A new view

It feels so eerie to look back at previous posts and think about how much has changed in two and a half years.

I live in a different state with my husband of 1.5 years and our little dog Buhner. I am an experienced special education teacher, having taught in a wide range of classrooms.

It's a very welcome change. My life feels so much more full and balanced. I can't believe how lucky I was to find Brandon, my husband. If I had to summarize our life in single words it would go like this:

talking. travel. play with the dog. church. Mariner's. family. cooking. sit with me. friends. avid sitcom watching . little adventures. let's go out. beautiful. messy. learning. frustration. what should we do? prayer. together. discovery. hope. late nights. work. ugh work. planning. what's next?

iep #1

So I'm writing my first IEP (Individualized Education Plan) for an annual review tomorrow. For those of you who didn't know, IEPs are a huge deal in special ed. They are legal documents that are used to drive instruction and assessment for students with exceptional needs. They are one of the main reasons special ed. teachers have higher starting salaries than other teachers.

Anyway, I basically describe the student's current levels in all levels (academic, social, communication, etc.) and write goals for their areas of need. As I write and describe one of the most delightful students in my class, it nearly brings me to tears because of the sheer privilege of being his teacher--to be the one on the receiving end of that bright smile and hug every morning. This is certainly a human enterprise.

I knew this would happen.

It's been three weeks and I simply adore my students.

magnificent

I just ended my first full week of teaching. I have 8 wonderful students. Monday and Tuesday were kind of rough as far as the flow of the day, but once I reworked my lesson plan and allowed more space for flexibility and downtime, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were great.

My first IEP meeting is next Friday and I must say I'm pretty proud of myself for organizing it and getting the team together for it. But I found out that I have two triennial evaluations in October; which in the world of special education, is a very big deal. It consists of a battery of official psychological and cognitive skill assessments that decide what special education services the student receives. To give you an idea of what that means, the other SH teacher I work with told me that she has only had two triennials in her 5 yr career, and I have two tri's in my second month of teaching!