Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Make it go away!

We are only on tuesday of testing week H@((! I will be so glad when this week is done. My students are in a class with another teacher trying to take a test that is way over their head. I know it is hard, and that I can't do anything for them. 2 more days! 2 more days!

Monday, March 30, 2009

Testing, testing everywhere...

And no accurate results to read. All testing does for my special ed students is tell me that they aren't on grade level, which I already know. Because they are already in special ed. Duh! I wish they would let us give them ability appropriate assessments instead of grade appropriate testing. It would tell me a lot more.

NCLB mean no child left untested!

Sunday, March 29, 2009

My Last IEP of the year!

Wahoo! My last IEP of the year is this week. I'm done with my part of the IEP. Wahoo!!!!!!!! I wait, I said that already. :)

Now I can concentrate on teaching my students. What a treat that is. :) And I'm excited to continue using Lindamood Bell aspects with my students. They seem to be loving what I've started working on so far.

Next on my list: Find a job for next year. I hope they are hiring in Portland!

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Do you ever feel buried?

Do you ever feel buried in paper work? OI! I'm working on an IEP this weekend. Luckily it is for an LD kid, so it is much easier to write than an IEP for my CI kiddos. There is so much paper work! And why? Lawyers and advocates. I'm so glad that parents have advocates to help them get outside services. I think that is a great asset. However, I'm not so sure about them in schools. That is another post though.

Anyway, I just wanted to vent. Thanks for reading. (listening) :)

Thursday, March 26, 2009

I love student lead conferences

We are having student lead conferences right now. One good thing about them, is that I don't have to be at them, unless the parents ask for me. Then I'll set up a meeting with them later. I only had one parent ask for a meeting, and we had it during school today. Wahoo! :)

I also went to my daughters' student lead conferences. They did great. And they love telling me how they did in class. :)

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Playing Hooky!

I'm playing hooky from work today and tomorrow! My husband is here from Holland until Thursday. So I'm took today off and tomorrow off as well. :) I still had an IEP meeting this morning and one tomorrow morning, but then I have the rest of the day off. :) Thursday I'm going to be one sad teacher.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Sunday Grattitudes

I haven't done grattitudes for a while. It isn't that I haven't had things to get grateful for, I just have been so busy that I haven't posted. I'm on spring break for work and school, so I have a little bit of time to post.

1. Spring Break! I'm thankful that my school is flexible on when we can do spring break to coincide with our work school schedule. I was able to do spring break for work and school this last week. It was nice to be able to relax with my husband for a week. :)

2. My husband, Joe, is here! Wahoo! I miss him so much. I am going to be very sad on Friday after he leaves.

3. My girls have enjoyed spring break as well.

4. I'm grateful for the seminar I went to this week. Lindamood Bell is a great program. I can't wait to start working on it with Faith this coming week. Then in Portland I may open a clinic for teaching this program.

5. My new meds are working. So far, so good.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Nothing like a convention to get you hyped!


I am reminded of a Amway convention when you go and learn new things and get pumped to go sell the product. I went to a Lindamood Bell conference this week and am now pumped to go back to school and try teaching kids to read using what I learned at my conference. I also ordered the kit for Seeing Stars. I can hardly wait to start using that with Faith, and my class at school. :)

Sunday, March 15, 2009

NCLB not good for Middle Schools and High schools

I was browsing the some websites that state the NCLB results from last year. Elementary schools are having a pretty good time of making their goals. This is the age where children can improve on what they know with great strides. I was disturbed at first to see my home states ratings for middle schools and high schools. They are not making it. Not just a few, but pretty much all of them! When I set rules are objectives for my students, and none of them pass them, or can live up to them, I reevaluate my standards. I truly hope that the bureaucrats in DC look at what they expect MS and HS teachers to learn. The pressure that these unrealistic goals are putting on school districts is not good and does not make for a positive learning community.