Magic

I met a 4th grader at work last week. It was nothing unusual. The kid is having trouble with his behavior so they called me in. Basically, every time he gets frustrated, he has a meltdown, resulting in yelling, crawling under tables, and/or throwing himself on the ground. He is a cutie with some of the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen. He and I talked, I did a classroom observation, and I talked to his teacher. The kid said without reservation that he just can't take it when he is upset and he agreed to work with me on that. I didn't think much else of it until I called his mom on Friday. She said he was diagnosed with severe autism when he was 3. I couldn't believe it. Severe autism??? Like the can't-relate-to-others-flap-your-arms-don't-talk kind of autism? Yup. She even brought documentation of this fact to the kid's IEP meeting today. I asked her what kind of magic they have at her house because the kid appears to be your typical,average,everyday 4th grader until he has a meltdown. She calls him her miracle baby. When I looked through the records though at the amount of therapy this kid's mom set up for him, I tend to think that hard work and available resources are to thank for this magic. Either way, the kid is incredible and so is his mom. We had a great IEP meeting today to set up a program for him that will help him manage his frustration better and the best part is, I get to be a part of it! On days like this, I love my job!

Update

Me = So lame about blogging lately.

I just haven't had any time. I am now into my second admin class. I really like this one so far. It is about student conduct. If you know me at all, you know I am fascinated with behavior so it's a good one for me to be in. Right now, I am geeking out on Colorado student conduct law for a paper I have due tomorrow. I need to focus and just get it done.

Noah and Dan and Japhy are still wonderful. Dan really helps out when I have to work on school stuff and Noah is really a constant joy! Today he showed me the sign language for "beautiful," and after I praised him for it, he said, "because you are beautiful, Mommy." I had tears in my eyes....

Work is calming down. We have been down 4 people for about 2 months now which means more work for everyone. But we only have one more position to fill at this point, so things are getting much better. I got to be on the interview committee for 2 of the positions, which was a good experience for me. I did that a few times at my previous job, but it is good experience for whatever my next move might be.

My foot is getting better too. I am finally at 3 miles, 3 times per week. That may not sound like much, but I could barely run a mile 2 months ago without my foot feeling like I wanted to cut it off, so I am happy with that. One of Noah's friend's moms (who is a serious runner... like she has done Pikes 4 times) suggested that I do the St. Patrick's 7K in Denver with her, and I am considering it. I am so excited to be able to run races again, but let's face it, I've lost some fitness. The good news is that I've been watching what I eat, and I am down 5 lbs. since New Years (I had gained a little), so that should lessen the pounding my foot is taking.

Planning to Spain trip had gotten to be too stressful for me, so I let it go for a while. We have our plane tickets, so one way or another, we will be there! :)

That's all for now! Yay, Olympics are on! Go US!!!

One Down, Eleven to Go

I am done with my first course towards my degree in Educational Administration. That means I have 11 left. I can't wait to have it all done. Should be just over a year, especially if I double up on classes this summer. My next class starts Sunday which means no homework for a whole week!!!

Back to School...

...for me! I start tomorrow. I know Sunday seems like a weird day to start, but I am taking online classes. Each class is 8 weeks, 3 credits, starts on Sunday and ends on Saturday. I just got done looking at my first course (Educational Theory... really? I've been teaching for 12 years). The first week includes 3 chapters, 6 articles, and 2 papers. I am really worried about getting it all done except for the fact that the first week is behaviorism. If I can't do that easily and well, something is wrong.

Anyway, at the pace my advisor said is realistic for me, I should have a master's in administration, and both principal and administrator licensure within 18 months. If I double up on classes in the summer, I may even finish sooner.

Wish me luck!!!

Remiss

I have been completely and inexcusably remiss in my blogging duties over the last 2 weeks. I apologize to the two or three of you who check it regularly. So here is a little update on everything going on here:

Noah:
Still my amazingly talented-in-every-way-athletic-little genius! ;) He has gotten into playing the "guitar," which he made at school out of a shoebox, a pencil, and a few rubber bands. It is hilarious and I really need to get a video posted of him playing and singing. His school year is in full swing and they have started phonics, a little bit of writing, and Spanish! My kid already officially knows more Spanish than I do. Sad, I know, but I am just so proud I don't even care.

Dan:
He is finally riding his bike again, which is cool. He took a little break after his big race in August but he is glad to be back in the saddle again, so to speak. He is happy and cool as usual. When I married him, I had no idea how much strength that guy has and I am amazed every day at his positivity and his openness to whatever the universe throws at him. He rocks!

Japhy:
Annoying dog as ever...but we love him!

Work:
Well, let's just say that work is a big reason I haven't been blogging. I have never had a position that left me as drained at the end of the day as I am now. But it also has parts I absolutely love and I am not leaving, at least not today, hehe. We are in a situation right now that requires a LOT of paperwork and I don't like the amount of time it is taking away from kids, but it is temporary. And I treasure the time I CAN get with kids that much more! I am pretty sure that sometime before I retire (you know, when I am 101 years old), I will go back to teaching in a classroom. I don't care what anyone says, that is the most important job in education and it is the only place where you can develop that unique close relationship with kids.

Running:
Running is going pretty well, even the speed work. For my training plan right now, I have target paces for every run that will help me hit 1:59:59 in the half marathon. I have hit target pace for every run except for one (I would blame that on my watch because I messed it up in the middle of a 4 mile tempo run, but I know that is a cop-out.). My foot has been hurting and my legs are pretty sore, but other than that, it feels great to work on speed again. The only bummer is that I am not doing much trail running right now since I am working on speed (and because it is dark in the morning when I run now). I miss it, but I will get right back to it after the Denver Half. I have also added one day of biking/week for cross training and I am really liking the change from running.

That about wraps it up. It was my birthday last weekend so I am 37 now. I can't believe it. I don't feel 37. I feel about 24 most days (ask Dan... I still laugh at fart jokes). I even laughed today when my boss said "arrears." Hahahaha! She said "rear." Seriously. Good thing she is cool.

Back to School

Tomorrow is my first day officially back at work for the school year. I am both excited and no excited for it. I am not excited about going back to spending every weekday away from my little guy. But I am excited (and stressed) about some of the changes going on at work. I think some of them will be great for kids. But I worry that the highly charged political climate there is going to detract from services for kids for a while. I am definitely happy to be going back to work with a really cool staff though. They make it easier to deal with the work politics.

Work? In the Summer?

Yes, I had to work today. It's ok though because it is extra money. And Noah is in school on Tuesdays so it worked out great. The only part that sucked was that I had to go be part of a pre-due process meeting. Basically that means that parents are threatening to sue the district and I was one of the service providers for the kid. I think all my bases are covered, but some other people are kinda hanging out there. Scary! Two hours in a room full of lawyers, special education directors, and coordinators! I don't recommend it.

Webinars are Dumb

Ok, so my boss's secretary called me on Tuesday and said that there is a mandatory webinar Thursday morning for anyone who wants to do summer enrollments for extra money at 9:00 am. I am scheduled to do summer enrollments so "Could I possibly participate in the webinar?" I say, "Well, I have a doctor's appointment at 9:50 that day, but I can be online from 9-9:20 and then do the rest via conference call." Fine and good.

Except that I committed to that thinking the webinar would have ACTUAL information we needed for enrollment.

It was boring and full of information we already knew. No, I take that back. There were 2 pieces of info I didn't know. But the conference was an hour and those two pieces of info took MAYBE a minute and 18 seconds to share.

Thanks for cutting into my nice summer day for NO GOOD REASON!

Job Update

A few people have called and/or emailed Dan and I asking about our jobs. See, right about the time I posted about my job possibly being on the chopping block for next year, the company my husband works for announced that it was cutting a whole bunch of jobs as well. So I should probably clarify...

Yes, the position I have right now could possibly be eliminated next year. But I should explain that by saying that I might not have THAT job, but I will likely have A job in the district I work for. They don't want to lose teachers, so when they eliminate a position, they generally place you in another one (BIG district...lots of jobs). I am pretty sure the job would not be as interesting as the one I have now, but I will not be unemployed. Our boss's boss came into our staff meeting this week and reiterated that to all of us. I think her exact words were, "I will find you a job. It may not be one you like, but that's your problem." For me, it would probably mean a class full of teenage hoodlums...you know, nothing I haven't dealt with before.

As far as Dan's job goes... the announced cuts are not coming from sales in his area. They are already lean and mean. He won't get his 401K match this year, but in the grand scheme of things, that really is a trivial matter. I am just very thankful we both have jobs and benefits and food and stuff. We really are very lucky.

Meeting Day

Oh my gosh, I am so bored. I have been sitting in meetings all day. NOT my kind of day. On a good note, I had all of my friends from my new job over to my house for lunch on our break today. Our training was at a high school 2 miles from my house, so it just sort of made sense. It was really fun, and I am so appreciative of these wonderful people who have made my new job so much fun. Now, if only there weren't job cuts still coming down the pike...

Job Cuts

This is really freaky. I talked to a friend in the central administration building of my school district and about 2/3 of her department is getting wiped out today, including many people who have been working with my team. I still don't really know what will happen with the team I am on, but we keep getting reassured that there will be a job for us somewhere in the district next year even if our team has cuts. We still don't even know if any cuts will happen on our team, so I will keep you posted.

Selfish A-Holes

The voters in my county are selfish a-holes. If you are the one person who reads this blog regularly, you probably remember that I posted back in November about how voters rejected the school bond. Well, start feeling the effects people because a whole bunch of people were notified yesterday that their jobs will no longer exist as of the end of this school year. And my friend Kate's job is one of them. This sucks.

The Girl With the Black Hair

So I met one of the most beautiful little girls I've ever seen in my life yesterday at work. I'll call her Yesenia. She walks into a meeting at which my colleague and I are supposed to tell her she is kicked out of school for non-attendance (which isn't even really part of our job, but that's a whole 'nother story). She is 18 years old and she walks in with her 8 month old baby. The baby has no coat and looks seriously pale and listless. She says she hasn't been attending school because her baby has been sick and she has no money to take him to the doctor because her Medicaid has been cut off. She has WIC but she says they don't give her enough formula so she is out for the month and does not have enough money to buy her baby a winter coat.

Even though the meeting was supposed to be about Yesenia, all I could think was, "What the hell is going to happen to this little baby?" The general education teacher who attended this meeting was literally crying.

It was awful.

To me, this was the culmination of the Bush years. His administration cut Medicaid and pretty much every social program there is. I took a coat and gloves to Yesenia's teacher so that her baby will have a coat and I called social services so that hopefully that baby will get formula and medical care. But I know that coat is only a short term help and there is no guarantee that social services will have the resources to help her.

What else can we do? The educational system has completely failed Yesenia and again, what is going to happen to that baby? It's been driving me nuts and I don't know what else to do. I have seen so many similar situations in my last 10 years of working with children from families who don't have money or education.

It's starting to get to me.

The New Job

A bunch of people have asked me the following 2 questions lately:

1. Are you glad you took your new job? The answer is an unequivocal and emphatic, "Yes!"

2. Are you glad to be out of the classroom? That question is much harder to answer.

There are pros and cons to being out of the classroom. I love having the freedom to plan my day without worrying about who is going to cover my class. I miss the close relationships you get with kids in a classroom. I love going to many different centers in any given day. I miss the fun you have with a class full of kids. I love the wide variety of people I've met in my experiences so far at the new place. (I was just telling Dan the other day that I haven't met this many really cool people since my Camp Buckskin days.) I really really miss the close knit group of people I worked with for the past 10 years. They really were (probably still are) my second family. I love that now I am able to have an influence on the education of so many kids...literally hundreds. I miss having the daily influence on that one child who comes back in 6 years and tells you they finished school because of your teaching.

In short, I am not thrilled to be out of the classroom, but I AM thrilled with my new job. It is stressful and crazy and discombobulated and scary and unknown and exciting and challenging and fun and educational and really it's what I've always wanted to do. I feel so lucky to have this job that sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure I'm not just dreaming.

School Daze

We have all been insanely busy, but Noah has adjusted to his new school without any problems at all. He loves it and sometimes doesn't want to leave when we pick him up. I love it too because their curriculum is amazing and he is learning so much already. They had back to school night on Tuesday and I was really impressed by the specific educational knowledge of his teacher. I knew I liked her from the million and one times I was there before we chose it, but I had no idea that her knowledge of early childhood education was as extensive as it is.

Other than that, Dan's job is good, I am still running 5 days/week + one day of cross training, and we are still set to close on the new house on September 10. My new job is crazy busy, but I really like the people I am working with and I am really glad I made the change so far. Next week I finally get to go out to my centers and meet the kids, so I am excited about that.

A Sign of Things to Come

I haven't posted in a day or two and the only reason I even have time to post right now is because a training I was scheduled to go to ended early. I started my new job yesterday, and I'm afraid that from here on out, my posts are going to be few and far between. I am officially the sole behavior specialist for 60 schools. Scary, huh? Everything about my job is pretty much up in the air because it's a new position, but it is an exciting program that I think can really help a lot of kids who would otherwise fall through the cracks. So far, I have really liked everyone I've met who is involved with the program, and I think we are all going to do some very valuable work on the cutting edge of what works for at-risk kids. I'll post more about the job as I get into it!

New Job

OK, so here's the deal. I couldn't blog about this last week because I wasn't able to get in touch with my boss, but I finally talked to him today. I got a new job! I am going to be a behavior specialist in our local school district. I am very sad to leave my current job, but this is an amazing opportunity and I did not feel like I could pass it up. So, here's to Kunsberg School! Good luck with everything. I will miss you tons!!!

Here are some pics of my students. Most of them are from a 3 day trip we took to an outdoor education center. I miss them already!

Park Hill Gala

Two years ago, my good friend, Dana, opened a charter school. It is called Park Hill Preparatory School (http://web.mac.com/parkhillprep) and she does an amazing job of teaching students who have a variety of difficulties. Most of her students come from neighborhoods that many of us can't even imagine. Anyway, tonight, she had her annual fundraising gala. It was a concert at the Bluebird Theater in downtown Denver. Noah, Dan, and I went and I saw so many people from work and people I used to work with. It was awesome because I hadn't seen a lot of these people in what seems like forever. The highlight of the night for me was that I got to see two of my former students!!!The boy just graduated from high school and will start college in the fall! Success!! The girl will be a senior in the fall and already has 5 college applications at her house ready to be filled out. She and I are going to meet in August some time so I can help her fill them out. I am so excited because I just had someone tell me the other day, "Well, but not very many of your students in the population you teach are successful...they don't graduate." Dumbass! Anyway, here is a picture from tonight.