At first I reblogged this because I loved it and agreed but then I realized I absolutely HAD to talk about this.
So welcome back to my workplace story time: where in I’m a teacher for the tiny minds of the new generation and I love my job every day.
Anyways this particular story happened my first year of teaching when I was green around the ears and completely overwhelmed with coming in mid-year. That year I had two IEPs (specialized learning plans essentially), one 504, and way too many grades to put in.
Now I have the most Undiagnosed ADHD that ever ADHDed but since I was good at school and my brother had Actual Diagnosed Autism, I flew under the radar well into my adulthood. I spent a long time having to adapt my learning and teaching and got pretty good at taking breaks, moving around, you name it. Not to mention I write a lot. So I know the drill.
All the kids in my class were more than a little behind and frustrated because they’d had to work with like three different teachers before I got there and they were a little unsure about me. But I took it in stride. I told them my class rules and I told them the first three things they needed to know about me. I told them the first one was that I am VERY silly and sometimes I have a Case of the Sillies and it is chronic.
This seemed to resonate with a lot of them but most especially my student A (for anonymous reasons) who, I learned later from A’s mom, went home and told her in the most EXCITED voice ever, that “she’s silly just like me!!” (Queue the waterworks. This kid had never had a silly teacher before and I was his first.) But the real kick in the pants… was teaching him. I take frequent breaks because I need em and after most assignments I talk with the kids and have how they’re feeling. I listen to everything my students say whether I like it or not. I also try my best ALWAYS to describe things in a different way where the students might understand. I treat them like people, which should be standard practice. A thrived in my room. He was one of my top students.
This all culminated into A’s yearly 504 meeting. I realized beforehand (new teacher: had NO CLUE) that I should have received a copy of his old 504 and didn’t know until til it was too late. But when I actually got a copy… I understood why I hadn’t been flagged for it because I had been doing everything without even thinking. The supports I was giving him were natural. And more importantly the ones I weren’t (like a special chair because he couldn’t sit still) became obsolete in my room. He was already constantly moving with me anyway.
When we had our meeting, his mom was so surprised by all the things I knew about him and how prepared I was, but that paled in comparison to what she said to me as we were leaving. “He loves school now. He never used to before. Thank you for being such a good role model for him.”
So the moral of the story is that representation matters, that we need more silly teachers, and give students movement breaks!! You’d be surprised how readily and excitedly they learn when they know that school isn’t a prison but a place of discovery.
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