Walking Goofy, IEP's, and the Lunchroom...

Today was an interesting sort of day. Not bad, not great, just very interesting. There were three parts that were particularly cool.

As I was walking toward my after-school duty post, I walked by a first-grade classroom and just as I had passed it, I heard "She walks funny!" I stopped and turned around. I have been praying for opportunities to explain the limp so that the kids won't stare and make comments like that. I wasn't mad at all, I just knew it was an opportunity to teach. I turned around and walked back and said, "Who said that?" I said it in a lighthearted tone, not a defensive tone. Blondeboy said, "I did." I walked up and said, "First off, I don't walk funny, I walk goofy!" EVERYONE laughed. I went on to give my speech, and the kids were okay with it. I then turned to Blondeboy and said, "Hey, do you know how to thumbwrestle?" (I'm sure his parents are hating me tonight!) Yep, I taught him how to play, and it's funny how I owe him a pencil on Monday, as well as two of his classmates who I taught as well. :-) It was great. I kind of felt like I was getting in my zone again, as thumbwrestling was sort of my thing at the old school, and I feel it's a tool I can use here to connect with kids and help them forget about the limp and see me as a real person. It was one of the highlights of my day.

My next story isn't funny, but it is worth sharing since my eyes have sort of been opened. I have been working my tail off on my scheduling (which is hard when you're teaching special education) when I met with my last teacher at the end of the day. I was talking to her and it turns out she was at the school last year that all these kids came from. There was a boundary change, obviously, so these kids were shipped to SVE. I found out that at their old school there were TWO special education teachers, not just one. You're wondering what difference this makes, aren't ya? Well, I figured up all my total minutes, and the way all my IEP's are written now, and I would need two of me to get the job done! I'm blessed to have the principal that I do who looked at me today and said, "Hey, do whatever you need to do to save your sanity. I trust you." Needless to say, I'm about to make some parent phone calls and re-do some IEP's so I can service all my little people. While it's more work, I am cool with that. It just made me glad to hear that it took two people to do it last year and that I wasn't missing some "trick" to scheduling all of them! :-)

Finally, if you have read my posts at all this week, you have probably sensed a bit of frustration as I have shared about lunchroom duty. It hasn't been AWFUL, but I will admit that my last school did an awesome job compared to where we were at Tuesday! However, the coolest part of the week was actually the frustration with it all. On Tuesday we had mass chaos and I was following our custodians lead, as that's what I was told by my principal to do. And, honestly, our principal wasn't in there much on Tuesday, so she didn't realize what we had on our hands. After school Tuesday we had a faculty meeting and the lunchroom was discussed, and I gave my two cents. Due to the fact my principal had not been in there, I think my ideas were set aside because she wanted to observe on Wednesday. On Wednesday I did the same thing, and halfway through my principal walked up and said, "I don't like this set up." I looked at her and said, "I know. I agree." The kicker of it was she had the head janitor to deal with. And, in all fairness, he was only doing what he had done at his last school. I followed with, "Here's what I suggest..." Then I looked at her and said, "Take it for whatever it's worth. I am not in your shoes, and I realize you have quite a bit to juggle here." She smiled and walked on. Yesterday I went in, and half of what I had suggested was set up. I wondered how the head janitor would take it, as it pretty much shoved his system in the toilet. When the second group was dismissed, there was a small spill and he turned to me and said, "This is why I don't like this set up." I looked at him and said, "Spills happen in an elementary cafeteria." And I smiled. I will admit, we did it that way the whole lunch time yesterday and he didn't revert to the old way like I thought he might do. SO TODAY when I entered, it was set up like I had suggested and I was PUMPED! Not just because my voice was heard and someone actually took my idea and ran with it but because it went SO MUCH FASTER! It was neat to see Tuesday to today. And, I will state that my principal has worked her tail off this week to make the schedule for the cafeteria work as well. We had a schedule change today due to coverage of recesses and lunchroom duty, but it worked out! Ah, week one is down...35 more to go!

Life.
Is.
Good.