Burn after watching!!!

***This is a review of Burn After Reading***
I just returned from seeing “Burn After Reading” and was sorely disappointed. I thought that surely it was going to be a good movie since there was such a stellar cast. However, I was wrong. I can’t believe that I was left with such a feeling of disgust [...]

Last week was a hard week…

Just as the title says, last week was a hard week. So many unbelievable things happened that I won’t even post here because I don’t think that most people would believe it. That’s why I took all day to recuperate. I took a couple of naps today.
I am unhappy right now. I can’t see my [...]

Explicitly teaching the Sound Spelling cards

Continuing from my post from a couple of days ago regarding an easier way to teach Open Court to Special Education students, here are a couple more of the things that I do when teaching OCR.
When I am teaching the skills called for in the program, I scaffold it down very low. By this I [...]

Well that didn’t work…

What was it that didn’t work? It was my rescheduling of my schedule. In trying to make the classroom a better place for my students I tried going back to my old methods from last year. I cut down on the strict schedule. Instead of being so regimented and scheduled, I gave them time to [...]

My dilemma

I have a dilemma. This has to do with the schedule of my classroom. I posted it yesterday. I like it but it’s a totally different one from last year. Last year I did not stick to any schedule. If I planned a lesson for 25 minutes and it ran over because the children were [...]

I want you to read that one…

My new student, Nu, had a special request that I don’t mind filling. Last week I read them The Hungry Thing, all the while preparing them for the sequels, The Hungry Thing Returns, and The Hungry Thing Goes to a Restaurant.
The books teach rhyming and it’s interactive. It’s the perfect little book for my class. [...]

Blend this!

Today my University supervisor came to visit. It was in the middle of the OCR block. She got a chance to see my students in action. I got a chance to see my students in action!!! I was so pleasantly surprised by how well they did. It didn’t even seem like a special ed. class. [...]

I know that it gets better!

I know that it gets better than this, I’m just waiting for it to happen. I’m talking about planning and execution. It seems that if I do great planning, I have trouble with execution and vice versa. I feel like it’s taking forever to become proficient. I know that this is only my second year, [...]

George came to visit today

Teaching is so much work. Mostly it’s a lot of planning and re-planning. The other half has to do with connecting and collaborating with your peers to step up your game. Whenever I am able to connect with someone and make myself better because of it, I am so grateful. That’s why I’d like to [...]

i love my baby

i love my baby she is so ceratev and i like how she is her name is phillise.
I love my baby. She is so creative and I like how she is. Her name is Phillise.
This is too cute. It wasn’t written by Phillise. I left my WordPress account up while I napped. When I opened [...]

All for naught!

I was so tired today. Why? Because I stayed up late last night until 2:00 a.m. preparing for my first day of teaching Into English. As it turns out, it was all for naught. I don’t have to start teaching ELD until next week. All of this week is CELDT test prep. My Coordinator gave [...]

Daily schedule

This is my schedule so far, but I will revise it as necessary.
Required: 90 minutes/day of OCR, 45 minutes/day of Intervention, 90 minutes/week of Science, Social Studies can be incorporated into OCR
8:00~8:10 Morning assembly
8:10~8:16 Morning greeting (The students were instructed from the very beginning not to enter the classroom without my permission. So, after we [...]

My baby’s growing up!!!

My baby’s growing up. Today we took his (Dakota) Senior pictures. I can hardly believe it. In less than a year, I will have two sons graduated from high school. I will ask the same question that I always ask, Where did the time go?

An easier way to teach Open Court to Special Ed. students, Part 1

If you were attracted to the title and are looking for an easier way to teach Open Court to Special ed. students, then you are in the right place. I am not an expert, by far, but I will write about techniques and strategies that I know and use. If they are any help to [...]

Making a difference in your own way…

Many times I have heard people say that they made a difference by doing whatever it is that they do. I have to tell you that I thought that it was a load of hooey! After all, how could teaching someone how to play an instrument make a difference? or how could training someone to [...]

I don’t belong here!

Believe it or not that’s what one of my students told me. It was my student, Nu, who made the remark. He said that because he didn’t know that my class was a special education class.
“This is a special education class? he asked. “I don’t belong here,” he said.
“No, my dear sir you do not. [...]

“Hey, I’m learning,” he said.

“I’m learning,” one of my students told me today as we finished up an activity. “Yes, you are,” I said, “and you will continue to learn as long as you try. It’s not easy, but it can be done. It is a lot of work, but you can do it,” I told him.
When my students [...]

What I read yesterday…

The children were acting very unruly today. I was so stressed out because of what happened last night that I just could not focus. I was so high strung and sleep deprived. I was not a pleasant person to be around today. I needed down time, they needed down time, so I proposed a compromise [...]

Boy, what a long day!

Have you ever answered the phone and wished that you wouldn’t have? Well, yesterday I had one of those phone calls. It’s a long story, so let me just begin now. Yesterday was a long day. Wednesdays always are. That’s the day I go straight from work to school until 9:45.
I’d had a good day [...]

Looking for an easier way to teach Open Court to Special ed. children

Yes, that is quite a long title, but I’m trying to make it search engine friendly. I would like for this information to reach as many as possible who are struggling with teaching Open Court to their special ed students. I wish that I would have had somewhere to look last year (my first year) [...]

I re-instituted Expression…

I reinstituted Expression the second week of school. I have just been waiting to see how it worked before I reported on it. I don’t know if I can even give any one thing credit for its success because there are so many uncontrolled factors involved. It could be that they’ve finally gotten used to [...]

More information for struggling teachers

Someone from the office of Peer Assistance and Review called me back today and gave me the information that I needed to get started. I am, as promised, disseminating that information to you. This is what you do:

Go to lausd.net, go to Offices (up top in red)

An alphabetized list will come up.

When you see it, [...]

How do I cope???

I am having the hardest time with Lito because I thought I was finished with all his behaviors. I know that I need to deal with him but I just don’t have the patience. It’s mainly because I thought that he would be out of my class. How do I cope with all his many [...]

No happy dance after all!

As it turns out, there is no reason for a happy dance. Why? It’s because Lito is still in my class. I was informed on Thursday evening that he had gotten an Opportunity Transfer (kicked out) to his home school. He missed Friday, so I thought my troubles were over, when who should I see [...]

Hold on for one more day!

As I am listening to Wilson Phillips’ “Hold On” on XM 806, I am taken back to a sadder time in my life. A time when I considered ending it all. I sat, with my head hanging down, as I thought about what life would be like without me in it. How would my mother [...]

Help for new, struggling teachers!

Here is the information I discussed earlier (click here) regarding more experienced, retired teachers mentoring newer, struggling teachers. The name of the program is  Peer Assistance and Review. It is a joint effort between L.A.U.S.D. & U.T.L.A. I have already called and left my contact information. If you would like to join and/or find out [...]

Is it always going to be like this?

I’m thinking aloud to myself. Because if it is, I want to quit. One of my students who came in the middle of the year, who everyone knew as bad, changed when he came into my room. He always misbehaved a little, but we had an understanding. The saving grace for him was his attitude [...]

I wonder how…

I wonder how I got anything done last year because this year, I am spending twice as much time in my classroom after school, plus almost double the time planning. Yet I still have so much to do. I am overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of it all. Even though I was an assistant for [...]

I nailed it!!!

I had a presentation yesterday in my second class @ B.N.U. I nailed it. My assignment was to analyze the California Department of Education website. I had to summarize the website, detail any relevant websites,  and lastly give my opinion of it.
I perused the website for hours, got the necessary information and took it from [...]

A punch in the face…

Yesterday, I received another student. Let’s call him Polo. He came in and showed his true colors within two hours. That’s the best thing that could have happened in my eyes. I mean, I’d much rather someone punch me in the face than stab me in the back. After all when you get punched in [...]

9/11, Seven Years Later!!!

I can’t believe that it’s been a whole year since I last wrote about 9/11. This day will last in infamy.
It’s seven years later and I still remember the feeling I had like it was yesterday. I just couldn’t believe it. I lay stunned in the bed, watching the news all day. Did terrorists really [...]

If one more person comes to class with celery and carrots…

Okay, here goes. This is what bothers me. It’s one of my biggest pet peeves. I got a lil’ something I’d like to rant about. Like to hear it, here it goes.
If one more person comes to class with celery and carrots, I am going to scream. They crunch so loud. Seriously, I think those [...]

How, oh, how did I forget?

How I forgot, I don’t know, but I did. What am I talking about? I’m talking about forgetting about what works for me. On one of my first days of work, things were caraaaazy, so I stopped the whole class and let the children draw how they were feeling. I wanted them to write how [...]

He spelled cheese…

Yes, he spelled cheese. It may not seem like much to anyone else, but he sounded it out by himself. This is someone who was having difficulty writing out the whole alphabet without looking @ the Sound Spelling (S/S) cards.
This is how it began. I was practicing writing strategies with my English Language Development (ELD) [...]

Had a bad day

Daniel Powter’s song, “You Had a Bad Day” would be so nice to hear right now because I did in fact have a bad day. My bad day today is connected to a post I wrote a couple of days ago about treating the “bad” children fairly just like any other child.
I said it [...]

Even the “bad” ones…

Yesterday I got a new student who I’ll nickname  Not understood or Nu for short. He came from the Early Education (EE) Special Day Class (SDC) downstairs. I’d forgotten about him. I got a “load” of him last year when he was in the Assistant Principal’s office.
“I’m going to get him next year. What am [...]

A Praise Report!!!

Well, folks, I have a praise report. I don’t know how I forgot to mention this but David got into this very nice school that was formerly a private school that has gone charter.
Let me begin by making my excuse saying that I was so busy, swamped, overwhelmed and whatever else you want to call [...]

In an ironic twist…

I haven’t been able to speak on the phone while driving because I couldn’t find my earpiece. Well, I don’t have to worry about that because I lost my phone yesterday. Ironically I found the earpiece today. That sucks!!!

Only the 2nd day and already….

Well, it seems like Robin is up to his old tricks again. He disrupted class and picked on other students all day just because. I don’t know how I’m going to deal with another year of his behaviors. I’m tired of it already and it’s only the second day. If his behavior is this off [...]

Guess how smart I am?

Well, guess! I’m so smart that I stapled two of my fingers together while I was putting up my bulletin boards. This is what happened? The stapler jammed and I, being the genius that I am, decided to investigate. I turned the stapler over to try to dislodge whatever was in there when I felt [...]

Tired me!

i just got into the house after being in my classroom allllllll day. Why didn’t anyone tell me that it took so long to put up bulletin boards? I started @ about 10- 1:30 when I had to go for a :30 minute training. That finished about 2. Then I went back to putting up [...]

A new year, a new me!

This is a new year and a new me. After all the tumult of last year’s rollercoaster ride, I deserved a break. I had no idea that teaching was so intense or that is was so much work. Even though teachers only work for a certain amount of time, we are constantly planning and/or thinking [...]

Lucky Me!

Lucky me! Come Wednesday, I don’t have to go through the same things that other teachers have to go through. Why? It’s because I have almost all of my same students. I guess I finally see some perks of teaching a span class.
In June, my class and I ended on a great note. I am [...]

I Refuse…

This year, I refuse to put off my homework assignments to the last minute.
I refuse to put off planning my lessons until the last minute.
I refuse to give anything less than my best.
I refuse to let my children down by not spending time with them.
I refuse to let my students down.
Yes, I refuse,
I emphatically refuse [...]