Finally- a Schedule!

It's September 16th and we've just now gotten a final schedule nailed down. This, unfortunately, is completely typical.  Schedules are a nightmare for us. In all we spend about 24-30 hours creating, revising, changing, changing again, changing a third time, adding in something else, and then hitting the save and print buttons on our schedule. It's utterly exhausting.

Let me just start with telling you how many different people are involved in this: 2 teachers, 1 mainstream teacher (this varies from year to year),1 itinerant teacher (who works with 3 different schools and doesn't come on Wednesdays), 1 speech/language pathologist (who works with our cluster, the ASD cluster, and a pre-k class), 1 family counselor (who works with 2 different schools and is here only 2 days a week), 1 occupational therapist (again, only here 2 days a week), 2 paras, 1 general education teacher (to pair up with for specials), 1 interpreter (this varies depending on needs), and 11 students (this varies from year to year). Can you understand now when I say that schedules are a freaking nightmare?!

So let's start with the beginning (those things we can't control). We come back to a finalized lunch and specials schedule. Yay. Not- it usually doesn't work and then we have to beg to get it changed. Luckily this year it wasn't too bad- just a switch from the teacher we were supposed to pair up with to a different teacher to pair up with. So no big deal.

Then we have to work around the mainstream teacher's schedule (because God forbid they work around our schedules). I miss the good old days when our former Assistant Principal used to ask us first about what times we'd like lunch and specials...This year we have 4th grade mainstream students. And the 4th grade team has a schedule that is the complete opposite of everyone else in the school- they do reading in the afternoons in order to have a complete 90 minute block...which means that things are messed up for us here in the cluster. Normally both classes do reading in the morning because we can make better groups that way (and that's when the itinerant teacher is here). But not this year. I have reading in the morning and the other class has reading in the afternoon because that's when the mainstream kids come back here for ELA help. That made things really hard for everyone else because we're not allowed to pull students from their ELA block for anything other than reading. And math is being taught first thing in the morning and we can't pull from that subject either.

So, now the itinerant teacher can't see the mainstream kids because she leaves before they come back to us, and we end up pulling the others from their academics. Definitely not ideal. The rest of her schedule was relatively easy to figure out. But her not coming on Wednesdays really blows. It means that the small groups I normally have in my room become whole class and it's a mess.

The speech/language pathologist goes to the ASD cluster in the mornings because that's when we usually teach reading. And she gets built into the rotations in their schedule so it's imperative that she's over there every morning. For me that's fine because it's my reading block and I already have the itinerant teacher helping with groups. But it ends up that the SLP has to pull from the afternoon reading block (shhhh) for one other kid and have a before school speech group with the mainstream kids. Luckily she's awesome and flexible.  :)

Now on to OT and counseling. Our family counselor is just as awesome as our SLP and she's incredibly flexible. She eats lunch with the kids and generally works with them whenever she can. Our OT is great too. She tries her best to fit our kids in at decent times (during their centers or recess if necessary). This year all of this has worked out for me! :)

Each class is assigned one para and that makes their schedules easy too as we just have to arrange a half hour lunch and a half hour break sometime during the day for them. Easy peasy. The interpreter follows the mainstream kids' schedule and then because they're in with the other teacher in the afternoon she's able to go with my students to specials and interpret for them. That's a good thing because it's really hard to ask for another interpreter for just a half hour a day. Like, impossible- seriously won't happen. So that actually worked out in my favor this year- unlike previous years where we've been forced to send a K-2 class to specials with 3rd graders because that's when the interpreter was available. Not cool.

And of course we have our own classes to schedule. I have 6 students in Kindergarten-Second grade. Talk about scheduling troubles. All of them are on standards (though some shouldn't be) which means I have to expose them to grade level materials. Tell me how to do that with a second grade student who functions at about 3-4 years. :( Luckily (this really is my lucky year) my 6 students divided up decently into 2 groups. Both working on a Kindergarten level, but one a little higher up.

All in all, I got really lucky this year. My scheduling was relatively simple. And now that everything is settled, it seems to be working for all involved. :) Below is the final schedule for me, the SLP, the itinerant teacher, and the family counselor. What's not listed is OT times, para schedules, and the other class' schedule...good grief.

I sincerely hope you all have a much easier time with your schedules at the beginning of the year. I wouldn't wish this nightmare on anyone :)

Classroom Reveal!

Whoop-whoop! I'm so excited to be linking up with Ashley from Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd and Angie from Lucky Little Learners once again this month! And this month is a great topic- one I know we are all dying to hop around and look through each other's blogs at- CLASSROOM REVEALS! This is quite possible my favorite time of year. All the classrooms look so cute, friendly, and inviting to begin with...and then our kiddos show up and destroy get comfortable in our space. Such is life. :)

Before we get going, I think some basic information about my teaching situation is in order- I teach a very specific type of special needs student: deaf/hard of hearing. This means that I have a small class (only 6 this year!) and a specially designed room. There's carpet on the floors and walls to absorb sound so nothing echos which messes up what they hear in their hearing aids. I also have specialized lighting in order to reduce glare. But I have NO emergency lighting and that's always fun when we're under a code red and the blinds are shut. Pitch black. And kids who depend on being able to see me. Always a good time. I try my best to arrange my room so that I have maximum open space so that I can see my students and they can see me when I try to get their attention.

I think that about covers it, so, let's get this party started!

Here is my entire classroom from a corner up front. As you can see, I have an odd shaped room. It's honestly not conducive to an environment where constant eye contact needs to be maintained. But I work with what I've got. I only have 6 students so seating arrangements are relatively easy.
Anybody want to take a guess at the one thing that drives me absolutely insane every minute of every day I spend in this room? Anyone? The clock! It makes me nuts that it's always behind my head...and as if that weren't bad enough, there's a light that goes across the top of the whiteboard/SmartBoard so it's 3-D which completely HIDES the clock from my sight even if I turn around. How insane is that? I use my phone for everything since I can't see the clock (and then usually get in trouble for having my phone out when an administrator walks into my room...*sigh*)!

And here's my room from the back corner. That bulge above the whiteboard is much clearer in this picture. And let me just tell you how many people come into my room through the door (the one with the window) and then try to go out through the other one (and end up in my tiny closet). Always good for a chuckle. Hopefully with the center/manipulative storage unit that won't be a problem any longer. :) I'm also lucky enough to have a mounted projector for my SmartBoard so I don't have a bunch of extra wires and an A/V cart in the middle of my room (that came after tons of begging and pleading for about a year!). But, I'll admit, that sometimes it would be nice to be able to move my SmartBoard since it takes up about a third of the whiteboard.

Here's my classroom from the front. Textbooks and Journals are kept in the blue bins, the pockets on the tables are for our reward system. The door leads into the 3rd-5th grade Deaf/Hard of Hearing classroom.

Here's an up close look at my word wall. Love, love, love the new headers I made (and I love monkeys too! lol). :) I use an interactive word wall. Students are allowed to take the ring of words off any hook and go back to their seats to write the words they need. Then the come back and put it away. This year, I'm planning on using the word wall more during center rotations and our writing block. :)

Next to my word wall is my student work display. Those are the two boards I'm required to have...which is a good thing because in a room this small I only have room for these two boards. Those feather boas and two masks are authentic...bought somewhere on Bourbon Street (or a side street tourist shop. I can't remember anymore) in New Orleans. I had another student added to my roster since this picture was taken so now there's 6 pieces of yellow paper. On the first day of school I have my kids color a paper with their name typed up to add to the papers. They love knowing where their Jazzy Work will be displayed all year! :) I haven't really decided what I'll be using the long table for this year, though I'm hoping to get some computers in my room (*fingers and toes crossed!*) and that's where those will go.

Over here in a little alcove is where I'm going to teach reading. In the past I've taught it at the big table up front, but I never came up with a good solution for storing the materials. They were always kept back here on the countertop. And for the past five years I've had a nurse in my classroom all day for a medically frail child. Nurse would set herself up at this round table so she'd be out of the way. Well this year, she finally moved to the other class so I have my round table back! Yay! So I'm going to try it out and see if it's better to teach from back here. Being back here also gives me eyes into my reading area that I don't have from the front of the room which will be great for the few times I'll have more than 3 students in my room during this time. **Just as an aside- scheduling in our 3 rooms (2 teachers and 1 SLP) is a complete nightmare!!! It usually works out that because I have the younger, less mature students that need more adult help I rarely have all my students in my room at any one time without an aide. I'll make sure to do a post about what our scheduling nightmare looks like at a future date**

Also you can see where my kiddos Brag Tags will be displayed. This is the first year I'm going to try this and I really, really hope they understand this concept!

Across the room is my reading area. Again, I work with what I've got. :) My students are unable to pick appropriate books for themselves nor are they really able to read so they each get a box of books with their name on it and I rotate out the books about every 2 weeks. I have a bunch of books stored in the tall cabinet. They're usually pretty good about only looking at the books in their box or that are available on the shelves. See that rocking chair? Yea, that was mine from when I was about 2. And I can still fit in it...albeit a little sideways. But still, that counts for something, right? :)

This year I actually have built in calendar time!! So it's displayed here and we gather on the carpet around here to do our daily calendar routine. I got sick and tired of the same boring green and orange squares so I created my own calendar squares. Now I don't want to puke every time I look at it. The beanbags were not my choice. I'm just sayin'. These were the brilliant solution of my AP who thought that it would solve some of the behavior issues I had/have (he's gotten much better in the past year) with a student. My AP thought that when he got frustrated or needed a sensory break he'd be able to come over here and lay down for a few minutes to recuperate...Well, I knew that was NOT what was going to happen, but who am I to argue with the AP? I just wish she would have asked me first because I could have given her much better ideas of things to get. Anyway, the first time this student got frustrated he was led over here and told to relax for a few minutes. I turned around to head back to the front to keep teaching and a beanbag chair went flying past me. Yea...Nowadays he doesn't throw them, but he doesn't relax on them either... :-/

Last but not least, over by the closet, is my alphabet and schedule. I got sick and tired of posting the alphabet to the light box thing above the whiteboard and coming in every morning to find it on the floor because NOTHING sticks in these dusty, humid, moldy rooms. And by the end of the year the strips would be destroyed from falling down every night and curling up on the bottom because they're too wide for the thingy...So this was the solution I came up with and I haven't heard any complaints, yet. :) My schedule- once the kids arrive- contains their objective for each subject and eventually a small clock showing the time (it's on my never ending to-do list).

So, that's my classroom. I didn't think anyone wanted to see my TINY closet complete with a Signing Exact English (completely outdated and no one uses exact english anymore) book from 1973 that I'm NOT ALLOWED to get rid of. I've already asked. There's a bunch more crap in their that I'm not allowed to get rid of either and it makes me crazy since I have limited storage space to begin with. But, like I said, I work with what I've got.