Stick to the routine!

As a special eduaciotn teacher (and parent,) I know how important routine is for my students. I get so stressed when I'm out of routine. One of the things I look forward to the most every day is my routine walk. Yes, the same walk every day. I can think, destress, daydream, unwind and NOT think about where I am going. It never fails to make me feel so much better about whatever is occuring in my life.

Mixed Messages

Principal: I want you to go to this meeting. This student is being transferred back to us from the alternative school because his behavior has improved.

Later, at the meeting.

Alternative school teacher: He has a lot of inappropriate behaviors in class. We think he needs to be where his peers have more appropriate behavior.

Need I say more? We will find out the truth soon. I hope the part of that truth is that he needs a good teacher.

Waiting for the Effects...

... of that ADHD medication to kick in.

One of my first graders came to school and it definitely had not taken effect. Luckily, he is one cute kid. My aide and I just had to go with the flow, as teachers often have to do. This student can be a little obsessive, so when I mentioned adding an s to make the word tool plural, he proceeded to list at least 3 minutes worth of words that you add s to make it mean more than one.

I love my students. I even had one call out "I love you" in the middle of their reading class. Then he went right back to work.

Dog Adventure

While standing in Lowe's looking at countertops for bathrooms, my phone rang. I thought it would be CVS telling me my prescription was due for a refill, but no, it was from a neighbor down the street asking if I was the owner of a little dachshund and a white dog. My number was on their tags.

Indeed, that would be the Evil, Spiteful One (as she is referred to by members of the family) Cinnamon and Augie, the perfect dog (accept for a little neurosis which causes him to lick constantly). Apparently, they pushed the gate open and ran for freedom. This has happened before in other places that we have lived and they can never find there way back.

Our nice neighbors identified us as the "Alabama Fans" and stayed with them as we quickly drove home. Of course every traffic light turned red on us and it seemed to take forever. Fortunately, these neighbors were dog lovers keeping them nearby with treats. Augie was really into this. Cinnamon enjoyed being chased by the little girl with them.

Little do Cinnamon and Augie know the anxiety they cause me. They are truly loved.

No excuse

How do you explain a 2 year absence from a blog?

My goal now is to write a one sentence blog a few days a week. This will be a challenge considering the state of my email inbox. I'm going to start with updatng my profile.

I'm doing much better on my book blog.

Back to School

School has started and now I feel like I don't have the time to do the things I need to do or want to do.

I have all kinds of things I need to do for school on a daily basis. But do I leave behind my reading, exercising and cooking that I want to do? Never! (And I didn't even mention blogging. This is when I usually take 9 months off from that.)

I will squeeze in what ever I can, with a smile on my face. Maybe I will surprise myself.

To Kill a Mockingbird

I watched the movie "To Kill a Mockingbird" again last night. I've probably seen it at least 4 or 5 times. The only thing better is reading the book.