Anthony T.

I believe this is the first post about Anthony. Anthony is a very bright child in one of my seventh grade groups. I decided to work with Anthony on my genogram project for class. I figured this would be a way for us to bond a bit more. I've found out so much about him. But, I have to laugh at this...he says his family is Jewish and his family celebrates Octoberfest as a result!

We finished the project, I just hope he was honest. Anthony is a vivid thinker.

Today was a pretty good day. Thank God it's Friday!!!

0511 and Kevin

I took the 0511 Praxis test this past weekend. It covers all subject areas and makes me highly qualified across the board. I think I did pretty well, the Social Studies kicked my butt!

Taking the test did give me an opportunity to see one of my old APlus co-hort III buddies, Kevin. He teaches at Turner and guess who came from Turner? My favorite student, Arthur. Kevin told me just what they were dealing with and how to deal with him. I tried one of his suggestions today. I ignored him! For a whole ten minutes. It worked. Seems like he just wants attention and will take it good or bad.

Sometimes I just want to scream...

Arthur!!!!

That's all I can say today. The gray hair in my temple says the rest.

ITBS

We started ITBS testing today for the 8th graders. It went pretty well. I'm worn out though. We're testing all week, its only Monday! Testing in the morning and we only see 2 classes in the afternoon. My 7th grade classes are getting neglected. I'm making CRCT study packets for them though. Hopefully that helps.

Speaking of CRCT, last year my students were very successful on the CRCT. I hope it works this time.

I love LINCS !!!!

I am just returning to work after being out the past three days. My grandmother had a stroke the day after my birthday and she is now in ICU. I've been out of town and with my family the past few days. Needless to say, I haven't done much reflecting on work.

I didn't have a lesson plan to follow, but that didn't matter much. Luckily we're starting a new unit on Earth's ecosystem's. We did LINCS with some of the new terms (the kids love it by the way and it actually helps them learn the meaning of the words) and watched a little film I downloaded from United Streaming. It's a good thing I can think on my feet.

Today was a real good day.

I had to take the day off...

Yesterday was such a disaster, I just had to take a day to get my head back on straight. Needless to say, I just couldn't go in to work. I think the stress of it all is making me sick. It's a good thing this is all online. Hopefully Ms. Stokes will take a look, I need some help :-)

I just want to go home!

Today the 8th grade was completely out of control. Now I consider myself to be a pretty good classroom manager, but I just couldn't do it today. Students came in completely off today. No one would do the opening activities. A few were trying to start a fight. I had to threaten to just stop teaching and call all parents. And I did! I only reached 4 by phone, but it helped a little bit. Apparently something happened at lunch, everyone is still hyped up about it. I can honestly say that today I felt defeated. I just want to go home.

Great News...Roderick passed the test!

Today, I actually received a bit of good news. One of my eighth grade students actually passed the 8th grade state writing exam. Roderick was so diligent in his preparation for the test and was pretty excited after we finished testing. He's really such a smart kid, if only he recognized his potential.

Roderick is severely emotionally disturbed and often gets into trouble around school. He is best known for starting fights and all the negative behavior he's displayed over the years at Carson.
We have done so much to try and help him, and so has everyone else. He has an advocate, mentors, support groups and family who all work so hard with him.

Sometimes it seems to work and sometimes it just doesn't. He started the year off in Inclusion classes and mainstreamed for Science and Social Studies. Now he's self contained. I really don't know what else to do with him. I've tried so much. Some days he's on other days he's off. Hmm...wait a minute that sounds a lot like me. Any suggestions?

Arthur's First Day

Today I received news that I'd hoped not to have to deal with for the rest of the year, "Ms. Lovett you're getting a new student". In walks a big, tall young man...Arthur! Now, I understand that teaching is about flexibility and there is no guarantee that one's class size will remain the same, but come on. My classes are now out of control in terms of size. I am now up to 20 students in one class (a small one at that), mostly students that have emotional behavior disorders and no para. I am really at wits end. To top it all off, Arthur starts his first day in trouble...he just got into a fight with another student. I'm going to try and focus on Arthur a bit in my next entries.

Other than that, today's lesson went very well. We're talking about the Civil War. I showed the kids clips from Gone with the Wind.

CBU's

Today at work, we were given a quick overview of CBU's (Concept Based Units) by the Instructional Specialist at our school. A few classes ago at Georgia State or maybe it was during APlus training we were given a bit of insight into CBU's. I think I have a decent understanding of the process and everything, but my question/concern is how does it all work in a Special Education classroom (Like Mine)?

8th Grade Focus/Class Composition

For the purpose of reflection, I have chosen to focus on one of my most challenging classes...my 8th Graders! Primarily composed of boys, my eighth grade class includes many students that I had taught last year at Carson. For the most part they have matured over the year, but there are several challenges many of which I will discuss here. First of all let me describe my class composition. The group consists of about 14 students, 3 of which have Mild Intellectual Disabilities, 3 with Specific Learning Disabilities and the rest all with Emotional Behavior Disorders (2 Severe). At the start of the school year, we actually had the class sepearted into 2 groups and it worked beautifully. Much was accomplished and I actually felt as if they were making tremendous progress in the subject area. However, many things soon happened. 1.) We lost a team member, he died unexpectedly. 2.) One team member left for maternity leave 3.) We received about 10 new students from the PEC team downstairs which forced us to combine the 8th grade.

Since that time, everything has changed. About 50% of the class is actually instructional time. The rest all goes to discipline issues. Its almost like oil and water the way they don't mix. It is so stressful and so discouraging at the same time. I write beautiful lesson plans only to actually be able to teach about 20% of what is written. We've tried so much with this group and I refuse to give up. I am here to teach and that's exactly what I'm going to do even if it takes everything out of me. So, that will be the next few posts focus...the 8th grade group.