Yeah, yeah...

I got a rather nasty email from Sean earlier today saying that I should update. Here's the deal - I'll update if you comment. And don't pretend you're not out there reading this! I have a site tracker and I see that lots of people read this thing. I better get a few comments from this post and the next ones.

Today I applied for NINE positions. Go me! Most of them are special ed positions and a few are elementary. One in particular caught my eye because it's almost exactly the same thing I'm doing now - 50% special ed and 50% kindergarten. I think I might have a shot at that one. I'll be really disappointed if I don't even get an interview out of one of these jobs. I mean, REALLY. This job hunt thing is getting ridiculous.

I discovered the joys of facebook. What a terrible invention. Thankfully I was only addicted for just under a week and now I'm back to checking it once a day just to see what other people are up to. I figure that if I didn't keep in contact with my "friends" before, why should I now just because I have a facebook account? I must admit that it was kind of nice reconnecting with some old childhood friends but I'm not going to suddenly become buddy-buddy with everyone again just because we're "friends" online. Not to be cynical or anything.

On a more serious note, I'm absolutely in love with the textbook for my new class, Overview of Learning Disabilities. I can't remember the last time I could hardly put a textbook down; seriously, it's fascinating. The book is called "A Mind at a Time" and it's by Mel Levine. He talks about the 8 neurodevelopmental systems that enable people to acquire certain abilities (attention control, social thinking, higher thinking, motor, sequential ordering, spatial ordering, language and memory). Everyone has better skills in certain systems, just as everyone lacks skills in other systems.

Levine's perspective on K-12 education made me realize how tough school is for some kids. He points out that when we choose a career/vocation, our decisions usually reflect our strengths rather than our deficits. For instance, my motor system is much weaker than my language skills, so I would never choose to become a professional athlete. Yet in our schools we expect students to master every neurodevelopmental system. Is this fair? I don't think so. Why should a student who struggles in attention control be made to feel like he/she is a failure or a "bad" child just because his/her brain hasn't developed in such a way that success is possible in that area?

I'm not saying that we shouldn't expect students to sit reasonably quietly in class or give their best efforts in all areas of their life. Now that we have this information on how the brain works, we don't have any excuse to not use this information to teach to each student's needs. If we know that a student lacks appropriate memory skills, we should be teaching specific memory techniques that will enable that student to be more successful. This isn't to say that they will be able to memorize a phone book or suddenly develop an amazing memory, but educators should at least give the students the experiences necessary to develop each system to their maximum potential.

Having this information shouldn't provide us with excuses as to why a student isn't succeeding - it should enable us to help that student to gain the best skills he/she can. I've never wanted to read ahead in a class more than I have in this one; I'm glad, because if I feel so passionate about a topic like this then it obviously means I'm on the right track by working on my special ed certificate.

Creepy!

So Sean and I were walking out of the Walmart in Yorkton this afternoon as this little kid, maybe 2 or 3 years old, was walking in. The kid looked at me, pointed at me and said "Mommy."

Isn't that creepy? (No Mom, I'm not pregnant.)

Keener, keener, keener!

Did I mention that I passed my first special ed class? Yay me! I'm being a keener because I've already started doing the readings for the next class, but it's all going to even out in the end because May and June are going to be insane months at school. Now that I almost have a social life here (well, two friends) I figure I might as well get started early.

I'm actually really excited about this next course. Here's the gist of it:
EDPSE 520.3 Supporting Students with Learning Disabilities in the Classroom
[Prerequisite(s): EDPSE 390.3, 414.3]
Designed to facilitate a broad understanding of issues in LD as well as research-based knowledge about several important elements in the field. Course topics include definitional issues in LD, a language-oriented view to reading disability, memory processing problems, reading, writing, and arithmetic instruction, metacognition, social issues, inclusion, and assessment issues of LD.

I wish I could have taken this class back in January. I think it would have been a lot more applicable to my current job than the "History and Philosophy of Special Ed" class that I took. I just finished reading an article about students with LD and self-concept. Aside from all of the statistical junk in it, it made me "reflect" (what a university word) on how I work with my resource room students.

I noticed at the beginning of the year that some of my students would mutter negative things under their breath as they were working and it really bothered me. Our Ed Psych suggested that I end the session with something they're good at, and it's amazing how well it's worked. One of my students is really good at multiplying so after we work on reading (which is really difficult for him) we finish up by doing some multiplication questions on the whiteboard. I've even taught him the BEDMAS thing and he thinks it's cool that he can do that when the other kids in his class can't yet. Seeing the improvement in his self-concept is one of those instances where you remember why you became a teacher in the first place. (Not to get all sappy and crap.)

I'm also really pumped to learn that the textbook for this class is $23.00. The $140 textbook from last semester was definitely not a highlight of the class. I get quite upset when I have to buy a textbook that is written for Americans. The $140 textbook was full of American statistics and policies, which I know I should still read about, but it was awfully hard to get through that info when it doesn't directly pertain to me at this point in time. I'm really hoping this next text is a little more useful.

Anyway, I'm off to read about emotional intelligence! How thrilling!

Oh, and thank you for redoing my blog Sean! It looks great!

New Blog Template, yay me...

Do you like the purple? Sean isn't too sure about it....let me know...

Look at that killer header!

Back to the ol' grind!

Well, the Easter break flew by. I surprisingly accomplished a lot, almost everything on my to-do list. I hope this week is as productive as last week was.

I left Stoon at about 1:30 and when I got home I went to the school to clean my classroom a bit. Then I came home and started doing laundry (it's amazing what laundry accumulates over the course of almost a week and a half!). Since then I've been cutting and gluing stuff to be laminated at school tomorrow. I can't wait until these first few years of teaching have passed - I absolutely hate colouring and making things, but that's the life of an elementary teacher.

I quite enjoyed my drive home today. It rained from Quill Lake to my house so my car got a nice little rinse. I love driving in rain or light snow - for some reason I find it relaxing. When I got home it smelled so fresh and the birds were chirping. I love spring!

I'd say my big accomplishment for the week was driving Sean's car. Yup, I said DRIVING Sean's car, not stalling it. I haven't stalled it the last two times we've gone driving! I even drove on Spadina to the Mendel Art Gallery! Next goal: driving in actual traffic!

The to-do list from hell...

Ahhhh, the break. I needed this break very badly. It's a good time for me to regroup my thoughts and catch up on some unit planning. On Sunday night I decided to make a to-do list for the week. I must say, it's an impressive list. If I can accomplish everything on it this week, I will be a happy camper.

Some highlights:
- plan my farm unit
- send out letters requesting sponsorship for the ECEC conference (I got suckered into being the corporate person)
- send out wedding invitations
- buy a spring jacket
- pick out bridesmaids' dresses
- apply for my passport (no, I don't have a passport, leave me alone)
- sew my pants
- doctor on Tuesday
- spa appointment on Tuesday
- dentist on Wednesday
- eye doctor on Wednesday
- go to Sarcan

That's not including the work I have to do to prepare my farm unit, the TA schedules I have to tweak and the learning resource games I want to make. Sean is at work during the day so it's good that I can be kept busy. I'm also hoping to meet up with Syd, Brea, Stacey and Clarice at some point this week. Go me!

So apparently Highway 15, arguably one of the worst highways in Saskatchewan, is washed out west of Nokomis, my hometown. This morning they interviewed Willard Beeler and Shaun Thompson, two local guys, on CBC radio. I understand there's nothing the Department of Highways can do about it until the water has gone down and the ground has dried up a bit, but this shouldn't have happened in the first place.

That road has always been a disaster. This one time? On the way to band practice? We were driving down Highway 15? And the potholes (or rather, craters) were so bad we actually drove in the ditch for a stretch. That's not right. That's not right at all. But I bet you if government people had to drive on that road on a regular basis it would have been fixed a long time ago. So now those people who drive from Nokomis to Watrous for work, school, etc have to go far out of their way to travel on a decent road. Boy, I'm glad I don't live around there anymore.

3 sleeps until the break!

I can't believe how quickly the school year has gone by. It's almost Easter, for Pete's sake. In some ways, I feel like I haven't taught my kindies anything, yet sometimes I look at them and want to burst with pride because most of them have come a long way from the beginning of the year.

They all entered school not knowing numbers and letters, and now some of them know every letter and almost every sound. Some are learning basic sight words and some have become little math geniuses.

It doesn't seem that long ago that we went swimming at the Gallagher Centre for their first field trip ever. Or that we were all dressed up for Halloween and the kids were climbing the walls because they were so excited to go trick-or-treating after school.

I can't get all sappy about leaving yet. I have to save that for June. Right now I need to focus on the fact that there are only 3 more sleeps until the Easter break! Woohoo!