The good and the bad of room 119...
I began this class in late December 2016 after meeting with the principal to discuss the TIR program at Rio Salado and if she thought it was a good route to take. I had been a special education aide in the resource room for a little over a month. I couldn't believe that all this was happening. I was to take over a k-3 adpts (autism) class, I was going to be a teacher!! I graduated from NAU with a degree in hotel and restaurant management and worked for Marriott for 10 years as a director of events and now I was going to get to help kids...I was going to get to take my passion I have for my own two with autism and share it with children and parents who may never have had a teacher who "gets it". I'm not book trained in autism as I tell people, I am life trained! :-) I have gone through a lot of the emotional roller coasters and daily issues that my parents have.
I started off with the dream of teaching these five students all about first grade and some kinder. But as reality has set in over the past few weeks, I have had to start from the beginning. We are learning to cut shapes, learn our ABC's, learn words. All that should have been thought six months earlier, but hadn't due to who was teaching prior to me.
So my positives would be I have five beautiful children who want to learn, are excited to work with me each and every day. I have an aide who is truly here for the students and has weathered a great deal since she started. She is truly a blessing to me and these students. She cares, like I care. She wants to make a difference in their life just as I do. I have a principal who backs me and wants me to succeed in the TIR program. Crazy hours, work and all! :-)
My negatives, honestly I really don't call them negatives, I would call them challenges that are improving each day as we grow stronger as a class. I have a nonverbal student who likes to use her "weight" and push me and the aide around when she does not want to work. We are trying different strategies to help her to also help her parents so that we are consistent across the board. I have a set schedule in place in my classroom that the students all follow daily, which hadn't been there before. I have created centers that they travel to every 10 minutes and complete work. She is given visuals to show once work is completed, she can earn computer/choice time. I have finally broken the issue of computer time being "fun/free" time as it was prior to me taking over.
Bad habits, I guess would be the challenge. I took a class over that had a lot of bad habits that I am trying to correct and create better habits, ones that will help make my students successful. I wasn't given any guidelines as far as lesson plans or district guidelines, so I am "winging it" but as I do so, I know they are improving from what they had been.
It isn't perfect and I would love more direction and hope to get that as we move along. I also know that through my classes at Rio I will gain more insight to lesson plans, guidelines, etc. I just keep swimming as Dory says. But I do have a destination and that destination is to see my five students accomplish their IEP goals, one by one with me and my aide guiding them along each and every step.
