My Classroom

I haven't written about work lately because I've been just too darn busy, but it's actually going pretty well.

My autistic boys (yes, plural) are settling down. Each day is a challenge with them...I never know what will set them off crying or rolling on the floor so I tread very carefully around them. They haven't had any episodes in about a week, so that's good. The last time Jason flew off the handle was because he didn't get to spend as long at the blocks as he wanted to and he cried (complete with snot dripping down his shirt onto the floor) for about 3 hours. We couldn't do anything...I got the special ed teacher in here to help as well...nothing. So, we just let him cry. Eventually, he stopped and went home.

My other kids are mostly doing great! One sad story: my new boy was sooooo low and we were in the process of getting him some extra services but then all of a sudden, he just stopped coming. I finally got ahold of Dad to find out where he was and he told me he is in foster care in Colorado Springs and won't be coming back. Just like that. He's gone...in a new school now and he has to start the process all over again. Poor kid. It's amazing how much adults can mess up kids' lives!

So to my other kids...I now have 5 kids who are reading at 4th grade level and doing 3rd grade math. I have 10 kids who are reading at 3rd grade level and 5 kids who are right at grade level. My only kids who are below grade level are my autistic boys and my new little girl...who has been to 5 different schools this year. She will not be catching up anytime soon. Anyway, I'm so excited about my kids! We've all worked so hard and it's such an accomplishment to have ALL my kids at grade level or above! I'm so proud of them.

CSAP is now looming. Although 2nd graders don't have to take it, it affects every day and every person in our building. We all have to be very quiet so as not to disturb the other students, all the meetings and committees are canceled, music and PE are switched to different times and NO ONE is in a good mood because there is so much at stake riding on this one test. It's really too bad.

I hope whoever is in the white house for the next 4 years, whether they are Democrats or Republicans, take away the "high-stakes testing" environment that our students have to go to school in. It's so ridiculous. One 3rd grader that I had last year wasn't feeling good last week during the reading test and she did horribly. We KNOW she knew the answers, but she had a headache and because she had started the test, she had to finish it...we couldn't send her home till she had finished it. (you're not allowed to stop a test mid-way)

So that kid will be put down as unsatisfactory even though she was reading above grade level for me last year because she had a bad day. She will be counted against our quota of "allowed unsats" and used against us to prove how badly we are teaching our kids.

It's just not right...all that on one test. I agree teachers and students need to be held to a common standard but it should be through multiple measures: portfolios, interviews, projects and then a test. Not everything (funding, grants, raises, or if we can even stay open!) should ride on one test.

Anyway, there's my soapbox for the day. Basically, my kids and I have settled in and I'm finding I sort-of like my job after all! :-) My kids make me laugh every day and even though I'm over-worked and under-paid, I think teaching is pretty fun!