I was told I was a buzz kill today because I told a student to rethink her math answer. So sorry..
I was told I have way too many minions and Mr. Potato head items in my room.. Too bad
Teacher: Can B no longer have a pack up buddy at the end of the day. She is doing so much better now that she is on medication.
Me: I don't care, you're the classroom teacher, she's not on my caseload, not one that I keep track of I don't care what you do.
Teacher: Okay, I wanted to check with you before I did anything
Spoke with school psych, about when she was going to test a student she says she will let the teacher know. I let admin know, because heaven help me if I don't.
Teacher at cluster meeting: Oh just so you know G is getting observed and tested on such day.
Admin looks at me clueless.. Dude.. its part of the testing process... Oh okay
Day of testing:
Office emails me - mom dropped papers off for you, G is getting tested today.
Scanning in papers at copy machine to send to school psych - classroom aide oh you know G is getting observed today right.
Lunch - my para - Oh P told me that G was observed and tested today (5 inches from my face) Me: yes I know she's in the testing process
Teacher emails parent to let parent know that student is missing 5 assignments and she is very concerned (this is week 1 of quarter 2. Also not a new problem)
Parent replies thinking organization and needs to be looked at. Parent then realizes I'm not included in on the email and responds again to include me
Me: How about we do an expandable folder, do away with all the folders. I can help with organization
Parent That sounds like a great idea
Teacher: we need to come up with a plan
Ummm.. Okay
Later that day..
I'm writing down homework assignments,
Teacher walking by -We need to come up with a plan, He's missing 5 assignments I'm concerned
Oh an I have confirmed that I will be at this child's parent teacher conference
Student tells me that she was waiting for me outside my office working on her science test and someone called her fat and stupid for asking how to spell a word.
After much research - and pulling video camera footage the situation didn't happen.
Student was shocked that we have video cameras and that I thought to pull them and watch them. Amazing how quickly I got an appology.
Parent email's staff giving some background information on student and update on doctor's appointment. Also gave perspective on how they think it is going. Parent is fairly accurate on some accounts. Not so much on others but that is typical.
In the email parent ask for a meeting with the staff and gave several times they were available. No response was made. So I took it upon myself to try and get it set up. Classroom teacher comes out and says that she has emailed parent to say the 5th grade can meet with parents is at 9:30 because the time offered by parent they were teaching. Keep in mind I offered to cover classrooms to get the meeting scheduled. Teacher failed to tell me she talked to mom and demanded to know what I had told mom. My reponse - no one said anything about meeting with mom so I took it upon myself to set it up. Shocking how I got her email communication with mom when I included admin in on the conversation
The same teacher expects me to send her all communication that I have with parents in her room. Why? She sends me her weekly email to parents.
We meet tomorrow with said parent. Will be so much fun!
Have a teacher insist that a child is dyslexic because he can't pass a reading test. Nope.. maybe it's a bad reading test. She is worried that he won't pass standardized testing this year. Well he did last year and I'm really not worried about what he gets on it If he were 100 points off I would worry
Same teacher wants to send same student down to have tests in my room for two different reasons two different week
Teacher - I want to send him down because he can't pass his reading test
Me great go for it.
Teacher- I feel comfortable sending C down more than M.
Me - Why?
Teacher - C has a diagnosis, M doesn't
Me- What diagnosis does C have?
Teacher - He has dyslexia
Me umm no
Teacher - yes we have the documentation
Me- nope- I don't have it not in his perm file I don't have any idea what you are talking about
Teacher - you mean mom just gave me the report
Me - yep
Teacher - besides M doesn't have any diagnosis - I can't justify sending her down.
Me - she can't focus to save her life. I don't need a piece of paper to have her come down. If she needs to come down send her down. It doesn't matter.
Conversation turns into demanding to know why we don't have a building wide policy as to which kids come down and who don't and that it shouldn't he a teacher by teacher decision
Policy - if they need it come down.
45 min later at cluster meeting teacher brings up that we need to have a building wide policy for who comes down to resource for tests. Which the leads to some teachers feeling bad for not documenting things. (Don't be) Which then leads to a whole argument on who decides and how it is decided who gets a 504 plan and arguing about why certain students have not gotten one. At one point I just stopped talking.
I may have sent this after the meeting:
I got to thinking more after our meeting today.
For students that you are concerned about, a great way to document your concerns for a student is through the TAT process. You can document your concerns and get some fantastic interventions for the classroom. As always make sure the parents are aware of this.
Then at the end of the year we can sit down and determine if what was done is working and if it needs to continue or not. My wish is always that accommodations and supports are temporary and that one day won't be needed. There are times when students need the support of coming down to my room and then the following year they are fine. This is a sign of growth in the student.
When students come down to my room, not everyone gets the same supports. Why? Each student is different. What is truly unique about all of the students I work with, is that they get that when they come down. They know not everyone is going to get/have/ do the same thing and they are okay with that. Why? Because they know that they are getting what they need for them. Students have always seen the area as a safe place, and have always established what happens in the room stays in the room mentality.
We are very blessed here in terms of what support I can offer to students. A lot of the support I offer here in public schools would not be allowed. Partly because my caseload would be through the roof, and partly because in public school students have to have a parent signature to see me outside of the classroom. (Darn Special Ed license) ;)
When we write plans for students, or even consider writing plans for students (IEP ALP) no two discussions are going to be the same. No two plans are going to be the same. Nor should they be. All students are unique individuals. Not all students need a plan or supports. Sometimes, students just fall into the area of school is just going to be hard and they are going to have to work a little bit harder than others. That's okay too..
Considering a student that needs some additional help? Start here with the TAT forms
Please don't hesitate for a student who you are concerned about. Please don't let outside situations influence what we do in the best interest of kids. Fair isn't equal, equal isn't fair.
Okay I'm stepping off my soap box...
At another cluster meeting I was told that a parent took their child to get tested over the summer and wanted to discuss the report. Teacher wanted to know what to do with this information.
Me; Get the report and I will be at his conference to discuss testing
Few days later got the report. It is not that great of a report. All of the tests fell in the average range. Accommodation recommendation were pretty much that since he is dyslexic, then he shouldn't be held accountable for anything. Nope not going to happen .
Teacher feels that he needs more than a 504 plan, but also admits that he can do the work when he wants to. She thought she could outsmart me and show me NWEA. Reading he was in the 70th percentile.. nope Math for fall was weak but looked to be a fluke. Sorry not going to recommend testing for him
Email from today:
Me:
Just a reminder for tomorrow..
I will be unavailable from 9:30 until about 10:15. I have a parent meeting that I need to attend.
Chris will be doing her normal thing..
Let me know if you have any questions.
Teacher
I will be out tomorrow I am sure Vicki will use all the help that you can give her.
Me:
With tomorrow being Friday mass and test day... I doubt that I will have any time to come up and help.. sorry
Teacher
NP She can get it done.
Yes yes she can...
No comments:
Post a Comment