#second year teacher

[deaf-sakura]

✨ I am once again asking for your time & attention on my classroom wishlist ✨ 

Hello everyone! August is here, and I have about a month to prep for our first day back to school.

I’m a queer autistic teacher who teaches middle school self-contained special education. My classroom is what’s called a multiple disabilities room; it’s a unique set up that works with students who have more than one disability that affects how they learn. Many of our students also have medical conditions that require us to do nursing care within our classroom, like changing diapers and giving g-tube feedings.

This year we’re starting up a sensory room in the classroom right next door to mine, and that’ll be a major benefit to my students with more complex sensory needs or who are blind/deaf/deafblind.

I got lots of things like books, posters, toys, activities, all kids of things to make my room a little more enriching. Check it out, and if you choose to purchase anything, I really do thank you!

[madsgoesthemiles]

Today is the first day of school.

I’m awake.

I’m alive.

I’m in my warm bed with my puppy at my feet, drinking a starbucks white mocha.

No matter how this year goes, I have people to love and people who love me.

[trombonesandcarhorns]

Every day I give my students a meme of the day that is topical and funny (in my opinion). Here are some of my highlights so far this year:

A little bit of Robert Frost...

I've gotta be relatable somehow.

This one also channeled my personal frustrations as a teacher. Just replace all the figurative language with grading.

Shout out to all my Greek Mythology nerds.

I couldn't resist adding a second Greek Mythology one because I enjoyed this one way too much too.

And finally, my most recent one. Only one kid got it, but he thought it was funny and gave me a high five and that's all the validation I needed for the rest of the year.

[laurenloveslearning]

once upon a time, my room was shared by two teachers. one teacher sat at a desk that was really two typical desks arranged in an L-shape. the other had a large, bulky desk with an old, ugly, itchy fabric rolling chair to accompany it. this desk and chair haven’t been removed (and honestly, i don’t care enough to have them removed). if you sit in the chair and lean back, it looks like it’s going to snap.

but my kiddos have been bickering over it. every day. and when lunch or breakfast gets called (since we have a vendor provide our food and they get there when they get there), it’s a big to-do because, god forbid he take the chair i was sitting in.

today, i decided i had it.

i rolled the chair to our library/closet, popped in to let the principal know where it was, and decided to be rid of it. you’re going to argue and fight like kids ten years younger than you? fine, then i’ll take this dumb chair away.

and i’ll grin the whole time.

[teachingandtea]

I survived my first year of teaching!

I really cannot believe how fast it went! I had such a wonderful class and I'm truly going to miss all of them. I'm definitely ready for a summer break, though.

[technoglobee]

What my classroom feels like in the lead up to Christmas break:

[dwendog]

One of my kidlets got 9/35 (26%) on the end of unit test on our class novel. I’ve scrounged every mark I could possibly give her, and that’s the best I feel like I can do. All the work she’s done during the unit shows that she really does understand more than this, so I think some of it is about not being done immediately after reading each chapter, and she probably freaked out a bit about the test, too. Granted, she doesn’t always pay as much attention as she should, but I still feel so terrible for her. Obviously, this is not the only mark they’re getting for the term, and I’m taking informal assessments into account as well, so I doubt I’m going to have to fail her, but the poor thing is just going to be crushed when I give the test back. I hate this part of my job.

[mstangteaches]

Wow, hi guys, haven’t made an actual, personal post in awhile! Anyway, school is insane, I kinda hate my principal, and I started updating my resume to go on the transfer list for next year woooooo!!!

We’ve had two snow days this week and I’m feeling mildly guilty for using them  to take care of personal business (filing taxes, oil change, new car battery, laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, meal prep, workouts, etc.) instead of schoolwork. I mean, I went in both days and did some planning/anchor chart making, but I have a giant pile of papers that are sitting and waiting to be graded...to be fair, I don't necessarily think they would have been graded even if we'd had school, but I feel like I should have spent more time doing school-related stuff than I did. I feel really good about the things that I did accomplish, because all of those things needed to be done, but that guilt just keeps creeping in!