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.
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