Stupid Criminals

My bike was stolen about a week ago out from under my enclosed front porch. You can't really see in so someone must have watched my roommate put it under there or was looking around for something to take. I hoped that it was stolen because someone saw it being put under the porch. This would mean that someone in my neighborhood took it and I would likely see it around.

Well, today was that day. Not only was it someone in my neighborhood that took it but my neighbor that lives two doors down. She is an overweight, African American woman who seems to have a mental disability. I drove home from work early today because I wasn't feeling well. When I pulled up, I saw her get off the bike and stick it behind a vehicle so I couldn't see it. I approached her and nonchalantly asked her where she got the bike. Her response was that someone sold it to her. I told her that it was my bike and had been stolen. When I asked who sold it to her, she said that she couldn't tell me. I said, "well, I hope you can get your money back" and "thanks for helping me find my bike" ... and walked away with my bike which is now safe and sound in my living room.

Ugh!!! This world is so broken!!

This situation also makes me think about the students that I work with who have all types of disabilities. I do not want them to grow up and become this person. My goal is for them to become positive contributors to their community and society as a whole. I only work with my students for a limited number of years but I hope and pray that my work with them starts them on the right path. I love my kiddos. Every last one.

Trying to remember that I’m the grown up

*Deep sigh* Today was rough. I work with a population that likes their routines and structure (and let’s face it…so do I) but we are only on day 6 of school and the routines are not fully engrained in our minds. We’re also working out the kinks of scheduling instruction and supports so that our students can be successful in the classroom. The meltdowns throughout the day make me feel like I’m not meeting their needs. Actually, I am definitely not meeting their needs at this point. I know it is never going to be perfect but I want my students to be comfortable in school and be able to participate in class. Right now this is not happening.

My day started out with wrangling my new kindergarten kids through the breakfast line and repeating the same directions 5 MILLION times. –Hands by your side. Body still. Turn around. Stay in the line. Keep your body off of other people. Hands down. Stand up tall. –Then a new 1^st grader comes in and has a melt down because he doesn’t know where I am. After I settle my kindergartner with her breakfast and rush to the side of my tantrum throwing student, he refuses to walk through the line. However, he wants breakfast and is willing to stand in one place and yell and cry until it comes about. Little does he know that I don’t give in easily. After 5-10 minutes of him yelling, I convince him to walk through the line (still yelling) and sit at a table. He finally eats some of his food and I set a visual timer to let him know how long he has until he has to throw it away. When the timer goes off, I tell him that it is time to throw our breakfast away and he shoves a whole biscuit in his mouth. He doesn’t want to throw anything away so I pick up his tray and throw it away. This causes a full out meltdown (and let me remind you, this is with his mouth full of biscuit and a cafeteria full of k-2^nd graders). The biscuit ends up all over the table and he ends up on the floor—screaming, with big alligator tears rolling down his face and snot oozing everywhere. I maneuver him out of the cafeteria and convince him to take a deep breath, which finally calms him down.

This was all within the first 45 minutes of my day and serves as a good indicator of what the rest of my day was like. By the end of the day, I was struggling to soothe my students and remind them of the routines in place. It took all the mental strength I had left to not have a meltdown myself.

Parents, how do you do it????

Pray for me.

School is like Spinach

Some kids like it. Others don't like but will eat it because they know it is good for them. However, some kids just don't like it and will fight you if you try to make them eat it.

Our kids start back tomorrow and I am so excited to see their faces again and get to invest in their lives. I am anxiously anticipating what will work and what obstacles we will face. Please pray for the teachers to have a peace about this week and not worry over the small things that will go wrong. It is going to be a long week but I can't wait for morning!

I have been insanely busy preparing independent workstations, visual schedules, emotions charts, intervention schedules, first-then boards, and participating in professional development for the past two weeks. I wanted to spend some time this weekend resting and mentally preparing myself for Monday morning. One thing I enjoy doing is cooking and baking. Last night I made delicious Paula Deen Salmon Patties and Chocolate Cherry Nut Bars from one of my new favorite food blogs, Peas and Thank You. Cooking is therapeutic for me and I love experimenting with new recipes. Today has been spent at church, watching reruns of my guilty pleasure...Grey's Anatomy, and hopefully going to Target to get some comfy teaching shoes.

First day of school, here I come!