Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep and I was feeling VERY tired already when I got to school this morning.
Once I get to the school, this is my routine:
-Lug my bags of crap back into the school (though usually I haven't done ANYTHING that I've taken home to work on...)
-Fob my car locked while juggling said bags
-Let myself into the school
-Unlock my classroom door (with the GOLD key because education is priceless ;)) Bahaha I'm cheesy.
-Flip the lights on
-Shed my load of bags, coat, scarf, and gloves
-Sling my keys onto my desk
-Turn on my computer
-Log in to computer
-Pull up Pandora and start the classical music ;)
-Pull my my attendance so I don't forget
-Log in to email
Okay, so the list goes WAAAAY further even before the kiddos get there, but I'll spare you the rest ;) This is when it gets good.
I open up my email to find something that erased my fatigue in a heartbeat and made the rest of my day more than worth it. A bit of back-story: last week L's mom asked me to do a quick write-up of how his behavior has changed since they have decreased his medicine early this month so she could send it to the doctor and they could decide whether to keep the meds where they are, or adjust again, and this was her response to that email. (Of course, I was way more detailed than I needed to be, and I gave them monthly averages of his behaviors over the months we have been in school so far, this data coming from his Daily Points Sheet where we keep track of 8 key behaviors: On Task, Stays in Seat, Follows Directions, Positive Peer Interaction, Positive Adult Interaction, Speaks Appropriately, Positive Attitude, and Completes Task)
Briana,
Thank you so much! That was way more than I expected but I am so glad you did that for us. I have forwarded it to his Doctor and hope to hear from her sometime this week. You have done such a wonderful job with him. I am SO grateful you are his teacher this year!
L (his mom, which also starts with an L :))
Thank you so much! That was way more than I expected but I am so glad you did that for us. I have forwarded it to his Doctor and hope to hear from her sometime this week. You have done such a wonderful job with him. I am SO grateful you are his teacher this year!
L (his mom, which also starts with an L :))
When she came in to drop him off again I thanked her profusely for such a great compliment, and she assured me, again (in person!) of how she is thankful for all of his progress so far this year, and of how happy she is to have me as his teacher :) I was beyond stoked to hear this!!!
This morning I also had a meeting with my Principal about the lesson he observed last week and he ALSO gave me a glowing review. He said I have the patience of a Saint, and that he could never do my job (not even for a day). He told me that I've settled in very nicely and that I seem very comfortable and in control in front of my students. I have been told by a few people that I have one of the hardest jobs and that I'm a perfect fit, but it's so great to hear it from parents and administrators. My Principal said that even though he has to observe me twice more, he is already ready to write me rave reviews for my Tenure Evaluation process!!!! OH. MY. WORD. :) I'm in the right place.
Today I was Specially Educated in realizing just how much support I have (when it really counts).
My Principal even came to my room today to talk with C after he got into his THIRD fistfight at lunch recess within a week :( I'm sorely disappointed that I haven't been able to curb this behavior before it got to this point, but it was good to know that he was willing to come down and support me as a teacher, reinforcing what I say with my students.
The title of this blog is almost sad... while C was in time-out for a combination of the fistfight, throwing his papers, breaking crayons, laughing when a peer got into trouble, and many other things (which of course happened over the course of just a couple minutes WHILE the Resource Room teacher was in my room), he was crying and calling out my name and saying he was scared. When a student is in the Time Away room I am not supposed to respond to them (as that is usually what they want: a reaction), so when he started calling out my name I peeked into the little window to make sure he was okay. When I didn't respond, C began calling my name louder and shouting, "Hello? Can you hear me? Do you even have ears?" and upon more time passing without a response to him, he began screaming LOUDER, "SHE HAS NO EARS! I AM NEVER GOING TO GET OUT OF HERE!"
Of course, it breaks my heart to ignore calls like that, but I needed to remain in control of the situation, and C knows that the rules to get out of the Time Away room are to calm down enough to stop shouting out and thrashing.
As I have said many times, sometimes you just need to laugh so that you don't cry. So apparently, Mrs. Fankhauser has no ears. *shrug*
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