Short (but long) Week

Although we had Monday off, the week actually felt longer than usual. If you did not know, most kids in special education are very dependent on routines. I think having no school on Monday really threw my students off. A mixture of that and their teenage hormonal changes called for a week packed with behaviors. I just keep telling myself, "They're not going to grow out of this in the next 5 weeks so get used to it, Mel!" Hopefully I am good at taking my own advice..

Like I said, my students all have strict routines, and they do not stray from these routines very often. St. Coletta's goes to school year-round, but in the summer, they have a more relaxed schedule. They go on more field trips, and they do weekly activities like go to the movies on Tuesdays and go to the water park on Fridays. Their summer schedule has come to an end, and they are getting back into the swing of the actual school year. This includes less field trips and more academic instruction, and the students also are getting homework unlike the summer. All of these things are changes that the students have to get used to because, obviously, they all enjoyed their relaxed and fun summer schedule (I know I would).

Last week (which was my first week) was the first week of the new school year. I thought they did great that week, and there were definitely not as many behaviors as there were this week. Maybe they are just realizing that they actually have to do more work than they did in the summer. A lot of my students are not too fond of doing school work so sometimes it is a struggle to get them to do their work. It could also be that they are 11-14 years old, and they are just being teenagers. What ever the case may be, it is giving me some great experience, and I feel that this is helping prepare me for so much.

Since I've never been in a placement like this before, the physical restraints are all very new to me. Unlike all of the teachers and aides in my school, I have not been trained to do physical restraints. I'm really glad that the aides will handle the restraints as needed, and that I can feel safe in my classroom. The Illinois Professional Teaching Standards says that, "The competent teacher knows strategies for intervening in situations to prevent crises from developing or escalating" (5G). I am still learning from my teacher and my aides when and how to intervene when a student is having/about to have a behavior. It is very important that I get to know the students because it will be easier for me to know when they are going to have a behavior. Different things set my students off, and sometimes the behavior is preventable, but sometimes it is not. One thing that I know from observing my students is that they set each other off. If one student starts to have a behavior, it is very likely that at least one or two others will also start having behaviors. That is why it is really important (but not always possible) to prevent behaviors from happening by catching it before it escalates.

Although it was a tough week, it was still a good week because I was able to start teaching a few lessons. I will be starting my third week on Monday, and I will begin to teach a few more lessons this week. I will be completely taking over for my teacher my fourth and fifth week. So before I start teaching all day, I want to really make sure my students get used to me. Hopefully that will happen soon! :)