A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes- and a goal too. :)

It's Tuesday! That means it's time for:

Sadly, this is the last week for Tell-All Tuesday. So we're going out with a bang! This week's topic is:

A wish, a goal, and a dream for this school year...where to begin? 

Goal: To make learning fun. My goal is to forget about what the pacing guides say and focus on my students' needs. Make sure they're learning and having fun. I don't think much more needs to be said about that. :)

Wish: Ok, perhaps this one needs some explaining. I teach special needs students which means I don't have a full class size. This creates a problem for classroom materials and supplies. Why? Because the higher-ups- in their infinite wisdom- decided that they're only willing to order materials in sets of 18 (class size mandates). If you don't have 18 students they won't order you a class set. Which means no teacher materials or student materials. Nothing, nada, zero zilch, nil...you get the point. So what do I spend my planning days doing every year? Scrounging. That's right, I spend the precious little time I have to get read going from classroom to classroom begging for spare materials. And then I go searching in the back of the library for leftovers from previous years (which means I'm using OUTDATED materials)...and on the off chance that I do get a current set of anything I have to make sure I don't get attached because if there's a new teacher or student that comes in guess where they get their materials from. That's right, me. Bye-bye teacher's editions. Bye-Bye student editions. 

"Wait! It's all online, I can just go look it up and get whatever I need on their website!?" Why didn't I think of that- oh wait. I did. And guess what- their website doesn't work on this decrepit laptop. And they don't have the big books online so I guess I'll just make those up as I go along...Guess I'm back to square one.

So I'm sure you can see why this is a wish of mine. Just one year to actually get the materials my students and I deserve to have!

Dream: I currently have Donorschoose project in desperate need of funding! I have no student technology in my classroom. NONE. I have an IWB for me to use during lessons (and my kiddos get to interact with it) but that's it. In my school each grade level is assigned one laptop cart with 18-20 computers. The teachers on each grade level rotate the cart for their lessons as needed. But I don't teach on any one grade level...so where's my (or the sped classes in general) cart? Sure, I could "borrow" the cart from another grade...when they tell me it's ok- which mostly isn't at a time when I need them. And honestly, the laptops on the carts are even more ancient than the one I'm using everyday...there's not a lot that actually works  on them internet wise. I'm hoping to get ONE iPad in my classroom. ONE. That's it. If I can get just one I'm already way better off than I am now. I plan to rotate my students on a schedule to allow them to interact with this technology and use it to enhance their learning. If I can ever get it funded. None of my projects seems to get enough funding. :( Hence why this is a dream of mine for this school year. Fingers crossed!

Thanks goes out to Diana at My Day In K and Jayme at Teach, Talk Inspire for deciding on such great topics to talk about this summer! I look forward to the next link up topic you two decide on.  :)

Bulletin Boards!

I'm linking up with Ashley of Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd and Angie from Lucky Little Learners for their #2getherwearebetter link-up. This month's topic is BULLETIN BOARDS! Ahh! The dreaded (or in my case not-so-dreaded) bulletin board.

Most teachers hate them. And, to be honest, I don't particularly enjoy taking them down and putting them up, but- I mostly love them! I'm probably the only teacher in my school that refuses to do the same boring ("Poet-tree" or "Said is Dead" anyone?!) hallway bulletin boards year after year. Now, to be fair, I have the same students for up to 5 years in a row (that's special ed. for ya) so I basically CAN'T have the same bulletin board every year. But, even if I could, I wouldn't. Call me crazy, but it's kind of one the only times that we can really let loose and go a little crazy. Do something outside the box, off the pacing guides, dare I say it- FUN?!

Inside my classroom I only have 2 smallish bulletin boards and they're already allotted as a word wall and a work display board (as mandated). My classroom theme is monkeys so my word wall is titled, "Ape for Words" and my work board is titled, "Jazzy Work" (I have a kind of Mardi Gras theme going with this board including real masks and boas straight from New Orleans). Those boards stay the same year after year (though to be honest, I'm so sick of them. But the bank account tells me they have to keep plugging along).

For some background- I started this blog last school year around this time and I've tried to keep up with it. But I had some serious issues I was dealing within my class and couldn't really maintain it until around Dec/Jan. I'm hoping this year will be better. Also, I have to share the only bulletin board with another teacher so we alternated when it was time to change it. So, to make a long story short, I don't have many pictures of most of my bulletin boards. :( I do have some though. :) Oh yea, my bulletin board is painted blue (makes it easier than having to change the paper all the time) but it doesn't always color-coordinate. And I don't go back to school until August 17th, so I don't have my bulletin boards for this year up- yet...anyway, here ya go:

Thanks to Lori at Teaching With Love and Laughter for her fantastic FREEBIE for this bulletin board. In fact, the whole lesson came from her blog post, I just spruced up the display a little bit :)

Love that I was able to reuse the fence (Shh- it's in one of my cabinets so I have it for this year too, if necessary :D). This bulletin board was differentiated for my kiddos because they're all on vastly different levels. Some flowers have prefixes and suffixes, ways to make numbers, and some have color words. The kites have ten frames with teen numbers. Then I printed some clipart from Krista Wallden at Creative Clips to add some extras. :)

I did this one year for back to school. Still one of my favorites!

I found this one on Pinterest one year.

I also did this one year at the beginning of the year. Only I made crayons out of paper as I couldn't find 3-D ones, nor did I want the hassle of figuring out how to hang them.  :)

Again, from pinterest.

I did a take of this one for the beginning of this past year. Since I teach deaf kids, this made perfect sense. Since I teach the same group of kids for multiple years I changed the title to "We love having you back!" with the I love you hands. I was lucky enough to have an awesome interpreter help me with it (I'm looking at you, Michelle!).

Honestly not even sure where this came from. Probably Pinterest.

Since I don't go back to work until August 17th, I haven't figured out what I'm gonna do for the beginning of the year this year. I guess I should start looking around though, huh? And when it's up and pretty I'll be sure to do a follow-up post with more pictures :)

Thanks for stopping by! Can't wait to hop around and see everyone else's boards!

Visual Directions

Everybody knows how the following scene plays out:
Teacher: First you're going to color, then cut, then glue your pages. Everybody know what to do?
Students: Yes, Miss.
Teacher: Ok, get to work then, please.
Students: **blank stares**
Student 1: Miss, what do we do first?
Student 2: Takes out scissors first

...you get the point.

I know how hard it is for general education students (especially in the younger grades) to keep track of what to do in what order. Imagine how much harder it is for students with language delays that barely remember their own names. Now, don't get my wrong, I love my kiddos. But, to be honest, they can't handle 2-3 step directions. This past year everything was done step-by-step together as a large group so that no one was left behind. But this coming year, I feel like they need to learn some independence. So, I've made some visual directions to try and help foster that.

In a monkey theme, of course. Because I seriously have an issue with monkeys. MONKEYS EVERYWHERE!! :)

We all know that this is nothing new. Many teachers have been using this for years. I honestly don't know why I didn't use it before. Actually, that's not true. The truth is they're so delayed in language and communication that they literally couldn't be trusted to complete even the simplest work independently without my going through a thousand copies a month. So I did everything with them. Thankfully I have an Interactive White Board and document camera which made it slightly easier to do this.

This year, I think that most of my class will be able to handle working at their own pace to complete their work.

I went ahead and posted them in my TPT store for only $1.50! Go check it out! If there's a specific theme you're working with I might be able to help you out with a special request-if I have the clip art available. :)

#SpedChatSaturday Back to School Edition

Today is the first #SpedChatSaturday and I'm so excited for this! I think it's a great way to get the world of Special Ed. out in the open for all to see and learn about. Thanks goes to Ashley at Lattes, Lesson Plans, and IEPs for hosting the first week's topic.

So let's get down to business...to defeat the Huns. {Mulan reference, anyone?}

Let's start with 5:

I don't go back to school until August 17th (thankfully) so I'm really not ready to tackle any of this. However, I usually go back a few weeks before and get started with at least arranging my room. At my school there are 2 deaf/hard of hearing (DHH) teachers, 1 speech/language teacher (SLP), 1 itinerant teacher, 1 family counselor, 1 occupational therapist (OT),  (1 only this year!) mainstream teachers, and 14 (I think) students. This makes for a lot of scheduling NIGHTMARES! Seriously, there was a year where we took a combined total of 25 hours to create a workable schedule that then changed 4x before the first week of school was over. It's an absolutely horrendous task that I dread every year. The OT, SLP, and family counselor, and itinerant teacher all work with other students and/or at other schools so we have limited flexibility with their schedules. Plus, our students work on so many different levels that it's hard to create good groups for academics. Most years the schedule is tolerable but never ideal. Here's hoping there's one schedule year coming up though...

The first week I go back is dedicated to teacher planning (yay!) but I'm in so many meetings that all-in-all I end up with about 2 1/2-3 actual days of prep. And on top of that, I have to have my room ready by 10am on Friday because of Kindergarten orientation... That's another reason I try to get back into my room early. If my room is at least partially set-up before August17, then that makes things that much easier.

Organization is my thing. I live for it. My room and everything in it is completely organized by the time school starts...and then the first few weeks go by and I get lazy. :( And then I get annoyed that I never seem to be organized anymore. So I work on it, and then the cycle repeats itself...

But, in all honesty, these four things are vital to making the school year run smoothly. I keep *tons* of post-it notes all over my room to make lists of things I need to do. And then I cross them off as they get down. Every teacher planning or early release day I take time to file. I have individual folders for each student to put IEP paperwork into. Then it gets filed into their individual IEP folder kept in a locked file cabinet. I have binders all over the place filled with different things- master copies, IEP at-a-glance pages, student data, etc...it makes it easier for me to find things when I need them. Seriously, get yourself some binders and get stuff organized- it'll be so much easier to stay organized- in fact those are the few things that actually STAY organized throughout the year. :)

What I wouldn't give for the three things mentioned above. Seriously. Hands-down, these are the 3 things that make me want to give up every year. I have some serious behavior issues in my room from students not labeled anything other than DHH. When I say behavior issues I mean being punched in the face, kicked, sexually assaulted, groped, plus other things. It means DAYS spent dealing with this student at the expense of the other students (to the point where they literally cower and hide when this student walks in the room). And all of this is ok with my administration because I work in a self-contained special needs class. It's perfectly ok for these students to act like this- so I'm expected to accept it. Seriously. I cannot begin to tell you how upset ANGRY I get when that's the response I get from not only my school administration but from district personnel as well. We've tried everything within our rights in the classroom (PBIP, removal, suspension, etc.) to get the behavior under control- but nothing seems to work.

I digress...anyway, if these three things were under control I could focus on my students' needs a lot better and maybe actually teach once in a while.

Use a planner. I can't stress it enough. It's a great way to keep track of all those meetings (and we all know there's a ton of them), due dates, field trips, etc. I LOVE planners. Love. Love. Love.

Have a plan- delegate the important to-dos to the top of your lists and make sure they get done first, have a short list of things that MUST be done by the end of that day and make sure it gets done, ignore social media (I'm so guilty of not doing this). Step 1 is admitting you have a problem, right? Seriously. Addicted to my phone and computer. I'm really going to try and be better about this.

I promise to teach with fidelity. I mean serious-don't-give-a-crap-about-pacing-guides-or-test-questions fidelity. I'm so tired of hearing "I need them 3rd grade ready" {3rd grade is our state-mandated retention grade if they don't pass the test}. I can't put the cart before the horse. Can't. Won't. I'm done. I teach kids that are behind in all areas- the biggest of which being communication and incidental learning. They need to have fun. Hands-on learning. And if that means taking 2 days, 2 weeks, 2 months, or 2 years (no, really, I'm going on 2 years of teaching some kids to count to 10 with 1:1 correspondence) to teach about nouns or counting or volcanos or whatever, then so be it.

So that's it folks. Feel free to leave comments with your thoughts. I love comments. :)

My Dream Classroom

It's Tuesday! Another Tell-All Tuesday! Yay!

This week's topic is

My dream classroom?! 

For starters, it would be about twice the size of my current classroom. Since I teach special education I have a much smaller class size than a general education class. So I have a much smaller classroom. And it sucks. There's nowhere to put anything and we all sit on top of each other. I have no real space to create separate learning areas which really drives me crazy. My students all work on independent centers and I have no way to separate them without them getting distracted by others. The nice thing about my classroom is that it's completely carpeted (floor and walls) and has special lighting all of which reduces the glare and echo so my Deaf and Hard of Hearing students are able to better learn. And I have a SmartBoard (which when I started teaching wasn't that common). Those are things I wouldn't trade!

So yes, a bigger classroom with more storage and work space is a must. Then I want it completely done in a monkey theme. Anyone who knows me knows I have a thing for monkeys.

Picture from The Creative Chalkboard

I have a lot of monkey stuff all over my room to begin with, but there's a lot I can't do because we have a really strict fire marshall who yells at us over everything (including the door stop I use to prop open the door while we're at recess!)

I'd also want to be able to arrange desks in an ideal format for deaf students such as this:

Picture from chancetohear.blogspot.com

Again, having no space in my room doesn't allow for this. :(

I also have an intense need to be organized and clean. I need everything in its place (or at least hidden away lol). Every May I spend a week or so cleaning and reorganizing my cabinets. And every May I bemoan the fact that I have NO storage space!! My closet is filled with crap that I'm not allowed to get rid of but have never used in the 8 years I've been teaching (I mean there's a book on Signing Exact English  {which no one uses anymore} from the 70s- and I can't throw it away!) Ugh. Makes me nuts!

This is one of only 2 cabinets in my room

So in short, my dream classroom would have more space. And the ability to allow me to fully decorate and arrange for my students' needs. :)

Thanks again to My Day in K and Teach Talk Inspire for another great topic! I can't wait to hop around and see what everyone else's dream classroom looks like. I love comments so feel free to leave me some! :)

My Own Reality Show?!

It's Tuesday! You know what that means- another Tell-All Tuesday. This week's topic is what we'd call our own reality TV show. So here goes-

I admit, I never watch reality TV. I find it pointless and it really irritates me that many of these people get paid tons of money to act like jerks and idiots. To be honest, I don't watch TV. I watch a TON of movies and the only 2 shows I watch are The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones- which we don't even watch on TV- we stream them online because we don't have cable. And the only reason I watch those shows is because my boyfriend loves them and got me hooked on them. :)

It took me about 5 minutes to think of a title for my would-be reality show. So without further ado:

I am constantly saying stupid things and screwing up phrases. Then when I try to clarify, I tend to make it sound even worse. I don't do it intentionally- it's word vomit (Mean Girls reference, anyone?). It just comes out. I have a real problem with not thinking before talking. My boyfriend is constantly making fun of all the things I say like, "I'm full of hands" (which, for the record, I've said since I was about 2- and I'm fully aware that it's wrong, I've just been saying it that way for so long it's stuck) or "what's squared cubed?" in reference to numbering something...

As a matter of fact, I just looked over at Alan and asked him what was one of the stupider things I've said to him lately, and he just looked at me for a second and then said, "Just one? I have to think about that."

And that folks, is the reality of my life.  :)

Thanks again to My Day In K and Teach Talk Inspire for another great topic! I look forward to perusing everyone's blogs and reading any comments you may wish to leave for me. 

Top Ten

It's Tuesday! You know what that means- another Tell-All Tuesday Link up.

I love, love, love this topic! Thanks My Day in K and Teach, Talk, Inspire for another great topic!

Here is my Top Ten list of things teaching has taught me!

All of my items kinda go together. I teach a very specific branch of special education- deaf/hard of hearing. These are students that are often working below grade level and often have missed out on a lot of incidental learning because of lack of communication with parents and family members. Because of this, I've learned to be very patient. What takes a general education student one day to learn takes my kids one week to learn. It's a very slow process and because of that you learn to appreciate those small moments so much more. It also means that it takes a special person to be able to do this. My kiddies' parents will tell you that I most definitely am good enough for this job, but I think it's par for the course that I question myself almost daily. 

My administration doesn't help- they don't really understand these kids and so I'm constantly having to defend my classroom practices. There are so many times where I begin to teach a lesson and then realize that my students don't have the necessary background knowledge to even begin to understand what I'm talking about. So I put that lesson on hold and then backtrack to where they are...and the constant response from admin. that I get is "I need them 3rd grade ready for the FSA." My response is always "You can't put the cart before the horse. These kids are self-contained for a reason. If they were 3rd grade ready, I'd be looking for another job." Maybe that's harsh, but it's the reality. 

Please don't misunderstand, I love my job and my kids. But I also teach the same kids for usually 4 years in a row. It makes things a lot easier when the school year starts because I'm able to just pick up where we left off the previous year. But, I  NEED my summer breaks. They need their summer breaks. By the time January rolls around, we're over each other. 

One of the nice things about teaching these kids for so many years is that you develop a great relationship with the parents. They trust me and in turn that makes them more open and honest with me. It means I can be more honest and upfront with them too.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading my top ten. I can't wait to hop around and read up on others' top ten lists! Thanks for stopping by!