Gnu and I are now eighteen days into the school year and that leaves one hundred and sixty-two days to go. I'm checking my brain archives to see if I can recall ever starting the count down to the end of the school year after only eighteen days. There is a reason for the count down to begin but I'll save it until later.
I have one more last school year versus this school year comparison for you. Last school year, when the scholars walked through the cafeteria for breakfast, they had a choice of either a hot entre or a cold entre. They also had a fruit available, EM always remembered to bring me a banana from the cafeteria, a juice, and a milk choice. If my memory is correct, there were four different milk choices. This school year, after eighteen days, our scholars have yet to be served a hot entre for breakfast. In fact, after eighteen days, they have not even had the chance to eat a bowl of cereal. So what do they serve for breakfast this year. Below is the breakfast menu from last week. Keep in mind, this breakfast is for all of the scholars in the building, high school down to first grade.
Monday - Pop Tart (32g Sugar) and a Low Fat Chocolate Milk (18g Sugar)
Tuesday - Pop Tart and a Low Fat Chocolate Milk.
Wednesday - Chocolate with Chocolate Chips Muffin (22g Sugar), Cheese Stick, Low Fat Chocolate Milk.
Thursday - Pop Tart, Apple Sauce, Low Fat Chocolate Milk
Friday - Nutrition Bar (Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie), Juice (Orange, Apple, Grape), Low Fat Chocolate Milk.
Just in case you didn't do the math, the Pop Tart and Low Fat Milk total 50g Sugar. I believe the daily allowance for sugar for the scholars in our classroom is 12g.
In last weeks blog post I introduced Merlot, behavior specialist, and talked about the game plan that she put together for Cube to keep him on task so that he is not constantly drawing dinosaurs on any piece of paper he can find. What she created was pretty simple but is an excellent visual aid for Cube to look at to see if he will earn recess time and free time at the end of the day. And, as you all know, recess and free time is like striking gold for these scholars. Merlot started with a standard 8x11 piece of copy paper and placed our academic schedule on it. She then laminated the paper to make it difficult to tear into pieces. After each lesson period for the day she glued a piece Velcro next to it. She then created one inch square check marks that were also laminated and then glued Velcro on the back of the check mark. These check marks were then placed on the back of the classroom schedule and held in place with Velcro. Every time Cube successfully completed an assignment he was allowed to take a check mark from the back of the paper and place it next to the assignment he completed. If the assignment was not completed, no check mark and no recess. Although not the perfect solution, this simple check mark system Merlot created has Cube completing more assignments on time now than at any earlier time in the school year.
Speaking of recess, let me tell you how Cube and Thumb spend their recess time. It's simple, they mock each other, taunt each other, bait each other, until one of them gets mad. The first one that gets mad starts chasing the other one around the playground area until an adult puts a stop to this nonsense. When tired of chasing each other around the playground area, one, or both of them, will start in with the older scholars that are outside at recess. So far, the older scholars have chosen to just walk away from them. Unfortunately, once they start walking away their antagonist started to follow them. To avoid getting in trouble the older scholar will start to run. Naturally, our scholar started to run after them. Eventually, the older scholar will run up to an adult and ask the adult to please tell Cube or Thumb to stop bothering them.
This recess cycle is almost a daily routine and the teachers have decided to stay idle to see what actually will happen the next time Cube or Thumb start their antagonizing game. Unfortunately, the teachers did not tell me that they shifted to a stay idle mode. It was at recess on Friday that Thumb started in on one of the older girls and I started moving towards them. So you know, this older girl is one of the more physically aggressive students that is outside at recess. As I approached Thumb, he started pushing this girl and I quickly step in between them and pointed Thumb in another direct. While doing so, I hear Gnu say, "Schultz, I've got this. Let Thumb go." I looked over at Gnu and thought to myself, you've got this, you didn't even bother to stand up. It was then that I realized what was going on and stepped away and just observed. Sure enough, Thumb was back at his antagonizing game, the adults chose to do nothing and the girl responded to the taunt by pushing Thumb away from her. Thumb's immediately reaction, "she pushed me," and ran toward Gnu crying. Gnu looked down at Thumb and said, "if you don't want to get pushed, then stay away from her." In less that sixty seconds, Thumb was again moving toward his target. Fortunately for us, recess was over and it was time to go back inside.
The staying idle game is interesting but makes me a little nervous as there are scholars outside during our recess that are a lot bigger than our scholars. While I know it's necessary for Cube or Thumb to know that the consequences for their antagonizing behavior may be to get hit, at some point they need to see that their actions may get a reaction that they didn't expect. So, the next time we are out at recess, I'll stay idle to see what happens but at the same time, I won't be very far away.
Oppositional Defiant Order (ODD) story number one. Cube is at his desk doing his morning work. Merlot is nearby observing. Cube shouts out, "this is too hard, I don't know what to do, will somebody help me." Merlot responds, "if you want some help you need to raise your hand and ask politely for help." "It's too hard," Cube responds. "What's too hard," Merlot replies. "It's too hard to raise my hand," Cube yells. "If you don't raise your hand and ask politely you will not get any help," Merlot tells him. Getting angry, Cube yells, "can't you see, it's too hard to raise my hand." Merlot then sets the hook, "if you don't raise you hand and ask politely for help you will not get you work done. If you don't get your work done you don't get your check mark. If you don't get a check mark, you don't go outside for recess." Miracle of miracles, Cube's hand is suddenly rid of it's affliction, it goes up in the air, and he politely asks Merlot for help.
Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) story number two. DQ is at her desk doing her morning work when she turns to me and says, "how do you spell flower?" I pick up my Post It note pad and write down the word flower and try to hand her the note. "I said to spell the word flower, I didn't tell you to write the word down. "Now," getting quite animated she says, "spell the word flower." I take the Post It note, reach toward her and stick it where she can see it. DQ then turns to me, raises her hands up into the air like a cat baring its claws and then hisses at me like an cat that is trapped and angry. She got no reaction from me as I stood up and walked away from her to help someone else. Hopefully, during the school year, DQ will realize that her hissing cat routine, which I've seen several times, will get her nothing. Nothing from me and most definitely nothing from Gnu.
Gnu mentioned to me one day last week that my name came up when talking about the high school scholars in our building. Apparently, the powers that be think I'd be an excellent person to fill the open instructional assistant position that supports the high school teacher. I told Gnu that the high school teacher brought the matter up with me earlier and that I told the high school teacher that I be glad to try and help. I also told the high school teacher that I'm here for one reason and one reason only and it is to work with Gnu. When I finished talking Gnu said something to me that took me by surprise. Paraphrasing, "if you want to leave and work with the high school kids or if you just want to leave I'm okay with you leaving. I talked you into returning to work with me and all I've done is put you in this disaster of a classroom." Caught off guard, I hesitated and then said this, "I'm here to work with you. We are both very frustrated working with this group of scholars but I'm not going anywhere. We are a team and we'll work it out just like we did all of those previous years, end of conversation."
There you have it. Eighteen days into the school year and these five scholars, four with an ODD label, are pushing us to our limits. It's frustrating, challenging and it's about to get worse. We are supposed to get a new scholar on Monday. This new scholar is presently only going to school for one hour a day and for that one hour this scholar is confined to a seclusion room because of his behavior. This scholars arrives on Monday and we have a seclusion room but it doesn't have a door. It's about to get interesting. With that said, I'm out of here.
Sunday, August 27, 2017
Sunday, August 20, 2017
The Former Scholars
When it comes to our former scholars I'm not sure where to begin because information on most of them is scarce. What I know for sure is that two of them are off to a rough start and I'm particularly irritated that this is happening. A descriptive term on how Gnu feels about these two scholars will be left out because of inappropriate language. Here is the abridged version of an update on our former scholars.
EM - 6th grade and I'm not sure if he is even at our old school.
BigHouse - would have been in the 5th grade but is now in another school district.
Uh-Uh-Uh - 5th grade and not off to a very good start.
MiniJ - 5th grade and I've heard nothing about him. That has to be good news.
Knapper - 5th grade and not off to a very good start.
Grr! - 4th grade and I've heard nothing about him. That has to be good news.
S&T - 4th grade and I've heard nothing about him. That has to be good news.
Tourette - 4th grade. I was told via a text message that Tourette is still Tourette but he is going to a GenEd classroom for one hour a day. That is partially good news.
Huey - 3rd grade. Gnu was sent a text video showing Huey at his desk. In the video Huey stated, "I miss you." Gnu was near tears when she watched the video.
I believe it was either the sixth or seventh day of the school year for our old scholars when I heard about Uh-Uh-Uh and Knapper erupting while they were sitting in a GenEd classroom. Uh-Uh-Uh's incident was throwing a book when she got angry. I scanned my brain archives to recall previous book throwing incidents and I think there were only two in the three years that Gnu and I worked with Uh-Uh-Uh. So, I wish I could have been a fly on the wall to see why this eruption occurred so early in the school year.
While Gnu and I would have considered Uh-Uh-Uh's book throwing incident as minor, what Knapper did was major. Again, I wish I could have seen Knapper's eruption from my fly position in the corner of the room because when all was said and done, Knapper was removed from the school and taken to an inpatient behavioral health unit. A second scan of my brain archives recalled either two or three other incidents of Knapper being transported to a behavioral health unit. Here is the part that makes me nervous about Knapper's behavior, something changed. Knapper's normal anger eruption progression was very consistent, head down on his desk and totally non-communicative, then slowly tearing up pieces of paper that were either on his desk or in his desk, then randomly taking pencils and markers from his desk and tossing them around the classroom, then standing up and moving around the classroom rearranging the furniture. Knapper's anger eruption happened in this progression every time until this school year. So what caused him to change his progression and get so volatile so quickly? I have no idea and it troubles me because I know that Knapper is like a bull when he is angry.
When I first found out about Uh-Uh-Uh and Knapper I was sitting in my favorite indoor reading chair. As I was reading the message about these two scholars my part time editor, part time consultant, and full time spouse was sitting near me and recognized that something was wrong. "What's wrong," she said to me and I told her what I just read in a somewhat irritated voice. "You need to let it go, you are not at that school now, you are not their instructional assistant, and there is nothing you can do about it." I knew she was right but I also know this. Something caused these two scholars to erupt and I believe that it was caused by the incompetence of adults who failed to properly support these two scholars as they transitioned from an emotional handicapped classroom to a general education classroom.
Although the blog is titled My View From the Back Of the Room, this school year I'm actually sitting on the side of the room. There is a reason for this and I'll explain it. The classroom Gnu and I occupy has a connecting door that leads directly into the classroom that is right next to us. During the first week of school a scholar in the adjoining classroom would elope (a hoity toity word for run) from classroom with a fair amount of regularity. The teacher, instructional assistant, and behavior specialist, who occupy this room quickly adjusted to stop the eloping from the classroom. Unfortunately, the eloping scholar found an alternate route to elope and that was by running through our classroom. The first time the eloper ran through our classroom I didn't even realize what just happened. Now that I'm aware of the Plan B escape route I have a view from the side of the room to block the eloper.
Here is another comparison of this year versus last year. Last year our school police drove a pretty plain mid-sized car when responding to calls for assistance. This year our school police are driving big ass SUV's when called for assistance. Last year I never saw a K-9 police unit. This year I believe I've seen to K-9 police units. Last year you could see boarded up houses across from the school. This year you look across the street from the school and see houses valued at nearly $750k. So why the K-9 unit this year? Apparently there is a drug use problem.
Ok, remember, I don't make this stuff up. It's spelling test Friday and DQ walks over to where I have a view from the side of the room. "Mr. Schultz, can you help me study for my spelling test?" "Sure," I respond, "give me your list of spelling words." As DQ slides her list of spelling words in my direction, she starts pointing out the words that she knows she can spell correctly. As she is pointing to the words, I recognized that she is only pointing to the words with the most letters. When she finishes pointing out the words she knows I start the pre-test with the word wrench. DQ starts to spell the word, r-e-n-c and then stops. "Mr. Schultz, that is one of the words I already know how to spell, weren't you listening when I told you that?" "Oh, I'm sorry DQ, let's move on to the next word." Immediately after pronouncing the next word, DQ says to me, "I need to stretch." As DQ starts her stretching routine she eventually works her body in such a way that most of her upper body is now lying across my table. Without saying a word, I take the spelling list that is in my hands and move back from my desk about two inches. As DQ continues to stretch she says to me, "Mr. Schultz, sometimes when I'm at your desk I stretch in funny ways." At this point, her feet are off the floor and she is lying on my desk and amazingly she spells the word correctly now that she can see the spelling list that is in my hands.
For those of you with weak stomachs, BEWARE! It's lunch time. All the scholars from the first through sixth grade are in the cafeteria. This is not the best of situations because the cafeteria is too small for the number of scholars eating lunch. As I'm sitting in the middle of the scholars from my classroom I look over at the adjoining table. A scholar at this table has turned sideways in her chair and has her foot up on the chair next to her. Initially I thought this scholar was just scratching an itch on her leg. After observing a little longer I realized what she was doing. She was picking at the scabs on some old bugs bites on her leg. With the scab on the tip of her finger, she raised her finger to her mouth, and ate the scab. When this scholar looked back down at her leg, she saw a trail of blood running down her leg and promptly wiped it up with her finger and then put her finger in her mouth. Not satisfied that some blood reminded on her finger and hand, she wiped her hand across the edge of the table that she was sitting at. Seeing what just happened, I pick up my walkie-talkie and make the following announcement, "I need assistance in the cafeteria." Three people promptly arrive. I explained what just happened and the scholar was removed to a restroom to get cleaned up. At the same time the custodian began the sanitizing process to properly remove blood from the table in our cafeteria.
Two more short scholar stories and I'll call it a day. Gnu and I are joined by a behavior specialist, I'll call this person Merlot, who spends a good portion of the day in our classroom. Merlot, when reviewing our scholars IEPs, noticed that Cube was new to our school. When reviewing his IEP, Merlot also noticed that the school Cube came from wrote the following on Cube's IEP, requires one on one attention all day. Gnu is in the classroom. I'm in the classroom. Five scholars are in the classroom so what are the chances that Cube will get that one on one attention all day? None!
It's Friday afternoon. The scholars are gone and Gnu and I are in the classroom alone. "Schultz, just so you know, adults in an elementary school are in the beginning stages of evaluating a scholar for placement in our classroom." "What grade is this scholar in," I asked. "Kindergarten."
We are now two weeks and three days into the school year. Crying continues to occur multiple times a day. Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) events continue to occur multiple times a day. The number of pencils that Grab has snapped into pieces is at seven or eight. The number of reading books, Gnu's personal property, that have been destroyed is one. The number of times a work sheet has been swiped off a table or desk is numerous. The number of times a work sheet has been crumpled up and tossed across the room is numerous. The amount of academics that is being completed is small and, as you are aware, Gnu puts a huge emphasis on academics, so there a days when she is pretty frustrated.
Despite all of the doom and gloom, here is what I know for sure. Gnu will be persistent with academics and the amount that will be accomplished will increase. Merlot has already came up with an excellent plan for Cube and if I remember, I'll discuss the plan next week. And most important of all, I will continue to do anything I can do to make sure that Gnu will be successful in this classroom. Why? Because Gnu busts her butt everyday and I'll will not let her be defeated.
Thanks for continuing to follow the musings of an old guy who has a view from the side of the room. See you next week.
EM - 6th grade and I'm not sure if he is even at our old school.
BigHouse - would have been in the 5th grade but is now in another school district.
Uh-Uh-Uh - 5th grade and not off to a very good start.
MiniJ - 5th grade and I've heard nothing about him. That has to be good news.
Knapper - 5th grade and not off to a very good start.
Grr! - 4th grade and I've heard nothing about him. That has to be good news.
S&T - 4th grade and I've heard nothing about him. That has to be good news.
Tourette - 4th grade. I was told via a text message that Tourette is still Tourette but he is going to a GenEd classroom for one hour a day. That is partially good news.
Huey - 3rd grade. Gnu was sent a text video showing Huey at his desk. In the video Huey stated, "I miss you." Gnu was near tears when she watched the video.
I believe it was either the sixth or seventh day of the school year for our old scholars when I heard about Uh-Uh-Uh and Knapper erupting while they were sitting in a GenEd classroom. Uh-Uh-Uh's incident was throwing a book when she got angry. I scanned my brain archives to recall previous book throwing incidents and I think there were only two in the three years that Gnu and I worked with Uh-Uh-Uh. So, I wish I could have been a fly on the wall to see why this eruption occurred so early in the school year.
While Gnu and I would have considered Uh-Uh-Uh's book throwing incident as minor, what Knapper did was major. Again, I wish I could have seen Knapper's eruption from my fly position in the corner of the room because when all was said and done, Knapper was removed from the school and taken to an inpatient behavioral health unit. A second scan of my brain archives recalled either two or three other incidents of Knapper being transported to a behavioral health unit. Here is the part that makes me nervous about Knapper's behavior, something changed. Knapper's normal anger eruption progression was very consistent, head down on his desk and totally non-communicative, then slowly tearing up pieces of paper that were either on his desk or in his desk, then randomly taking pencils and markers from his desk and tossing them around the classroom, then standing up and moving around the classroom rearranging the furniture. Knapper's anger eruption happened in this progression every time until this school year. So what caused him to change his progression and get so volatile so quickly? I have no idea and it troubles me because I know that Knapper is like a bull when he is angry.
When I first found out about Uh-Uh-Uh and Knapper I was sitting in my favorite indoor reading chair. As I was reading the message about these two scholars my part time editor, part time consultant, and full time spouse was sitting near me and recognized that something was wrong. "What's wrong," she said to me and I told her what I just read in a somewhat irritated voice. "You need to let it go, you are not at that school now, you are not their instructional assistant, and there is nothing you can do about it." I knew she was right but I also know this. Something caused these two scholars to erupt and I believe that it was caused by the incompetence of adults who failed to properly support these two scholars as they transitioned from an emotional handicapped classroom to a general education classroom.
Although the blog is titled My View From the Back Of the Room, this school year I'm actually sitting on the side of the room. There is a reason for this and I'll explain it. The classroom Gnu and I occupy has a connecting door that leads directly into the classroom that is right next to us. During the first week of school a scholar in the adjoining classroom would elope (a hoity toity word for run) from classroom with a fair amount of regularity. The teacher, instructional assistant, and behavior specialist, who occupy this room quickly adjusted to stop the eloping from the classroom. Unfortunately, the eloping scholar found an alternate route to elope and that was by running through our classroom. The first time the eloper ran through our classroom I didn't even realize what just happened. Now that I'm aware of the Plan B escape route I have a view from the side of the room to block the eloper.
Here is another comparison of this year versus last year. Last year our school police drove a pretty plain mid-sized car when responding to calls for assistance. This year our school police are driving big ass SUV's when called for assistance. Last year I never saw a K-9 police unit. This year I believe I've seen to K-9 police units. Last year you could see boarded up houses across from the school. This year you look across the street from the school and see houses valued at nearly $750k. So why the K-9 unit this year? Apparently there is a drug use problem.
Ok, remember, I don't make this stuff up. It's spelling test Friday and DQ walks over to where I have a view from the side of the room. "Mr. Schultz, can you help me study for my spelling test?" "Sure," I respond, "give me your list of spelling words." As DQ slides her list of spelling words in my direction, she starts pointing out the words that she knows she can spell correctly. As she is pointing to the words, I recognized that she is only pointing to the words with the most letters. When she finishes pointing out the words she knows I start the pre-test with the word wrench. DQ starts to spell the word, r-e-n-c and then stops. "Mr. Schultz, that is one of the words I already know how to spell, weren't you listening when I told you that?" "Oh, I'm sorry DQ, let's move on to the next word." Immediately after pronouncing the next word, DQ says to me, "I need to stretch." As DQ starts her stretching routine she eventually works her body in such a way that most of her upper body is now lying across my table. Without saying a word, I take the spelling list that is in my hands and move back from my desk about two inches. As DQ continues to stretch she says to me, "Mr. Schultz, sometimes when I'm at your desk I stretch in funny ways." At this point, her feet are off the floor and she is lying on my desk and amazingly she spells the word correctly now that she can see the spelling list that is in my hands.
For those of you with weak stomachs, BEWARE! It's lunch time. All the scholars from the first through sixth grade are in the cafeteria. This is not the best of situations because the cafeteria is too small for the number of scholars eating lunch. As I'm sitting in the middle of the scholars from my classroom I look over at the adjoining table. A scholar at this table has turned sideways in her chair and has her foot up on the chair next to her. Initially I thought this scholar was just scratching an itch on her leg. After observing a little longer I realized what she was doing. She was picking at the scabs on some old bugs bites on her leg. With the scab on the tip of her finger, she raised her finger to her mouth, and ate the scab. When this scholar looked back down at her leg, she saw a trail of blood running down her leg and promptly wiped it up with her finger and then put her finger in her mouth. Not satisfied that some blood reminded on her finger and hand, she wiped her hand across the edge of the table that she was sitting at. Seeing what just happened, I pick up my walkie-talkie and make the following announcement, "I need assistance in the cafeteria." Three people promptly arrive. I explained what just happened and the scholar was removed to a restroom to get cleaned up. At the same time the custodian began the sanitizing process to properly remove blood from the table in our cafeteria.
Two more short scholar stories and I'll call it a day. Gnu and I are joined by a behavior specialist, I'll call this person Merlot, who spends a good portion of the day in our classroom. Merlot, when reviewing our scholars IEPs, noticed that Cube was new to our school. When reviewing his IEP, Merlot also noticed that the school Cube came from wrote the following on Cube's IEP, requires one on one attention all day. Gnu is in the classroom. I'm in the classroom. Five scholars are in the classroom so what are the chances that Cube will get that one on one attention all day? None!
It's Friday afternoon. The scholars are gone and Gnu and I are in the classroom alone. "Schultz, just so you know, adults in an elementary school are in the beginning stages of evaluating a scholar for placement in our classroom." "What grade is this scholar in," I asked. "Kindergarten."
We are now two weeks and three days into the school year. Crying continues to occur multiple times a day. Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) events continue to occur multiple times a day. The number of pencils that Grab has snapped into pieces is at seven or eight. The number of reading books, Gnu's personal property, that have been destroyed is one. The number of times a work sheet has been swiped off a table or desk is numerous. The number of times a work sheet has been crumpled up and tossed across the room is numerous. The amount of academics that is being completed is small and, as you are aware, Gnu puts a huge emphasis on academics, so there a days when she is pretty frustrated.
Despite all of the doom and gloom, here is what I know for sure. Gnu will be persistent with academics and the amount that will be accomplished will increase. Merlot has already came up with an excellent plan for Cube and if I remember, I'll discuss the plan next week. And most important of all, I will continue to do anything I can do to make sure that Gnu will be successful in this classroom. Why? Because Gnu busts her butt everyday and I'll will not let her be defeated.
Thanks for continuing to follow the musings of an old guy who has a view from the side of the room. See you next week.
Sunday, August 13, 2017
Strictly Prohibited
It's the first Friday of the school year and that means it's spelling test day. Cube is sitting right in front of me with his spelling words, his work sheet to write the words on, and a pencil. I take his spelling words list and read the first word. "Cube, spell the word hat?" There was no response. I pronounced the word a second time putting emphasis and how each letter sounds. Again, nothing. "Cube, how do you spell the word hat?" "I don't have a clue," he said to me. I leaned back in my brand new upholstered chair with wheels and thought about my next step. It's a visual so hopefully I can get this right so you can follow along. I reached behind me and grabbed my note pad from a bookcase. The paper is 8 1/2" x 11", yellow, with lines. There are ten spelling words on Cube's spelling sheet so I started to number the page. I write, skipping a line after each number, the numbers one through three and stopped. I took the note pad and turned it around so Cube can write on it. I then hand him back his list of spelling words.
Sensing that Cube will not be able to spell any of the words, I pointed to the first word, pronounced it, and told him to write the word on the note pad next to the number one. Cube picked up his pencil, a good first step, but started to draw a dinosaur on the note pad instead of writing the spelling word. The dinosaur was as big as the paper. When he finished the drawing I again told him to write the word hat on his paper next to the number one. "I'm not done drawing yet," is what I heard. For approximately ten minutes I sat and watch Cube draw an extended dinosaur family. When it appeared that he was done drawing I made a third attempt get him to write the word hat next to the number one. He looked at his list of words, I pointed to the word hat, and he wrote the word in the extreme upper left corner of the paper in very small letters. "Great," I said to him. "Now spell the word as." One by one, Cube copied the next nine spelling words onto the note pad. When he finished his spelling test he had managed to write all ten of his spelling words in an area smaller than two squares inches in the upper left corner of the paper.
After completing his first spelling test I congratulated Cube for finishing the assignment. I then took the spelling test over to Gnu's desk and handed it to her saying, "here is Cube's spelling test." She looked at me and said, "where are the spelling words?" I pointed to the upper left hand corner of the paper and said, "right there." I then told her that Cube couldn't spell any of the words so I just had him copy the words onto the paper.
We are now eight days into the school year and I have been asked several times about the differences between the last two school years. I'll tell you two of them. There are more but I'll save them for another time.
Last school year, when I walked into the school at the start of the day, I had to sign in so people knew I was present. This was simple. Find my name of the sign in sheet and place an X next to my name. This school year, although not fully implemented due to technical difficulties, I have to use a time clock. I have to clock in to start the day, clock out for lunch, clock back in after lunch, and clock out at the end of the day. It's kind of a pain in the ass, especially the lunch part, but I'll do what I have to do.
As I was reading the instructions on how to properly clock in and out I came across the following wording, "it is strictly prohibited...." Whoa! Those are some pretty strong words so I read on. Paraphrasing, "it is strictly prohibited to do any of the following. Should you violate the rules you are subject to disciplinary action." Here is rule number one. "You are strictly prohibited from continuing to work at the end of your regular working hours." Rule number two. "You are strictly prohibited from taking work home to complete after regular working hours." Rule number three. "You are strictly prohibited from checking, reading, or reviewing work related emails after regular work hours.
I am not a custodian, food service worker, maintenance worker, or groundskeeper. I have an undergraduate degree, work with scholars that come from hard places, that have numerous obstacles to overcome, and I WILL do everything I can possibly do to make them successful scholars. If I should break on of your rules, so be it. Should you decided to terminate my employment, so be it. That will be your loss not mine. Please note that these rules also apply to some of my colleagues with master's degrees.
Last school year, when I looked out the school window, I could see an abandoned house that was right across the street from the school. Neighborhood kids threw rocks through all the windows so they were boarded up. Both the front and back doors of the house were kicked in so they were boarded up. One enterprising soul noticed that the house had aluminum siding and promptly tore all the aluminum siding off the side of the house to sell as scrap.
This school year, if I stand outside the front door of the school, put a Titleist ProV1 on a tee, pull out my Ping G-10 driver with a titanium shaft and nine degree loft, aim slightly southwest, grip it and rip it, I could hit a house with a price value of $750k that is meticulously landscaped, has a pool, and is surrounded by a wrought iron fence, in a not quite gated community.
So, what is the difference between the two schools? Last year my scholars were called special education scholars with anger issues and if all hell broke loose and the media picked up on it the school would be on the front page of the newspaper. This year my scholars are said to come from hard places but have the same anger issues and if all hell broke loose the school would never be in the newspapers because, well, this school is located near well to do neighborhoods with semi-gated and gated communities and stuff like that doesn't happen in these neighborhoods.
The bottom line on last year's scholars versus this year's scholars, with one exception, is this. Gnu and I work with scholars that came into this world, for reasons that have nothing to do with income, with a lot of baggage. Here is the one difference I noticed after the first eight days of schools. When a scholar from this year erupts there is no string of obscenities, not even a single one. Last year's anger eruption was routinely followed by a string of obscenities that would rival anything that could come out of the mouth of some drunk.
One more comment and I'll call it a day. As I've mentioned in the past, Gnu and I don't deal well with scholars with Oppositional Defiant Disorders (ODD). Unfortunately, early evidence points to the fact that we may have four scholars with ODD. This could be a long school year and may provide proof that the grass may not be greener on the other side of the hill.
With that said, right, I need to add a PS - next week I'll update you with news about the scholars from last year. Some news is good, some not so good.
Sensing that Cube will not be able to spell any of the words, I pointed to the first word, pronounced it, and told him to write the word on the note pad next to the number one. Cube picked up his pencil, a good first step, but started to draw a dinosaur on the note pad instead of writing the spelling word. The dinosaur was as big as the paper. When he finished the drawing I again told him to write the word hat on his paper next to the number one. "I'm not done drawing yet," is what I heard. For approximately ten minutes I sat and watch Cube draw an extended dinosaur family. When it appeared that he was done drawing I made a third attempt get him to write the word hat next to the number one. He looked at his list of words, I pointed to the word hat, and he wrote the word in the extreme upper left corner of the paper in very small letters. "Great," I said to him. "Now spell the word as." One by one, Cube copied the next nine spelling words onto the note pad. When he finished his spelling test he had managed to write all ten of his spelling words in an area smaller than two squares inches in the upper left corner of the paper.
After completing his first spelling test I congratulated Cube for finishing the assignment. I then took the spelling test over to Gnu's desk and handed it to her saying, "here is Cube's spelling test." She looked at me and said, "where are the spelling words?" I pointed to the upper left hand corner of the paper and said, "right there." I then told her that Cube couldn't spell any of the words so I just had him copy the words onto the paper.
We are now eight days into the school year and I have been asked several times about the differences between the last two school years. I'll tell you two of them. There are more but I'll save them for another time.
Last school year, when I walked into the school at the start of the day, I had to sign in so people knew I was present. This was simple. Find my name of the sign in sheet and place an X next to my name. This school year, although not fully implemented due to technical difficulties, I have to use a time clock. I have to clock in to start the day, clock out for lunch, clock back in after lunch, and clock out at the end of the day. It's kind of a pain in the ass, especially the lunch part, but I'll do what I have to do.
As I was reading the instructions on how to properly clock in and out I came across the following wording, "it is strictly prohibited...." Whoa! Those are some pretty strong words so I read on. Paraphrasing, "it is strictly prohibited to do any of the following. Should you violate the rules you are subject to disciplinary action." Here is rule number one. "You are strictly prohibited from continuing to work at the end of your regular working hours." Rule number two. "You are strictly prohibited from taking work home to complete after regular working hours." Rule number three. "You are strictly prohibited from checking, reading, or reviewing work related emails after regular work hours.
I am not a custodian, food service worker, maintenance worker, or groundskeeper. I have an undergraduate degree, work with scholars that come from hard places, that have numerous obstacles to overcome, and I WILL do everything I can possibly do to make them successful scholars. If I should break on of your rules, so be it. Should you decided to terminate my employment, so be it. That will be your loss not mine. Please note that these rules also apply to some of my colleagues with master's degrees.
Last school year, when I looked out the school window, I could see an abandoned house that was right across the street from the school. Neighborhood kids threw rocks through all the windows so they were boarded up. Both the front and back doors of the house were kicked in so they were boarded up. One enterprising soul noticed that the house had aluminum siding and promptly tore all the aluminum siding off the side of the house to sell as scrap.
This school year, if I stand outside the front door of the school, put a Titleist ProV1 on a tee, pull out my Ping G-10 driver with a titanium shaft and nine degree loft, aim slightly southwest, grip it and rip it, I could hit a house with a price value of $750k that is meticulously landscaped, has a pool, and is surrounded by a wrought iron fence, in a not quite gated community.
So, what is the difference between the two schools? Last year my scholars were called special education scholars with anger issues and if all hell broke loose and the media picked up on it the school would be on the front page of the newspaper. This year my scholars are said to come from hard places but have the same anger issues and if all hell broke loose the school would never be in the newspapers because, well, this school is located near well to do neighborhoods with semi-gated and gated communities and stuff like that doesn't happen in these neighborhoods.
The bottom line on last year's scholars versus this year's scholars, with one exception, is this. Gnu and I work with scholars that came into this world, for reasons that have nothing to do with income, with a lot of baggage. Here is the one difference I noticed after the first eight days of schools. When a scholar from this year erupts there is no string of obscenities, not even a single one. Last year's anger eruption was routinely followed by a string of obscenities that would rival anything that could come out of the mouth of some drunk.
One more comment and I'll call it a day. As I've mentioned in the past, Gnu and I don't deal well with scholars with Oppositional Defiant Disorders (ODD). Unfortunately, early evidence points to the fact that we may have four scholars with ODD. This could be a long school year and may provide proof that the grass may not be greener on the other side of the hill.
With that said, right, I need to add a PS - next week I'll update you with news about the scholars from last year. Some news is good, some not so good.
Sunday, August 6, 2017
They Come From Hard Places
The official start to the school year was Wednesday, August 2nd. I was feeling pretty good about the start of the school year as I was counting down my remaining days of summer break. Unfortunately, an alarm on my cell phone reminded me that I had to attend professional development days on Monday, July 31st and Tuesday, August 1st. So much for relaxing the two days prior to the start of the school year. On the upside, and I have to be careful here, I spent two days with my new colleagues and the ratio of female to male was nineteen to one. For those not aware, I was the one. There was one individual, who will remain anonymous, that was bugging me for details about this ratio but no details will be discussed because if my part time editor, part time consultant, and full time spouse reads the details she may raise some objectives to the fact that the ratio is 19:1.
When the alarm on my cell phone rang to remind me of the upcoming professional development days the reminder note that appeared with the alarm said Trauma Training. Totally clueless about trauma training, I checked with Gnu to see is she was familiar with the training. Her response was, "no idea." I had already attended Crisis Prevention and Intervention (CPI) training, how to defend myself from biting, hair pulling, choking, kicking, punching, and using therapeutic holds to control angry scholars, so I had no idea what to expect.
On day one of the training the big screen was pulled done in the assembly room, a professional speaker, female, so you know that changes the ratio to 20:1, welcomed everyone as they arrived and up on the big screen it read, Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI), an attachment-based, trauma-informed intervention that is designed to meet the complex needs of vulnerable children. After reading this my first reaction was, this is going to be a long two days. I was wrong as this was an eye opening experience for me. This trauma training program was developed at Texas Christian University by Dr. Karyn Purvis, PhD, and her Institute of Child Development.
Rather than bore you with all of the details, I'll discuss the one that left a lasting impression on me. Dr. Purvis, in all of the short videos we watched, consistently referred to all of the children she worked with as coming from "hard places." I never heard her say, or for that matter the professional speaker that stood at the front of the room, say any of the following when talking about children: special needs, special education, troubled, or any of the numerous other descriptive terms that a child who came from hard places would be labeled. It was always, "these children came from hard places."
So where is this hard place? Dr. Purvis identified the hard place as a child's first year of life and the first time this less than one year old uses it's voice can determine it's future. So what is this child's voice? When it cries. How a parental unit reacts to this crying has the potential to lead this child down the path that leads to having a label attached. I sat and watched three short videos of parental units sitting in a room with their child playing with toys on the floor. As the child was playing with the toys, the parental unit was instructed to get up and walk out of the room. The parental unit was then told that when she reentered the room she had to stop just inside the room and not move. In the first video, when the parental unit left the room, the child began to cry immediately. The child continued to cry until the parental unit walked back into the room. When the parental unit stepped inside the door the child immediately started quickly crawling towards its parental unit. When the parental unit picked up the child, the child quickly stopped crying. When the second parental unit left the room the child went into an absolute rage. When the parental unit stepped back into the room the child remained in a rage and only went halfway towards its parental unit. The parental unit finally had to walk to the child and pick it up. Even when holding the child the rage continued. At one point the child turned its head away and used its hand to push its body away from its parental unit. It took a long time for this parental unit to get her child to stop crying. In the last video, the child completely ignored the fact that its parental unit left the room. No crying, no attempting to move towards its parental unit, it just sat on the floor and played with the toys. When the parental unit stepped back into the room the child continued to completely ignored the fact that its parental unit was back in the room. When the parental unit returned to her seat, the child did not move toward her and she didn't even pick up her child.
After watching the three videos I sat in silence racking my brain trying to recall how I reacted when my daughter came into this world and used her voice. When I picked her up, did I do so as a caring and comforting father or did I show frustration and/or anger because the crying did not stop. Little did I know back then that the way I approached my infant daughter when she used her voice played such an important roll in shaping her future. That's a scary thought.
Wednesday, August 2nd, the first day of the new school year. I walked into the classroom at around 7:15am and Gnu was already sitting at her desk. I went through my usually pre-scholar arriving routine and took a seat. The first to arrive, with a parental unit in tow, was our car rider. Shortly after, the bus riders arrived. Two of our scholars had been assigned a seat prior to their arrival. The other three could sit wherever they wanted. The scholars immediately recognized that their desk was on wheels, that could not be locked in place, and immediately started rolling their desks around the room. Shortly after that, the scholars figured out that when sitting in their seat, they could do three hundred and sixty degree turns while seated. So around and around they went. These desks are a pain in the ass and fortunately for us they are short term because the actual desks for the room were backordered and hopefully they will arrive soon. My desk. I have a table, too small, but I'll make it work. My chair. It's brand new, the first new chair that I've sat in as I enter my sixth year of doing what I do. And best of all, it has wheels and I can do three sixties in it if I choose to do so. My view. Slightly different as I now occupy the side of the room. There is a reason for that but I'll save it for later.
And now for the introductions.
Gnu - teacher
Me - instructional assistant, at least I think that is my official title.
Grab - scholar
Thumb - scholar
DQ - scholar
KVA - scholar
Cube - scholar
The above are supported by the following: Czar, Specialist #1 and Specialist #2. There are other overhead personnel but I'm not exactly sure what they do. I'll update you when I have more information.
So how did the first three days of school go you ask? We had issues, none very serious, so I'd say it was a decent first three days. One thing we didn't expect was the crying. I never worked with a group of scholars that would immediately start crying when things didn't go their way. A couple of the scholars started crying multiple times during the day. On Friday Gnu had enough. "Schultz, ignore the crying as it's nothing more that an attempt to get what they want. Unless the scholar is at risk of getting hurt, hurting someone else, or attempts to run out of the room, ignore the crying." "No problem," I responded. This is our fourth year of working together and when I get a directive that basically says ignore that crap, it puts a smile on my face.
There you go. Three days down and one hundred and seventy-seven to go. It's going to be different. If you want to know how different, you'll have to stick around.
When the alarm on my cell phone rang to remind me of the upcoming professional development days the reminder note that appeared with the alarm said Trauma Training. Totally clueless about trauma training, I checked with Gnu to see is she was familiar with the training. Her response was, "no idea." I had already attended Crisis Prevention and Intervention (CPI) training, how to defend myself from biting, hair pulling, choking, kicking, punching, and using therapeutic holds to control angry scholars, so I had no idea what to expect.
On day one of the training the big screen was pulled done in the assembly room, a professional speaker, female, so you know that changes the ratio to 20:1, welcomed everyone as they arrived and up on the big screen it read, Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI), an attachment-based, trauma-informed intervention that is designed to meet the complex needs of vulnerable children. After reading this my first reaction was, this is going to be a long two days. I was wrong as this was an eye opening experience for me. This trauma training program was developed at Texas Christian University by Dr. Karyn Purvis, PhD, and her Institute of Child Development.
Rather than bore you with all of the details, I'll discuss the one that left a lasting impression on me. Dr. Purvis, in all of the short videos we watched, consistently referred to all of the children she worked with as coming from "hard places." I never heard her say, or for that matter the professional speaker that stood at the front of the room, say any of the following when talking about children: special needs, special education, troubled, or any of the numerous other descriptive terms that a child who came from hard places would be labeled. It was always, "these children came from hard places."
So where is this hard place? Dr. Purvis identified the hard place as a child's first year of life and the first time this less than one year old uses it's voice can determine it's future. So what is this child's voice? When it cries. How a parental unit reacts to this crying has the potential to lead this child down the path that leads to having a label attached. I sat and watched three short videos of parental units sitting in a room with their child playing with toys on the floor. As the child was playing with the toys, the parental unit was instructed to get up and walk out of the room. The parental unit was then told that when she reentered the room she had to stop just inside the room and not move. In the first video, when the parental unit left the room, the child began to cry immediately. The child continued to cry until the parental unit walked back into the room. When the parental unit stepped inside the door the child immediately started quickly crawling towards its parental unit. When the parental unit picked up the child, the child quickly stopped crying. When the second parental unit left the room the child went into an absolute rage. When the parental unit stepped back into the room the child remained in a rage and only went halfway towards its parental unit. The parental unit finally had to walk to the child and pick it up. Even when holding the child the rage continued. At one point the child turned its head away and used its hand to push its body away from its parental unit. It took a long time for this parental unit to get her child to stop crying. In the last video, the child completely ignored the fact that its parental unit left the room. No crying, no attempting to move towards its parental unit, it just sat on the floor and played with the toys. When the parental unit stepped back into the room the child continued to completely ignored the fact that its parental unit was back in the room. When the parental unit returned to her seat, the child did not move toward her and she didn't even pick up her child.
After watching the three videos I sat in silence racking my brain trying to recall how I reacted when my daughter came into this world and used her voice. When I picked her up, did I do so as a caring and comforting father or did I show frustration and/or anger because the crying did not stop. Little did I know back then that the way I approached my infant daughter when she used her voice played such an important roll in shaping her future. That's a scary thought.
Wednesday, August 2nd, the first day of the new school year. I walked into the classroom at around 7:15am and Gnu was already sitting at her desk. I went through my usually pre-scholar arriving routine and took a seat. The first to arrive, with a parental unit in tow, was our car rider. Shortly after, the bus riders arrived. Two of our scholars had been assigned a seat prior to their arrival. The other three could sit wherever they wanted. The scholars immediately recognized that their desk was on wheels, that could not be locked in place, and immediately started rolling their desks around the room. Shortly after that, the scholars figured out that when sitting in their seat, they could do three hundred and sixty degree turns while seated. So around and around they went. These desks are a pain in the ass and fortunately for us they are short term because the actual desks for the room were backordered and hopefully they will arrive soon. My desk. I have a table, too small, but I'll make it work. My chair. It's brand new, the first new chair that I've sat in as I enter my sixth year of doing what I do. And best of all, it has wheels and I can do three sixties in it if I choose to do so. My view. Slightly different as I now occupy the side of the room. There is a reason for that but I'll save it for later.
And now for the introductions.
Gnu - teacher
Me - instructional assistant, at least I think that is my official title.
Grab - scholar
Thumb - scholar
DQ - scholar
KVA - scholar
Cube - scholar
The above are supported by the following: Czar, Specialist #1 and Specialist #2. There are other overhead personnel but I'm not exactly sure what they do. I'll update you when I have more information.
So how did the first three days of school go you ask? We had issues, none very serious, so I'd say it was a decent first three days. One thing we didn't expect was the crying. I never worked with a group of scholars that would immediately start crying when things didn't go their way. A couple of the scholars started crying multiple times during the day. On Friday Gnu had enough. "Schultz, ignore the crying as it's nothing more that an attempt to get what they want. Unless the scholar is at risk of getting hurt, hurting someone else, or attempts to run out of the room, ignore the crying." "No problem," I responded. This is our fourth year of working together and when I get a directive that basically says ignore that crap, it puts a smile on my face.
There you go. Three days down and one hundred and seventy-seven to go. It's going to be different. If you want to know how different, you'll have to stick around.
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