Saturday, April 10, 2021

oi!

 The last couple weeks have been crazy and I have only been able to post things I already had scheduled. But I finally have a breather today and will be around this weekend, FINALLY!

23 comments:

  1. Sometimes life gets in the way of Blogging. Welcome Back! [lol]

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    1. RIGHT?!?! And special education teachers in our district just got a whole crapload more of paperwork dumped on us with an impossibly small timeline, and I am furious. So, I am taking my blogging time while I can before I might have to disappear into data and student reports again!

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  2. Have a rest if you need it. But welcome back!

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  3. I'd been wonderfing because I didn't see new posts. Glad you're back.

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    1. Thank you! Work is crazy right now and those of us in the special education department just got a whole load of nonsense dumped on us and an extremely short timeframe in which to complete said nonsense. I may disappear again for a couple weeks so I am trying to get posts queued up and scheduled to publish ASAP.

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    2. Don't worry. You have a lot of friends here who are looking forward to your posts but who also understand that the job comes first. Special education is so important and at the moment, they probably suffer a lot more from the situation than the other kids.

      Sed me your e-mail, if you can, either on FB or via my address on my page. That would be nice.

      In the meantime, all the best.

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    3. Thank you so much! It really has been hard on my students especially, given their academics levels were already below grade level. Some are even further behind now, but have done such amazing jobs in staying motivated to learn, whether they are fully remote, or in the classroom. I am so, so proud of how hard they work. I am also glad to be back at blogging again and feeling some semblance of calm again. I'll email you!

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    4. Looking forward to your e-mail.

      I can imagine how frustrating it is for teachers if they see the potential of a student and that they won't go anywhere if they don't apply it. I've seen it when helping out in school when my kids were little. So, in your case, to see how much your students try must be so fulfilling. You've certainly done a great job.

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    5. Thank you so much! People are being really awful to teachers, saying we are lazy for not wanting to go back to school in August, that we should not get paid for not working, etc. But they seem to forget we have been working since August; our district started fully remote in August and we taught the entire day. Then we moved to the 3:2 model where it was a mix of kids at home and kids online and it switched on Wednesdays. We have been back 100% since February, have been busting our butts to get kids caught up, trying to teach twice as much in half as much time, etc. I love my job and I love my kids and anyone who says teachers don't care is a moron. I wish more people thought like you, and actually valued teachers.

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    6. Those people don't understand what people are doing for us. And our children. Without teachers, we'd be nowhere. Yes, I do appreciate and value teachers a lot just like people working in the medical professions. How comes those that are the most important to our lives get paid and appreciated so little? I know there are teachers around that are not good but the majority is not like that. You do a great job and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

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    7. Thank you so much! It is insane how quickly the conversation shifted. Last year within the first weeks/month of the pandemic, people were constantly posting on social media about how they could never teach because suddenly their own kids were driving them crazy, refusing to do their school work, etc. Then suddenly because teachers were highly concerned about returning to work this year in person, as we do have our own families to worry about as well, suddenly we were selfish and needed to shut up or be replaced. It is disgusting how little respect the teaching profession is given here.

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    8. I know. I think every parent should help in school for a while, then they know what it means to teach. I remember one mother complaining that those kids were always on the awards list whose mothers "had nothing better to do" than turn up in school all the time, i.e. help on a regular basis. I know the reason, those mothers also take care more of their own children if they are prepared to help others, as well. People who complain about teachers in general have no idea and don't really care much about education.

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    9. Yes!! It is not an easy job - especially those working in special education. I worked several years in a Behavior Skills classroom with children with severe behaviors, diagnosed with ADHD, ODD, PTSD, and all sorts of acronyms. It is the hardest job I've ever had. People really have NO idea how hard teaching is.

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    10. It's hard enough to teach children that have no problems, I can't imagine dealing with children with too many behavioral problems. You are a hero!

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    11. Thank you! It was both rewarding and exhausting. Last year I moved to a different position. Now I work with kiddos with learning disabilities in reading, writing, and math. No behaviors.

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    12. I'm sure that is a tad easier though probably not much.

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  4. Hope you had a good weekend! Stay sane my friend :)

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    1. Thank you Greg, it was a good one and I managed to not go completely crazy!

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  5. I know that feeling! I've been so busy I've not made any new posts! Just the ones I had already.

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    1. I get so lazy sometimes and think I don't need to schedule posts, but these last couple weeks I am so glad I did! Hope things are settling down for you, also.

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  6. Thank heavens for pre-scheduled posts, eh?! We're playing catch up with our students too, but they're really engaged which is wonderful. I had worried with so much time away from school they wouldn't be keen to return. But the opposite has been true.
    I feel your pain. Our teachers spend more time preparing lessons, admin paperwork and ticking official criteria than actually teaching the students!
    Stay strong. X

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    1. Thank you so much Flora! It has been so hard, and I am very fortunate that my kiddos have been really motivated (most of the time) to keep logging in if they're fully remote. I only have one out of the 33 on my case load who just refuses to log in for long stretches of time. And the bad part for him is that he could have been released from special education had he just logged on and did the work. He doesn't need to be in Resource anymore. But with the pandemic and his absences, now he has to stay in for at least another year if not longer. Luckily, the rest of mine have been eager to be back in school. We started back full time the beginning of February and it has been hard but so good to have kids in the building again. Good luck to you for a strong finish to the year!

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