Stateside

I'm back stateside and I'm exhausted. Our last day of travels involved 4 different modes of transportation all over the course of 24 hours. Add that to the jet lag and the beginning of summer school and you get pure exhaustion.

So exhausted that I tripped UP the stairs today at work. Twice. I laughed really hard because, really, there is nothing funnier than someone tripping. Even if it's you.

Pictures and a recap... soon. Pinky swear.

Summertime....

Lil' Woman just posted this about her summertime plans, so I thought I'd join in the fun! (And, let's be honest... I'm dragging you know what today, so I really lacked inspiration for le blog, so this works)

Here's what's going on this summer in the land o' chaos.

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Rome, Italy

Well hello there, Trevi Fountain. I can't wait to see you again. The Boy and I are venturing to Italy with some of our favorite friends. We'll spend five days in Rome and three in Venice. I am SO excited to spend travel abroad again. I was lucky enough to study abroad and visited Rome on a college student's budget. This time I'll be doing it right!

(photo: mine)

Michigan

It won't be nearly as glamorous as Italy, but it will include lots of Mom time (which I desperately need) and cousin time. It will also include friend time. But mainly, I'll be in Michigan. Surrounded by friends and family who all have the same accent I do. The people who love me unconditionally. I'll also get a chance to see my puppy, Leila. And I'm CERTAIN it will involve the lake, or pool.

(photo: mine)

Preparing for Next Year...

Every teacher does it. We're getting a new reading program (Treasures? Anyone out there have any ideas for me?) so I want to get a leg up on planning my units and themes. Plus, it actually keeps me sane.

Other Various Adventures

I don't have a lot planned and I'm okay with that. I have a few inservices planned, and I'll be working with our summer school program in an admin capacity. So I'll be busy for most of the month of July. Except on Fridays. Thank goodness. I do know I'll be kayaking at least once, in addition to white water tubing (Sara-- I'll miss you on this adventure!), and a wine tasting.

Not that I'm counting, but there are only 9 days left of school.

The Teacher Look

If you're a teacher (or mom!) you know what look I'm talking about. The look that says, "Don't you dare or you'll have to deal with the consequences". We use it to encourage kids to make good choices and often it works. Of course, we all know of plenty of times it didn't work.

I walked into a situation in summer school where a little one was not making good choices. In fact, she was making some pretty rotten choices (read: pulling the hair of an adult, hitting an adult, and cursing). When I got wind of it, I walked down to check it out, as I'm the director and that's my job. Plus, I really enjoy naughty kids (I'll explain that later..). When I walked through the door I simply gave the child "the look". The screaming stopped, she ran to her desk, and quickly apologized to the teacher.

I've never had that reaction before, but I'll take it! I'm sure it has something to do with the teacher explaining, in a previous classroom visit, that I'm the principal and I make the rules in the school. Of course, I'm not the principal, but it's easier to explain to little ones with cognitive impairments.

To explain my statement of enjoying naughty kids, I'll make it simple. I love a challenge. Kids with challenging behaviors have reasons for their behaviors and I love problem-solving. I love looking for an antecedent to a behavior (what happened before the behavior occurred) and examining ways to change the behavior. I love trying to find ways to replace a negative behavior with a positive one. I enjoy reflecting on my reaction to the behavior and how I can improve my reactions to improve the behavior. Plus, I can ignore with the best of them.

Parrots and Summer School

As you probably know, we have two pets.. Leila (Big Dog), the black lab.. and Zoey (Little Dog) the mutt.

After these last two weeks of summer school, I now know what it feels like living with a parrot. I have a little one who says everything I say, just like I say it. Even if I whisper something to my assistant, super hearing boy can hear it and restates it just like I said it.

Yes, the little guy has some special needs... but give me a break, dude.. let me say "I'm running to the bathroom" without repeating it.

Sure.. there are times when it's cute. Even funny. You know, when he says things from movies and such. Or even when I'm laughing and he mimics me. Cute. Not - so - much when I'm telling a student to wipe their bottom (yes, I have to tell kids how to go to the bathroom.. do you pity me, yet?) or asking a student to complete a task. But, I hit my wall today when he repeated my bathroom statement and when I said to him, as he was hitting me mercilessly, "No hit teacher! No hit teacher!" I thought maybe he understood when I said that and he repeated it. Turns out he didn't, he was just repeating what I said.

And yes, I do say things like "No hit. No hit teacher." These kids need very explicit instructions, so grammar tends to go out the window.

Huh?

Today in class a little fella told my aide, "I'm gonna pimp slap my mama!". Um, what?

Anyone know what a pimp slap is?

This was, of course, after he was making pelvic thrusts and singing "... shorty got low, low, low, low, low..."

Wow. What wonderful little ones I teach.

Busy, busy..

Okay, I'll admit. I've been a pretty bad blogger. In my defense though.. I don't really think anyone is reading, so I'm pretty sure nobody noticed. (Hubby I know you read... but I tell you all of this anyway so you don't really count) AND I've been super busy with grad classes winding down. Last class is tomorrow! WOO HOO! Then I'm 8 classes away from my M.Ed. =)

I'm going to do a little list of what's going on around here:

• The cuz left today with her mom in tow. We didn't even say goodbye for fear that we'd bawl like babies. We didn't want to risk humiliation- I frickin' had to go to work!
• Grad classes are done for a few weeks in t minus 1 day.
• I'm stuck working on a 14 page final exam full of crazy school law BS. Even though Professor Lawyer Man said he didn't write any of them to trick us, I've been cursing at him in my head- more than one tricked me.
• We lost power for a few hours today-- doing a final exam on the computer in the dark (it was cloudy and then a thunderstorm rushed through) isn't very easy.
• I had to eat a lunch that consisted of fast food (the power was out! I couldn't heat anything up OR open the fridge!) and I loved every second of it.
• Hubby is TOTALLY awesome and got me a gift certificate to The Limited (my fav.) and Victoria's Secret. He loves me.
• Mom and Dad sent flowers today because they were thinking of me. Yay!

School today was pretty uneventful. The terror has moved to a different school but another one has taken over for him. Seriously, who teaches their kid to bite? Bites suck. Thankfully I got to teach today and my aide took care of the biter.

And... one more school story. So.. this little one of mine (who isn't so little...) has a really sub-average IQ. We're working on the alphabet. I presented her with the letter c. I told her repeatedly, "This is the letter C! Say C!" She repeated, "C". I asked, "What letter?" She replied, "A!" This went on for some time. I'd tell her it was C, she'd repeat C, and then I'd ask her what it was... always A. Never C. Today was the same story. Only we were working on O. She loves to say "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh!" We made it totally fun and even acted out making the letter O (yeah, we're fun) and everyone loved it. Home girl still called it A. Even after all the motions.

Damn. Hope this doesn't mean I suck at teaching.

ants

Okay, it's official: I hate ants. Seriously, they are everywhere. It all started on 4th of July when I was practically eaten alive by those suckers. They were out for blood. My blood. I had no less than fifty ant bites. Each and every one of them itched like crazy. Now they are in my classroom at summer school and the kids are walking around saying, "Is there one on me? I'm getting eaten by ants!". Okay, no they are not on you and no they are not eating you. To add fuel to the fire, they are now crawling over my spot on campus. I sat in them the other day and vowed to move spots. I moved today and they are here, too. Uck.

Funny little side story about summer school... I have a little guy in my class who doesn't talk much. He giggles a lot, but the little man doesn't have a whole lot to say. And, with the behaviors I have in my class, there's not a whole lot of time for me to listen to him talk. He's not a behavior problem. I have to spend time with the six other little guys who have a lot to say, most of which is not very nice and usually involves a curse word or ten.

So little man was outside waiting for the bus when he started giggling profusely. I asked him what was so funny. He pointed to the boy next to him in a pink Ohio shirt. I said, "Ohio? Is that what's so funny? It is a funny name for a state, isn't it?" To which he replied, "No, silly! Pink! Boys don't wear pink!" Of course the boy who was wearing the shirt had no idea that he shouldn't be wearing pink (it matched the Winnie the Pooh socks his mom made him wear, duh!) and little guy said, "My dad says boys don't wear pink. It's a girl color!" Now I had no idea this kid had that much language, let alone an opinion about colors boys shouldn't be wearing. Apparently his dad doesn't think boys should be in pink and it's pretty funny to some boy wearing pink. My thought? Why isn't he laughing about the Pooh socks?

I just don't understand why parents of kids with disabilities think it's a good idea to show that their kid has a sub-par IQ by dressing them in Pooh socks, fanny packs, or any other identifying factor that proves they didn't pick out their clothes (or they have bad taste in clothes). Yes, I've actually had a little one wearing a fanny pack. I had to tell his mother that he was getting made fun of for his fanny pack. She told me she wears a fanny pack. I had to stifle my laughter because she clearly had a warped sense of fashion. He showed up the next day sans fanny pack.

And one more t-shirt for the day: A little boy with autism (who was shouting obscenities at my aide and saying,"NO! NO! NO! I will not. Unless I blow you up with my TNT. Even then, you can't make me do it, TNT is more powerful than you!") that explained he was autistic and said something about having tantrums and not being spoiled, but being autistic. What a great shirt. However, I think it's a bit ironic that he's wearing it while he's having a tantrum.

hits, slaps, hair pulls.. oh my!

And it continues.... but today's M.O.? Hair pulling. I was smart enough to not let his mouth near any part of my body, but apparently I forgot how much fun it is to pull hair. Ha.

Ugh. Big dog just got something out of my bag. Gotta go chase her. (are you noticing a theme in my life?!)

a day in the life...

Todays tally? Hits=2 Bites=1. That means little kid 3, Lori 0.

After the bite one of the other kiddos (who often says things I'm thinking but can't say out loud because I'm an adult and I'd get fired) says, "Dang! If I did that my mom would whoop my @$$!" Yes, he used the naughty word.

Oh boy, I love summer school!

On a lighter note... anyone watch "The Bachelorette"? Ew. I didn't want her to pick Jesse. But I saw it coming (mainly because I wasted far too much time on the message boards and someone leaked the ending...) and I don't really believe in finding love on tv that quickly, but I'm glad it's over so now I don't waste my time on the message boards reading and analyzing everything that is said. Whew. Now I can actually work on those grad papers.

Happy Tuesday.

Just Another Manic Monday...

I heard that song today on my way home... how fitting?!

Today was day one of summer school and it was a crazy one! First of all, the class I'm in has two classes combined.. so we have 13 students in K-2. That's a lot of kids in one room. Add in four adults and it's certifiably crazy in there.

Well, I have one runner (who also loves to touch electronics/kids/adults and enjoys putting things in his mouth including electronics/kids/adults), one screamer (at decibels I didn't think kids could reach...), and two completely non-verbal students. Plus, two kids almost at grade level (usually that's a nice thing.. in this case, it's not...). And a smattering of other kids who I can't even think of right now because they were nowhere near as needy as the previously mentioned kids. Oh, and I had half the class absent today.

And to top it off? A grad paper that is looming over my head and tonight is the season finale of "The Bachelorette"... so you know how well that paper is going to go.

Next year when I say I'm taking two grad classes AND teaching summer school... remind me that I'm crazy.

Wii

I'll admit it, I'm slightly obsessed with Mario Kart for Wii. And.. by slightly I mean I play it everyday. For hours on end. Multiple times.

Well, tonight we (S & I) decided to play online. Basically it means anyone can be in the same race we're in from all over. Sometimes you'll play with people from all over the world. Tonight? We played with people from all over the US. Kind of neat.

While you are racing you can see the names other people have chosen for their Mii (your character- you can change the eyes, hair color, lips, and even accessories!). Well, the people we played with had some unique names. It wasn't like Joe, Sally and Tom. It was seriously ET, Ju, Daddy, Phildo, Shorty, Bicho, and Chochido. Chochido? Weird. I hope that's a nickname and not a real name. If it is, Choch.. your parents hated you from the moment you were born. And Phildo? Rhymes with.. well.. you get the point. Another one. Your parents doomed you from day one. Sara thought maybe his name was like Phil Dorchester or something and his friends nicknamed him. I prefer to think his real name is Phildo because it makes me laugh.

And that leads into my classroom for summer school. Some of the names? I think the parents were smoking crack. Don't get me wrong, I'm cool with you naming your child something unique. But seriously when I read my class roster I'd like to at least know one name. Is that too hard to ask?

Just my luck..

So.. just my luck. I have a kiddo from school in my summer school class. It happens to be the one who poops his pants and loves to smear the poop on the wall. Oh and he ALWAYS has a snotty nose.

Pretty sweet for me.