Work today
Work today was interesting. Regretfully, this kind of interesting is not a good thing. It's quite the opposite. Two interesting parts of work make up one huge problem for the work day today. Problem was deals with one of the teaching assistants in the roo and problem two is the new student in the class.
For problem one, it looks like one of the teaching assistants in the classroom (the one that works with the other child in a wheelchair in the room) got into an accident yesterday. She's fine, but the car has seen better days. Today we got informed 15 minutes into work that she'll be coming in late... around 9:30 to 10 cause she has to wait for the rental place to open and then drive to work. Well, 10 comes and the office calls to see if she came into work yet and she hasn't. Just about 30 minutes later, we get another message from the office, the teaching assistant is not going to make it into work and they are going to try to get a sub for the rest of the day. Well, being that its already half way through the school day no sub probably was going to make it in time and thats exactly what happened. We had to go the rest of the day without a sub and that caused lots of problems. The teacher himself covered two of the 40 minute blocks, lunch and gym, giving up his prep time to do this. Recess I took over for the most part, keeping all of the students together inside one classroom (instead of the two that they are divided into) and was given another teaching assistant from the building to help. There was a different teaching assistant that helped out during center time as well, so that was nice. We made it through the day, but it was tough, that's for sure. Plus with problem two, this was not easy to deal with. Funny ending too, the teaching assistant did make it into work at 2:30 for her afterschool program that she runs. Go figure.
The second problem has to deal with the new student. A bit of background to point out, yesterday wasnt that easy either, worst though was when he had to be removed from gym. Today he was worse though. All day long from the time class began, he was up out of his seat wandering around and not doing the right thing. When it came time to work, the teaching assistant had a lot of problems keeping him in his seat. Adaptive library, he flew out of his seat and around the classroom. Before lunch, he was running around the room again but this time he hit the teaching assistant when she tried to get him to stop. School psychologist called this time around, but it only calmed him down for the little time that was left before lunch. On to music today, he couldn't sit still at all on the floor. He lied down on the floor at times, was yelling at other times, he even moved around the room a bit. We tried to sit him in a chair, but he ended up running out of the room and down the hall. The other teaching assistant took him back to the classroom after this. I then heard later on that while in the classroom, he ran out of the room and down the hall again, the hall monitor stopping him this time. School psychologist called in once again and one idea was though up that we'll start next week, a schedule book for him so he knows whats going on. Packing up he was around the room as well. Over all for the day, he was a distraction and took up a lot of teaching time. The teacher had to stop a lot to get this student under control before going back to our lessons for the day. The other students in the class were distracted by this boy as well, causing them not to do their work or even worse! (say, following his bad behavior) This student needs to be removed from our classroom and placed somewhere where he can get the help that he needs as well as the best enviroment for learning. It's not our classroom, thats for sure.
Overall, it was a tough day between the two problems. The teacher looked like he was ready to walk out and quit today. This was at 10am too, not even the halfway point for the day. The other teaching assistants in the room looked tired as well from all that happened today. The poor music and library teachers too, cause they were completly at a lose for what to do when things happened in their classrooms. Tought day had by all, and I know that I can say at the least that I'm glad for the three day weekend that we have. Horray for three day weekends!
For problem one, it looks like one of the teaching assistants in the classroom (the one that works with the other child in a wheelchair in the room) got into an accident yesterday. She's fine, but the car has seen better days. Today we got informed 15 minutes into work that she'll be coming in late... around 9:30 to 10 cause she has to wait for the rental place to open and then drive to work. Well, 10 comes and the office calls to see if she came into work yet and she hasn't. Just about 30 minutes later, we get another message from the office, the teaching assistant is not going to make it into work and they are going to try to get a sub for the rest of the day. Well, being that its already half way through the school day no sub probably was going to make it in time and thats exactly what happened. We had to go the rest of the day without a sub and that caused lots of problems. The teacher himself covered two of the 40 minute blocks, lunch and gym, giving up his prep time to do this. Recess I took over for the most part, keeping all of the students together inside one classroom (instead of the two that they are divided into) and was given another teaching assistant from the building to help. There was a different teaching assistant that helped out during center time as well, so that was nice. We made it through the day, but it was tough, that's for sure. Plus with problem two, this was not easy to deal with. Funny ending too, the teaching assistant did make it into work at 2:30 for her afterschool program that she runs. Go figure.
The second problem has to deal with the new student. A bit of background to point out, yesterday wasnt that easy either, worst though was when he had to be removed from gym. Today he was worse though. All day long from the time class began, he was up out of his seat wandering around and not doing the right thing. When it came time to work, the teaching assistant had a lot of problems keeping him in his seat. Adaptive library, he flew out of his seat and around the classroom. Before lunch, he was running around the room again but this time he hit the teaching assistant when she tried to get him to stop. School psychologist called this time around, but it only calmed him down for the little time that was left before lunch. On to music today, he couldn't sit still at all on the floor. He lied down on the floor at times, was yelling at other times, he even moved around the room a bit. We tried to sit him in a chair, but he ended up running out of the room and down the hall. The other teaching assistant took him back to the classroom after this. I then heard later on that while in the classroom, he ran out of the room and down the hall again, the hall monitor stopping him this time. School psychologist called in once again and one idea was though up that we'll start next week, a schedule book for him so he knows whats going on. Packing up he was around the room as well. Over all for the day, he was a distraction and took up a lot of teaching time. The teacher had to stop a lot to get this student under control before going back to our lessons for the day. The other students in the class were distracted by this boy as well, causing them not to do their work or even worse! (say, following his bad behavior) This student needs to be removed from our classroom and placed somewhere where he can get the help that he needs as well as the best enviroment for learning. It's not our classroom, thats for sure.
Overall, it was a tough day between the two problems. The teacher looked like he was ready to walk out and quit today. This was at 10am too, not even the halfway point for the day. The other teaching assistants in the room looked tired as well from all that happened today. The poor music and library teachers too, cause they were completly at a lose for what to do when things happened in their classrooms. Tought day had by all, and I know that I can say at the least that I'm glad for the three day weekend that we have. Horray for three day weekends!