It All Led To This

Monday, June 18, 2018

I came up with a few descriptive terms to describe this past school year and finally settled on this one, deteriorating.  When I walked into the classroom, where I have a real swell view from the back of the room, for the first time this school year I was introduced to Knewer and Low.  Both of these individuals were new to the workings of a classroom for scholars with an emotional handicap so I knew that I would be helpful as they adjusted to their environment.  It didn't take me long to recognize that Knewer was similar to Gnu when it came to academics and I really like that.  For those of you that aren't familiar with Gnu and her teaching style it was pretty simple.  She focused on academics.  Her focus started immediately after morning announcements and continued until thirty minutes prior to the final school bell for the day.  I also liked Low, the instructional assistant, because rather than sitting there waiting to be told what to do she actively sought out things to do.  When you are in a tough environment, with scholars at four different grade levels, it is critical that Knewer have a strong assistant and I could tell she did.

The school year started with four returning scholars, Grr!, Huey, Whale, and Tourette.  Joining them on the first day was Hiss and Cue.  Despite having six scholars in the classroom the degree of difficulty wasn't too high as all six were in either the third or fourth grade.  Although there were bumps in the road, academics, solid academics, was on the agenda each day.  The first bump in the road occurred when Fruit, oppositional defiant disorder, and in the first grade, arrived.  With a first grader in the classroom, academics became a bit of a problem because Fruit didn't fit with the third and fourth grade scholars.  Although this was an obstacle, it was over come because there was an old, gray haired, wrinkly faced volunteer sitting in the classroom and he could help.  Despite the addition of Fruit, Knewer caught a break as Huey's parental unit moved outside our school boundary and he transferred to his new school.

The next two bumps in the road occurred closely together.  No, bumps isn't the correct descriptive term.  A better term would be the arrival of two boulders that came crashing through the classroom door.  The first boulder was Brush, oppositional defiant disorder, manipulator, plus a scholar that directed frequent verbal, laced with obscenities, disrespect toward the female adults in the room.  Brush was closely followed by Blank.  This scholar, Blank, does not have a special education label as far as I know.  If there was a label that suited Blank it would be a scholar somewhere on the autism spectrum.  Based on a conversation I had with Gnu during the last school year regarding scholars on the autism spectrum, Blank has no business being in a classroom with scholars with an emotional handicap label.

The classroom is now up to eight scholars.  Three scholars, Tourette, Fruit, and Brush have an oppositional defiant disorder and the first sign of classroom deterioration occurred.  Without any advance notice, Knewer was gone.  She decided to take three personal days to get away from the environment in the classroom. That, my friends, started the deterioration and it was picking up momentum with each passing day.

It's a struggle in the classroom, the disruptions from the oppositional defiant scholars is frequent.  Academics is taking a big hit because with every eruption it takes approximately thirty minutes to get the scholars settled down.  As we struggled, here is the part that caused me to stop and think, "what the hell am I doing in this environment."  The ninth scholar, AreYouSure, oppositional defiant disorder, and second grade, arrived.

Again, Knewer caught a break as Hiss transferred to another school shortly after AreYouSure arrived so our scholar count dropped back to eight.  For the record, over the past five years, there were never nine full day scholars in this classroom.  For the record, the highest number of scholars in the classroom, over the previous five years, with an oppositional defiant disorder, was one.  Knewer has to deal with four oppositional defiant scholars, scholars at four different grade levels, and the deterioration continues.

Here comes the tough part.  As I have from the very first blog post, I tried to tell everyone what it was like working in a special education classroom and I did so without pulling any punches.  I'm about to do that shortly and it is going to hurt because the school that I have thoroughly enjoyed walking into for six school years has change.

The one hundred and eighty day school year has ended and it all led to this.  I'll start with the big one, Knewer is not returning to this classroom.  She resigned and took another teaching job.  And here is the truth as I see it and it is going to hurt.  I don't blame her as the adults in our school corporation failed her.  When Knewer arrived as a first year teacher she was assigned a mentor.  That mentor is in her building.  I never saw the mentor enter Knewer's classroom.  NEVER!  Overhead personnel from our school corporation were assigned to Knewer's classroom.  This overhead person has a title, instructional coach.  The instructional coach RARELY stepped foot into Knewer's classroom and on the days it happened the visit lasted less that five minutes.  Knewer was a first year teacher with two adults assigned to guide her through her first year in an emotionally handicapped classroom and both of these adults failed to do their job.

The placement of four oppositional defiant scholars in the same classroom by the school corporation's overhead personnel occurred and it all led to this.  These scholars were given free rein to say whatever they wanted to say with little or no consequences.  I'm not exactly sure when it occurred but disciple in this school has become almost non-existent.  When a scholar can behave in a totally disrespectful manner, call the teacher the B-word, drop the F-bomb on a teacher, and although rare, hit a teacher, or pull the chair out from under a teacher as she is about to sit down and the teacher gets injured to the extent that an ambulance is called, and the consequences are minimal if there were any consequences at all, then there is strong evidence that the prisoners are running the prison.  And what did all of this lead to, Knewer left and next year the primary emotionally handicapped classroom will have it's fifth new teacher in seven years walk through the classroom door at the beginning of the next school year.

The school year started out on rock solid ground with a real focus academics.  As scholars were added, then added, then added, the deterioration started and all this deterioration led to this.  I'm not returning to the emotional handicapped classroom that I occupied for six years.  I've had it.  Time to do something else.

Tuesday June 19, 2018

I have options for next year.  In fact, I have five options as follows.  First, I can stay home, retired.  Sadly, that option is fraught with danger as my part time editor, part time consultant, and full time spouse will not be a happy camper so I'll check that one off the list, and do it quickly.  Second, my part time editor, part time consultant, and full time spouse knows a principal in a parochial elementary school in one of the poorest neighborhoods in my fair city and this principal informed me that I would be welcomed and immediately put to work.  This opportunity piqued my interest but then I realized how far I would have to drive every day so I'm going to put it on the back burner and label it Plan B.

The next three options are quite intriguing because they are all in the school that I've occupied for the past six years.  I'm liking these three options for one reason.  All three teachers are aware of the skill set I can bring to their classroom so I feel I' can negotiate from a position of strength and make a few payment demands.  My first same school option is to occupy a third grade classroom and support a teacher preparing her third grade scholars to pass the state mandated IRead3 test.  Although I thoroughly enjoy reading to our fine young scholars I'm going to pass for this reason.  This particular teacher is one I mentioned recently.  This is the millennial that was so stressed out teaching second grade scholars that she had to take a week off to de-stress.  Hmmm!  Took a week off to de-stress in a classroom that has no state mandate testing.  Now this teacher is in a classroom that has a state mandated reading test that must be passed.  Nope!  Gotta' blow this one up.  If a de-stress period needs to be taken in a more challenging classroom the de-stress period could stretch out for weeks.  The second same school option never stood a chance.  The new teacher for the next school year in the secondary (fifth and six grade) emotionally handicapped classroom inquired about my availability.  Please, you can't be serious.

Okay, that's four rejections.  I'm running out of options.  It's decision time.  Things to consider should I choose this option.  If the fourth grade scholars successfully answer a combination of seventy-two multiplication and division problems, all correctly, in six minutes or less, the teacher allows the scholars to climb up on this hexagon shaped table and to do their best celebration dance.  Do I want to work with a teacher that climbs up on this hexagon shaped table, while I'm sitting at the hexagon, within two feet of her, as she is using black tape to draw lines and angles on the ceiling and has no concern at all about the possibility of loosing her balance and falling on top of me and crushing my bones?  Do I want to work with a teacher who put together one of the nicest scholar activities I've ever seen?  It's one all of you read about.  The blog title was Bag of Cheer.

I've made my decision.  Yes, it's final.  No, I don't need to call a friend.  Next year I'd like to occupy that hexagon and support a teacher that was assigned the task of teaching math to two fourth grade classes and two fifth grade classes.  Let's see.  That could be up to seventy scholars.  Up to seventy scholars puts a smile on my face.  Seventy scholars means I'm in a position to negotiate and I'm starting right now.  For services rendered, an occasional Payday candy bar.  Deal?

The school year is over.  I'll hoping all the stars line up properly so I can occupy that hexagon.  It will be a challenge but I also know this.  The teacher that will occupy the front of the classroom is one that I am really excited about working with next year.  That's it.  I'm outta' here for several weeks.  POOF!

PS - On Sunday, June 17th, at 12:27am, weighing in at eight pounds, two ounces, Gnu gave birth to child number two and it's a boy.  Momma Gnu and child number two are doing well.

PSS - I'm searching for a picture of a wooden picnic table shaped like a hexagon.  If you should have a picture of one please send it to me.  All I ask is that before you take a picture of this table please remove any clutter that is on it so people will actually be able to see that it is hexagon shaped.

   









 





 

The Penultimate Post

Sunday June 10, 2018

The Speech Therapist walked into the classroom.  She looked toward the front of the room and asked this question, "are you coming today?"  The response, "no."  "Are you sure, we are going to play a game."  "No."  "One last chance, are you coming?"  "No."  

This is how the day starts almost every day.  Usually the Speech Therapist is not involve but instead it is Knewer or FBG.  Almost every day it is the same with Fruit, who is in the first grade.  You give him a direction and the answer is no.  You give this scholar some options and the answer is, no, no, no.  Sometimes the "no" includes knocking over chairs, throwing or tearing up the worksheet and/or a few choice obscenities.  Eventually FBG will remove the scholar to his office and Knewer can start the academic day.  While this is fine as you can only put up with this defiant behavior for so long I often wonder who on the battle.  Knewer did as the disruption is gone but the disrupter also won because now he doesn't have to do any work.  In the end, there were no consequences for the disruptive, defiant behavior from this scholar.  Speaking of a lack of consequences I'm sure this next defiant behavior will raise a few eye brows.

This involves two scholars, Brush and Tourette.  Both are in the fourth grade, both are defiant, both don't hesitate to drop the F bomb, both will knock over chairs and desks, both will look you in the eye and lie to you, both will storm out of the classroom, both have bullying tendencies and their favorite target is Grr!, and both have little respect for the female adults in the room, Low and Knewer.  Rather than site a specific event I'm going to generalize their behavior so keep in mind I could be talking about either Brush or Tourette.

An event happens in the classroom.  Usually it's an academic event but occasionally it's scholars arguing back and forth with one or the other always wanting to have the last word.  When Knewer or Low have had enough of this defiant behavior something will get said.  The immediate response is "I didn't do it," or "he started it."  When Knewer or Low challenge these scholars on their response their defiant behavior begins to escalate.  As the conversation between adult and scholar continues the scholar's defiant behavior escalates again and reaches the point of total disrespect for the two adult females.  The B-word gets dropped.  The F-bomb gets dropped.  All the time this disrespect is directed at the two female adults the scholar will frequently make eye contact with me to see what I'm doing.  If it gets too crazy I'll stand up and walk in the direction of the scholar and tell the scholar to be quiet, sit down, or get out of the classroom.

The response I get is either "I didn't do anything," or, my personal favorite, "why am I the only one getting in trouble for something I didn't do."  Here comes my favorite little speech that I direct at these defiant scholars.  "I'm old, I have gray hair and a wrinkly face but I am not blind, I am not deaf, I am not stupid.  You sit either directly in front of me or immediately to my right and I saw exactly what you did or heard exactly what you said so stop lying to me and sit down."

Here is the totally frustrating part.  The consequences for this behavior is almost nil.  I believe Tourette was once suspended for a day.  As for Brush, no or minimal consequences.  I don't understand the direction this wonderful school is going in.  To be totally disrespectful toward a teacher and an instructional assistant that included obscene language with minimal consequences is just ridiculous.  Such is my current environment as the school year winds down.  With each passing day I know that I'll need to make a decision about the next school year.

Although you can't tell it I just scrolled to the top of this blog post and for the first time I can say to myself, "this is a pretty short post."  Knowing that, I'm going to clear out some blog discussion points that are on my cellphone.

Several weeks ago we had visitors from the State of Indiana in our school.  The visit was to evaluate the school given it's recent low performance grade.  During the two day visit members of this auditing team stepped into every classroom to observe the teacher.  Well, almost every classroom.  As it has happened so many times in the past, no one steps into Knewer's classroom.  It's like the special education classrooms don't exist or even worse they are just "those" scholars and not worth the bother.  On day two of the visit I was sitting in the staff lounge eating lunch when I heard this from one of our millennial teachers, "if I had known they were going to be in the building for two days I would have taken a shower today."  As a reminder, I don't make this stuff up.

I have to be careful with this one as it may negatively impact me in the future.  When I visit a classroom for math with Grr! we normally sit at a octagon shaped table right in the center of the room.  For the most part, this table is unoccupied as it is a collection point for assorted stuff that can't fit on top of a desk.  Surrounding the octagon is a classroom with an alternative seating concept.  I'm not a big fan of alternative seating as it is nothing but a seating arrangement that gives a block of scholars, ranging from four to six, an easy opportunity to go off task and talk to one another.  "Will you please stop talking," is heard often from the right front side of the classroom.  Me, I'm old school.  Desks should be arranged thusly.  Straight rows, alternating boy and girl so that at no point are two boys or two girls sitting next to each other.  As far as an octagon shaped table in the middle of the straight rows of desks I'm mostly good with that.  I say mostly for only one reason, certain people like to take shots at me by saying, "are you sure you can fit your two hundred and ten pounds at that table?"

Discussing the school shooting that took place way to close to my school in the last blog post resulted in me getting a few comments from the readers of this blog.  I'll mention three and then call it a day.  The first comment poured in from As Far West As Utah, "I'm really sorry, YOU need to be hardened.  The high school in my city is hardened.  It's the teachers choice.  They don't keep it a secret.  Kids know teachers have guns."  The second comment came from the offspring of my part time editor, part time consultant, and full time spouse.  Paraphrasing, "I've done some research and not one shooter has gone through a locked door in any of these school shootings."  The last one is my favorite.  Sadly I don't remember the source but it would fit my school perfectly.  This comment was seen on an information sign outside a school building for all to see, "This is NOT a gun free zone."

That's it for today.  The school year has officially ended and I'm on summer break.  There will be one more blog post and then I'll stop for a while.  The next blog post will be a review of exactly what the classroom was like on my last day of school where I have had a view from the back of the room for the last six years.

PS - I have a game plan for the next school year.  Unless a certain individual took offense to my position on alternative seating I will be occupying that hexagon on a regular basis.