Why I Teach

Yes, it is difficult. Some days I just want to give up, put my hands over my ears, close my eyes and curl up into a fetal ball. Then there are those days...

Thursday, at circle, I was counting aloud the 10 paper snowflakes as I put them on the (headliner) velcro board. Eight, Nine, -pregnant pause- /Te/! from our highly impacted autistic, nonverbal, boy! We were stunned, we were awed, we shouted with joy and clapped! He has been much more vocal in the last few weeks, using a wider variety of vowel sounds, looking at his mouth in the mirror as he plays with his tongue. But this! And on cue! THis is why I teach.

Then during the recitation of:
'Five Little Snowmen Fat,
Each with a different hat,
Out came the Sun,
And me-el-lted one...'

He imitated a sad face and gave me eye contact during the last line of the rhyme
"Oh, what a sad thing is that!"

The assistants didn't see it, but as I relayed, I could hardly keep from laughing out loud in glee!

This is one of his favorite rhymes, one of the four things he chooses from the bags of items I offer for circle activities.

Friday: I do the snowflake counting, give the pregnant pause, he gives no response. Disappointment! Then as I count backward taking the snowflakes off the board, I pause to remove "one", and he gives a quiet but audible /un/! Amazing, Terrific! He's getting there!

Outside on the playground he is saying/puh/ for 'Push me on the swing, please" instead of his first word /guh/ (a cross between 'go' and 'cool' which was a generalized word for anything he wanted.)

He is coming close to us in the gym, giving us a big smile and eye contact to start a chase game, or bringing a ball to an adult to play some give and take. He watches a group of children race from one wall to the other, figuring it out and following them, stopping when they stop, running when they run.

With insistance from an adult he uses a marker, matches colors, does up to 5 interlocking piece puzzles. He goes to his picture schedule and chooses what He wants to do (Not necessarily what the schedule plan is): eat snack or go outside!

At snack, he chooses from a selection of up to 5 pictures his favorite foods (a very finicky diet!) and hands me one to get what he wants. He sits the whole snack period.

He is also standing at the toilet, pulling down his own pants, peeing into the toilet and halfway pulling up his pants all on his own!

This is why I teach.

These successes are noted amid the frustration he demonstrates with full blown tantrums of screaming, yelling, head banging, self-biting, and knee banging. He loves flushing the toilet multiple times with his arm down in (or tries his head), eating any sensory medium in the sensory table. We have to keep one hand on him at all times to keep him from running away, (He could be a track star, he runs so fast!) He lives in a very dysfunctional family who do not follow through with suggestions/recommendations unless it comes from multiple professionals who have to practically live with them. He gets weekly OT and speech therapy outside of class. His grandma is the consistant caring adult in his life. You might think he's just very young, but no, he's already kindergarten age.

Oh, yes! He has learned to blow bubbles this week and spit...everywhere.

He is a beautiful child and why I teach.
He just might be the death of me!

Lunch

Monday I provided a simple lunch for my assistants just to let them know I appreciate all their hard work...and they do work hard to help the kids and follow my somewhat confusing directions. I really debated over what to fix, as my vegan dishes are not something many people enjoy. So I settled on something taking the least amount of time, but could be fixed at school easily. I bought packaged Caesar salad makings, added prepared chunked chicken from the deli case and heated some garlic bread. They liked it. Whew!

Also, for some reason, by Monday I was eating constantly and everything in sight. Even my assistants commented on the fact they'd never seen me eat all the time like that. Oops! Time to get back on a more healthy bandwagon. I had been eating lots of sugar and 'white' nonnutritive foods.

So, Tuesday, I was back on a better diet. Even walked to work for the first time. Did it again today. This means I also have to leave before dark to walk back home in the evening. Amazingly we've had mild, partly sunny weather with no wind and temperatures in the 40's and 50's, so it was a wonderful walk. This has helped me get back on a healthier vein. We'll see how long it lasts, as a parent brought us homemade "No bake" cookies today! Mmmm.

Work is ramping up as I have to look forward to transitioning kids to kindergarten and dealing with parents who struggle just to maintain literal sanity on a daily basis. We have another child-find activity, February 5, and this last month I've had two new students added to my class lists and dropped 2 others who moved. I've had one child come to be observed for possible enrollment. He's had recent trauma and testing which would qualify him for our services.

I've gone around with our director trying to get a different kind of placement for a very immature 3 year old. Unfortunately, I think I'm dealing with someone who views life rather black and white and does not want to 'rock the boat'.
Oh, well. Whatever happens, I'll give the kids the best I can and if that doesn't work, hope my students' parents will pick up the advocacy.

That's all. I'm heading back to the office to do a little paperwork and listen to a Native American Storyteller that everyone says is really good.

A Week after the latest Snow Storm

Still snow on the beach, 0 degrees C, 32 degrees F. But sunshine, oh, soul-stirring sunshine!

What a week!

Bad weather has plagued us here this winter. I stayed home with a bad cold Monday and Tuesday and then the school day Wednesday was a 2 hour late start, as there had been a high wind storm with sleet and another 1-2 inches of snow the previous afternoon and overnight. Ice covered the snow. Of course the whole NorthWest coast suffered, too. So it was a short teaching week, but I was ready for it to end with our holiday Monday off, as well!

I still am snuffling with the cold, even though I got on meds. I think the thing just has to push through my system, >snort, snort.< I didn't get much out of church today as it was too warm and I slept through most of the sermon...hope I didn't snore!

I can't believe Bush thinks More troops are going to be 'the answer'. Adding More, doesn't necessarily make everything Better!

My car is driven so little, I have to warm it up and drive it around town for about 15 minutes, just so the engine doesn't freeze. It almost had when I started it up Friday morning. Considering I used to drive 100 m/day before, this is quite a change!

Happy New Year!

Back at work after winter break, one of my teacher assistants asked me about my New Year's Resolution(s). Frankly, I hadn't even considered any and I was actually surprised that I hadn't thought about them. I'd say about 99.9% of my former New Year's Resolutions only left me with guilt.....rightly or wrongly placed! and a few years ago I'd stop making 'formal' resolutions, but thought about some possibilities, never making commitments to any...I can't fail that way, can I.?

A bit later she observed me taking data on some students and said, "I see you're taking data. That must be your New Year's Resolution." Instant Guilt! So, now, I must follow through and continue taking data on a regular basis. I have someone watching. Oh, sly one, she is!!!!!!!