"The First Year"

Oh that ever so brutal first year of teaching. As I mentioned before, I was hired into a position that I wasn't 100% confident in. I went in with a positive attitude though and hoped to get a great first year under my belt.

I was officially hired after the start of the school year. It was only a few days in though. Let me try and put that whole year into as little words as possible.

I taught Resource for 4th and 5th grade mostly. I did have a 3rd grade class that I pulled a student or two out of but that was it. I taught Behavioral Skills to a small number of students right off the bat in the morning and then did 5th Math pull-out, 4th Math push-in, 5th Reading pull-out, and ended my day with 3rd/4th Reading pull-out.

Those few students that I had for Behavior Skills were rather interesting. I had one who smelled horribly, and one that when he went back in to the Gen Ed for Math every time the lights were turned out... enjoyed himself. And I'm not talking about hand through pocket enjoying himself.. I mean pull it out and enjoy himself. Trying to get that student to realize that was not appropriate was a difficult task which I'm not sure we ever really got through to him. The other one had excuses for everything, mom had excuses for everything, he seemed to be a pathological liar, and was extremely lazy. He never seemed to want to do anything unless you told him everything. I also seem to remember him telling me that his mother moved him to where they were and changed schools for him to get a "fresh start" and "not be in Resource" anymore. Well records follow you child. We knew about all of what had happened at the previous school. There have been few students that I have disliked greatly in my now 5 years of teaching but he was one of those few. Other than those two, for the most part it was a pretty average first year. Trial and error. Figuring out how to teach according to goals and Gen Ed curriculum. Learning how to write IEP's correctly. Holding IEP meetings. Finally, learning how to deal with and overcome some behavioral problems from students. You know normal things for teachers.

Now, as I mentioned before sometime in March I was informed about changes that had been made for the school. The school had 2 Resource classes (one for grades 1-3 and the one I taught) along with 2 self-contained classes, an Early Childhood, and what is called KIDS. The KIDS program was an Early Childhood room specifically for kids with Autism. The 2 self-contained programs that they had were the same program just different grade levels. One was for grades 1-2 and the other was 3-5. Clark County School District decided that the school was not a good location for the Primary (grades 1-2) program. So they deleted it. This meant that to begin with if the teacher of the program wanted to stay at the school the lowest seniority person would be surplused (the term we use for involuntarily transferred.) Well, that person was me. I would not be surplused if the teacher wanted to transfer herself or any other teacher in the department wanted to transfer. After a few days, it sounded like most of the people in the department wanted to stay. Around that time those in my department and the principal started telling me that I should just transfer on my own. Then I would have more of a say of where I go. Especially with the fact that I had such a low seniority number in the district. I would not have a good time at the surplus meeting. I was helped by some mentors/PD providers in locating a new school in the area of the city that I wanted to be in. I interviewed with a few schools but never heard back from them. One was for another Resource position and one was for a self-contained. I went on my third interview and it was successful. Even before I was officially offered the position I knew things were going well when the AP showed me the classroom and told me about what was going on with the program at the time. When we returned to the office I was offered the position and I accepted it on the spot. The next thing I remember is that I was walking out to my car calling my boyfriend at the time and telling him and him being in disbelief that I was offered it right there. Later, I found out I had been the only one that had called and voiced interest in the position.

This new position was what I had really wanted when I went into Special Education. A self-contained room. It wasn't quite the grade levels I had originally wanted but was willing to work with for various reasons after what I had learned in that first year of how 3rd-5th graders in Special Ed really functioned.

So it was on to a new school. New school year (well of course). And finally, a new program! All of which I was excited for!

How Things Started

To start the real posting I thought I would start with basically where I started my career and where I have spent a majority of my short career.

When I applied to Clark County School District I did it during a time after graduation that I was trying to distract myself. Long story short, a family friend had passed away and I didn't want to think about it. I had set up an in-person interview with the district and planned a Vegas Trip with a friend of mine. The district ending up calling me and changing my interview format and appointment because I was in a "High-need area". So in the days between the funeral and going on vacation I had a phone interview. Fast forward 2 weeks, I'm home from vacation and gathering things with my friend for our Vegas Trip that we decided to keep and I get an email from a principal about a Resource position. Just to let you know, I wasn't sure I wanted to teach that but at the same time it was a foot in the door. I did a phone interview with her within 10 minutes of the email and set up an in-person interview with the AP of the school for a few days later while I was in Vegas. By the end of the day that I interviewed with the AP, I was offered the position and had accepted it.

Now, that first year like all first years was difficult. I also learned I really am not cut out to teach Resource. Like I said though, it was a foot in the door and that door opened for me at the end of the year for what I really wanted to do. I always wanted to teach a Self-Contained class. I was given the opportunity to voluntarily transfer at the end of the year and was able to decided then where and what I wanted to teach. I was given this opportunity because the district was moving Self-Contained programs around and deleted one from the school I was at. If that teacher wanted to stay, then to lowest seniority person was going to be involuntarily transferred unless someone voluntarily transferred. That person was me. It was suggested by everyone in my department and the principal that I just transfer on my own. So, I did and found the program I wanted and around the area that I wanted to be near due to my boyfriend at the time (now that man is my husband).

My second year of teaching was in a classroom that I felt like I fit into better. I was able to get into that self-contained Special Ed class that I wanted. The area that I was in, is a difficult area. It was full of very low income families. When I say very low, I mean like homeless or welfare, or Social Security from the kids type low. These families if they had an income coming in also didn't much care about education. Heck! We had parents that were addicted to controlled substances- both drugs and alcohol. I was in that particular class for 4 years. I just finished my last year at that school. Each year there presented me with a new and different challenge. A few of those challenges have changed how I do things even in my personal life.

A lot of the things that I will share through these first posts this summer will mostly contain things that I learned or materials I found that I like and used in my Self-Contained class. Some of the things can be transferred and used in a General Ed classroom and some may not be able to quite the way that I used them. So please keep this in mind as you read some of my posts.

The Beginning

So I realize I'm probably starting this blog at the wrong time of year seeing as it is the end of June and my school year has been over for a few weeks now. However, I just had surgery and other than spending my days on Pinterest and Teachers Pay Teachers (both amazing websites) I figured I would start something else.

I also believe that people (even other teachers) don't realize what a Special Education Teacher really does on a daily basis. It is my hope through this blog that I bring attention to what I do on a daily basis. I will also share what resources I used for that week or day or whatever.

If and when I post this summer, I will be talking about what my past years have looked like. Each year presented me with a different task that I had to overcome. Which is very common in teaching overall. If I get a chance later in the summer after recovering from surgery I will go through some of my things and post about what I have found on Pinterest and done or other management/organizational things I use in my classroom.

Fair Warning: I am a consultant for a Direct Sales company called Thirty-One and use a lot of my products in my classroom to help with organization. When I post about these products I will tell you what they are call according to the company, what I use them for, cost (with and without personalization), dimensions, and a link to my website.

Happy Reading!