Testing Technology

I just downloaded BlogPress lite. It's supposed to be the best app with support for Blogger. I figured if we're going to do this thing, we're going to do it all the way, and that means I have to have an app for that.


- Posted from my iPhone

We'll See How This Goes

As you may have read in my bio(or not) last semester was my first semester of teaching. I was given my chance in the middle of the semester. The district wanted to do something new with a very difficult student.

I teach in the Special Ed department. My student has baffled everyone that has met him. That basically means he has bested a combination of a couple hundred of years of experience. I’ve been doing this for a total of about four months now.

The last semester was tough. It’s still tough. The typical experience, from what I understand, in Special Ed is “one step forward, two steps back.” Sometimes I feel as though it’s more like a one-to-seven ratio. Whatever the case, this job is teaching me so much.

I have never needed so much patience. I’ve always been a pretty laid back guy, but this job pushes me to the edge, and at the same time reminds me that I can’t get that angry at a 10-year old with mental disabilities. I need to check myself constantly and try to understand that this is difficult for him too.

I’m also learning some patience for the future. I am fairly certain I will be the most relaxed dad in history. “Well, at least all of his clothes are on and he’s not trying to bite us.” That sentence is sure to come out of my mouth more than once when I have kids.

This new semester has been on par with the last. Our first day back wasn’t terrible, which is good. Most people talked about how the break affects the students, because they are thrown off of their routines. My student is unlike any other, and seemed to not be affected. This was further evident when he returned to his usual, near-uncontrollable behavior.

While we are still dealing with a ton of issues, he has made a few of those small steps forward. There is a bit of hope. He is such a sad case, and that makes me want to work even more for him. We will see how this goes.

Let's Begin (First Post)

Like Eddie, last semester was my first semester teaching, and when I say it was my first semester teaching, I mean that quite literally. Prior to last August, I had never stepped into a classroom with the intention of standing at the front. I had no experience with student teaching. No experience with subbing. No experience as an aide. The closest thing to teaching I had experienced was leading a few bible studies in college and teaching my nephew how to build a spaceship out of Lego pieces.

So when I was offered a position as an eleventh grade English teacher with an additional post as head golf coach, I was amazed. Not only did I have a position in the grade I wanted to teach—students who have matured enough to be interesting, sans the Senioritis—but I also had a coaching position. The icing on the cake, however, was that the position was in the same district I spent my entire life in: kindergarten through twelfth grade.

I entered my first day of school with the cocky arrogance you’d expect from any millennial. I was back at my school in my town. Some of the teachers I had were still teaching the same classes, so I already felt like an insider. No need to make connections to better my social ranking. Heck, some of the text books in my window had their inner covers inscribed with the names of some of my best friends. (I even found a podium in a fellow teacher’s class that I helped build in drafting during my senior year.) I thought: what could these kids possibly do to make me feel unwanted in one of the few places I actually called home?

Now that I think about it, it’s kind of funny how quickly things changed. To put it bluntly: before the end of my first week, I was in my AP’s office, tears running down my face, deeply concerned I had made a very terrible decision. I distinctly remember saying the phrase, “Nobody told me these kids would be like this.” Of course, if you told new teachers how the kids actually acted, the only applicants you’d bring in would have to be junkies or masochists.

It’s been almost six months now since I was blubbering about not having enough time to grade papers and call parents and write lesson plans and teach the old lady down the hall how to use email and…and…and…

I’ve gone from a child tossed overboard by his father and told to, “Swim,” to treading water for a bit, to doggy paddling, and I’m finally feeling like I’ve accomplished actual movement. I’ve learned many lessons and acquired many stories, just as I know Eddie has done the same. This blog will be our attempt at putting those lessons and stories, and everything in between, in writing. Let’s see how it goes.