scripteducator

Welcome to scripteducator. Feel free to ask any of your school related questions. Anything from daily life in a school to education requirements for a license. Currently looking for interested parties to fill out gaps in my knowledge. Needed: Other countries then USA, elementary education (I know some but I’d love an expert/someone working in it), College teaching and professorships, specialties (ESL, Special Ed.). If you think you have something to add, send me a message.

[scripteducator]

Apology

Greetings to all my readers. You are amazing. I love you all.

I have some wonderful asks, messages and testimonials that I will get to! I swear. I have not deleted any asks, some are even half written on my Google Drive. 

Life got a little insane. It’s finals week at my job and I have several real life commitments that all converged on the same two week period. I have not forgotten you! 

Stay tuned!

~Scripteducator

[scripteducator]

Catholic School! (Pittsburgh, PA)

Our inaugural ‘education testimonial’ is, appropriately enough, about Catholic schools in a large American city. Thank you so much for your time on this! ~Scripteducator  

Some (lots, this got long) other Catholic school things that haven’t come up yet.

Specific uniforms vary. At my grade school, it was navy shorts (warm months) or pants (cold months), and white, navy, or pale blue shirt. Girls also had options of a blue-and-white plaid culotte, jumper (kindergarten to 4th grade only) or skirt (5th to 8th only). At my high school, boys wore yellow, green, white, or blue dress shirts embroidered with the school’s initials, and khaki or navy pants; girls wore khaki or navy skort or pants and green, yellow, blue, or white polos embroidered with the initials. Boys had to wear ties but they could wear any color/design they wanted, within reason, and girls could wear any color/style of sock (patterned knee socks were a big trend when I was a freshman, which was a lot of fun. My favorites were blue argyle and white with kittens and yarn.) Boys could have facial hair but it was supposed to be “neat”; anyone could wear earrings but no more than one in each ear. Usually different schools in the same area have different colors: often you can pick out a student of another school by their style of plaid.

Re: using the public school’s buses: some public schools sent a designated bus, or more than one, to pick up students at the Catholic school and take them directly home. Others sent one bus to grab all the Catholic school kids from that district and take them to the public school, where they’d get on the public school bus that drove the route they were on, mixed in with the public school kids. The reverse in the morning. My district did the latter. We were called “transfers”, because we transferred buses. My school called buses in the afternoon by district, then number if necessary. (This would probably be different for a Catholic school that’s solidly within one school district. Mine was basically at the perimeter of three, and we had a few kids from at least two others.)

Catholic Schools Week is a week at the end of January where the school has lots of fun activities. In grade school some of them were a beach lunch (parents brought in picnics and board games to play), assemblies, going out for cosmic bowling, going to see a play, a school pep rally, a cakewalk. In high school the celebration was mostly themed dress down days. One was Grade School Spirit Day, and a lot of people who went to Catholic grade schools dressed up in their old uniforms. One girl who’d gone to three different schools (two of them closed along the way) cut up tee shirts from all three to make herself a new one that represented all of them.

Which reminds me, “dress down days” are days when you don’t have to wear your uniform. They may be “school spirit”, “free”, or “paid” (“dollar”, when I was in school, but that may have gone up.) On a school spirit dress down you have to wear school colors or shirts from activities, etc. My high school had “pride” shirts you got each year, decorated with your class standing and graduation year (so my 2008-9 shirt says “freshman” and “‘12”), and colored for your class standing (freshmen gold on green, sophomores green on gold, juniors green on grey, and seniors lime green on black), which were good for such days. Free dress downs you could wear anything, within reason. Paid dress downs supported a charity, such as Make a Wish or CRS, and again you could wear anything within reason.

Before any sports match, we said a prayer. If the other team was a Catholic school too, both teams would come out to center court and pray it together: we all used basically the same one. You had it memorized pretty fast if you played a sport or two. In high school a girl started into it once, when told to pray before something, and you could tell who went to Catholic grade schools because we all joined in.

Because most Catholic schools (around here, anyway) are K-8, you won’t hear a Catholic school kid talk about “elementary school” or “middle school”: as I’ve been saying here, it’s “grade school”. Also, if a school’s name is longer than a couple syllables it will have a commonly-used abbreviation. Using my made up ones (from my own story), as examples: Blessed Sacrament = BS St. Catherine Laboure = Cat Laboure St. John Vianney = St. John St. Joseph = St. Joe Immaculate Conception = IC Our Lady Star of the Sea = Star

A BIG THING (this would be really good for fictional drama): while many public school districts have generally the same student body all the way through, with Catholic schools there’s a huge shakeup entering high school. Suddenly a bunch of students from a bunch of grade schools are flung in together, at least a third of the students disappear because they went to a public high school, and another heap of students no one has seen before come in FROM the local public schools. Friendship groups at the beginning of freshman year are largely grade schools flocking together. (If you’re like me, one of only three kids from my grade school to go to my high school, and the only one in honors classes, you’re in trouble. I was really starting over when it came to friends.)

One thing that was mentioned is using public school buses to transport private school students. It’s actually a bit of a hot button issue as many ask why the public system should pay to transport children to non-public schools. It has been debated both at the state and the federal level. A case even got to the Supreme Court. Look into the local laws of where your story is set and if they allow private school children to use the public school bus system. The legality of it varies from state to state. ~Scripteducator

[scripteducator]

What kind of IEP would have to be set up for a kid who's a telepath?

So, again, prefacing this with the fact that I’m NOT by any means an expert in Special Ed.

I don’t think your character would have an IEP simply because qualifications for an IEP are very narrow as specified in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

Here’s a list of them and some explanation from Understood.org:

Services Under IDEA: Who’s Eligible

Not every child with learning and attention issues is eligible for special education services under IDEA. First, a child must be found to have one of the 13 kinds of disabilities that IDEA covers. They are:

Autism

Deaf-blindness

Deafness

Emotional Disturbance

Hearing impairment

Intellectual disability

Multiple disabilities

Orthopedic impairment

Other health impairment (including ADHD)

Specific learning disability (including dyslexia, dyscalculia and dysgraphia, among others)

Speech or language impairment

Traumatic brain injury

Visual impairment, including blindness  (Source)

Now IDEA does get updated occasionally although it is a bigish deal (yay Congress) so perhaps in your universe there’s been legislation to add “powers” to it.

In the current framework I think a 504 might be more appropriate. It has a much more malleable definition of disabilities and falls under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) rather than IDEA.

Now, this is where it really depends on your plot? If your character is the only telepath ever and there aren’t people with powers everywhere then your character is probably going to be misdiagnosed up to wazoo. At which point, the accommodations for whatever particular disability they’re misdiagnosed with would apply and maybe they’d have an IEP at that point. A quick Google search should bring up many reputable parent sites out there that give examples of accommodations for many learning disabilities.

Here’s the thing though with accommodations, the plan can use some, it can use all, or it can use none. It really is a case by case basis. Keep in mind the idea of least restrictive environment and mainstreaming. Essentially, students should be kept with their peers and learn with non-special ed students as much as possible. Having a kid in regular math, but they get notes ahead of time, or an aide, or guided notes (notes that are pre-written with blanks to fill in or perhaps subject headings to write under) is preferable to pulling them out into a separate classroom.

If there has been enough time and powers are common, I think that at least at a state level they’d have forms specific to powers. There might be a process similar to how it’s done with special ed. Here’s a link to an article that explains how this is done. (Evaluation Process)

So, accommodations specific to telepathy? Whatever gets it done to be honesr I’d imagine there’d be some sort of sensory room (shielded maybe? If that exists in your universe) would be available if it got to be too much. We already do this for autistic kids in sensory overload. Maybe extra time on tests or assignments since the kid would always be fighting to concentrate with all the voices in their brain. Maybe a telepath center? A regional school to send telepaths maybe If there’s enough for that. Maybe extra telepath lessons, that would be paid for by the school,  if there are other older experienced telepaths in your universe.

Another option? If the student just couldn’t even be in the same building as that many students the school system would hire a private tutor. This tutor would liaise with all the different content teachers and basically teach one to one. Many systems hire one or two teachers that just float around to all the homebound and hospitalized students.

It boils down to the fact that as a public school, you HAVE to teach whatever walks in the proverbial door. Even if they can’t leave their house.

[scripteducator]

Submissions Open!

Hello Scripteducator peeps!

I have opened up submissions.

Why do I want submissions at a blog to help people write teachers and schools? Upon talking with the rest of the Script family and as further evidenced by the great addendum I received to the Catholic school post, I realized that I need some help.

What sort of help you say?

I can help with mindsets, big ideas, school/workplace politics or the fun little details...like that my department of 14 people goes through at least 5 Keurig coffee machine reservoirs of water a day and that doesn’t include how much water goes into the electric kettle for the tea drinkers either. Teachers love their caffeine.

What I can’t give you is specifics, Start times, end times, how many periods a day, size of schools, etc. That changes from school to school, region to region, if the school or private or public. Hell, there are schools in the exact same district that have completely different school cultures and schedules

So to that end, I’m asking for submissions about your school experience. What region are you in? What was your school like? When did it start? End? Give me all those little details that make for great background in a story that I might not know because I’ve never worked in, say, an elementary school in Kansas.

I reserve the right to edit, not use the submission, or email/message you back to clarify your relation to education. A submission from a high school student is going to be different than a high school teacher, or a parent.. Both perspectives are very valuable but, as always, knowing your source is key to how we interpret the information given.

Thanks to all! I look forward to reading what lands in my inbox!

[scripteducator]

Hey, do you have a list of common learning disorders in young kids (5-11?) thanks <3

Hey!

Ok, first things first, you probably know this already but there really isn’t such a thing as ‘childhood learning disorders’ they don’t just go away. There are some that tend to present in childhood but the character will have this disorder for the rest of their lives. People learn to cope with their disorder and some are amazingly successful at it. That’s why you sometimes hear about people going off of ADHD meds or managing to be voracious readers despite having dyslexia. They’ve learned to cope.

In any case included links to a couple of good resources I found explaining the common disabilities and disorders. The main ones that come to mind are ADHD, dyscalculia, dyslexia and processing disorders. Also at this age, if not earlier, autistic traits begin to be identifiable in children. From my experience, ADHD is the most common, or at least, the most diagnosed.

ADHD=Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (Used to be there was a difference between ADD and ADHD. Now the medical people combine them into one big bucket and call it ADHD with various types.) @scriptshrink did a nice post about ADHD and one about how it tends to get diagnosed in schools.

Dyscalculia=is difficulty in learning or comprehending arithmetic, such as difficulty in understanding numbers, learning how to manipulate numbers, and learning facts in mathematics.

Dyslexia=a general term for disorders that involve difficulty in learning to read or interpret words, letters, and other symbols, but that do not affect general intelligence.

Processing Disorders= A general term for disorders involving difficulty with processing or slow processing. Processing doesn’t affect intelligence. This includes difficulty processing the written word. As in, you can read it just fine but it doesn’t compute which is different than dyslexia. It also includes auditory processing difficulties, difficulty understanding spoken language.

A few websites to get you started, parent websites are your friends when writing this sort of thing. Many take big complicated diagnoses and symptoms and boil them down for the laymen very well.

https://www.understood.org/en/learning-attention-issues/child-learning-disabilities

http://www.webmd.com/children/guide/detecting-learning-disabilities#1

https://ldaamerica.org/types-of-learning-disabilities/

[scripteducator]

Other than the obvious, what are the differences between a Catholic and public school?

So, I’ll be honest Nonnie, I had a really hard time figuring out my tack on this one. It’s an incredibly broad question. So, I’m gonna focus in on the big issue. One type of school is a government entity, one is not.

But I knew that already? You say.

Yes, but it’s actually far more to it than just where the money comes from. Much of this will apply to the difference between private non-religious schools and public schools as well.

State funded public schools have a whole ton of federal and state mandates that they HAVE to fill. They also have far more regulations of the sort of education and certifications their teachers have to have. I’m not that familiar with the Catholic Archdiocese’s requirements? But from the job postings I see they generally require the same sort of education in their employees that public schools do. However, they’re not REQUIRED by law. So like any other private enterprise the requirements are self set and self policed by the organization. This can be a good thing or a bad thing.

Catholic schools also tend to pay less, and not have as good insurance. Do I have citable evidence for that? No, but it’s one of those things everybody in the industry just kinda knows. There may very well be cases out there where it isn’t true. Why do teachers still go teach there if they can be paid more elsewhere? There are a few reasons. Often they are Catholic themselves and truly believe in the mission of the schools, sometimes they’re less experienced so the lower pay is a stepping stone to a higher paid job or, they like the smaller classes where they don’t have to do as much classroom management.

What’s classroom management you ask? Classroom management is the art of keeping the class on task and interested in learning while dealing with the ‘extras’ By extras I mean the kid in the back that likes to call out, while at the same time the counseling office keeps sending aides up with notes, and this class tends to be talkative so you always have to keep the attention on you.

Catholic schools have far more power over their student population than public schools do. They can kick out and accept anyone for any reason. Now, do they abuse this? Generally no, because then no one would want to go to Catholic schools. But it does mean that the kid who is a constant discipline problem and disrupts class will be kicked out far sooner than in the public schools. Some teachers like this, it makes their jobs easier. Some parents like this as well they feel it makes the learning environment better.

Catholic schools aren’t the best as special education, they don’t have the same system setup that the public schools do. Public schools get some federal money to help defray the costs of extra teachers and resources needed for special ed. Catholic schools don’t.

I can’t really go into class periods, times, lunches etc because that varies school to school even in the public school realm. Catholic schools will have a religious component and you generally have to go to mass.

Sorry if this was really general. If you’d like something more specific feel free to send another ask..

[taskuhecate]

Hi @scripteducator!  I hope you don’t mind if I chime in a bit.  Since the question was so open-ended, I figured I’d add in the student-side of the equation.  As a note: I went through 12 years of Catholic school growing up, but I have never been a teacher.  What I experienced might be specific to the schools I went to, and not all Catholic schools.

One of the first things you’d notice between public and Catholic schools is the dress-code.  Usually C. schools have uniforms they are required to wear. Usually it’s 3 colors of shirts (school colors + white) and tan or navy slacks, and then either tennis shoes or dress shoes.  In grade schools, girls could also wear jumpers or skirts (strict lengths, no higher than an inch about the knee).  Boys at my school weren’t required to wear ties, but that can also be a requirement. There’s also rather strict rules about appearances: no piercings (outside of ear piercings for girls), no tattoos, and no unnatural colored hair.  Boys are also not allowed to have facial hair or sideburns (as I’m female, I don’t remember the exact rules on that).

That aside, as a C. school student, you leave due process at the door.  Fun, huh? This means that locker searches are legal, and they do not have to give warning.  What you get instead is *Catholic due process (at least that’s what I remember being told once).  It’s actually very similar, but…also not?  Basically, everything is handled in-house. Lockers are school property so they can be searched at will, but not bags or anything on your person (I believe).

Beyond that, grading is tougher (in my experience). And A at a public school was generally 90-100, but at my school, it was more like 94-100 for an A, 92-93 for an A-, and 90-91 for a B+ as an example.  An F was 68 and below.  You’re also generally pushed to do extracurriculars – at my school, football and wrestling were king.  There were also girl teams, but they weren’t nearly so celebrated.

I can’t really speak for class times, since they vary from school to school.  Grade school had…I think 45 min blocks, and rotating lunch times (I think, it’s been so long) and high school had 90 minute blocks and 3 staggered lunch periods (depending on your schedule, you could be in lunch 1, 2, or 3 – god help you if your friends were in another).  We had alternating days, too.  So you’d have one set of classes mon, wed, fri – and then the second set on tues, thurs. And then the next week, set 2 would be on mon, wed, fri.

Also, mass was required at my school once a month – we also had days for confession set up.  In grade school, they were at the attached church, at high school they were held in the auditorium.  There were also required religion classes (I remember having to remember the order of the books of the Bible in about 4th grade – the old Testament was the woooorst). This continues in to high school. Also, I vaguely remember 1st Communion being handled by the school as well?  I remember the priest came in and talked to us about it, and we got to taste the wine and wafer early, so we would know how it tasted and not make a weird face during the actual service.

Another thing was that in my district, we used the public schools’ buses, so we generally would take the same days off throughout the year, with some exceptions.

Anyway, that’s all I can really think of off the top of my head. And I do want to mention that I graduated high school about 10 years ago, so my memory might be slightly fuzzy on somethings.

[scripteducator]

A great addendum from a lifelong student of the Catholic school system. The 90 minute classes that rotate throughout the week is known as Block Scheduling and is done in both public and private schools. It has pluses and minuses...but that’s for another post.

Grading also varies from program to program in public schools, but from the sound of it, @taskuhecate ’s is similar to what some advanced programs in public schools use.

Thanks for mentioning the uniforms. I forgot about that. Many public schools do uniforms but often not to the strictness of Catholic schools.

Also, I forgot to mention that sometimes teachers in the Catholic systems are nuns or brothers or members of other monastic orders. (I’m not a Catholic expert, forgive my ignorance of the differences.)

THANKS!

[scripteducator]

Other than the obvious, what are the differences between a Catholic and public school?

So, I’ll be honest Nonnie, I had a really hard time figuring out my tack on this one. It’s an incredibly broad question. So, I’m gonna focus in on the big issue. One type of school is a government entity, one is not.

But I knew that already? You say.

Yes, but it’s actually far more to it than just where the money comes from. Much of this will apply to the difference between private non-religious schools and public schools as well.

State funded public schools have a whole ton of federal and state mandates that they HAVE to fill. They also have far more regulations of the sort of education and certifications their teachers have to have. I’m not that familiar with the Catholic Archdiocese’s requirements? But from the job postings I see they generally require the same sort of education in their employees that public schools do. However, they’re not REQUIRED by law. So like any other private enterprise the requirements are self set and self policed by the organization. This can be a good thing or a bad thing.

Catholic schools also tend to pay less, and not have as good insurance. Do I have citable evidence for that? No, but it’s one of those things everybody in the industry just kinda knows. There may very well be cases out there where it isn’t true. Why do teachers still go teach there if they can be paid more elsewhere? There are a few reasons. Often they are Catholic themselves and truly believe in the mission of the schools, sometimes they’re less experienced so the lower pay is a stepping stone to a higher paid job or, they like the smaller classes where they don’t have to do as much classroom management.

What’s classroom management you ask? Classroom management is the art of keeping the class on task and interested in learning while dealing with the ‘extras’ By extras I mean the kid in the back that likes to call out, while at the same time the counseling office keeps sending aides up with notes, and this class tends to be talkative so you always have to keep the attention on you.

Catholic schools have far more power over their student population than public schools do. They can kick out and accept anyone for any reason. Now, do they abuse this? Generally no, because then no one would want to go to Catholic schools. But it does mean that the kid who is a constant discipline problem and disrupts class will be kicked out far sooner than in the public schools. Some teachers like this, it makes their jobs easier. Some parents like this as well they feel it makes the learning environment better.

Catholic schools aren’t the best as special education, they don’t have the same system setup that the public schools do. Public schools get some federal money to help defray the costs of extra teachers and resources needed for special ed. Catholic schools don’t.

I can’t really go into class periods, times, lunches etc because that varies school to school even in the public school realm. Catholic schools will have a religious component and you generally have to go to mass.

Sorry if this was really general. If you’d like something more specific feel free to send another ask..

[kasadilla11]

You're kind of an asshole, you know that? That anon about you and your wife? Hetero relationships are still considered the default, even if it's not a correct mindset. I know we're trying to be progressive in society, but not all of us live in a progressive environment and it takes TIME to adjust to new ways of thinking. Most assumptions aren't even meant maliciously. And was it necessary to have a gif of Ryan flipping off that anon? You're disgusting.

Okay first of all. “Hetero relationships are still considered the default”? This in response to a post in which someone assumed that my wife (who refers to herself as “aunt” on her blog and has never been coy about the fact that she’s a queer woman), because she has mentioned being married to a woman, must therefore be a man? And you have the audacity to call me both “disgusting” and “an asshole” while imploring me to understand that “most assumptions aren’t even meant maliciously.” Adjust on your own damn time and keep your heteronormative, transphobic, queerphobic bullshit off my blog. 

[scriptmedic]

Okay everyone. Real talk time.

This is in reaction to this ask and reply, in which someone implied that because I am married to a woman, I must be a man.

The exact ask was, “ No hate intended or anyting, but your wrote something about having ‘a wife to cuddle’ does this mean you are more of an Uncle Scripty?”

And even though that assumption is hurtful, wrong on every level, and genuinely queerphobic and transphobic, I tried to answer with grace and dignity.

I took this in stride, because people can be severely ignorant without overtly ill intentions.

My wife, however, was less than amused. She had a much more direct response, which was basically this:

And this prompted someone to go on her blog and send the ridiculously disproportionate response above.

The position of the first anon is that, if I have a wife, I must be a man, or at least be “manly”.

The position of the second anon is that straight is the default, and that we as queer people need to create a safe space for heteronormativity to adapt to the ideas that queer people exist and the cishet assumption shouldn’t be the norm.

And that second anon went on to defend the first anon’s ask, and decided to call my wife some things I am too enraged to repeat.

So I am going to take a stand on this, right here and right now.

If you do not 100%  support the rights, equality, and dignity of LGBT people, you can get the fuck off of my blog. This blog is produced by a queer woman. This blog, and a large proportion of the ScriptX family, are members of the LGBT community.

We are real. We have rights. In particular, I have the right not to be called a man because I married a woman when my sign-off is Aunt Scripty. My wife has the right to have an instinctive reaction to someone attacking her spouse.

If you have an issue, you DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT to hate message MY GODDAMN WIFE. Whoever you are, I would greatly appreciate it if you not only unfollowed me but blocked me so that our paths will never cross on Tumblr again.

In case you needed a clearer representation of where this blog stands, this is it:

Oh, and Anon #2? One last thing.

xoxo, Aunt Scripty

[scripteducator]

Teachers, well, good teachers anyway, try their hardest to meet their students where they are. Rich, poor, gay, straight, bi, cis, trans, black, white... In that spirit, I’m re-blogging this in support of my sisterblog (actually motherblog really) @scriptmedic. This is a accepting, open place. It has to be, everyone deserves an education. So, let this be a one time thing. Asks that do not recognize the personhood of members of the LGBT+ community will be summarily deleted and ignored.  Stay tuned, I have a few Asks worked up and will be posting them in the next couple of days. 

[scriptfeature]

A ScriptX Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the site

Not a blogger was posting….

Y’all know I’m kidding, right?

It’s that time again. Yes, Christmas is here Coming as always at this time of year

Yet even this night, December 24, Sees many a posting text, photos, and more.

The Scripts, they were writing some answers for asks, and as time ticked on they gathered more tasks.

Many had jobs, and others just school But all took time to think about Yule.

Some could celebrate with family and friends Others had work, the kind with no end.

But then they all heard, while they sat drinking tea, On their phone, a message. What could it be?

A new Script was there, but who was he/she? The name said Santa, a Holiday devotee

His icon was red, with a Christmas tree green. His blog talked of ornaments and festive cuisine.

We asked ourselves, “From where came this stranger?” He swiftly assured us he wasn’t a danger.

He explained he was here speaking from the North Pole. He told us “I give gifts to the nice, and to the naughty, coal.

“So to you I bring these gifts three.  They’re rather useful. I’m sure you’ll agree.

“The first is patience for the frustrating anons They need your help; don’t shoot them with cannons.

“The second is words both gigantic and small So your jargon filled answers are understood by all.

“The final is love, though it may seem cliche But I know you’ll need plenty, some for every day.”

And with these words, he made his escape. We stared at our screens, our mouths agape.

But soon we came to and all began typing We couldn’t believe such a mythical sighting.

But after a while and plenty of thought We all decided it mattered not.

For if we’d imagined the red suited man One thing was clear we could all understand

His message of cheer, of hope, and of light Was a sign of good tidings this Christmas night.

So as we all left to sleep in our beds, Where visions of sugarplums would dance in our heads,

We smiled a smile of Christmas cheer, And though of the ‘morrow, when loved ones’d be near.

And as I finish this fictional tale I wish you “Merry Christmas” as your presents, you unveil.

Merry Christmas, y’all

Splat.

[scriptkink]

Splat, this is awesome!!

[scriptshrink]

:D

[scriptbrit]

!!!! This is so cute!!

[scriptwitchcraft]

Blessings from the witches 3 of scriptwitchcraft! Thank you so much @scriptfeature, this was great to receive. 

[scriptlgbt]

Thank you, Splat!

[scriptsocialwork]

Happy Holidays everyone!!

[scripteducator]

So great! Happy Holidays to those that celebrate during this time of year. Happy Sunday to everyone else!

[scriptshrink]

Is it easier to diagnose disorders like ADHD in children than in adults? How is the approach different? My character is being put through hoops to provide evidence of long-term issues (report cards, work reviews, failed projects) to finally get a diagnosis that will help her get treatment and unlock her potential to achieve. I based this on a friend-of-a-friend type story I heard, but I don't want to disparage a profession if it's normally a straight forward process.

It’s definitely easier to diagnose ADHD in children, because to get diagnosed, at least some of the signs have to have been seen as a child. It’s easier to see those signs as they’re happening than to rely on memory.

It’s also a better environment for diagnosis - teachers are often the ones to notice problems first, and they are definitely aware of what ADHD looks like.

First off, @taskuhecate provided this perspective as a student:

Ironically for the asker, I was actually a fairly straightforward case, particularly as I was getting REdiagnosed.  Basically took me two sessions.But then I HAVE heard from some people that it is harder to get a diagnosis.  It might also depend on whether or not the character is being diagnosed for the first time.

I know they do want proof as far as it affecting home/work/school life - and I think they let me scoot by a bit on that since they had the records from when I was 8.  So they never actually had me bring anything in.

But I did have to talk with the psych for an hour about how it affected my life, and whatnot.  Of course, this is the same psych that said he’d eat his hat if it was shown I didn’t have it, so…  XD  I might just be one of those people who presents with very very very clear symptoms (most likely) 

And from an Anon:

OK, basically, at least for me, there was many observations done in the classroom setting.

My mom raised the flag because like, it was taking me three hours to do math problems and things she knew I knew how to do.  Like, I shoulda been done in 30 minutes and instead I’d be melting crayons on my reading lamp making awesome drip wax sculptures. 

There was also, ok, technically the school is required to provide the shrink, whatever to come in and run like IQ tests and whatever the like medical required tests are you know? But my mom wanted to jump the line? So she took me to the actual psychology department of the local state university and let the interns run like the IQ tests and whatever.

So once those came back as “Yep ADHD” then the school worked on making up the IEP plan and accommodations needed.

Also, there’s the QB test. This is fairly new but when I took it just like 2 or 3 months ago? it was like “Hello ADHD.“ https://www.qbtech.com/ 

Basically they stuck a motion tracking ball to my head and like, had me do this really god awfull repetative task.  The before and after… on my meds, and not were HYSTERICAL.  like, YEP ADD 

@scripteducator sheds some light on what goes on from a teaching perspective:

They could also go with (if they’re school age) just pure numbers. Often districts will only have one person capable of doing the tests so it can take a while.  I was also told that they don’t always take grades into account.  It’s more, the amorphous like, “She’s not living up to potential.” That’s where the IQ tests and such come in.

Also, not all ADD kids end up on IEP’s. IEP’s are for like, when the disability is effecting academics. The 504 plan ends up being more, “Give her a stress ball to play with, let her walk around more” that sort of thing.

(Check out this link for a description of how 504 and IEPs are different!)

And lucky for you, Shrink just took a class on IQ tests!  IQ tests don’t just look at how ‘smart’ you are - they can be a really good gauge of what areas someone’s having problems with.  If a character with ADHD takes an IQ test, there are a few specific sections that can get flagged as being possible problems (such as being able to keep their attention on tasks designed to test it). But if aside from those problem areas, their performance is stellar, that’s a pretty big red flag that the character has ADHD.

So while report cards and the like are important, there are other factors (like IQ testing) that are better gauges of whether a character has ADHD.

Followers with ADHD, how were you diagnosed? What hurdles did you face to getting treatment?

[scripteducator]

A nice answer about diagnosing ADHD and some of the things that happen on the school side. If you’ve ever seen an adult randomly sitting in the back of the room, either a child or your teacher’s is probably being observed in the classroom for all sorts of reasons. Diagnosing things like ADHD is definitely one of them. Also, a good link for IEP’s and 504′s. I’m going to get to that eventually I swear!

[scriptshrink]

Ah, sorry, but what usernames are in the scriptx family? There's so many I lost their @s :0

ANNOUNCING WITH AN ABNORMAL AMOUNT OF ALLITERATION:

The Matriarch of Medicine: @scriptmedic The Ebullient Ecologist: @scriptecology​ The Caustic Chemists: @scriptchemist​ The Astonishing Astronomer: @scriptastronomer​ The Gentle Geneticist: @scriptgenetics

The Brilliant Brain Scientists: @scriptbrainscientist​ The Shrewd Shrink: @scriptshrink   The Phenomenal Pharmacist: @scriptpharmacist​ The Saintly Social Worker: @scriptsocialwork

The Lively Lawyer: @scriptlawyer​ The Helpful Hacker: @scripthacker​ The Fervent Forensics: @forenscripts​

The Radiant Rainbows: @scriptlgbt The Knowledgeable Kinkster: @scriptkink​ 

The Harmonious Historians: @scripthistory​ The Majestic Mythologists: @scriptmyth​ The Learned Librarians:  @scriptlibrarian​ The Edified Educator: @scripteducator​ 

The Eclectic Economist: @scripteconomist​ The Amazing Accountant: @scriptaccountant​ The Deft Dealer: @scriptgambling​ 

The Creative Creature: @scriptcreature​ The Stalwart Service Dogs: @scriptservicedogs​  The Valiant Veterinarian: @scriptveterinarian 

The Breathtaking Ballerina: @scriptballerina​ The Splendid Soldier: @scriptsoldier​

The Fair Florists: @scriptflorist​ The Wondrous Witches: @scriptwitchcraft    The Fantastic Foodie: @scriptfoodie​

The Germane German: @scriptgerman​​ The Beautiful Brit: @scriptbrit​ The Audacious Australian: @scriptaussie The Charming Canadian: @scriptcanuck

The Wonderful World-builders: @script-a-world​   The Stupendous Structurer: @scriptstructure 

And last, but not least, The Fascinating Feature, where you can get the best posts of all the scriptblogs: @scriptfeature 

This list is current as of 12/22/2016!

[scripteducator]

I'm writing about a world where everyone has superpowers. What kind of powers do you think teachers would have? How would they deal with superpowered kids?

Oooo, this is fun. So, I’ll preface this with this is me spitballing? Much of this might change based on politics, etc, of your story. I’m assuming US Public schools with this answer… WARNING, LOTS OF INFORMED OPINION AHEAD

OK, First question, what kind of powers would teachers have? I’d think they’d have all kinds, you’ve got all sorts of different sorts of people that end up as teachers. Now useful skills? Besides the always funny Eyes in the back of your head or Ability to slow down time so you can get your frikking grading done. I’d think some sort of empathy/mind reading would be nice.

For some kids, teachers end up being the most positive adult figure in their life.  Also teachers tend to be the person that sees a change in behavior before anyone else does. The ability to pick those kids out would be invaluable. For example to be able to tell that the boy in the corner is not doing his homework because grandma is close to dying and not because he’s being lazy. Or that the girl up front has stopped answering questions in class is because she is being made fun of for speaking up.. As it is right now? We have to guess and make phone calls to parents or surreptitiously question other students and hope someone has a flipping clue about what is going on when we see behavior changes.

Or super hearing, or telekinesis to be able to grab kids cell phones when they pull them out…

Now, how would they deal with super powered kids? Whew. OK, at first? If the superpowers were sudden onset I think each school would pretty much come up with their own way and deal with it on a case by case basis. Kid gets angry and turns into the human torch? Teachers would arrange some sort of small hand signal that meant “I need to get the hell out of here now.” That’s actually something teachers do already for kids with emotional issues or special needs. They’ll arrange some hand signals that can be used between the two parties so as not to embarrass the student in front of peers, but still get the job done. Someone has to lay an egg once a month? They get to use the teacher’s single bathroom, etc.

Long term? I’d think some sort of legislation would get passed that would basically declare that schools have to accommodate the kids with powers PERIOD, like the IDEA act. Or something would get up to the supreme court ala “Brown v. Board of Education”. Most teachers and schools I’ve been to and worked at really do want to help and be accommodating. But sometimes, you run into situations (and assholes) where you have to pull out the lawyers as a parent and force compliance. It would probably happen eventually.

Someday I’ll make the Special Ed post but I honestly think they’d pattern how they handle powers after what we already do for special needs kids. Since the structure is already there and the teachers and administration is familiar with it. Assuming of course, everyone is being ‘sane’ here and there isn’t full blown discrimination like Jim Crow style segregation or something. Short version of the special ed post is that we try to keep kids in the ‘least restrictive’ environment that is appropriate for their needs. It runs the gamut from say, most restrictive being an off site center that deals with that specific disability or a separate all day classroom, to least restrictive, being in regular mainstream classes with maybe extra time on tests, or an extra study hall.

I could see them do something like that with powers. Most restrictive, the kid gets sent off to a center that handles the really crazy dangerous powers. Least restrictive, providing special chairs or a standing desk for the kid that now has digitigrade legs. I think you get the point. I could also see a specialty eventually evolving. Instead of the Special Ed teacher, you’d have the Powers teacher or administrator that manages the care and logistics of those kids.

There’d be paperwork and meetings with teachers, social workers, parents, administrators, and as the student gets older, the student themselves. They’d come up with some sort of plan, write it down, and make sure it’s followed. There will probably be an acronym for the official form, education loves acronyms.

But here’s the important part about public schools they HAVE to take the student at the level they are. So, they will have pay to have the kid shipped off to the special center on the bus. This is where some of that legislation would come in. Much of that money for special needs currently comes from the federal government. So, money for power education? Hit up the feds.  School districts are also responsible for students until they’re 21. In the real world, this usually applies to special education until they become part of the adult system. So, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone had graduated high school, but was still going to, say, a school district funded center that worked with powers until 21.

[scripteducator]

What is required to become a professor? (Already loving this blog btw)

Awesome question and thanks for the ask!

So I’m going to preface this with the fact that I’m mostly experienced with K-12 public schools, so… I’m sure I might miss something, hell a lot of somethings, with this answer. However, I do have my Masters in Education from a large state school. I’ve seen some of what I’m about to say in action from the student side. If anyone has stuff to add, please do. (Anyone with professorial experience wanna jump in and mod this blog with me? Pretty please?)

Colleges don’t necessarily have the same government-mandated requirements for the education of their employees as public schools do. So their requirements tend to be a way more fluid than K-12 schools. In general, professors need to have at least a Masters in their chosen subject. This, however, is considered the ‘low’ end. So, think more community college and less Harvard with that. Bigger universities want their full-time professors to at least have a Doctorate and be active in research or writing papers. As always, there are exceptions to that rule. (Note I preface this whole thing with full-time professors, I’ll get to that in a second.)

I’ve seen professors in a major university with only a master’s degree BUT they had a TON of outside experience in their field. For example, I had education professors that weren’t doctors, but they’d taught in K-12 schools for years and had pretty much seen it all. One of my professors had been a principal of a school. He was teaching a class that taught teachers how to handle diverse classrooms. The population of his elementary school had gone from majority white to majority minority with significant ELL challenges in a very short period of time. ELL is short for English Language Learners, the newer term for students previously known as ESL students, English as a Second Language. You can see why he was tapped to teach a class about dealing with diversity: he’d been living it. So again, a shitton of real world experience relevant to the subject matter can sometimes make up for the lack of a doctorate.

Now, colleges lately have begun to do something that I feel is frankly a bit evil: Personal opinion time, take with a grain of salt. That is, they’ve begun to depend on adjunct professors instead of hiring people for full blown professorships. Adjuncts are cheaper and replaceable. The powers that be don’t have to worry about health insurance and that pesky thing called tenure. So it’s begun to be REALLY REALLY hard to get a full professorship. It’s even harder to get tenure. You can Google this for more details, there have been several good articles on the subject. (Here’s a great one from The Atlantic to get you started. http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/09/higher-education-college-adjunct-professor-salary/404461/).

So, bringing all this back. What does this have to do with your character? If your character is young and up and coming, unless they are an accomplished genius in their field, or have connections, they’re unlikely to land a full-time professorship right away. It’s far more likely they’ll be one of those adjunct professors stringing together classes at three or four universities. If they’re older, there’s a chance they’re a full-time professor, after a ton of research or time as an adjunct. There’s also the whole “Publish or Perish” paradigm. If you are a full-time professor, the university expects you to be productive with papers or activities. So if your character is a full-time prof, they’d better be thinking about papers or getting something published to a journal, etc.

Please, people currently TAing in colleges (I know we have a few scriptx family members who are Teaching Assistants or Graduate Assistants) jump in here and add to this. I’d love to hear from people with current experience.

Keep the questions coming! I plan to do some basic information posts in the next week or so. If anyone is interested in something specific let me know in an ASK. I’m also working on finding a layout  for this blog that I like so, your patience is appreciated!

[scripteducator]

What time of year is the best for a teacher to apply to a new school? Is there a better time? Is there a time that's particularly bad because they've often filled the spots and such? This is US-based, East Coast, if that helps.

So, I’ve been in the educational job seeking game in two different states, neither were east coast. But in my experience yes, there is a definite rhythm to when you’re the most likely to be employed in a school district. In my current district, this is how it tends to go.

The first “bump” in open positions tends to be around spring break, which is generally the end of March/early April in most US school districts. At this point, the employees that are retiring or quitting at the end of the school year have informed the administration of their intent. So, jobs begin to be posted to the public. HOWEVER, many of these positions are what would be considered senior type position:. AP US History, Advanced Biology, Secretary to the Superintendent, etc. So often they get filled internally despite being listed publicly. Sometimes they get filled externally, though it’s not a guarantee. As government entities most public schools are required to list jobs publicly despite the fact that often the administration already has someone in mind for the position. That part-time science teacher that’s been trying to go full-time? That’s when the department head that really likes them but just couldn’t get them to full-time makes the move and get them added to the department full time. Then the ‘cushy’ classes tend to get picked up by existing teachers with either the specialization or seniority. When a teacher retires, there’s generally a few other teachers that have always wanted to teach their subject. So they jump at the chance. On the support staff side, it’s also when people start angling for the higher paying all year jobs instead of the jobs that only pay when the students are there. For your character it’s always worth it to apply at this stage anyway. You might get some facetime with people you want facetime with or you might just stay on their radar to fill the position the internal candidate is vacating. Also, if it’s something REALLY specific, like Band teacher, or Sculptor, or the shop teacher… etc. There isn’t going to BE an internal candidate so it’s doubly worth your time to apply.

Now, all this shuffling and chicanery causes different positions to open up. These tend to be posted toward the end of the school year or the summer months. End of May, June-ish, since depending on your HR department, it takes that long to get all the internal shuffling for next year done. This is also the time when schools finally get a final feel for the size of next incoming class.. Freshmen for HS, 6th graders…etc. It’s a bit easier to gauge on the admin side for K-5 schools because the administration mostly just looks at the year’s class size, breaks them up into appropriate classroom sized groups, and then makes sure they have the teachers to cover them. Elementary teachers are often licensed for more than one grade level so sometimes you’ll teach 2nd grade one year, and then find yourself with Kindergarteners the next. Some states let you get a licence for K-5. Others split it up into two early and late elementary.They try not to make massive changes often (2nd to K  for example iis a massive shift) but it happens. From the middle school and high school side, they look at what students registered for and try and make it all happen. Sometimes they need another English teacher because of a huge group of freshmen coming in. Sometimes it’s that there are a few spare classes left over in each department so they need a part timer.

This is where the Franken-positions (my term, not industry wide as you’d say) come in. Schools start floating truly weird pie in the sky combinations, like “Math/English teacher” “Music/Science” “Computer/History” Sometimes it’ll be a full time gig spread out over two different buildings so you have to drive. School districts are perpetually underfunded, so any chance to save on the cost of insurance or professional development gets tried. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. There have been times when I’ve looked at a combination they’re looking for, smirk and comment to my colleagues “Good luck finding that.” and often they don’t. That’s when they either hire a couple of part timers, or ask other teachers to take on another class. (Most districts want to avoid this at all costs because the teachers basically get overtime pay for teaching more classes than what is spelled out in their contracts. They have to agree to do it, which doesn’t always happen because that extra class often takes their one planning period. So teachers have to go all year with no extra time for copies, student meetings, etc.) Your character might apply for a part time something, and then hear back that they decided to fill it by paying existing teachers a little extra.

So, If your character is coming right out of Ed school, this is their best bet. If they can get certified in more than one subject they are way way way more marketable. Also, trying to get certified for more than one age group is a really good idea. Especially when getting their foot in the door. Also, the last gasp hiring which I’m going to talk about next.

There’s generally one last “bump” of open year long positions right before the start of school. Someone quits last minute, or the admins realize that the English classes are just a bit too full and really they should hire one more person to lighten that up. All sorts of last minute things come up and they need to hire. In general though most schools really want their faculty roster filled out and ready to go a few weeks before the start date. I have heard stories though of people not knowing if they genuinely had the job they interviewed for until two days to start, or currently employed teachers having to wait until the last minute to find out if they even get to keep their job. (This is where the teacher’s union usually swoops in and makes a fuss, but teachers unions are a topic for another post.) Until you have tenure, you really are at the mercy of class sizes and cost cutting measures.

Once school starts, what you tend to find posted for the districts are long term substitute gigs (Maternity leaves, leaves of absence, FMLA absences, etc.) or just plain old subs and various support staff positions, which depending upon the position, tend to be a little less driven by the school calendar then teaching positions. It’s still worth a weekly look at the various districts your char is interested in because people get sick, quit, go on year long leaves, etc at any time. If you’re char is subbing in that district, they can find out when HR posts new jobs and make sure they check that day.

So, what does all that mean for your character? If they’re coming straight out from Ed school and student teaching there is a very real possibility they aren’t going to land a full time gig right out of school. The chances go up exponentially if they have a rare subject matter or one of those oddball combos. (I know someone who got his first break because he was a science/band combination, they do indeed exist.) Also, Math and Science teachers are harder to find and therefore you’re more likely to land a gig. It’s REALLY hard to land History or English gigs at times. It’s very common to see new education grads stringing together maternity leaves, doing random subbing in many districts or working as a paraprofessional. (By stringing together maternity leaves I mean actively looking for them and working one after the other if you can manage it.)  

While technically not a teaching job, paras do a lot in the classroom and it’s a good way to get your feet wet and get the attention of the people you want the attention of. The position (at least from what I’ve seen) is shifting from being a glorified room mom to needing licensure of it’s own and it’s starting to become a place lots of newbie teachers land while trying to make connections to get that teaching gig. It actually wouldn’t be out of place for your character to be a paraprofessional while GOING to school for education. I’ve known a few doing that and depending on the school culture, you might get hired as a teacher because you’re already working there.

There’s also a position in many schools called the “permanent sub" or the "Long Term Sub” which is different than a long term sub for a leave despite the similar name. This person doesn’t take over a teacher’s schedule, but basically ‘lives’ at the school. They are the prime sub. They take any last minute classes that come up. They also know the school culture so they tend to get the ‘challenging’ classes. They are that extra pair of hands you need sometimes when things get crazy. When there isn’t a sub gig, they tend to help in the office with whatever clerical work needs to get done.  It’s a thankless job but it’s a great stepping stone to a real gig.

So, TL;DR to your question. Yes, there are prime hiring seasons, usually from about spring break to summerish, and then some panic hiring right before the year starts. Everything but long term subbing tends to dry up in between but emergencies happen. Also, if your character is a newbie teacher, there’s a very good chance they aren’t going to get a full time gig right off the bat. 

[scriptmedic]

Hey Aunt Script! Thanks for the amazing blog! With so many other Script blogs do you know of one dealing with education systems of different countries? Like one to help UK writers write USA characters because the education system is different. Thanks

I do not! Anyone wanna start a scriptteacher blog? I feel like we need one out there!

(You can probably ask @scriptgerman about education in Germany. I’ll give you the rundown of what I can, though. (Some places may group two of these ed levels together, so don’t take mine as gospel, this is the path I walked….)

Pre-K and Kindergarten: This is for really little kids; pre-k is probably 4, kindergarten 5 y.o. A lot of playing, coloring, and naptime. Man, kindergarten was the best.

1st-5th grade: Elementary School. Ages 5-6 through 10-11.

6th-8th grade: Junior High School. Ages 11-2 through 13-14.

9th-12th grade: High school. Ages 14-15 through 17-18.

Community College: small colleges with more manageable class sizes. 2 years for some (associate’s degrees), 4 years for others (Bachelor’s degrees).

College / University: 4-year college, typically with post-grad programs available.

xoxo, Aunt Scripty

[scripteducator]

That's a pretty good summation for most public schools here. In some areas Jr. High is referred to as Middle school though. There's also some variation in how school districts split K-12. Especially in smaller towns or places with low population. It's not uncommon to run into a K-6 school with the next school being 7 and 8 and then the high school as normal. Another that's very common in small towns or rural county wide districts is K-8 and 9-12. It really depends on funding, population and the infrastructure available.

Also, for historical reasons lost to time unless you really search for it, high school grades (9-12) are also known by the titles Freshmen, Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors. That'll be an entry some day as well.

There are also districts that split their schools by grade. Example, a high school district with 3 buildings, one building is for all the freshman, another the sophomores and the biggest building in the district goes to Juniors and seniors. There are also districts that put the Freshmen in one building, and then everyone goes to buildings based on where they live. There are good things and bad things about such setups. Again that'll be another post some day.

But now we're getting into school assignments and districting and that's enough for another very very long entry so I'll wait for that.

[scripteducator]

Intro

Greetings! This is the education side of the scriptx community! Please ask anything about education. If I can’t answer it, I’m sure I can find someone who can, or point you to the right resources.

Currently looking for interested parties to fill out gaps in my knowledge.

Needed: Other countries then USA, elementary education (I know some but I’d love an expert/someone working in it), College teaching and professorships, specialties (ESL, Special Ed.). If you think you have something to add, send me a message.