Week 15

This past week was really good. Sue had been gone most of the previous week, so I really got to understand what it was like without her there. My safety net was gone. She was gone Monday of this week and so I had one more day where I was on my own. It’s draining. Emotionally, physically, mentally. Tuesday, Sue gave me the opportunity to go to my last OPUS as a senior. It was great to see the work of my fellow classmates and it was helpful! I learned about a few new technology programs that will be very helpful and that I did not know about.  This week was quite hectic with meetings, related services, and trying to finish everything for the ECHO Art and Talent show. It was interesting to me how even though Sue is back and slowly taking over again, the aides still looked to me for how to position the kids, feed who what, and scheduling things. I think that means I did a pretty good job while Sue was gone. While Sue was gone, we got another student Ashanti. That makes 9 students (we’re cap at 8), and 8 adults in a small classroom. It’s amazing the effect that being overcrowded can have on adults and students alike. Students were antsy and “off”, if that makes any sense. Our ambulatory student was starting to get out of control and I only see him do that when there is too many people. He has a lot of autistic tendencies. Anyhow, with Sue back I was hoping things would run a little bit more smoothly with all of those people in the room, but it is still chaotic. At least I know it wasn’t just me.

The week was more of the same. Feeding, changing, positioning, morning circle, we didn’t have time for any major lessons this week because of our preparation for the Art and Talent show. Swimming has been canceled for the past 2 weeks and with having the schedule thrown off a bit, some of the students are acting out. Our one student really needs that time to work off his energy and get therapy in the pool. I’m hoping the pool is up and running again soon. Our kids especially need that therapeutic time.

I have been struggling with one main thing since being at this placement. The people who work in our classroom have a hard time keeping work and home separate.  In one aspect you want to be caring and establish a good relationship, but at the same time, you want to keep the relationship professional and not too personal. I don’t want to know about how you’re cheating on your husband, or what you do on the weekends. It’s inappropriate for the classroom and it’s frustrating to me because I disagree with some of the things they do. Another thing is the fact that the students come first. ALWAYS. I think that they do not fully understand or sometimes forget. You’re not there to socialize. You’re there to do your job and care for these students. Take some initiative. If a student is clearly upset, yes we might not know what’s wrong, but go to them and talk to them. Be with them. I can’t tell you how many times my students sits there and cries in pain and I go take him and sit with him on the mat and rub his back. He quiets down as soon as I do that and talk to him. Those little things make a huge difference. 

I have been trying to talk to other people who work at ECHO and learn about their different roles that they play there. I am hoping to go visit some other classrooms next week. It will be a big change from being in Care with the youngest and lowest students. I’ll definitely have to be more on my toes with behaviors, since my students rarely, if ever, display them.

Working with the students on the Art projects was a lot of fun, but because we really wanted the kids to do them, and not the aides, me and Sue did most of it with the kids. We wanted to make sure that they were the ones who mainly did the tasks. 

Week 14

This week started with me getting a text at 4:15 in the morning on Monday telling me that Sue's father-in-law passed away and she would not be in that week. That was very unexpected as we had all thought he had at least a few more weeks. I felt so bad for her. So, my week went on. It was crazy. Sue ended up being able to come the day that Dr. Powell came to observe me, which was really awesome. But even though Sue was there, she was not really around. She was trying to catch up on stuff from when she was gone and for when she was gone again. When Sue is gone, I do not normally take a lunch break. But I decided to take a 15 minute break just to clear my head the one day. While I was gone, the girl that I have been working with had her first seizure in our classroom. A grand mal that lasted about 3 minutes. I came in and felt so bad about leaving. It would have happened anyway, but it would have happened differently. At least that's how I feel.
Also while Sue was gone, we got a new student. This makes 9 students in a classroom that caps at 8. She is on a ventilator and comes with a nurse. Now we had 8 adults in the room. Literally there was no room to move anywhere and it was difficult to know where to place students, because this new little girl took up about an 8 foot corner of our room.
It was strange to be telling the aides what to do. Sue wasn't there to back me up. I feel as though I rose to the challenge and by the end of the week I think they really respected me.
I have seen myself change a lot throughout this whole placement. Dr. Powell also said she could see a difference from when she visited me the first time and when she visited me this week. I understand these students a lot more and I genuinely care for them and want what's best for them. I have learned to change what I'm doing to fit their needs as best I can. I'm trying to make everything more tactile and sensory. Whenever I am going to teach something, I have to think about what manipulatives and tactile aspects I can bring into the lesson. I have also learned to roll with the punches. Maybe one of the more difficult things for me to do. There's a plaque I came across that reads, "Smile and pretend it's on the lesson plan." I am definitely learning to do that. I am learning how to handle that better, probably better than at any of my other placements. My students teach me something new everyday. They teach me how to handle things differently, things about themselves, and how to make them happy. It's a very rewarding place to be and I am starting to see myself working with this population.

Week13 (2nd placement)

     This week you could definitely tell it was the week before spring break. All of this week was a countdown until the end of Thursday. We have all been ready for a break. Sue has been completely out of the room for most of this week. When I think about my teacher at my first placement leaving me with 20 4th graders vs. Sue leaving me with 8 students and 5 aides, I will definitely take the 20 4th graders. Having to manage the adults this week was exhausting, challenging, and frustrating. When everyone has the mind set that we only have 4 more days until break, that makes it worse. They were willing to do as I asked, but were taking no initiative like normal. I think they are starting to see that I am partly their boss for the time being and not someone to play fake teacher. I am learning very much about being professional with this job. Not so much that I’ve been being unprofessional, but the other adults in the classroom have a way of bringing their personal lives and issues into the classroom and it is often inappropriate. It’s a challenge to listen and not get involved, it’s also challenging to know all of these things. It makes it feel very unprofessional. I am trying hard not to pay any attention to the things that get said, but at the same time I have to find a balance because I want them to know that I do care, I just don’t want to know every detail.
     Like I said, Sue was out of the classroom for most of the time. Also this week she switched students on me and the rest of the aides. So I had to deal with the aides not knowing what to do, me with a new student (not knowing what to do), and taking care of the classroom without her. I was working with our most high-functioning student this week and he is a big kid. BIG kid. I ‘ve got to tell you, by the time Thursday rolled around, I was so frustrated and ready for break I could have gone outside and screamed for a good 15 minutes. The break will be good for everyone to refresh; students too. Because Sue was out of the room, when the social worker came to check in on our new student, I was the one she talked to. On Thursday we had our IEP meeting for this student and I got called on to talk during the meeting. This was so unexpected! I think I looked like a fish with my mouth hanging open and closing repeatedly. I did eventually find words. :) Also while Sue was out of the room this week, we had the state inspection come inspect our rooms. That was also nerve-racking. Because of the short week, our related services were in more often in order to make up for the time they would lose on Friday.
     Teaching this week was more of the same schedule. Morning circle every morning, craft on Tuesday- we decorated easter eggs, and easter baskets on Wednesday. Holy cow. Easter eggs was a process. I was praying the kids would not get dye all over themselves and thankfully they did not. I really enjoy making everything tactile with the kids. That is the best way for them to grasp a concept or concrete object.  We also go to swim on Wednesday. Thats always a great time and it’s always so fun to see how different kids can feel in the water. This week is also a reminder of the things that can go wrong. While being changed for swimming, one student had a seizure,one had diarrhea, one peed. I am starting to get used to nothing going according to plan. So much so, that if something does go according to plan I am taken by surprise. It’s like I’m waiting for the something else to happen. Haha. I really love working with this group of students. This is a lot lower functioning than I ever thought I would go, but it appeals to me in a different way than teaching a group of regular education 4th graders.

Week12 (2nd placement)

     It was a great week at ECHO. We have been doing a lot with the topic of spring in language arts and our related services have been trying to cover the same topic along with us. Every morning I do morning circle after we get the students fed, changed, and positioned. As with every other week, they receive related services right after morning circle and then it is lunch. Afternoons are often filled with another specialist coming in and us getting the students ready to go home. I have been working with one student specifically for the past few weeks as a one-on-one aide. This coming week, I will be working with another student. I can already see the challenge he will present. He's a big kid! I am excited to see what I can do with him and what he will teach me too. Sue is going to leave in the mornings completely this week. I must admit I am a little nervous with her being gone with all the variables in the classroom, but the aides are there if I have questions and she is just a phone call away. On Tuesday, I was able to do a springtime craft with the students after spending time reading about butterflies and their life-cycle. They turned out really cute. As my students have difficulties doing anything on their own, it was kind of a struggle to get the aides to just help them and not do it for them. I found that most of the aides just did the craft for the students, instead of taking their hand and doing hand-over-hand. That is somewhat frustrating. I repeatedly keep reminding the aides to help the students, not do it for them. Wednesday we had swimming. I had a new student in the pool and he was very difficult to work with. I have to look out for his safety and my own. He head-butts and hits, so I really have to concentrate on where am I am standing next to him and how I am holding him. He has a g-tube so I had to be really careful to make sure that did not come open while in the pool. We have been working on giving him sensory on/in his mouth because he constantly punching himself in the mouth. We have been brushing his teeth for 10 minutes every day and this seems to really help him. It's so exciting to find something that helps your students! One Thursday we had 1/2 a day and only 3 students. We had time for one related service and then we got them ready to go home. The rest of the day was spent as an in-service for the parapros and work time for the teachers. My teacher worked on her CHI, and I made a book with boardmaker for our lesson on Friday. It has been awhile since I worked with boardmaker, so one of the speech pathologists came in to help me with a few tricks. I have been working closely with one of the O.T.'s. We do a combined lesson on Friday's where she will take half of the class and I take half of the class and then we switch. It has been working out great and I find it more enjoyable to work more one-on-one with the students that way. We have also been working together a lot to find ways to help the student I have been working with. She has come a long way since coming into our classroom. She is now feeding herself with very little prompt. She is also walking better and standing taller. To some people it might not be big accomplishments, but to me and my teacher, we see how she has made great progress. Her mom has even commented on how well she is doing since she moved to our room. That's a big compliment. Friday was our lesson with the O.T. and since it was Friday, we had Friday Fun time in the afternoon, which is always a movie. Sue and I did not really get a break on Friday. We used our break time to ready the classroom for the state inspection on Monday. Although the students get out at 1:50, we have to stay until 3. We use that time to plan for the next day and to talk about what else we can do for the students. On that Friday we planned for what aides we were putting with who while Sue left the room for the mornings next week. I really appreciate how she let's me have a say and takes what I say as valid. I can't believe I got put with 2 amazing teachers in 1 semester! I have learned so much from being with both of them!
     For this week, I am choosing State Standard 1 - Teaching Diverse Students – The competent teacher understands the diverse characteristics and abilities of each student and how individuals develop and learn within the context of their social, economic, cultural, linguistic, and academic experiences. The teacher uses these experiences to create instructional opportunities that maximize student learning.             
        1H) analyzes and uses student information to design instruction that meets the diverse needs of students and leads to ongoing growth and achievement;
I think I have demonstrated this standard by observing my students and reading their IEP's and other documents to figure out what I can do to help them do the best they can. This is continually changing, as finding what works for them best is a work in progress.  We try things and they don't work out as well as we thought, so we move on to another thing and hope that it works better. I have been trying different tools for the past few weeks to find out what works best for my student to feed herself. On Friday, I think we finally found something that works the best out of all of them!

Week 11 (2nd placement)

     This week was really short. I was sick on Monday, so I was only with the students for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Friday was an in-service day for all of the teachers and teacher’s assistants. This week was pretty much the same routine. We try to start out each day with morning circle, position the students, feed, change, and care for them. On Wednesday, I again was able to do swimming with a few of the students. When we got to the pool, one of the students started having seizures, so we waited awhile to see if she would stop. We didn’t want her to not be able to swim. She ended up being able to go in the pool. It’s a lot of work to be in the pool with the students. We have to get them in, put flotation devices on most of them, and then do therapy with them. We have to know each student and what sets them off and take care with them in the water. The student that I usually work with has a lot of sensory stuff going on and if he gets water past his mouth, it causes him to throw up. Then we have to get our students out of the water, which often takes longer than getting them in. For our one student, we have to use a lift to get her out. That was the first time I got to see the lift in action and it was really cool. Some of the technology that they have come up with to make things simpler is amazing. On Thursday it was very hectic. We have conductive ed. in the morning at all separate times. One of my students had been acting very strange all day. Right before Dr. Powell showed up for observation, he projectile vomited everywhere. That was extremely unexpected, but it finally made sense why he was not acting himself. It was sad to see. He had been laying down when he threw up and was not breathing, so they had to put him on his side and pat his back. He did start breathing and was okay after that. We think it’s because his mom gave him benadryl and that mixed with his seizure medicine did not mesh well together. We did a lesson the Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. I felt that it went really well, especially for the end of the day. There was a student or two, who were not willing to participate at times, but for the most part, they showed good looking and feeling, and smelling. We did a few tasting things, but only one student can eat by mouth. I made all of the parts for the book and laminated them and velcroed them so we could stick them to the board. I also made a caterpillar out of pom poms. I really liked this for my students who are blind and/or deaf. They were able to feel and use their tactile senses to follow with the story.
     On Friday, I went to a FIESTA in-service. Fiesta training was basically coming up with a way to make the classroom more of a functional learning environment. They encouraged work-stations, having up schedules for each individual student and the class as a whole, and having the IEP goals of the students available for the people in the classroom. Someone also suggested having a binder for each student separated by related services so that all of the information was in one place instead of scattered. For the second half of the day, I spent about 10 minutes in a seminar about fading prompts, but then got called out for a meeting for our CARE program. Care is the lowest program of the school, the one that I am in. Although I did not have much to add to the conversation, as it is not my place, it was interesting and educational to be in a meeting with the principal, vp, related services, and the teacher’s for the CARE students. They were trying to figure out what to do for mine and Sue’s classroom. We have a new student coming on Tuesday with a nurse. Our room is very cramped and we already have 8 students, which the CARE program caps at 8 students per classroom. One of the other classrooms also has 8, but the other 2 have around 3-5 because not all of their students ever show up. I’m not quite sure we have come up with a solution to the problem, it’s kind of a work in progress. After the meeting, Sue and I talked a lot about some options and thought of ways to rearrange the room for our new student and nurse. It will be very interesting to see how this all plays out on Tuesday. The in-service day lines up with IPTS 10G. participates in professional dialogue and continuous learning to support his/her own development as a learner and a teacher. At the conference, I talked with other teachers and support staff about ways to improve our classrooms. Together we worked to grow and get ideas from each other. We want to do the best that we can with what we have to provide the best environment for our students.

Week 9 (2nd placement)

     This week was so much better than the first week. I am definitely feeling more comfortable and I feel like I am able to do more. The first couple days of this week I was still doing a lot of observing, because last week was short and this week was short also. On Tuesday of this week, we received a new student. I kind of took over as her aide for the week. Unlike most of our students, she is ambulatory. She is also a heavy drooler. This provides a great challenge when feeding her. Sue and I were talking to the O.T. Sue M. and we were wondering what she was capable of with feeding. When Sue M. came in for O.T. on Friday, she did a chew test and kinda observed her. The student didn't really chew with her teeth, but with her tongue and Sue M. thought that she would be capable of feeding herself. Problem being, I don't think anybody ever made her feed herself, so I was going to have to teach her. The thing that I have learned with this student is that she has the capabilities to do things on her own, but nobody has every made her do things herself or taught her how. This was my challenge for the next few weeks. It makes me sad to see that she is not as dependent as she could be because people did not take the time to teach her how to be independent. Your goal as an educator is to give your students as many tools as possible to learn and grow to be an independent individual. Even though my students might not grow up to be independent like you or I, why not let them be as independent as they possibly can?
     I also had the privilege of going swimming on Wednesday. This is great therapy for my students who are very stiff. It's a lot of work getting them ready and into the pool, but it is so worth it! Most of my students love it and it's fun because you get to see them interact in an environment where gravity is not keeping them from doing things like walking or moving their legs/arms. We stretch them out and try to work on moving the muscles that rarely get used. The warm water and warm environment is a good therapeutic thing for them even without the other stuff. As fun as it is, it isn't playtime. You have to constantly be watching your student and making sure that they are safe. With certain students, water can only go up to a specific level on their body or they will throw up. There are a lot of sensory things going on that you need to watch for.
     Word for the semester- Flexibility. Wow, is that going to be an important word to embrace. I know that teachers in general have to be flexible, but teachers in the special education field have to be more so. You never know where the day is going to take you. There are so many things that could change the way the rest of the day will flow. Sick students, seizures, aides being missing, related services not showing up, something runs longer than planned, a parent visit, and IEP... The list goes on. I feel as though we encounter something everyday that puts the day a little bit off. I'm learning a lot about being flexible and coming up with things off the top of my head. Sue had me jump in a few times for morning circle this week when a visitor came to the classroom that she needed to talk to. Put me in front of 20 kids and I'm not scared. Put me in front of 8 kids and 5 aides and I'm very intimidated. Adults are scary! But my aides are very kind and supportive, so it's not as scary anymore.
     Sue and I have been talking a lot about organizational stuff. I know it's been really hard for her this year. Her room staff is continuously leaving and they get so many subs, people don't know what they're supposed to do, things get done twice, or not done at all. We also feel that certain students would benefit from being with a different aid. We came up with a solution, we hope! Sue made up cards for each student for morning and afternoon. There are instructions specific to each student on the card. We have Velcroed them to the wall and we have also velcroed the names of the aides. We will switch the aides with the students every few days or so. This is also great for having a sub. Then we can swap who gets who and give the sub a student that is a little less involved and there will be specific instructions on the card. We plan on putting this up sometime next week and hopefully give it a try.
     I really feel like I am growing here. It's a whole new way of teaching and you can't just stand up there and talk. You really really have to get the students involved and do tactile things with them. For my students who are blind, you have to make it auditory, and for my students who are deaf you have to make sure there is a visual. Sitting through IEP meetings is also teaching me a lot. They're not as scary as I made them out to be in my head. It's a great experience to see how they work and how they're run.

Week 10 (2nd placement)