Dealing with Strange Stories on Day 22...

I have a student whose primary diagnosis is a specific learning disability (SLD), however I think there is a bit more going on inside of that head of hers than what meets the eye.  She seems to regularly tell stories inside of her head, forget that she hasn't been talking aloud, and then finish her story by telling it to me directly.  For example, the other day as I was showing her where the main office was, she says to me, "... and then my cat will eat it."  Another time, while in class, she approached me and said, "... and she used to let my cousins and I sit on her lap."  At first, I would respond with, "Wait... what?" and then just look at her while she stared at me blankly with a smile on her face.  I've now learned to just roll with it and respond by saying "Oh really?  That's nice."  So far it's worked like a charm.

However, the other night I received a call from her mother.  Here is how the conversation went:

*RING*RING*RING*
Me: Hello?
StrangeStoryTeller's Mother: Hi.
Me: Umm... hi, who is this?
StrangeStoryTeller's Mother: *mumble*mumble*mumble*
Me: I'm sorry, I can't hear you.  Who is this again?
StrangeStoryTeller's Mother: Miss Anonymous?  Miss Anonymous???  This is StrangeStoryTeller's Mother.
Me: Ohhh... I'm sorry!  Hi StrangeStoryTeller's Mother!
StrangeStoryTeller's Mother: Hi.
Me: Umm... how are you?
StrangeStoryTeller's Mother: Why did you call me?
Me: I'm sorry?  I... uhh... I didn't call you.
StrangeStoryTeller's Mother: Yes you did.
Me:  Umm... did you have a missed call from the high school?
StrangeStoryTeller's Mother:  No, you just called me and left me a message saying that my daughter wanted you to call me.
Me: Umm... uhh... Did you just get a message from me?
StrangeStoryTeller's Mother: Yeah, I just missed your call a few minutes ago.  I'm confused as to why you're calling me.
Me: Yes... well... umm... I'm confused too because I haven't used my phone at all since getting home from work today.  I think I may have called you about 3 weeks ago because StrangeStoryTeller had said you wanted to talk to me, but I didn't just call you now.
StrangeStoryTeller's Mother: Uhhh... oh.  Ok.  Sorry.  Bye.
Me: *Nervous Giggle* It's alright, is there anything that is concerning you?  StrangeStoryTeller is doing really well in her classes so far!
StrangeStoryTeller's Mother:  No, thanks, bye.
Me: Oh... ok... have a good night...


I think it's pretty apparent, through that conversation alone, that the saying "Like mother, like daughter" holds very true in this situation.  It was such a bizarre and awkward conversation, I really didn't know what to do with it.  So here's your New Teacher Tip of the Day:  Be prepared!!!  If you think your students can be strange, just wait until you meet their parents!

Ripping Out My Hair On Day 20

KidWhoHatesWriting seems to be back to his old ways, and they are exhausting.  Today he refused to do his math and vocabulary quizzes and then said, "Shut up you faggot!" to another student.  Now before I go on, let me explain to you how much I HATE that word.

I have developed, what I like to call, "bombs"; my students know what they are and know not to use them around me.  The two most common "bombs" are the R-Bomb and the G-Bomb: the R-Bomb being retard and the G-Bomb being gay.  I hate having to hear students call each other "retarded" or "gay", so whenever I hear it I yell out, "WHOAAA!!! WATCH IT WITH THE [R or G] BOMB!!"  I then explain to them how insensitive and disrespectful those terms are and, not to mention, how they really do not make any sense within the context that they are being used.  All of my students, both last year and this year, have responded really well to it and I've even heard them saying to each other, "Dude, Miss Anonymous is in here, you can't say the G-Bomb around her!"  So, since I hate the words "retard" and "gay", you can only imagine how much I hate the word "faggot".

So as soon as I heard KidWhoHatesWriting say it, I instantly sailed into him.  (I threw that in for you, Dad!)  I told him to never use that word in front of me, how it is extremely disrespectful and degrading, and that he needed to return to his seat and control himself.  This made him angry, so he refused to do any of his classwork for the rest of the period.  Once the bell rang, he got up, left all of his papers on his desk and started to head for the door.  As he passed me I said, "KidWhoHatesWriting, make sure you take your classwork with you."  He ignored me and continued past me.  I then repeated myself, only a little louder, and then watched him ignore me even further and walk out of the classroom.  Now what he probably forgot was the fact that I am in the next class with him, so as he walked out of the door thinking that by ignoring me and pretending not to have heard me, he was getting away with completely disrespecting me, I knew we were going to have to have a further conversation.

At this point, I was extremely frustrated, but I knew I had to take a few deep breaths to calm myself down before confronting him in our next class.  I took my time walking to the next class to allow myself to gather my thoughts and clear my head.  So after entering the classroom, I let KidWhoHatesWriting know that because of the offensive language he had used and because he had blatantly disrespected me by ignoring me while leaving the room, he was going to have to serve a detention with me this week.  I told him that because I don't know what his schedule is like outside of school, I would give him the option to choose which day would work best for him.  His response was, "I'm not choosing a day because I'm not staying for your detention."  I then responded with, "Well, then I'll just go give your mother a call right now to discuss it with her."  And that is exactly what I did.  She informed me that she would talk to him as well as his father and to let him know that not serving a detention was not an option.  His father then called me around 6:30 this evening to get the full story as well.  So my hopes are that if KidWhoHatesWriting, hears our concerns both in and out of school, he will get his act together sooner rather than later.

Soooo this brings me to my New Teacher Tip of the Day:  Buy a wig to disguise your bald head, because  you are bound to pull out every last strand of your hair.

Not Giving Up Hope on Day 19!

I got KidWhoHatesWriting to write today!!  It wasn't much, but the the point is that he WROTE!!! I have no idea if I'll ever get him to do it again, but at least now I know that there is definitely some hope for him!

New Teacher Tip of the Day:  Don't ever give up hope!!!

Crazy Cat Lady Coworkers... Day 18.

I am about to share with you an email that I received today:

"Hey everybody,

I will be calling out on Tues., Oct. 12th. My boyfriend and I need to take his cat in for treatment for her hyperactive thyroid. Depending on how long it takes, I may or may not be in for the rest of the day. Just a heads up. The info about the appointment is attached. It's kind of interesting - she's going to be radioactive!

Thanks,
CrazyCatLady (I've officially named her this)

P.S. My boyfriend doesn't have a car, and his cat doesn't do well in cars in the first place. His cat is 13 years old and his baby, so he is kind of freaking out (and he doesn't do well in crises). And we live in [a town an hour away]. Just more of an explanation. :)"


She then included attachments from her vet detailing what her boyfriend's cat will be going through.

New Teacher Tip of the Day#1: It's a called a personal day for a reason... keep it that way.

New Teacher Tip of the Day #2: You will have crazy coworkers.  Find another coworker to laugh with, it's the only way to keep your sanity.

Some Students Will Never Learn... Day 17.

As a first year teacher, there is a chance that you may be thrown into a situation that you are absolutely 100% not prepared for; there will be no amount of schooling, at that very moment, that will help you in the decision that you face.  I was "lucky enough" to be put into one of those situations last year when I had to make the decision as to whether or not I wanted to have a student arrested.  This particular student, who had eaten lunch with me on many occasions and I thought I had a pretty good relationship with, ended up stealing my iPod touch, my sunglasses, and the measly $3.00 I had in my wallet.  I'm assuming you are now wondering, "How did she got caught?"  Well, calm down, and let me tell you... about 2 weeks after my things had gone missing and I had filed a report with the police officer at school, Captain Klepto came into my office and asked if she could charge her iPod on one of our computers while she went to class, I told her she could and she left.  That's when I noticed that she was no longer using an iPod Nano and was now using an iPod Touch.  Interesting. So I went over, looked at the back of the iPod, and was pleasantly surprised to see my original engraving still intact.  I then brought it to the police officer and he went and tracked her down.  About an hour later, the officer asked me to leave my class and I was faced with the decision: Do I want this student arrested or do I want her to receive a warning?  After having an internal battle inside my head as to what to do for about 30 seconds, I decided to have the student arrested in the hopes that this would teach her a very serious lesson: that her actions would directly effect her life and how she is viewed by others.

Now let's fast forward to today.  Today, Captain Klepto was arrested for stealing over $1,000.00 worth of equipment from the gym at school; it had all been caught on camera. Moral of this story?  Some students will NEVER learn.  Ugh.

Alright, moving on.  Today I was in a Science class at the end of the day.  Just as the bell rang at 2:05 and all of the students were exiting the classroom, one student, who had previously been making fun of one of my special education students for the back brace that she has to wear, grabbed the handle to the emergency shower, turned it on, and completely soaked another student as well as the majority of the floor in our classroom before she ran laughing hysterically from the room.  The science teacher I work with chased after her while I was left behind to clean up the mess.

So this brings me to my New Teacher Tip of the Day:  You are going to meet students who are definitely going to go straight to hell when they die.  The only upside to these students is that you get some great stories out of them.

Dealing With A Kid I Can't Stand On Day 14.

I have a student who, no matter what I try with him, refuses to do any assignment that involves writing.  It's not that he is incapable of doing it, he just has absolutely no interest in putting forth any effort.  He is also extremely disruptive and when I say something like, "KidWhoHatesWriting, please stop talking, everyone needs to be paying attention."  He'll say, "I wasn't talking."  Even though I clearly just saw him talking to one of his buddies.  He is also the kid who is constantly making rude comments under his breath after you have asked him to get back on task.  No matter how hard I try, I cannot get myself to like this kid, and I feel really bad about it!  I have been trying my HARDEST to like this kid, but I just CAN'T!

So here is my New Teacher Tip of the Day:  You are not going to like all of your students.  It is just a fact of life, you can't like everyone.  But, for the sake of the student you can't stand, pretend that you do like them.  This will be an extremely difficult task, but trust me, it will make your life easier in the long run.  If a student knows that you do not like them, they will lose any sliver of respect they ever had for you.  However, if they think that you like them, they are more likely to respect your wishes; definitely not 100% of the time, but at least 60%!

Day 13 AKA The Longest Day of Our Career...

Tonight was open house and out of my caseload of 14 students, only 2 parents showed up; pretty much the same turn out as last year.  I explained to them my role as case manager in their students' lives, what our resource room is used for, and how awesome I am.  And I mean, let's be honest here, I am pretty awesome, so it only makes sense that I make my students' parents aware of this as well.  So anyways, I wasn't very surprised in regards to how few of my parents attended open house.  Generally, it is a very sad trend that I see: I co-teach in all low level classes where, unfortunately, there is very little parent involvement.  I have found that the struggling student whose parents you feel really need to be involved are usually the ones who are the most difficult to get in contact with.  Once I decide to go back to school to get my doctorate degree (which I would really do mostly for bragging rights and to demand that everyone calls me Doctor) I would research the effect that parent involvement has on student academic success.  From my experience thus far, it truly does have a huge impact.

So with that being said, here is my New Teacher Tip of the Day for you: Do not become discouraged when a parent shows little interest in their child's education.  Instead, let it empower you!  You may be the influential person that this child needs in their life.  It will become your job to motivate the student to not only become actively involved in his or her education, but to also realize the importance of education.  If they are not receiving the support at home, then you have to be the one to fill that role.

Another Day in Heaven, Day 11.

Today during my resource room, a student from last year came barging into my classroom screaming "Missssss Anonymoussss!"  (She didn't actually say "anonymous", but as you know, for the sake of anonymity, that will have to be my name.)  She appeared to be in a good mood, so I asked her how things were going as a sophomore.  She replied with, "Well, thats why I came to see you.  Things are terrible, and you're the teacher I feel closest to, so I got a pass to come talk to you."  Alrightyyyy then.  So I asked my tutor if she was alright handling the classroom, then I took the student into my office to talk.  I asked her what was going on and she said, "My boyfriend broke up with me today and my grandparents are about to die and they are the closest relatives I have and my mother hates me and wants me to rot in hell."  One, long, run on sentence all in one breath.  The thing that bothered her the most, out of all of the problems that she had just listed, was the fact that her boyfriend had broken up with her today.  Now you may be laughing, but this girl was on the verge of tears and that's when I had to really reach deep down inside and remember what it was like to be 14; the smallest thing felt like it could very well be the end of the world.  I just reassured her that "time will heal everything" and that in a few weeks, she'll be happy to have the freedom of being single.

So this brings me to my New Teacher Tip of the Day:  As a special education teacher, you are going to get to know the students on your case load better than anyone else in your school, and sometimes you will have to abandon your role of being a teacher to take on the role of a counselor.  Especially at the secondary level.  Always keep in mind that even though your students' issues may seem extremely superficial and juvenile, they really are affected by them.  Do the best you can to give them helpful advice and provide them with the appropriate resources, if needed.  The best tip I can give you, is don't ever forget what it was like to be their age.  It's hard enough being a teenager in this day and age, but it's even more difficult to be a teenager with a disability.

Day 9 And I'm Still Fine.

You know what's more difficult than being a teacher?  Being a YOUNG and GOOD LOOKING teacher, who gets mistaken for a student far more often than I'd like.  Today, for example, as I was walking upstairs to one of my classes, a group of freshmen boys instantly started saying things like "Ooohhh daaaayuuummm... is that girl a student here?"  "Yo man, I dunno, ask her."  "No man, you ask her!"  "'Scuse me!!  Do you go to school here?"  My response, while giving my badass "I mean business" teacher stare, was:  "Yes, but I'm a TEACHER!"  They then used few expletives, started giggling, and then ran off.  I thought it was pretty funny.  Yesterday one of my students was staring at me with a really weird look on his face, when I asked him why he was staring at me like that, he responded with "Cuz ya cute, Miss."  Great.  Thanks.  I responded with, "Thanks, but that's pretty inappropriate and I'm too old for you.  Moving on..."

So that brings me to my New Teacher Tip of the Day:  Don't get flustered when kids say something that makes you uncomfortable.  9 times out of 10 they are only doing it to get a reaction out of you.  DON'T, I repeat: DO NOT let them win that game because then they will become the one that is in control.  Just brush it off and, if it was an inappropriate comment, let them know that.  But don't get all giggly and stupid about it and turn bright red.  I've seen it happen and trust me, it makes the situation 10 times more awkward.

On a separate note, during my resource room I have all of my students journal for the first 10 minutes of the class in complete silence.  I do not allow them to speak to me or anyone else; they are not even allowed to ask a single question.  They have to be silent and write for 10 minutes straight about whatever is on their mind.  I then read their journals, and respond to their entries.  We end up having great conversations through our writing and I've found that this is a great way to get to know my kids.  My students last year loved it, and so far my students this year seem to be enjoying it as well.  So anyways, I have a student who is, in my opinion, almost identical to the main character from the movie, The Blindside.  He is close to 6'3" and is labeled as having a Speech and Language Impairment (SLI).  Everything about him reminds me of the main character in that movie, so for the sake of keeping things anonymous here, we will refer to this particular student as Blindside from now.  So today, after our resource room period came to an end, Blindside came up to me and said "Miss... I just wanted to let you know that I asked you a question in my blue book thing and it's alright if you say no to it.  I just want you to know that it's okay if you don't want to.  But I'll just let you go read it."  I said, "Ok Blindside, I'm going to go read the journals now, and I'll write back to you with a response.  Have a great weekend and stay out of trouble!"  So as I'm walking back to my office, I'm trying to think of what the heck this kid could have written to me.  When I got back to my desk, I flipped through the journals until I found his.  Here is what he wrote:

"I think the days in high are getting better as they go by. I mean I'm getting mosely homework every day now I still feel like crap!  OH! and before I keep talking my first few weeks at the high school, I can draw a picture for you if you whant me to."

I couldn't help but get that warm fuzzy feeling in my gut after reading his entry; and I thought to myself: "Yes!  I am reaching this kid!"  It's obvious that he has made some sort of connection with me, and these connections are vital when creating success stories among struggling students.  It's these small little moments of recognition that I get from my students that make me love my job so much.  I really wouldn't trade what I do for anything in the world.




Unless I win the lottery....

Hall Duty Day 7

Hall duty has to be one of the most painfully boring parts of my day.  For an hour and a half today I sat in the hallway asking/saying to students "Do you have a pass?"  "Where are you headed?" "Are you lost, you've walked past me 3 times now."  "You're no longer a freshman, therefore you should not be on this side of the building!"  Now if a student does not have a pass, there is literally nothing that I can do about it except say, "Well... then... uh... go back to your class and get one from your teacher!"  It really is a pointless duty if you ask me, especially since we have an entire security team at my school who are always watching the cameras that are located in every single hallway and stairwell.  I became so bored that when I would see students coming out of my friends' classrooms to use the bathroom, I would write a note and act all serious and say, "Excuse me, are you heading back to Mrs. So-and-so's class?  Oh you are?  Great, could you make sure she gets this?  It's very important."  Meanwhile, it was really just a note that said something like, "Hall duty is painful.  Please just kill me and put me out of my misery."  Oh well.  It's just a part of the job I suppose.

New Teacher Tip of the Day:  Don't let the crappy aspects of our job outweigh the great parts of it.  Although hall duty did make me contemplate suicide for an hour and a half, the other 6 and a half hours I spent at school were overall pretty great.  You really can't say that for many other jobs, so be grateful for what we do!

The Best Thing About A Long Weekend? The Short Week. Day 6.

Labor Day was yesterday, so we were able to enjoy a nice long weekend with some beautiful weather.  And because of the long weekend, we only have a four day work week!  Haray!

Today, during Science, we took the kids outside to show them how a stream, near our school, flows.  We dropped a cork down a storm drain and then walked to the other side of our school's property to watch it pop out into a small pond.  One student, who has down syndrome and very limited verbal skills, refused to go into the woods.  When I asked him why, he instantly began signing "skunk" while yelling "KUNKS! KUNKS!"  Needless to say, I didn't force him to go into the woods and once I had come out, he smelled me to make sure I hadn't been sprayed.  I obviously hadn't, but he told me I smelled anyways by waving his hand in front of his nose while laughing hysterically and saying "YUCK!"

New Teacher Tip of the Day:  Don't become offended by what your students may say to you.

(Day) HIGH 5!!

Today went really well.  I've convinced my resource room, for the most part, into thinking that I'm scary and demand silence at all times.  I've gotten to know a few of my kids a little better and it seems like I'll have a fun caseload this year.  Although, I can't help but think back to my kids from last year and how... umm... unique they were.  Let's travel back in time and relive one of my hilarious moments from last year:

A student of mine, who when we first met requested that I call him Bullfrog (so that's what I will refer to him as from now on), was incredibly unique.  During our Algebra class one day, I was working with another student when the math teacher approached me and said, "You need to do something about Bullfrog... I don't know what to do."  When I turned around, I saw Bullfrog sitting in his seat with a piece of paper crumpled up the long way in his hand.  He was then just taking bites out of it and eating it while working on the assigned work.  So I walked over to him and said, "Bullfrog, you really shouldn't be eating paper.  It isn't good for you!  Why don't you take out the stem and leaf plot we've been working on."  He replied, "I can't!"  My response was, "Well, why not?"  And his response was priceless: "Because I already ate it!"

I can't even make these things up.  That was one of my very first days teaching and I knew, at that very moment, I had absolutely made the right decision in becoming a special education teacher.  Which brings me to my New Teacher Tip of the Day: If you want to be a good teacher, you NEED to have a great sense of humor.  Things are going to happen that will be out of your control completely and the best way to move past these bumps in the road is to just laugh them off.

What ever happened to, "Out with the old, in with the new"? Day 4.

Today was the official start for the entire high school where I teach.  Let me preface this entry by explaining what it is, exactly, that I do.  I am a 9th grade special education teacher working with a team of 8 regular education teachers.  The students that are on my caseload primarily have specific learning disabilities (SLD), emotional disturbances (ED), or other health impairments (OHI).  (Get used to the acronyms, I use them quite often!)  Each of these students are fully included within their regular education classes and it is my job to make sure that they are receiving the proper supports that they require.  I co-teach Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies.  A "jack of all trades" if you will.  And I also run a resource room for the majority of my students.  To make a long story short, I absolutely LOVE what I do.

So today, as I had stated earlier, the rest of the school started which meant I was able to see most of my wonderful 9th graders from last year.  They all seemed to seek me out at the most inconvenient times to tell me that they hate all of their new teachers and that I'm still their favorite.  What can I say, I'm a great catch! One of my more favorite kids from last year didn't end up coming in to school today because he didn't get a haircut or new shoes yet... ridiculous.

So this brings me to my New Teacher Tip of the Day: Do NOT be scared to form relationships with your students!  Now I am NOT saying, go add them on facebook, that is a BIG NO NO!  What I'm saying is, get to know them on a more personal level; it will really assist you in making a connection with them.  It is much easier to have students become successful when they feel that you actually do give a damn about them!

Day 3 For Me... Day 1 For The Kids...

Well today was the first day for our freshmen, and I'll be honest, if I were a freshmen coming into our high school for the first time, I would think that it was going to be the absolute best experience of my life.  We trick them into thinking that we are ridiculously "hip" and "cool" by starting off the day with a deejay in the gymnasium blasting hip hop with a ton of upperclassmen cheering and dancing for the freshmen.  It really is a pretty awesome experience and it helps kids feel a lot more comfortable within their new environment.  Overall, it went as smoothly as it could; the first day is always the most hectic.  The freshmen participated in a bunch of ice breaker activities and then followed their schedules so that they would have an easier time finding their classes come tomorrow.  I got to meet the majority of the kids on my caseload and they seem like they'll be a fun group.  I'm looking forward to when they come out of their shells and aren't as timid as they all are now.

At one point, right in the beginning of a science class I co-teach, a new first year teacher introduced himself to the class and began his lesson.  I unfortunately had to stop him and say, "Mr. Science #2, this is actually Mr. Science #1's class."  His response was, "Oh, is this like a co-teaching gig that we're doing?"  I then had to explain to him that he was, in fact, in the wrong room and was attempting to teach the wrong class.  He became extremely flustered and then realized he was supposed to be all the way on the other side of the building.  So here is, yet again, my advice for new teachers: ALWAYS know your schedule and where you should be at any given time during the day; you must always attempt to appear more organized than your students.  If you're teaching in a building that you are unfamiliar with, come into school a couple of weeks before classes start and walk around to familiarize yourself with your surroundings, especially if you're teaching in different classrooms.