Whew...I Can't Believe It's December Already!

Wow, so first let me apologize for not posting a blog in quite some time. Time has gotten away from us! I was on vacation the entire week of Thanksgiving so I was not here to participate in our Thanksgiving activities. :( As far as I know, the kiddies had tons of fun making butter and whipped cream for pumpkin pie. :)

I spent my Thanksgiving week camping in Ocala National Forest (something we do every year). This year wasn't much fun for the most part- I got bit by red ants (to which I'm allergic), I ended up with the flu, it down-poured for a straight 24 hours (which soaked through our tent while I was sick), and then just when I started feeling better I ended up with ash in my eye from the campfire (so I spent Thanksgiving blind because it hurt too much to open either eye).  But the last 56 hours were absolutely gorgeous! Temps. in the 50s/60s during the day and 30s at night!

Needless to say, I was looking forward to getting back into the groove since vacation wasn't as relaxing as it should have been. Once December rolled around, we really got down to work with practicing our performance for our annual Signing Santa field trip. Every year all the elementary, preschool, and middle school D/HH students get together for some winter/holiday fun. The kiddos had a blast and did a great job performing. I wish I could show you their performance, but the file is too large and I can't figure out how to compress it... :( (Don't worry, their parents have all signed media release forms!)

Structured Physical Activity...yuck!

Whatever happened to just letting kids play? I mean, seriously, don't you think we've sucked enough of the fun out of being a kid already? Why do we need to take away their free-play time too? Well, down here in Florida lawmakers felt it was necessary to structure kids recess- structured physical activity (sorry!). Ugh. Now, not only do I plan for 4 different grade levels for math, science, social studies, reading, and writing, I also plan their recess...yay! Because I don't have enough to do already.

And sometimes it amazes us as to what these kids don't know. Last Friday I taught them how to play hopscotch. I couldn't believe they didn't know how already, but, then again, I shouldn't be all that surprised. Once they got the hang of it, they really enjoyed it!  As a matter of fact, this morning it's been raining and they complained that the chalk got washed away... :( I guess I'll be drawing a new hopscotch board when the rain clears up! :)

Popcorn Balls...or Something Like That

So last Friday was Halloween...first of all, let me just let out a loud hallelujah that it was on a Friday! The day after Halloween is a nightmare for teachers! The day of Halloween is crazy- usually. At our school we have an Early Release Day the week before where our students are allowed to dress up in their costumes, so Halloween is supposed to be a typical day. Yea, right.

This year, the majority of my class was on a field trip for the day so I was left with my three little ones. We joined the teacher next door to make popcorn balls. The kids loved it! They had fun watching the marshmallows melt in the microwave and mixing the popcorn into it. They loved getting their hands covered in sticky goo...me, not so much. Sensory overload. It was worth it, though.  That afternoon when the other kids returned from their field trip we gave them their popcorn balls and everyone chowed down...it was hilarious watching them trying to figure out how to chew it. :)

Their parents have all signed media release forms, but just to err on the side of caution I covered their faces...sorry, you don't get to see their angelic faces. :)

The 500 Hats of a Teacher

A friend asked me a few days ago what the most stressful part of being a teacher was. Another friend commented that the sheer vastness of paperwork and developmentally inappropriate assessments was the most stressful part. While I agree with her wholeheartedly (and it runs a close second to what I'm about to say), I've spent the past few days thinking about that innocent question and I've come to a different conclusion. Not being able to teach is the most stressful part of teaching- hands down.

As a special education teacher I was prepared for the idea of paperwork and documenting. I have to admit, however, that no one could have prepared us for the exact amount of paperwork and documenting that comes with this job (and it grows every year). Honestly, it's a bit ridiculous.

I have a total of 7 students for whom I'm responsible. While this may not seem like a lot, it means 7x the amount of paperwork a general education teacher has for the one (maybe 2) students with IEPs who are in their rooms...and most of those students have one area of weakness (communication, curriculum, independent functioning, or social/emotional). My students have all 4. I have to collect vast amounts of paperwork for each goal within each area of weakness. Hat 1- Data Entry Processor.

In addition to collecting all this data, I'm responsible for writing the actual IEP. For those of you who don't know what this entails let me sum it up- hours. Hours of administering assessments for each students' goals as well as state/district testing. Hours of calculating scores and/or interpreting results of said assessments. Hours of time for writing what the student can do and gently inserting areas of weakness. Which means more hours of thinking of polite ways to phrase things such as "A blind man on a galloping horse can see your kid has ADD- why can't you?!" or "Stop trying to be their friend and be their parent!" Hat 2- Editor, Hat 3-Messanger. Hours of thinking of the next step so an appropriate goal can be written for each area of weakness. Hours of making sure all the minutes of the school day are documented. Hours making sure accommodations are in place for testing. Hours of lugging the piles of paperwork to and from school and home. Hat 4- Laborer, Hat 5- Grader. And of course, hours of sitting in meetings presenting these findings to bewildered parents. Hat 6- communication specialist.

Think that's bad? Ha! I haven't even touched the surface of the many hats I wear. On any given day I wear at least 10-15 hats including, but not limited to zookeeper, timekeeper, counselor, xerographer, advocate, dental assistant, detective, behavior therapist, doctor, emergency management specialist, foreign language specialist, interpreter, information officer, janitor, nutritionist, punching bag, and mom. And, on rare occasions, I actually get to wear my teacher hat!

Please don't misunderstand. I love my job. I love my students. The problem arises when I don't get to do my job. I very much so wish I was able to wear my teacher hat more often and not the many hats that accompany the paperwork for which I'm responsible. Again, I realize this comes with the territory of working in special education, but it's still not right. It's a shame I don't get to spend my days actually teaching...as a matter of fact- while I was complaining to my amazing (because he listens to me complain daily) boyfriend about my day at work he reminded me that I chose to become a teacher. My response? "Yea, but that's the problem. I don't get to teach." About sums it up, doesn't it?

I have to admit- as big a fan of Dr. Seuss as I am, I've never read/heard "The 500 Hats of Bartholemew Cubbins" until today. I am, however, very much aware of the idea of wearing 500 hats...

As a side note- I can't take credit for the witty names of some of these hats. For a complete list (and some humorous explanations of these hats), please see The Many Hats of A Teacher. While Mr. Jones is a middle school teacher, many of these hats apply in various forms across all grade levels. Go check it out and laugh like I did. Then feel free to add any other hats you can think of in the comments!

It Only Took Half a Month...

But it's done!! The bulletin board is finished!! Yay! I think it came out adorably cute..what do you think?

I have to thank Lori over at Teaching With Love and Laughter, again, for her fabulous idea! Also, I have to thank my aide, Christina, for seeing my crazy vision through to the end and helping to make the board beautiful. And our wonderful interpreter, Michelle, for helping my kiddos make their pumpkins and write their sentences. Thanks, ladies!

Grammar Rules!

So my goal for my three third graders is to learn some basic grammar rules and apply them in their writing. Thus far they've been able to get away with a lot because we've been so busy trying to increase vocabulary and reading ability that writing has kind of gone to the wayside. Well, no more. Eventually these girls are going to be out in the real world and so we need to catch up on their writing skills. Over the years they've been introduced to many grammar rules and concepts (nouns, verbs, long vowel and short vowel sounds, etc.), most recently being adjectives.

Over the weekend I decided to start them with an easy rule: a or an. Theoretically, this should be simple. So I decided to introduce this rule with a little bit of deduction and critical thinking. Basically I wrote a bunch of sentences on a small white board and underlined a or an respectively. Then I asked the girls to look at the sentences and tell my why I wrote a or an. They thought. And thought. And thought some more. Finally they started to give me reasons- "it's a noun", "it's an animal", etc. When I realized that this may be slightly too hard (basically because they were over-thinking and that's not a concept easily defined to deaf kids), I took a step back. I wrote only sentences that contained the word an and then underlined that in one color and the beginning letter of the following noun in blue. Very quickly one of the girls got this look on her face as if every light blub over her head had just turned on and interjected, "VOWELS!" YES!!! I knew they could do it without my having to explain the rule but they needed the opportunity and the prodding to get them going in the right direction. No problem. I can give them that all day long.

Once I explained the rule and showed them an anchor chart I had made last year when I planned to teach this concept (let's just say "the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry"), we practiced filling in the blanks with a bunch of random sentences. They were easily able to choose the right word. So I whipped up this quick worksheet with 10 sentences and blanks for them to write in the correct word choice. The girls especially loved the fact that it was Halloween themed!

 Upon looking at their papers, I realized we needed a refresher about capitals. So we quickly did that today. Hopefully, they'll remember to incorporate that rule into their writing (this is the hardest part for them). We moved on to punctuation marks. We spent a lot of time talking about the three kinds of marks and when to use them. We covered the basic sentence types (asking, telling, yelling). I showed them another anchor chart I made last year (see above quote in reference to anchor charts) and we practiced. And practiced. And looked at words meant for questioning and exclamations. Then they each had to write three sentences- 1 for each kind of punctuation mark. Their English isn't the best but they've got the concept and I didn't have to help other than spelling. I'll take it!

Tomorrow, we practice some more. And then move on to another rule- parts of sentences. That's probably going to take some time...

The dreaded changing of the bulletin boards

Every teacher knows about them, and most of us dread them...bulletin boards. Personally, I love bulletin boards- but not the way I'm being forced to decorate them. They have to be academic and are supposed to be literacy based...ugh. Sometimes kids just need to have fun! So I was super excited to find this little gem from a good friend I used to work with at a preschool many years ago: Pumpkin Writing! I saw it, fell in love, and immediately saved the template to do with my students (with a lot of help) the next day!

And for once, I don't dread the changing of the bulletin boards!

The best part? They got to use their creative juices to make jack-o-lanterns and to practice using adjectives. Double the fun and double the win!!

So, onto the actual activity! First I gave them paper and let them make their own pumpkins. Some needed help cutting and others had no problems. Then we began the tedious process of writing the accompanying sentences...and I mean tedious. English is not their first language and it shows. ASL is not a written language so it's extra hard to get them to understand the conventions and nuances of the English language...heck, I've spoken English for 29 years and I still don't understand it all (though if you ask anyone I'm a huge Grammar Nazi).

Anyway, I decided I would make life a little easier and less scary for my little, little ones by writing the sentences for them so they could just trace the words instead of attempting to track from the board to their paper. Let's face it, if I made them track it, we'd be here until Winter Break working on 5 sentences about pumpkins. They did provide key words though, so I'm happy with them!

My bigger little ones needed less help with writing. We worked on each sentence one at a time and they filled in the blanks on their own. These guys have no problem tracking and could easily do most of this on their own. The hardest part was deciding on a name for their pumpkin as names are not something they learn easily.

Honestly, I'm super impressed with them and the end product and can't thank Lori enough for being kind enough to provide this activity and template! I can't wait to spend my afternoon changing my bulletin board (ok, yes I can wait, but at least I know it'll be a cute board when I'm done!)

"I'm gonna punch you in the face!" and other fun activities

I love spending my day being threatened. It just melts my heart!

Recently, we've spent our days learning about adjectives. Now, for a typical teacher this is no big deal. A day or two and your students have got the concept and are blissfully adding more and more descriptive words to their sentences. It's second nature to them. And just in time for October's pumpkin activities! It couldn't match up any better!

HA! I wish it were that simple. Now, admittedly, I've been teaching this concept to third graders (this is a much lower level skill) so it was easier than if I had attempted to teach it to my second grader (who functions on a Kindergarten level). All in all, it only took about a week and I was pleasantly surprised with how quick they picked up the concept!

We made an anchor chart with numerous choices for adjectives first:

And after practicing for a few days. And being  reminded that we can't use "old" or "cute" for EVERY. SINGLE. SENTENCE. they finally picked up on it! :) We did the word "monkey" together for a reference and then they picked the other three words they wanted to describe. I only helped with spelling! :D

Now, we have to work on remembering to add adjectives to our sentences. They can do it with reminders, but, let's face it, I'm not always going to be there to hold their hand while they write...although the way things are going, I may be their teacher straight through high school. ;)

A Month In- Phew!

So we're a month into the school year! I can't believe it. I have the exact same class I had last year which makes things nice and difficult at the same time. It's nice because it means I am able to get right back into the swing of things where we left off. It's difficult because it means I'm dealing with the exact same students I had last year- no changes. For some of these students this is the 5th year I've had them in my class...crazy, right?! It's been a whirlwind of behavior problems for some of them too. Currently I have 1 student undergoing evaluations for a social/emotional label and another one undergoing a reevaluation plan to see if there are any other cognitive issues to be discovered. In addition, I have a third student who feeds off the behaviors of others and then escalates to whatever level she feels like going to (some days she stops at pouting, others it's throwing her socks and shoes at me and toppling over desks). Some days I have all 3 students acting out...those are the days I go home and have a VERY large alcoholic drink.

In addition to all of this, I'm expected to teach 4 different grade levels this year. What?! It's as impossible as it sounds. In the same 90 minutes general education teachers have to teach 1 grade level I have to teach 4. Luckily most of my students aren't working on grade level so I really am only teaching 3 levels- but still! It's a huge disservice to our students. I don't have an aide in my room full time (really for only an hour a day) and that's a really big problem, too. I could really use someone's help!

Anyway, we've worked on a lot of things already this school year and I'm really proud of my kiddos! I'm actually trying to incorporate more thinking maps with my students this year (this is difficult as most of them are pretty abstract which is a very hard concept for deaf students to understand). I was able to successfully use a brace map with them! Yay!

I've also been getting into creating things for Teachers Pay Teachers! I'm so excited for that! I love putting things together and using really cute clipart and stuff like that. I'm addicted to it! I have to figure out which program to use to make secured PDF files though so I don't infringe on anyone's copyright rules. Anyone? What do you use? As I make things, I'll do my best to write a blog about it and then link it to my TPT store to try and keep you all updated! :)

Break time is quickly ending and I have to pick up the kiddos. Till next time!

Welcome!

Welcome! I've been thinking about starting a teaching blog for quite sometime and now that it's summer, I figured I would try it out. Before I start, here's the explanation for the title of this blog: In American Sign Language (the primary mode of communication I use to teach) the letter "X" is used to create the sign for "apple". It's also the title of a book I wrote with a good friend for my master's degree. I hope one day we can actually publish it!

So, here's a little bit about me: I'm 29. I live in South Florida with my amazing boyfriend, 1 dog (hopefully another one soon!), and 4 cats- I know! It's a zoo around here. He's obsessed with cars (specifically Subaru WRX) and lots of other random things (he's pulling apart an old TV as I type so he can melt the copper into bars...). I love him though. In addition to teaching, I like to read (anything and everything), watch movies, cook, clothes (though I can rarely afford to buy stuff), and makeup. My God, do I love makeup- but I'd rather sleep an extra 20 minutes in the morning than wake up early to put it on :).

I have been teaching for 5 and 1/2 years at the same school in the same classroom. I teach Kindergarten through 2nd grade Deaf/Hard of Hearing students. It's as tough as it sounds. I love it, but there are many days and some school years that don't end soon enough. Many of my students function well below their listed grade and so I've taught students all the way up to 5th grade. Primarily my students function between the ages of 3 and up to about 8 years old. Their abilities vary depending on the day and subject area. It's tough, and not to toot my own horn, but I sure as heck don't get enough respect and/or appreciation for all that I do on a daily basis.

I hope that by creating this blog I will hold myself more accountable for the things that I do with and for my students in the classroom. It's my intention to showcase interesting activities and stories that happen daily or weekly (depending on my mood and ability to remember to update this blog) and to upload as many teacher-made products as I can to help out others. I'm a firm believer in "work smarter not harder."

Thanks for reading and come back for more updates!
Megan