My Former Teacher, My Present Boss

I am a tutor at a school where the principal is my grade school French teacher. I had told a few of the teachers at the school that I am a former student of the principal, but was wary of mentioning it to the principal herself. One day I was in the office with a parent consultant and the topic of the principal's former students came up, and I mentioned that I am actually one of her former students. She said that I should tell the principal. I still was wary about letting her know.

Well, the parent consultant took care of it for me. One day when I got to school, the principal asked if she could see me in her office. I was wondering what I had done. When I got into her office, she asked me if I recognized this green satin box with lace overlay. It did look kind of like the box I had my ring bearer carry for our wedding so I said yes. She said that the box was one that I had given her after I went on a trip as a student of hers. She still kept the box on her dresser and uses it for her earrings. I was amazed! The principal said that once the parent consultant jogged her memory, she knew exactly who I was and could even spell my maiden name to this day.

I have to say that it was nice to be remembered so fondly over 25 years later. The principal did not remember some of my former classmates, but she did remember me and in a positive light!

IEP

I got through my first writing of an Individual Education Plan (IEP) and my first IEP conference in which I was the lead teacher. Thank goodness for friends, a great special education department, and IEP Anywhere for helping me get the job done.

As a regular classroom teacher I never had to write an IEP, only contribute my knowledge of the child. As a special education teacher I not only have to determine goals for my students, but also gather the necessary information from teachers, parents, specialists, therapists, etc. and compile the information into an education plan that will most benefit the student. I then have to implement the plan and track the progress my students are making.

I believe that with the first one behind me, I am now armed with the knowledge to do the rest of my IEPs with ease and lots of planning!

Reading Challenges

I feel so much better now that I am earning a paycheck again. I had to wait over a month to get one since I had to be boarded before I could get paid. I find that it is challenging to work with individual students day in and day out and find activities that hold their interest as well as achieve their goals. Assignments that take a whole class at least 15 minutes to do can be accomplished by an individual in five minutes.

I have tried to find books that are interesting to my boys especially to get them to enjoy reading and find writing assignments in which they can relate. One of the things that has seemed to work is draw a picture and write about it. But, just like my son, I have found that as I research their interest and find materials at their reading levels, my knowledge of boy things expands. The interests that I am looking for materials for are: Mythology, Cars, Fighter Jets, Basketball, Kickball, Frogs, Bats, and Sharks.

I believe that reading is reading and although for most of my boys, graphic novels are below their reading levels, I want them to find reading easy and fun to encourage them to read more. I have trouble with graphic novels because I feel they are glorified comic books, but we all have different reading interests and if pictures help make reading more interesting and less of a challenge for my readers, then I will keep looking for these books.