I'm going to move on as I have a cold and I'm not feeling well. Early in the book, when Peter was taking Wendy and her brothers to Neverland, Tinker Bell was with them. As Gnu was reading the story, it became quite apparent that Tinker Bell did not like Wendy. During the flight to Neverland, Peter and Wendy's two brothers, John and Michael, got blown off course. That left Wendy with Tinker Bell. As they approached Neverland, Tinker Bell called to one of the lost boys, Tootles, and told him to shoot the Wendy-bird which he promptly did with his bow and arrow. When this happened, ShortTime shouted out, "Tinker Bell has some real issues and needs some therapy." ShortTime's comment was quite humorous when you consider that just about every scholar in the classroom talks to a therapist.
We went on the first of our three field trips. It was to a professional baseball game and we got to see the AAA affiliate of the Pittsburg Pirates play the Durham Bulls. For those as far west a Utah we are talking major league baseball here. With the exception of ShortTime, all of the scholars attended the game. We arrived at the stadium under cloudy skies and just as the game started, the rain started. After about two innings, the lead adult of our field trip made the rounds to all of the teachers to announce that we were leaving the game in about an hour as it was too cold and wet. At first the scholars were disappointed with the news but by the time our bus arrive they were wet, cold and muddy so they were glad to get on the bus.
We have two field trips left, one is called Field Day and we will be walking, as a school, to a very nice park a few blocks from the school. The third, and final field trip, will be to the zoo. I really like going to the zoo so hopefully the weather will cooperate.
A regular reader of this blog is going on vacation soon. She is heading to Greece and as she told me in an email message, "I'm scared and excited." To my good friend as far west as Utah, have a safe trip and don't forget to send pictures when you get chance. That's enough. As I said earlier, I don't feel well so I'm finished. Thanks again for following along.
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