News at Home: Tired but Good
I’m seriously tired. It was a long, but good week, for the most part. I had duty this week, which meant I had to get to school each day by 7:30, rather than 8. Would have been easier if (1) I hadn’t had duty the past 2 weeks with the whole school and (2) we hadn’t had two mandatory late nights. But I survived and have just learned to get my sleep by going to be earlier. And good news, kid germs are not hitting me anymore! I think the vitamin c and extra sleep helped me evade getting truly sick 🙂
An adventures in teaching story for y’all: I have a student in my class who is autistic and he’s very sweet and tries very hard to follow the rules. He just doesn’t always understand. He’s the same one who has had incidents of coming out of the bathroom half dressed (didn’t happen this week! yay!). Anyway, autistic individuals tend to really depend on routine and one of his routines is eating his lunch, which his mom packs for him. It starts with him drinking his strawberry milk. Well, on Wednesday, Mom forgot to pack the strawberry milk. I tried to replace it with white or chocolate milk, but neither would do. I contacted mom and she said she’s bring it up as soon as she could. Meanwhile he’s crying and really struggling. I managed to get him to tell me what’s next in his routine – applesauce it turns out – so we started eating applesauce. And he seemed to calm down. So I left for my 30 minute (now 15) lunch break. As I was returning to pick the kids up, I met a teacher in the hallway who tells me “Your student was just stripping in the cafeteria. He’s at the nurse now.” Yep! He got so upset he started taking his clothes off! When he returned to class, he had his strawberry milk, which I of course let him drink 🙂
Sweet story to go with that though – I showed my kids the Sesame Street episode where they meet Julia, the little girl with Autism. We had a great discussion about what bothered her and how she was still super fun, even if she did things a little differently. And they agreed, she was a great friend. Then I told them that our friend was autistic. I saw little lights turning on inside their heads! Best part though, every day at recess and during centers since then he’s had several kids inviting him to play with them when before he was really playing alone. And this is why I love teaching Kinder. Such big hearts, with plenty of room for everyone!
Oh and I got THREE compliments this week which were really nice. This group has been a hard group – but they’re coming around, and it’s been noticed. A SPED resource teacher had to sit in my room with a student and she told me, “You’re a NATURAL! I could sit in here all day, everything runs so smooth!” I wanted to laugh and tell her if only she’d been here during our impromptu anatomy lesson thanks to the bathroom break lol! But it was nice.
The same day our new PE aid, who’s been working in schools for 10 years, told all three GenEd Kinder teachers that out of all the schools she’s worked out we were the best team she’s seen. She said she was impressed with our kids improvement in three weeks. Love my team 🙂
And then, to make my Friday, I got an email from the PE Coach (and he CC’d the principal) saying that he wanted to thank me and another teacher for the work we’d obviously put into our classes. He wrote “Your two classes have exceeded my wildest expectations and that only comes when exceptional teachers put the time and energy into creating exceptional students…” So nice! It set me up to have a really good weekend!
And this weekend I’m not doing much. Last night we saw Wonder Woman at the dollar theater (first date night since surgery!) and it was so good! I’m going to do some chores and that’s all I have planned.
Blog News
Sorry, I’m sucking at visiting. I’m keeping up with replies, but that’s about it. I’m going to try again to do some serious visiting tomorrow. Last Sunday I slept in until noon (I was tired!) and that kinda killed that plan.
#FitReaders Update
Still doing good as far as recovery. Not eating lunch at school still, but that’s okay – I get more work done. And I only threw up like 1 or 2 times this week, so that was good. I think I’m getting the hang of my eating speed and chewing.
I’ve decided to start trying to add in some gym time this week – I’m going to start with just one zumba class on Wednesday. If that feels good then I’ll look at adding more the following week.
I have two big reasons for wanting to get back to working out: (1) I’m afraid of loose skin. I’m wearing tons of lotion and I know that’s not going to do the trick on it’s own. And working out probably won’t either. But maybe the two combined will make it not too bad. *fingers crossed* (2) I want to keep the weight coming off good. I know that the main thing is diet, but exercise certainly helps!
And the weight loss has definitely slowed. I’ve lost 36.6 pounds in 39 days, which is obviously really good. But I had been losing an average of a pound a day. And I had lost 31 pounds as of last week. So I lost 5.6 pounds this week. Am I complaining? No. But I’m aware that it’s slowing down and I anticipate it continuing to do so. As long as I keep losing better than before surgery (which was a few pounds every few weeks), I’ll be happy!
Last Week on the Blog
- [4 Sep] Shadow Rider by Christine Feehan
- [4 Sep] Furthermore by Tahereh Mafi
- [4 Sep] Sweet Little Lies by Jill Shalvis
- [4 Sep] Conspiracy of Ravens by Lila Bowen ★★
- [5 Sep] Ten…Eight books I recently gave up on #TTT
- [6 Sep] Bubbly Berls is Babbling about accessibility on your blog
- [7 Sep] Currently I’m…. #10 Feeling a little better! 🙂
- [9 Sep] My TBR List Pick for September 2017 with Berls
- [9 Sep] My To-Be Read List ~ And the September Winner is….
- [9 Sep] Sunday Post with Berls | I hate kid germs!
- [10 Sep] Well that didn’t go as planned but I am back ~ WIR & SP
Coming Next Week From Me
Saturday
Sunday Post with Berls
Monday
Just a few 3 star reads
Wednesday
Berls is Babbling about Kindle Highlighting
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. This meme started with J Kaye’s Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date. And here we are!
I just finished…
I zoomed through Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Gah, that book is amazing! I cried plenty, no matter how many times I’ve read it.
Reading Now…
I’m still reading A Quick Bite. I thought I would DNF if I didn’t have it finished before book club (which I ended up skipping because too tired) but it got better so I think I’ll finish it this week.
I’m listening to White Trash Zombie Unchained and it’s another great one! Kinda wishing I’d reread the series before starting it though, I’ve forgotten a lot!
Up Next…
Not too sure…
That sounds early to be there every day at 7:30 and have two late days as well. aww that’s so sweet you could use that tv show to teach the kids about autism and how now they are inviting him to play with them. And that’s nice you got three compliments as well, definitely proof you’re doing a great job.
I hope your recovery goes well and your gym trip went well this well. I hope you have a great week!
Thanks Lola! The compliments were very nice for a mood boost 🙂 Hope you’re have a great week!
I just started White Trash Zombie Unchained on audio, but we are away for a death in the family, and not much time to just listen like I want. Saw pics on Facebook…looking good my friend!
Thanks Kimba 🙂 I’m feeling good about progress! I finished WTZ unchained. It was good, I hope you get to enjoy it soon. {{hugs}} hope things go okay with family, that’s so hard 🙁
OH YEA!! I just love hearing about your teaching and classroom experiences. I would have LOVED for my kids to have you as a teacher. I am glad your dedication and hard work was noticed. I just love how you were able to help your class understand about Autism. That just made me totally tear up! *HUGS*
I hope the exercise part of your journey starts smoothly and I look forward to hearing more.
Thanks Jen, I appreciate it 🙂 I was so happy to see the kids get it with the autism… Highlight of my day.
I have been doing yoga every morning, just 10 minutes, but it’s good! Zumba tomorrow! Have a great week 🙂
Sounds like a great week and I love the idea of using the Sesame Street episode! A great way to explain autism with compassion but still keep their interest. I’m glad to hear they’re including him. They sound like sweet kids if a little wild! Sounds like you’re doing great with them! Have a great week!
Thanks Katherine – that’s a perfect way to describe them, sweet but wild 🙂 have a great week!!
What an awesome week at school! (Well, other than getting there early and staying late.) Your story about the kids embracing the little guy with autism just did my heart good. Now why can’t we keep that open heart and kindness as we get older? *sigh* And congrats on those awesome compliments! Go you!
Thanks Tanya – it was a nice boost to get the compliments 🙂 I wish we could find the secret to teaching people to keep that open heart! It’s part of the privilege of working with little kids 🙂 have a great week!!
Awwww your student stories made my heart melt! As a special education teacher, I love to see gen ed teachers really get it.
I once had an autistic 6th grader who liked to finger paint with his feces all up and down the hallway. Sigh….
I’m so impressed with all your success after your surgery! Keep up the great work!
Thanks Samantha! I try, but I know I’m woefully under trained in sped. Trying to make up for it, since teaching Kinder I am very likely to get unidentified sped, let alone the identified ones. Oh my, sounds like you have had your hands full! I bow down to sped teachers!!! Hope you have a great week 🙂
I bow down to kinder teachers. I do NOT know how you all do it!!
Hahaha and this is why we all need each other :&
I have to remind myself to not complain about the tough week I’ve had. You go through so much each day with the kids and it brought me to tears how the kids have supported your special needs student. It’s great you are being recognized for the hard work you do. I hope you have a great week!
Thanks Kathy 🙂 I was so excited to see them get it and embrace him. Tough weeks exist for all of us, mine just has the special elements of 22 kindergarteners 🙂 I hope you have a great week!
Berls, you are an awesome teacher! I can tell how much you love and work with your kids, and work to help them learn to be as compassionate and caring as you are.
Thank you Lark, that’s so nice of you to say 🙂 I love what I do and it’s moments like this week, when the kids really show their capacity to love that make it great. I hope you have a great week!
Sounds like a tiring but great week. You are really getting into the kinders so that is cool I don’t think I could. One Sunday a month with them in children’s church is good enough for me…lol. Your doing great with your weight loss since your surgery, I think you are losing really well as you don’t want it to go to fast. 🙂 *hugs*
Have a great week!
Stormi
Thanks Stormi! Hahaha yeah, I can imagine that 1 time a week is enough – 5 year olds are not for everyone 😉 I’m happy with how things are going with the weight loss – as much as I’d love it to be super fast, I know that going a little slower will pay off in the long run. I’m just happy to have hard work actually paying off! Have a great week! {Hugs}
It is always a mixed bag once they come to middle school, but I had a student with autism two years ago and he told everyone on the first day. “I have autism and that makes me different. I am still here to learn. I’ve been bullied and people won’t be my friends.” It was heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time.
I have had a full week of late nights. I was at school on Monday until 11! I slept until 11:30 yesterday and 10:45 today. You gotta get it somewhere.
Teaching has become a thankless job always full of criticism. Even though we know we are doing a good job, it matters SO much when someone else points that out to us and to others.
Couldn’t agree more! It was so nice to be acknowledged for doing good work, because I work so hard! Gah! Why so late? I mean, I’ve been there, but still 🙁 I hope this week will be full of early days for you!
I couldn’t finish your post… you made me cry. My son is autistic and we’ve been through HELL with school. I wish Julia was around when Jake went to school. I online school him now… PLEASE, if you haven’t yet, if your school provides it, get autism/sensory training. You’ll be a better teacher for all your students. I hope I haven’t offended with that suggestion…
*hugs* I’m so sorry to hear your son had such a hard time. I’ve had an autistic student every year since I started teaching (this is my 3rd year), so this summer I found a training program that I’ve been working my way through. It’s shocking how hard it is to find programs, considering how much need there is! This one is online, but it has great videos and it’s through region 13 which is a good program. Unfortunately my school district doesn’t provide one. But no, definitely not offended 🙂 I have dearly loved all my autistic kids and am constantly trying to learn so that I can make school a better experience for them. So far, they’ve all loved to learn and been gifted in some way – I don’t want to be responsible for taking that joy away or squandering those gifts. If I ever post a situation that, from your experience, could have been handled better I would love to hear how. And yes, Julia is such a gift. It’s makes it so easy to show the kids what you mean by autism, and to let them see how they can still relate to and be friends with their autistic peers. Last year I used it too and it just made a huge difference. Have a great week Kristin!
Neat story Berls, glad to hear some light bulbs went on and the other students are including him. It must have been so tough for him to go through that! Sounds like you do a fantastic job with those kids.
And glad to hear Wonder Woman was good. I want to see it!
It was pretty great to see the kids embracing him like that 🙂 I hope you get to see Wonder Woman soon – it was really good. I had wanted to see it since it came out. Have a great week Greg!!