Slices of Stacy

Sweet Pea Randomness

She forged my signature for the first time.  She has a small book about pumpkins that she was supposed to have read to us and had us sign.  She apparently forgot and, rather than miss out on her Skittle, decided to take matters into her own hand, so to speak.

Sadly, she got caught because instead of actually signing my name, she wrote 'Mommy.'

*****

She got her first report card.  We looked over her grades and she noticed that amidst all the E's ('Excellent') there were two S's ('Satisfactory').  Shocked, she demanded to know what it meant. 

"It means you're right where you're supposed to be, honey."

"But all the rest are E's.  I'm supposed to have an 'E'!  I'm going to have a talk with Mrs. S about this."

"Okay, babe.  You go right ahead."

*****

We stopped at a gas station for Red Bull (mine) and water (hers).  I handed it to her.  She took it, then threw herself backwards against the cooler, gasping, "Last. Water. In. The. Universe."

I blame her father.

*****

We were driving down to visit her friend Parker.  I said, "Is this the road where we turn left?  I'm not sure.  I think I'd remember that name, maybe it's the next one."

"No, it's this one, Mommy.  I'm pretty sure."

"Let's just go down one more.  Wait!  There it is!  This is the one!"

"I stand corrected."

Any excuse, really

So Elaine went out and got tickets for 'High School Musical on Ice' for us and our daughters.  (Sidenote to daughters:  this is how you know we love you.) 

After a discussion about how much we would have to drink in order to survive it, she got tickets for the 11am show.

Which is far too early to start drinking.

You know what this means, right?

Xanax!!!  Wooo hooooooo!  Shiny, happy pharmaceticals!  Mommy's favorite!

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Tonight I got the chance to hear Ron Clark speak.  He's an educator (or, as he introduces himself, a "schoolteacher" -- how refreshingly straightforward, eh?) whose story was brought to life in a movie starring Matthew Perry.  Perry was nominated for an Emmy for his performance.

Clark's story is amazing.  He never intended to be a teacher.  One small boy reeled him in and the rest is history.  He works exclusively with low-wealth students and is opening a school here in Atlanta.  His technique is simple: create a family in the schoolroom.  He has 55 rules that he makes the students live by in his room.  Some are simple:  make eye contact, etc.  Some are funny/interesting:  NEVER bring Doritos into his classroom.  Support each other.  Lift each other up rather than bring each other down.

It was a message I desperately needed to hear.  Ever since I started this path I've felt instinctively that the way to make a classroom work is to treat the kids with respect.  I've heard too many teachers complaining about the lack of respect for adults and I've noticed that these are usually the teachers who treat the kids with the most DISrespect.  The Kindergarten teacher I was placed with in the spring spoke to the kids in ways I wouldn't even speak to my DOG.  Even now, as much as I adore my cooperating teacher, she tears the kids apart.  When they show her a work product, full of pride for their effort, she publicly humiliates them.  I can't stand it.

I want to find what makes each child tick.  I want the kids to come in and be happy to be at school.  I think the best way to get the kids to respect me is not through fear and intimidation but by modelling for them what respect looks like.  This takes longer, admittedly.  It's a lot easier to just yell and move clips to yellow or red.  But there has to be a better way.  I want to get them to work harder by encouraging their effort (and please note, this isn't the blanket praise thing -- I praise their effort and their improvement) and teaching them the next step.  One little boy came to show me his "story" today.  This is a child who, when he went into Special Ed five weeks ago, could only write the letters 't', 'a' and 'l', all of which he would repeated over an entire paper.  Today he wrote a 'story' (okay, more like a few words, but STILL) where he actually sounded out and properly wrote words like 'crawl' and 'door'.  There was even a period in there!  I was so proud of him!  He's come so far!  And all the teacher did was say, "You're supposed to write a story.  This is just a bunch of words.  Boy, get back to that desk and do it again."  Needless to say, when he went back to his desk he didn't work.  He just laid his head down on  his desk, after kicking the girl next to him.

Isn't respect a two-way street?  Don't children deserve to be treated with dignity? 

There has to be a better way.

The wrong response

I went to my first faculty meeting.  Good?  SNACKS!  Bad?  A new policy called 'Response to Intervention' or RTI or possibly, in Georgia, POI.

These days if a teacher has a student she is concerned about, she does a certain amount of accommodation and differentiation herself before referring that student to something called the 'Student Support Team'.  That team offers other suggestions on handling the issue before simply passing the kid on the Special Ed.  Ultimately there is testing involved, etc. before deciding how much help the child needs.

Statistically, boys are way overrepresented in the SpEd/LD world.  I believe that there are a lot of teachers who, when they see the slightest bit of noncompliance, immediately assume the kid needs Ritalin and try to get him to the resource room for at least part of the day so they don't have to deal with him.  However, the new 'Response to Intervention' program may have overshot the mark.  Previously there was about a 6-12 week lead time (including testing) before the child could start receiving services.  That timeframe just doubled.

Let me break this down for you.

You and your child arrive at a new school at the beginning of the year.  For the first four weeks, all children stay at 'Level 1' instruction (not its real name, I'm changing it to protect the innocent) for the first four weeks.  This means that everyone gets the same curriculum and the same treatment.  Okay.  Fine. 

If, after four weeks and some initial reading level testing, your child's teacher sees that your child is well below grade reading level or has documented a particular behavior problem that is damaging/dangerous/disruptive, she must then come up with a plan to address the deficits.  She will then spend six weeks trying to implement the plan, including such differentiation techniques as fewer spelling words, less homework, one-on-one reading time, etc.  If it's a behavior, she is to track exactly how often it occurs, what precipitates it, and how the new plan affects it.  She may carry around a small clipboard or wear a necklace with paperclips on it, moving one clip to the other side of the middle when she sees that behavior.  This is known as Level 2 and she may have several students she is tracking at the same time.  At the end of that six weeks, if the behavior and/or deficits have not cleared up, she may then proceed with the Student Support Team.  Testing and evaluation may take another few weeks but the child is then available for special services.

Now the time frame has changed.  Level 1 is still four weeks.  Level 2 is still six weeks.  Now there's a Level 3.  Did Level 2 sound like a pain in the ass?  At Level 3 the teacher has to go to the SST and get more suggestions, then continue to meet with them every three weeks to evaluate the deficit/behavior for TWELVE MORE WEEKS, all the while coming up with more creative interventions.

This means that it will be 22 weeks from the first week of school before your child can even be considered for special services.  You will be advised of all the meetings and invited to attend them.  But if you are the kind of parent who refuses to see the problem, whose fragile ego is more important than your child's well-being, you might just switch schools the next year.

And the process will start all over.  And the most likely people to change schools are those who are already at a socioeconomic disadvantage.  If the parents don't speak up, don't demand help sooner, don't advise the school of the services the child was already receiving...

Twenty-two weeks.  January.  Half the school year spent in a general education class receiving whatever attention the teacher can give him.  Being permitted to work below grade level. 

We have one in our class right now.  It's October and he still hasn't been evaluated.  He can't even read two-letter words and he's in second grade.  Not having his previous school's records, the school put him in the most age-appropriate class.

I want to help this boy.  I spend time with him every day I'm in the classroom but the teacher doesn't have the kind of time I do.  I am so frustrated.  He can't keep up with the work and, as a result, disrupts the class to get attention.  He has severe behavior problems and needs help.  HE NEEDS HELP. 

And under the new system our hands are tied.

Something is very broken.