Welcome!

Welcome to my blog! I decided to chronicle my tenth year of teaching special education students by creating a blog. The journey has been one of learning and great depth. Every year is different because every student added to my room is a unique individual. These wonderful children have added much more to my life than I have to theirs. I look forward to this school year and many more to come!

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Germs of Happiness

I've been sick the past two or three weeks. I think I'm getting over this stuff and here it comes again wave after wave. My headache is gone today, so I am claiming this as a sign of wellness returning to shore. Teaching when you are sick is something all teachers have to learn to do. Children are great carriers of germs. We have to teach them continuously to use hand sanitizer, wash their hands and cough into their elbow. When flu season comes around it is even more important that they follow good hygiene habits.

We have spent the last couple of weeks benchmark testing and working daily to see students progress. Keeping a daily and weekly routine, so that my students know what to expect when they walk into the room is crucial. It is particularly important to students like the new one I received this past week. He has attention problems, but is atypical on the autism spectrum. That means that he displays autism type symptoms and behaviors. I noticed several instances yesterday of his sensitivity to noise. He usually handles the murmur of the class well, but flinched at a boy blowing his nose loudly beside him. While reading aloud to the students sitting on the floor, he was extra sensitive to another student sitting too closely to him. He is also extra sensitive to failure. If he makes a mistake on a paper, he thinks he has failed instead of just erasing the answer and changing it and going on. I have such a variety of students this year that it is going to be a very interesting and productive year. Looking forward to great gains!

"Growth itself contains the germ of happiness." ---Pearl S. Buck, author

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