Today...
... was MUCH better than yesterday.
Yesterday one of my kids forgot to take his meds and didn't bother to tell us until we were already on the bus to Pizzaria Uno, where we were taking a field trip because when you teach a self contained special ed class you can take them wherever you want and say you are trying to teach them Social Skills*. Kids with AD/HD don't really give a shit about social skills when they are not on their medication. And kids with Asperger's? They don't much care for the break in routine, no matter how much they like the pizza because the sauce is red and their favorite color is red and they will only be red when playing Trouble. Also, kids with emotional issues don't stop screaming for other kids to "SHUUUUUTTTT UUUUUUUPPPPP BIG MOUTH BEFORE I PUNCH YOU IN THE FAAACE!!!!" just because they are in a restaurant.
But we made it through the field trip, bus ride with overstimulation due to noise from other classes and all, back to the classroom, and that is where all. hell. broke. loose.
I'm not going to go into all the details because, you know, Teacher Blog-- no. And unless you are a teacher of BD students, you might not realize** how helpless you'd feel when you are the only one in a classroom of 5 kids, when you've got one student in the bathroom down the hall standing on the seats and screaming while another student is breaking crayons and throwing Uno cards all over the room and another is in the Time Out room with your aide, and so you can't leave the classroom because the kids can't be in there alone and so you have to prop your door open and get the teacher across the hall to watch your class while you go down the hallway to reprimand the one who is being bad in the bathroom and because he's got Asperger's he gets all anxious about being in trouble and decides to just sit down in the middle of the hallway and not budge, screaming, "I'M NOT HAPPY!" and making exaggerated scowling faces that would amuse you out of sheer rediculousness had you not 3 children back in the classroom being watched from across the hallway and one in Time Out trying to punch your aide.
By the way? That was only 5 minutes of my day yesterday, and the rest of it was quite similar.
Today was much better. One was absent, and everyone was actually pretty even-tempered, and I was told that I should be on "World's Funniest Teachers***" because of my exemplary and very slammin' beats, a.k.a. Ignore Him, in rap form, complete with that scratchy record noise made by scraping the bottom of my shoe on the leg of my desk chair and doing the Scratchy Record Hand Motion.
Good thing they are 8 and not 18. Fo' sho'****.
* We took a tour of the kitchen, made individual cheese pizzas... and then ate them. This was not an easy task while on the Diet, but I managed to make it through with only a diet soda. Go me!
** Well yeah... you might realize anyway.
*** No, this show does not exist, even in America.
**** Is it uncool to add apostrophes to slang words? I can't not do it. And for some reason double negatives don't bother me as much as unrepresented missing letters.
Yesterday one of my kids forgot to take his meds and didn't bother to tell us until we were already on the bus to Pizzaria Uno, where we were taking a field trip because when you teach a self contained special ed class you can take them wherever you want and say you are trying to teach them Social Skills*. Kids with AD/HD don't really give a shit about social skills when they are not on their medication. And kids with Asperger's? They don't much care for the break in routine, no matter how much they like the pizza because the sauce is red and their favorite color is red and they will only be red when playing Trouble. Also, kids with emotional issues don't stop screaming for other kids to "SHUUUUUTTTT UUUUUUUPPPPP BIG MOUTH BEFORE I PUNCH YOU IN THE FAAACE!!!!" just because they are in a restaurant.
But we made it through the field trip, bus ride with overstimulation due to noise from other classes and all, back to the classroom, and that is where all. hell. broke. loose.
I'm not going to go into all the details because, you know, Teacher Blog-- no. And unless you are a teacher of BD students, you might not realize** how helpless you'd feel when you are the only one in a classroom of 5 kids, when you've got one student in the bathroom down the hall standing on the seats and screaming while another student is breaking crayons and throwing Uno cards all over the room and another is in the Time Out room with your aide, and so you can't leave the classroom because the kids can't be in there alone and so you have to prop your door open and get the teacher across the hall to watch your class while you go down the hallway to reprimand the one who is being bad in the bathroom and because he's got Asperger's he gets all anxious about being in trouble and decides to just sit down in the middle of the hallway and not budge, screaming, "I'M NOT HAPPY!" and making exaggerated scowling faces that would amuse you out of sheer rediculousness had you not 3 children back in the classroom being watched from across the hallway and one in Time Out trying to punch your aide.
By the way? That was only 5 minutes of my day yesterday, and the rest of it was quite similar.
Today was much better. One was absent, and everyone was actually pretty even-tempered, and I was told that I should be on "World's Funniest Teachers***" because of my exemplary and very slammin' beats, a.k.a. Ignore Him, in rap form, complete with that scratchy record noise made by scraping the bottom of my shoe on the leg of my desk chair and doing the Scratchy Record Hand Motion.
Good thing they are 8 and not 18. Fo' sho'****.
* We took a tour of the kitchen, made individual cheese pizzas... and then ate them. This was not an easy task while on the Diet, but I managed to make it through with only a diet soda. Go me!
** Well yeah... you might realize anyway.
*** No, this show does not exist, even in America.
**** Is it uncool to add apostrophes to slang words? I can't not do it. And for some reason double negatives don't bother me as much as unrepresented missing letters.
posted by Jess at 8:34 PM
5 Comments:
As crazy as work has been for me, I do not envy you. -- But just think, the year's almost over right?
I always wonder why nice people choose to do this for a living. I find it totally admirable, selfless and impressive, but i can never understand how people do this to themselves every day.
Wow. You're very brave. :)
So with Claire on this one. TOTALLY think it's awesome that you do this, and I understand there must be an unbelievable reward in it, but the exhaustion you must feel at the end of every day....
Yay you for doing it.
I actually really like my job... it's not as torturous as it sounds on most days-- you guys get to hear all the good stuff.
Good show. I'm glad there are people like you in the world.
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