"Teachers are Born, Not Made."

I just read an article that argued no matter how wonderful the university program, people simply can't be taught how to teach unless they were born with the "teaching gene." I tend to agree. Mark tells people all the time that I could not get paid and I would still do what I do. I love it that much. And it's true. I really do love what I do.

I've had some difficulties of late with one of the teachers in my department. It seems that, because I am more eager to try new things, ready to take on new challenges, and in a position that seems to have authority (as department chair) I can do nothing right. It probably doesn't help that I'm thirty years younger than her either! Truly, no matter what I do, it's wrong. And she has no problem telling me how wrong I am and how thirty-five years of teaching has made her an expert on whatever teeny-tiny little decision I have to make.

So, since my last blog posting, school has started and boy is the ball just a-rolling along! Which, incidentally, is why I haven't posted anything since September 4th. I have a new classroom, which is great! It's also a big change and has thrown everyone off, including me. My co-teacher and I have five new paraeducators which is almost like having five additional students at times. While completely necessary and totally invaluable, teaching five people how you want/need them to work is a huge undertaking. I also have a couple of new students who are really great kids but also very involved behaviorally. To add to the craziness, I have a ton of extra paperwork and evaluations to do this year. And to top it all off, I had this teacher upset with me this afternoon.

But, despite my ranting and jumbled thoughts, it really has been a great year so far! I'm looking forward to things settling down a bit so that I can actually enjoy what it is I was genetically pre-determined to do...teach.

A sigh of relief...

Summer school is done and I am now officially on vacation!!! The five weeks flew by and it was much better than I anticipated it was going to be. Now on to more fun things...

Another One Bites the Dust...

Three cheers for having jumped through the hoop that was the first of two elective classes that I'm required to take! Doesn't that make it the exact opposite of an elective? My summer session class ended tonight with my group's presentation. The 6 weeks of summer session flew by and I am so glad to have it over and done with.

Self Diagnosis

Being in the field of special education, I am constantly learning about different disabilities that students can have. Because of this fact, I am also constantly thinking there is something wrong with me. I remember when I was in college (oh wait! I still AM in college!), that is, in my undergrad, I was convinced that I had Multiple Sclerosis. At one point, I joked that maybe Prader-Willi was my syndrome, due to my seemingly insatiable appetite. And I still contend that we are all somewhere on the Spectrum. But, most of all, I have diagnosed myself with adult onset ADHD.

Just as an example, while writing my final paper for tomorrow night's class, I glanced over and saw my hand held, magnifying mirror and decided that it was time to give myself an impromptu facial. Then I got back to writing. But then I looked down and noticed my toe nails are in desperate need of a pedicure so I proceeded to clip and file my nails - all of them mind you, not just the ones on my toes. Back to writing. A few minutes later the dog needed my affection and then I should check on the cats and, while I'm in the house, I should do the dishes...on and on and on. Being on the computer is the worst too, I checked my email and everyone else's blogs a gazillion times.

Three hours later, my paper is finished, submitted to my professor, and now I am free to putz around giving myself facials and pedicures. But, of course, now I can't think of anything to do!

I'm joking of course, I know that I do not seriously have a disability. Unless we can create a new category of ADHD like due-date-impending-attention-deficit or why-get-it-done-early-hyperactivity!

Dirty Minds

An actual conversation from my class tonight:

"So, does the muff go over your mouth and nose?"

"Well, we wouldn't want you to suffocate, you just place the muff over your mouth."

Procrastination

Where is this great skill learned? I've been very slowly working on my homework assignment that is due tomorrow all evening (remember that whole "I can get it done in two hours" thing? Well, notsomuch tonight apparently!) I'm just so distractable right now - as evidenced by my need to blog at this very instant!

Back in the Swing of Things

Classes at CSULB started again last night. On Monday afternoons I'm taking a class on collaboration and communication, which is co-taught by a professor with a PhD in Special Education and an instructor who has a daughter with a disability. It seems like it'll be interesting to learn about the perspective of a parent while having my own perceptions of issues in special ed. On Tuesday afternoons I'm taking a class on assistive technology. The professor of this course doesn't seem as organized and clear as those that I have on Monday so we'll see how the semester will pan out. Both classes seem to be a bit less labor-intensive than the courses I took last semester (in each of which I earned an A, by the way) so I'm excited about that.

This week is finals week at school so we have half days all week and no school on Friday, which works out perfect since we'll be in Michigan by then! I think it's fairly common knowledge that money is tight in our state right now so it's be interesting, to say the least, to see what happens in the coming months when we are all planning for next year. Luckily for me, I got a letter last week announcing that I've earned my tenure! So, as far as I know right now, my job is safe from here on out. I'll be going to a board meeting next Tuesday to be recognized for this achievement. I'm not sure if there's been a better year since I've been teaching to become a permanent employee of a district.

While I was definitely on a roll as far as weight loss goes a week and a half ago, I've fallen off the wagon yet again. Mark's sister was in town last week so we went out to dinner and drinks a couple of times and I've just had a really hard time refocusing. Since we're going to Michigan this weekend and I know that we're going to be eating things like Jet's Pizza and RedCoat Tavern burgers, I'm planning on being really good until we leave and then switching to the WW Core Plan once we return to kick my booty back into action. I also purchased a Crunchless Abs DVD and, although it was way more difficult for me than I had anticipated, I felt it in my abs for days! I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...

Update

Is it crazy to anyone else that Thanksgiving is next week already?!?! I just can't believe how fast time flies...

I only had to work four days last week due to the Veteran's Day holiday. I took advantage of the day off and got my hair cut. It's been in desperate need for months now, I haven't had a cut since March! I decided to go with bangs. They're still growing on me and I may just let them grow out but it was something different to try. Afterall, it is only hair.

My weigh-in went as expected this past weekend, considering I had missed the last two meetings. I gained 1.2 lbs. I told my leader that I am doing a heck of a job maintaining my weight. Too bad I have 20 lbs to lose! At least I went to the meeting. My leader gave me props for that decision. With the holidays upon us, going to the meetings will at least keep my mind focused and I won't gain as much as I would if I wasn't going to meetings. Plus, not going to Michigan for the holidays will help me from overindulging. I tend to REALLY overdo it with Jet's Pizza and Phoenix Coney Island!

My softball team has become kind of sad. With all of our busy lives, I don't think we've had the whole team together all season. Instead, we have subs filling in and, while it's still fun, we're having difficulty winning. This past Friday, the other team forfeited so we get the W.

November is pretty relaxed at Long Beach State. My Tuesday night class hasn't met all month, though we do have assignments to be working on. It has helped to have the extra evening to get stuff done.

Mark's dad turned 67 on Friday - Happy Birthday Nosh! The spent the day at the racetrack and we had dinner all together. It was a nice evening.

Life is good. It really is busy and time really is flying by but I'm happy and healthy and things have been good.

Midterm!

I am so proud of myself! I got my midterm for my Wednesday night class back tonight and I got 14.5 out of 15 and my professor wrote "Melissa - You achieved one of the highest schores on the exam, congratulations! Impressive work!!" Hooray!

I'm brilliant!!!

Well, not really, but I scored 19/20 on my first exam in my Tuesday night class and I am quite pleased with myself to say the least. I was really quite anxious about it and studied very hard in order to be successful. At this point, I'm averaging a 4.0 in both of my classes but I still have some major assignments and several exams before the semester is over...

Whew! What a week...

Last Sunday's to do list included the following:
-Midterm exam on Tuesday night (that's the biggest stresser at this point)
-Final research project outline due on Wednesday night
-Readings for Wednesday night
-Department Chair meeting on Monday after school
-Start the 5 IEPs due this month at work
-Pay October's bills
-End the week with a departmental happy hour on Friday afternoon

Progress so far:
-I think I did pretty well on my midterm. After studying all weekend, Mark quizzed me and was really amazed at my brilliance! :) He said his brain hurt after we were done.
-Research project outline done. I realized it wasn't graded but merely to give my professor an idea of what I will be working on so I did my best with hopes of feedback from him.
-Yeah, my readings didn't get done. We did, however, have a quickwrite in class which meant that I was supposed to cite authors and their opinions in response to a question when given only 20 minutes. Luckily, before the quickwrite, we got into groups to discuss the readings pretty thoroughly. I think I did okay considering I didn't read a thing for class! Bad, Melissa.
-No sweat for the department chair meeting, just an hour out of my day.
-Started my IEPs Individualized Educational Programs - each student in special ed. has one - they average about 12 pages each and include all the goals for the next year, we have to meet annually to discuss progress. I think 5 in one month is the most I've ever had to complete! The meetings all start on Tuesday. I have a meeting on the 14, 16, 21, 23, and 28!
-October bills are paid.
-Happy hour was enjoyed and very much needed.

On top of my anticipated list of things to deal with, some other highlights of my week include a fire drill at school (kids with Autism HATE fire drills), the most disgusting bloody nose I've ever had to deal with (let's just say that that kid did some serious digging for gold!), a City of Cerritos (where my school is at) Council meeting in support of a motion to increase funding for adaptive programs in the city (it passed!), and FINALLY receiving a compliment from a parent who has spent the last 3 years telling me what I'm doing wrong and exactly how I should be teaching her son.

Ugh!

I realize that I am uber-lucky to have a career that give me a vacation half-way through the year and I understand that not everyone has that luxury. That said, I CANNOT wait until summer vacation. Understand though, that when I say "summer vacation" that means teaching from 7:45 until 1:20 rather than 2:45. Yes, a measly hour and twenty minutes makes all the difference. I had a hellish week last week between finishing up state testing, writing end-of-the-year IEPs, dealing with the clash of personalities in my department, oh yeah and TEACHING! Needless to say, I really needed this weekend and I spent most of it doing absolutely nothing at all thinking that it would help me to get mentally back on track. Well, here it is Sunday evening and I find myself counting the weeks until the year is over (5 1/2). Enough ranting from me, I'm off to cuddle with my husband - I'm sure that'll make me feel better!

Oops...

On Thursday afternoons, my students practice their cursive writing. To make it a little more fun, I always play some kind of music. My co-teacher and I decided to start a fun music unit in which we review facts about different bands or artists before the kids start writing then play their music for the rest of class. Today was our first day and we covered The Beatles (of course). As I got class started, my co-teacher suggested that we pull out the video from my closet about the 60s. It's part of a set with each decade having its own tape. The videos were in my closet when I started teaching in the classroom last year although I haven't watched most of them. We figured that, since The Beatles were on the cover of the 60s video, they would be in it as well. We were right, of course. We fast forwarded through almost an hour of the National Geographic/History Channel type documentary to find them but we did, eventually, do so. They were on for about a minute before the documentary cut to images of the counter-culture of the 60s, including pot-smoking, naked girls!!!! IN MY CLASSROOM!!!! My co-teacher and I raced to the t.v. to shut it off but not before a pair of hippy boobs flashed my students! Whoops. One of my students, a 15 year-old boy with Down Syndrome, started fanning his face and asked to borrow the video! I almost immediately ran to the principal's office to give a full confession and, luckily for me, he found the whole ordeal as hilarious as my co-teacher and I did. Hopefully parents think it's funny too!