Working in a Consolidating School District

Each day I enter the school with confidence and determination.  I have done this job for 17 years. I know what to do.

Each day I step into my office ready to take on the pile of work I left yesterday and I am ready for the new challenges that will reach me on the phone… in a report… from a parent… from a teacher or a co-worker….from a small, distorted voice in the hall. I look forward to working with my students.

Each day I have a plan- Each day I am ready to teach

Each day I pray that I will make a difference

Lately, each day is harder than the one before…

I feel less confident that I will finish yesterday’s tasks

I feel less determination to take on new challenges

I feel over-whelmed by the phone

Reports

Parents

Teachers

Coworkers

Giant's lunch

As a group of kindergartners went into the lunch room I noticed the tray included chicken patties without a bun.

One of the kids also noticed what was on the tray and said to me, "Wow! We are having a giant people's chicken nugget!"

:)

Out of the mouth's of babes

At work my new student teacher has started working with a group of 1st graders. She brought in a Batman and Robin matching game that she found on the internet. The kids loved playing it and it was fun to listen to the conversations they had together, but this one is my favorite....

Student: I'm looking for Robin. He's Batman's wife.

Student teacher: You mean Robin is Batman's friend?

Student: No, actually we call them partners.... that is what they are. :)

Ned's Head

One of the games we played this week at school was “Ned’s Head” which is a game where the kids have to feel and identify all sorts of gross disgusting things in Ned’s head and match the card they pick out of a pile. These are things like a giant ant, a dirty old Q-tip, and the favorite of the boys in my group…. Ned’s used lunch. (A big plastic slab of vomit)

One item is a huge, decaying tooth. One of my students pulled this out and I said, “Wow! That is a big tooth! I bet the tooth fairy would give a lot of money for that!” The student considered this for a minute and said, “No, she wouldn’t”

I was surprised, so I asked why not. He said, “The Easter Bunny will give anything cuz he’s got lots of stuff he needs to get rid of, Santa only comes if you are good, but the Tooth Fairy is the smartest…. Fake tooth, fake money.” I love kindergartener logic. J

Conversation from School 2

Kindergartener crying outside of the lunch room. 

Substitute: "Why are you crying?"

"I forgot my lunch"

Substitute: "Oh no! How did you do that?"

"I wasn't hungry when I left this morning."

Conversations from School

"My Dad went to the Barbie Shop over the weekend but said I couldn't go.... I didn't even know my Dad liked Barbie's"

Kindergartener crying outside of the lunch room. 

Substitute: "Why are you crying?"

"I forgot my lunch"

Substitute: "Oh no! How did you do that?"

"I wasn't hungry when I left this morning."

Overheard...

Dill: (Just returning from swim practice and finding out all his siblings are busy and doing things he can’t do): I am grumpy. There is nothing to do.  

Pepper: Well, I am running to Target. Want to come with me?

Dill: But I don’t have any money to take to the store.

Pepper: Me either!!  :)

Overheard while standing in a Target line: "I'm not criticizing you, I'm telling you how to do it."

Today's smile...

Student teacher reading "If You Give a Moose a Muffin" to kindergardeners....

Child (looking at a picture): Wow! That moose is so HORNY!!

Student Teacher (after the briefest of pauses): Maybe, but those are called antlers. :)

Consequences

Today I went to the funeral of a co-workers daughter. I’ve been thinking about her a lot since I heard her 20 year-old daughter died in a car accident Saturday. For instance, just over a year ago, Dori was in a motorcycle accident that could have ended much worse than it did. Last weekend, Macy and Pete drove to a church event and sent a text when they arrived safely as we agreed. Dill went with friends this weekend climbing trees to set up a hunting stand 15 feet up a tree.

Last Sunday, while we were enjoying a family dinner with B&D then Skyping with Dori…. this co-worker was planning her daughter’s funeral. It’s hard to let children grow up and become more independent and make their own mistakes. Some consequences are just too huge…. Too permanent.

Macy had some friends at her swim meet tonight. They are a young couple from our church with three young children. I watched the Mom hold one of the kids hand as they walked up the stairs to keep him from falling and the Dad put his hand on the back of another one’s head when he almost bumped a railing. After they left, Macy asked Pepper and I if we missed having young kids. I thought about how much easier it is to keep them safe when they are always in sight. I thought about a commercial for toilet tissue I once saw on TV where a Mom wraps her child in toilet paper before allowing him to get on a bike. At the time, I thought the commercial was ridiculous…. But now, I can see the desire to keep growing kids safe. 

Today, another person at the funeral shook her head and whispered to me when she saw the co-worker barely holding it together: “There but for the grace of God go I” she said. Pepper mentioned later that I always seem to know what to say to people in these situations (like funerals and hospital visits) and it surprised me, because I always just say what I feel. When the co-worker hugged me and thanked me for coming I simply said, “No one should ever have to bury their child. I am so sorry you have to do this.”

“If you were my child, I would staple you to your bedroom wall.”

 ~Myra McEntire, Hourglass

We The People...

My new student teacher today had a little boy say to her, "My Dad said today is Prostitution Day!"

She was speechless and just stared at him a minute when I broke in and said, "You're right! It is Constitution Day!!"

She seemed very relieved that I jumped in to translate!!  :)

The Bathroom

There is a woman I’ve worked with for the past 4 years that does not stand out much. In fact, I bet many of my co-workers don’t even notice her. About two years ago I started saying ‘Hi’ every time I walked by her and took her on as an unofficial speech client. First, I asked quick yes/no or one-word questions so she would talk to me. Then, I started showing her pictures or items I was holding to encourage eye contact and asking her open-ended questions and stopping in the hall obviously waiting for her answers. By the end of last year she was getting more comfortable and waving at me when we saw each other in the hallway.

Kids Today...

Scene: The school nurse was out and a chunky little fellow came into my office saying he needed new underwear. We went into the nurses’ office and found what he needed. He had successfully changed in the bathroom then came out and sat on the nurses’ cot to put on his socks and shoes. Both shoes were on and he just sat there.

Me: Can you tie your own shoes?

Him: Yep.

Me: OK, show me.

Him: Well, I really just look at people until they do it.

Me: Ah… then you CAN’T tie shoes.

Him: (Matter of factly) I can.

(short pause)

Him: (Exasperated and like the details were over my head) My Dad taught me all about the bunny ears around a tree and stuff- but I just wait. And I get somebody else to do it.

We look at each other for a good long minute. He looks happy to sit and hang out, I think about the work I never should have left my office for.

I tied his shoes. I didn’t want to try to outwait him…. He looked like a professional! J

What do you think of me NOW? Part 2.

Ok, a follow up to the post 2 days ago about the little girl who remembered that I told her she was acting mature…..

I was doing kindergarten registration and noticed a woman that looked familiar with a young boy. Since I’ve been in the same district close to 20 years it is not surprising that I see familiar faces. But this woman sort of smiled at me and kept watching me as I was doing things in the room so I said to her, “You sure look familiar to me. Do you have an older child that came to this school?”

She said,  “No, actually you were MY teacher.”

Still unsurprised I said, “Did I work with you in the middle school or high school?” (I have run into kids I’ve worked with before at these levels)

“No, you worked with me when I was in kindergarten.”

I suddenly felt very, VERY mature. My kindergarteners are now coming back with kindergarteners!! Oy!

What do you think NOW?

A first grader I do not really know stopped me in the hall today. With her little hands on her hips she said, “I know you! When I was in preschool you told me I was acting like a first grader cuz I was being so good. Now I AM a first grader- what do you think now?!”

I told her she had grown up beautifully and was very smart because she remembered who I was. As I walked away I thought it was amazing how sometimes we never really know the impact we can have on others. :) 

Standing on the bus

I was reading stories to a group of preschoolers while they waited for the rest of their class to finish lunch. One little boy was standing and looked somewhat distressed. I asked what was wrong and he told me he had a problem on the bus. I asked what the problem was and he told me that he stood up while the bus was moving and the bus driver told him that if he did it again she would have the principal kick him off the bus.

All the other students started telling me they never stood up on the bus, so in true speech therapist fashion I asked them why it was a bad idea to stand on the bus. They all came up with great reasons; you could bump your head into the window, or fall down onto the floor. One child mentioned that you could bump heads with someone else.

The boy who had been in trouble still looked distressed and I said to him, “Do you see why you shouldn’t stand up? You could get really hurt.” With a slight pause and tears in his eyes he replied, “None of those things are going to hurt as much as when the principal kicks me!”

......... A Friend of mine has a daughter is getting married. She told me exasperated, "My daughter is driving me crazy... she keeps asking me for a check for this and a check for that….. I am about checked out!" Its nice to know there is no expiration date on kids being able to drive ya' crazy! :)

Another cute school story

A boy came into my office looking a little sad. In his hands are green crumpled papers that I recognize as the play money students earn for each homework assignment they do... that can be turned in for toys/prizes from my treasure chest. They definitely appeared to have gone through the laundry in his pocket. He said, "I want to turn these in for a prize cuz they rusted."

..... I was standing in the hall at school today when two little girls holding hands walked past me. I smiled as they passed because I knew one of them from an observation I had done the day before. The little girl smiled and waved back. A few seconds later I heard the girl say to her friend, “See that grey haired lady back there? I know her.” I looked around to see the grey-haired lady…. No one else was there but me! ☹

Strangely wet

Two teachers were in the copy room of the early childhood building I work in. One of them notices that she has a wet spot near the bottom edge of her shirt and says: "I must have gotten wet somewhere" 

Other teacher, "Oh, you never want to be strangely wet in this building!" :)

Checked out

A Friend of mine has a daughter is getting married. She told me exasperated, "My daughter is driving me crazy... she keeps asking me for a check for this and a check for that….. I am about checked out!" Its nice to know there is no expiration date on kids being able to drive ya' crazy! :)

More than a Math lesson

I had a parent come in and talk to me the other day. I have known her for several years because 2 of her kids had speech and language issues and they were on my caseload over the course of several years. I ‘ve learned quite a bit about her through those years. I know that she barely made it through high school and her husband received a lot of special education support to get him through. She and her husband both work long hours. She cleans houses and he works nights at a gas station. The schedule works for them since they have a new baby at home and one of them can always be home for the kids.

At parent teacher conferences and IEP meetings I am always impressed that she listens intently to what I am saying, responds with good questions and asks what she can do to help at home. I can tell she does not really like to be at the IEP table hearing about what needs her children still have, but she is there. She does not have her kids ride the bus so she is often waiting in the front lobby for school to let out. She smiles at any children that pass by and says “Hi” to adults. Even on half days, she is never late. So she comes into my office with her oldest daughter’s math sheet. The oldest does not go to our school anymore. She moved on to another elementary school and is now in third grade. She held out the paper to me and said she wondered if I could help her understand the math. She does not know that I am horrible at math. I completed both my undergraduate and graduate degrees without taking a single math class….. one of the biggest selling points when I was selecting a career! She told me that she went to her daughter’s teacher and asked her to explain how to get the answers. The teacher said casually, “Oh don’t worry about it we’ll do it in class.” Plenty of teachers have said that to me…. And I have simply sighed in relief! But this mom was very hurt. She told me she could not look the teacher in the eye any more and felt very uncomfortable around her. I asked her why and the mom said that the teacher treated her like she was too dumb to learn. Now I know that no teacher would ever imply that to a mom- but I am comfortable in schools. I am comfortable knowing that if I really cared about “Lattice math” or “Touchpoint subtraction” I could learn. This mom was not. I realized that every day this woman comes into the school to get her kids and every time she sits for a PAB meeting, conference or IEP she feels the way I would feel walking into a motorcycle-muscle bar or a convent where everyone took a vow of silence…. Very uncomfortable. Yet day after day she comes back for her kids.
I spent quite a while with her (I even tried to do the math) and when she left I think she felt a little better about talking to her daughter’s teacher again. It makes me realize that we have to be so careful with what we say because it is so easy to hurt others without meaning to, even the people we really like and admire. I am sure I have hurt people in my life that I never meant to hurt…. By saying things I did not even know caused pain. If you are in my life and I have said something to hurt you…. I am sorry. I hope that all the nice, non-hurtful things make up for the wrongful things…. and that I get opportunities to say lots more nice things to you. Maybe I should spend a little time in one of those silent monasteries learning to keep quiet. ☺

Grey haired lady

I was standing in the hall at school today when two little girls holding hands walked past me. I smiled as they past because I knew one of them from an observation I had done the day before. The little girl smiled and waved back. A few seconds later I heard the girl say to her friend, “See that grey haired lady back there? I know her.”

I looked around to see the grey haired lady…. No one else was there but me! ☹