Grrrr.

Last night I told my prof, ever so nicely, that I don't have access to a student on an IEP to tutor for the class project. She told me with a hint of attitude that this course had a field experience aspect and I should sign up at the education college for a placement. Fine. Then a few others asked her the same question which made her irritated.

So today I called the college of ed's special office and was transferred and cut off three times. In mid sentence they transferred me! Then finally a woman explained to me that they were not responsible for this and the prof was wrong and needed to sign up our whole class way before now. She got really annoyed and totally killed the messenger- i.e. me.

This assignment calls for me to tutor a child on an IEP in reading for at least six weeks and make assessments, interventions and more. For legal reasons, many schools aren't going to just allow me in to tutor a kid on an IEP. Special Education is very strict about confidentiality.

I am in a bind.

Kids and Salsa= bad combo

Our church has small groups called Thrive groups. We get together in people's homes every couple of weeks. This past weekend our group got together at a new house. This young couple's house was built in 1920 and had a beautiful enclosed front porch where Emily and Tara were playing with other kids. A few minutes into the meeting Tara walked in and sheepishly said she spilled her salsa and chips. We go to investigate and see that there is salsa EVERYWHERE on the porch. It doesn't seem scientifically possible that it could have spilled that much. It's a good thing the floor was easily cleaned.

Apparently, one kid grabbed Tara by the neck causing her to "have to" put the paper plate full of salsa and chips in her mouth, thereby causing it to fly out of her mouth onto the floor. It sounds like she was a human salsa sprinkler. Ugh. I don't think we'll be invited back any time soon.

Emily got in trouble for being mouthy so I sent her to her room. She said some nasty things, which stung, and she knew it. I told her words are powerful and she needed to be careful how she used them. Later, she apologized. And later still, she looked at me and saw that I was still affected by the words. She told me to put the thoughts in an old popsicle wrapper and throw them away. I thought that was rather poetic for an 8 year-old.

Calling all teacher friends.

I have such respect for my professor teaching my Pharmacology class. She made the process of neurons talking to each other not only understandable but repeated the processes and had us draw the parts of neurons and label them. She told us exactly what she expected of us and stayed after class if we had questions. She was professional, on topic, gave us a break (2.5 hour class) and took questions as she worked. She had graphics, drawings, Powerpoints and clear teaching techniques. She is awesome.

My other professors, although not as effective as the aforementioned prof, are livable. I have research presentations in all the classes, numerous papers and oodles of book work. That's par for the course. One thing I have learned in graduate school is that they definitely don't hold your hand. They say things once. You better get it. If not, find out. Work with a child with a disability, interview teachers...but I am not teaching right now.... figure it out is the response. Find a way. I respect that and hate it all at the same time. I want some hand holding but I know that in my career I will have to figure out many things on my own. I better start now.

On a side note: The girls are doing well. They are liking school and coming home with all kinds of reading assignments. Tara has really impressed me with how well she picked up reading. Tonight the only word that tripped her up was the name Amy. After that, smooth sailing. I love watching them develop.

Be pre-warned: If you are a teacher and a friend of mine, I'm going to hit you up for interview questions this semester. I'll make it worth your while. I'll rent Jay out to rake your leaves or something. If Jay is reading this, I'm just kidding sweetie. If he isn't - it's on for his gutter, painting and leaf work. :) Seriously though, Jenny, Ben, Nancy, Kirk- I'll be in touch. Please still take my calls.... OK? buddies, ole pals and roommates?

Tara's About Me Poster

All weekend I was putting off Tara's homework. She had to create a poster about herself and her family. But when we got started, it was really fun. We looked on Google to find pictures of her favorite things- the toy store and brownies. Then we printed some family pictures and pictures of her. Finally, we colored it together. She colors better than I do. She reminded me to stay in the lines. :)

writing woes and remote destroyers

Jay's better. The girls are healthy. I take a relieved sigh.

Em's new teacher keeps sending notes home about how sloppy her handwriting is. Jay wrote back that she is on a 504 plan and is supposed to go to tutoring for her writing. I am going to give this teacher some time to read Em's accommodations because I know first week stuff is hard.

The kids have a remote control for the TV in their playroom. We have blocked all the channels but a couple of channels for kids. Once before we blocked the channels, I found Em in the living room watching a marathon of Dr. G Medical Examiner! You leave the room for five minutes and all hell breaks loose. Just recently, we taught them how to use the remote. In the span of a couple of months this remote has lost its backing twice and the front is all mangled. What are they doing with it to destroy it THAT much in two months? Jay just went to get a new one. If they want the old one in exchange, I would love to see their faces when Jay hands it over. It looks like lions attacked it. :)

Ok that's it. NOBODY is allowed to get sick in this house for a long, long time. Last week Tara, yesterday Emily, last night Jay.
Today Jay was so sick he stayed home from work, which he never does. There isn't much to do but sit around and suffer when you have the flu. Jay and I have been sitting around joking about the silliest things. If the transcript were played back later, nothing would be as funny as it was at the time. The state of slap happy is a fun state. Well, it is for me; I don't have the flu!