She Said Yes...

That's right, I got down on one knee and asked the woman I loved to marry me. I told her she couldn't get the ring until she answered and it better be the right answer ... it was.

For those of you who know us it shouldn't come as a surprise that she said yes, and I'm sure I have a bunch of 'Well, it's about time' 's coming. Details will only be given to those friends whom we deem worthy, or who care to ask.

Things Are Looking Up

Sara is finally here on the East Coast. We found a way out of our Chicago lease which meant that she was free to leave the Windy City and fly to Maryland. Thank God!

Today we signed a lease for our new apartment. 2.2 miles off of General's Highway, back in the woods is a secluded neighborhood called Epping Forest. A friend of a friend's was renting the top apartment of a two story, split level duplex. A two bedroom apartment w/ a working fireplace, dishwasher, a full-sized toilet (That's important), and a balcony that runs along the length of the house. We're on a hill that overlooks the South River in the fall and winter months and during the rest of the year the leaves are, apparently, too thick but you feel like you're living in a tree house. The neighborhood has a Community Clubhouse, tennis courts, and a public beach, and we're paying less than we did for our apartment in Chicago. We'll be living above our landlords - hope that works out... they seem very nice - and the apartment is farther away from downtown Annapolis than we had hoped but soon we'll both have cars and then everything will be within driving distance.

It'll take sometime to adjust to not living in the big city, but we're off to a pretty good start.

Pay Attention...

Ask - verb: to put a question to; inquire of/ to request information about/to try to obtain by using words,/etc.


Ax - noun: an instrument with a bladed head on a handle or helve, used for hewing, cleaving, chopping, etc.


Just wanted to make the distinction myself.

Playing Catch Up

One of the more frustrating aspects of my new teaching job is the fact that I've come into the school over two months after the start of school. I don't have a history with the students and as a new teacher I'm fumbling around trying to figure out the correct way to do lesson plans, progress reports, behavior plans, CBI forms, etc. Perhaps even worse yet is trying to organize the confusion that was left for me, and the paperwork that goes along with everything. There are educational goals that I have to gear my students towards, there is standardized testing that I have to prepare them for, and there is data collection that has not been done to help me judge where the students stand as far as the educational plans. It's a lot to take in considering that I've been working for almost 2 weeks and my County Employee Orientation is tomorrow. Hopefully they'll give me more paperwork and forms to fill out... I'd love that!

What Did You Say?

I was on my lunch break in the teacher's lounge (I'm still getting used to that... I take my breaks in the teacher's lounge.) and one of my fellow educators was enlightening everyone on a few of his conspiracy theories. Apparently the government is not only responsible for the assassination of JFK, but also pulled the trigger on Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr, and Malcolm X. No earth-shaking revelations or anything, in fact I've heard or seen most of the information that this teacher was repeating. Then he started to talk about the assasination footage of Kennedy and how the government had taken the original film and 'restorated it'.

Resto-WHAT? Restorated? Is that even a word? Just say restored? Or perhaps you meant rostrated...(Def: furnished with a rostrum.)?

I often have trouble finding, or remembering the right word, but one of my pet peeves is when a person makes up a word to sound impressive or educated. I can't take you serious after that... it's nothing personal, don't get all 'offensified'!

Day 5

It was bound to happen sooner or later... it wouldn't take the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi to predict it... I'm teaching Special Education, for Pete's Sake... but still it made me giggle today when I realized that I was actually riding a Short Bus! (Almost everyone I know makes jokes or comments about 'riding the short bus' and while I realize that it may not be PC I, too, have always found humor in the, uh... less than full-sized school busses. Oh, and I usually pride myself on my tact.)

The day ran by pretty smoothly. A few tantrums while on the field trip but nothing we couldn't handle. I'm still trying to grasp exactly how I'm supposed to be setting up lesson plans, and what curriculum I am supposed to be following but I'm sure that will all come in time.

Day 4

Even though I started my new job a week ago I have only had 4 days with the kids due to parent/teacher conferences, and the election. Just when I thought I would never miss waiting tables...

• Day starts out and 3 out of 4 para-professionals called in sick. It was a rainy & dismal morning.
  
• Only 3 of my students actually make it into school today, so I start to think that maybe things won't be too bad.
• 2 of my boys start off on the wrong foot; lashing out, tantrums, screaming, etc.
• My other student decides that he, too, should be getting some of the attention. So he takes off his shoes, starts hitting other students, throwing things across the room , and snatching items out of my hands. He just wants attention. He wanted attention ALL DAY LONG!
• The Capper: (How do I write this tastefully?) Today I changed and cleaned a 13 year old boy after he *** cough, cough *** soiled himself. This was the exact moment when I yearned for an obnoxious patron or an irrate line cook. I can take their crap.

Tomorrow's another day.

Day 3

I could tell he was in a bad mood when he stepped off of the bus. His mood did not improve as the day progressed. At the end of the day he was aggresively pushing, pulling and screaming. He even ripped my sweater as he was struggling with me. He can't vocalize what is wrong so instead he gets physical and all I can do is block and redirect his aggression. It won't be the last time.

So Far...

....My favorite part of being back on the East Coast was just a few minutes ago. I was working on the computer and listening to the satelite radio and before I knew it was dancing with my niece and nephew to Del The Funkee Homosapian's Mister Dobbalina. Old school jams really do the trick.

Day 2

Today was a little more eventful than yesterday. Today I got to see the flip side of the coin. Slapping. Spitting. Throwing objects. Tantrums. It's fine. We'll deal with it all as it comes.

Many of my co-workers keep making comments to me about the job I've accepted, the difficulty of the task, the atmosphere in the school that might scare some people, and more than a handful of people joke with me about not showing up for work the next day. Apparently, it's a common occurence.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - I'm not scared of the kids. When they start swinging I duck or block. When they scream I wait for them to finish. It's all part of the game. These kids sometimes lash out. It's what they often do. You just accept it and move on.

The hardest part of this job so far is the fact that I am over 700 miles away from my girlfriend. It sounds cheesy but it's true. When something happens I want to share it with her. When I have doubts I want her to assure me. Text messages, and phone calls help but I can't wait until she is able to leave Chicago and come live here with me. That's always been the plan.

Day 1

Today was my first day in the classroom. I was told to just sit back and observe for the first week or so. After about 5 minutes my ADD kicked in and I was right in the thick of things helping out and trying to figure out my role. There are 5 young men with Autism in my class and 3 para-professionals/Assistants. (When I say young men, I'm talking about teenagers. All of my kids are between 13 and 17... a little older than I had anticipated.) My work day starts early - 7:30 in the morning, after a 40 minute+ commute - and ends around 3 O'clock. The day to day schedule varies with special sessions of speech, aquatics, motor developement and weekly field trips.

I will be fine in the classroom. The paperwork is another story. I have been given at least 5 binders of reading material to acquaint myself with from the Staff Handbook to the Autism Handbook. There are case files for each student as well as a ton of forms that I will have to use almost daily. (Behavior Plans, Lesson Plans, Progress Reports, Alt MSA Forms, IEP Forms, etc.)

Thank goodness for my para-professionals... I have a feeling that I will need to use them many times while I'm in the back of the classroom filling out forms. I'm excited to be a part of this team. We all help out, are assigned duties, interact with the children, and work towards the educational goals... and I'll be the one carrying home the overstuffed bag full of paperwork for me to slave over.

I am excited about the work itself. I'm intimidated by the paperwork. I'll figure it all out as I go.

PS: Sorry for those of you, my firends, who expected to read my bitter, sarcastic observations about my new job. Don't fret, I'll still make those posts but probably not about work. It wouldn't be cool.