I'm Back!

Hi Friends!

I turned the old blog off for professional reasons, intending for it to be off for just a few weeks, but alas, I forgot how to get back in, so for those who received the "blocked" message, don't take it personally.  I couldn't get in either.

This will be a short post.  I just wanted to share two links to SPED stories that are close to me and have been in the new.  My next post will share the graduation shenanigans I experienced last week.

The first link it about a teacher I worked under the first summer (or time) I worked in Special Ed.  At my previous school, he was a fellow coworker.  This clip depicts him perfectly.

The next link is a story from the Kansas City Star about my school's graduating class.  Probably not a 100% accurate picture, but touching nonetheless.

It has been a week.  I have written more behavior and injury reports than I care to think about ( I had to write 7 for just one incident!).  Needless to say, by today, Friday, my patience and nerves are close to being shot.

My older students came into my class, and they stunk.  I have been lecturing them about the importance of deodorant all year, and I just can't get them to see the importance of it.  Today, the smell about made me crazy.

Me:  "Ok, you guys smell awful.  Who didn't wear deodorant today?"

(knowing no one would answer, but I wanted to shock them)

Fake Seizing Student:  "Well Darcie, don't you think that's a rude question?  I don't ask you if you wear a bra everyday."

Me (thinking "Touche," but actually saying:)  "Fake Seizing Student, that is not appropriate. Let's go the bathroom and put some deodorant on."

Warning: Girly Post Ahead

March is Endometriosis Awareness Month.  Endometriosis is a condition I was diagnosed with last February, and in May I will be having my second surgery in just over a year's time to treat it. Many women suffer greatly from this disease (much worse than I have), and there is still no known identifiable cause.  I know before I was diagnosed, I had a difficult time believing women who had this disease were dealing with something real, especially since there are no outward symptoms.  Although the symptoms cannot be seen, they are real and can cause many complications.  To top it off, there are no treatments that have been found to treat this disease without undesirable side effects.  A matter of fact, I'm having a hot flash as I write this :)

I guess my point in writing this is to just say that if you know someone (other than me-ha ha) who has this condition, know that it is legitimate and try to be understanding.  

**Steps off my soapbox**

Please click the link to learn more.  Due to the somewhat squeamishness of the topic, I chose not to post all of the details.

*

Terms of Endearment

When I'm not attempting to keep them from brawling, my students can be quite endearing.  

Example 1:

Picture me, hair in a falling-down ponytail that looks a mess and my Bottom On Fire student walks in the classroom:

Bottom (just gushing and bubbling over-very over-the-top):  "Oh Darcie!  I love your hair!  It's just beautiful!!!! Did you get a haircut?  It's gorgeous!  I love it!"

Me:  No, my dear.  I didn't wash it this morning.  

Bottom:  "Oh."  (the enchantment was gone as fast as it came).

Example 2:

I was walking Sweet Student out to her bus.  She brings a portable DVD player to school to watch movies and listen to music during her free time and was upset because she couldn't find the charger.

Sweet Student:  "Teacher!"

Me:  "What's my name?"

Sweet Student:  "Darcie, can you look in my backpack for my charger?  I lost it."

Me (looking in the backpack):  "Here it is Sweet Student."

Sweet Student (waving as she walks down the hall):  "God bless you teacher.  God bless you and God bless my homies."  

I love to pick on my kids at school.  I never do anything mean (ok, maybe that snake video wasn't all that nice), and my favorite thing to do is sing.  I can set any phrase or command to a melody and then belt it out with my annoyingly nasal voice.  I think I can now say that I know the joy that parents of adolescents must feel when they have successfully driven their child crazy.  It's always good when a student lets me know that I'm successfully doing my job.  

While singing Happy Birthday to a student who was turning 18, another student turned to me and said:

"I used to think that my mom was the most annoying person I knew.  Then I met you."

That was one of the best compliments I had received all week.

Me and My (Not So) Worldly Ways

I have always prided myself in knowing the ways of the world.  Even though I attended a Christian university, I thought public high school taught me all (or more than) that I ever needed to know.  If you can't tell by that line of thinking, I'm pretty naive.

Dear Fake-Seizing student is really having a difficult time maintaining appropriateness when he comes to my classroom.  It seems that everyday he is escorted to the behavior specialist because he just can't get it together.  My dear Teacher Friend has Fake-Seizing student the hour before I do, and before coming to class she coached him with, "Ok, I want you to feel successful, so if you feel something inappropriate about to come out of your mouth, take your hands and cover your mouth."

This advice seemed to work.  The other boys in the class were being very loud, and Fake-Seizing student kept his hand over his mouth the whole time.  I was proud of him.  I turned my back to get something off of my counter and suddenly all of the boys start yelling, "Fake Seizing student is cussing!  Fake-Seizing student is cussing!"  I didn't hear anything, and turned around to see him doing sign language.  I thought that was cool because he has a penchant for languages (hence the Bulgarian curse words) and told the tattlers to settle down because he was just signing.  

I then (stupidly) said, "I know a little sign.  I can tell you what he's saying."

Fake-Seizing student continues to sign, and I see that he's finger spelling.

"Oh, he's spelling.  See:  B-I-T-C.  Oh no!  He's spelling!  Ok, boys, back to work."

Not so worldly after all.

The students at my school come from several school districts in the metro area (probably at least 15-20 different ones), and each district provides their own transportation.  One notorious district has a particularly shady bus.  They can't ever seem to make it to school on time and have some funny (as in odd) behavior management techniques with the students.  One time they even admitted to pulling off of a major interstate so they could get a big blue ball off the side of the road to donate to the PE department.

One day last week they were really late-like over an hour.  Sweet Student (who has been placed in my homeroom since the linked post) rides that bus, and when she arrived I asked her what the hold up had been.  She said, "Darcie, a Metro Bus hit us and just drove off."  This student isn't exactly known for her truthfulness, so I had a hard time believing her story.

When I put her on the bus that evening, I said to the bus driver, "Well, I heard you had quite a morning."  She responded with "I sure did.  A Metro Bus hit us and drove right off.  He knocked off our mirror and scraped the whole side.  We tried to follow him, but he got away."

Ok, the fact that kids could have been hurt is not at all funny, but does anyone else see humor in a hit and run involving a city bus and a big yellow school bus?