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.

Moving...

SUCKS!!!!

Gracias!

My last shift at work. Everyone meets at the local bar for drinks and a send off. Many people wish us luck, some surprise us with heartfelt confessions, and still others just buy us a round.

I will miss the friends I have made, and the casual acquaintances who became so much more.

I'll Ruin The Ending For You

I just finished reading Songs From The Drowned Lands by Eileen Kernaghan. It is a fantasy novel about a race of doomed people whose island home is destined to be swallowed by the sea. Apparently, though fictional, the author borrowed from some celtic myths, and stories of the destrution of Atlantis.

The book is written in five parts, and each part follows a different member of a prominent family of the Grey Isles; how they accept their doom, flee before the oncoming destruction, or choose to battle the chaos. It was a fun read.

Here's the kicker. It's a little jarring when you read a book, grow to care about the characters and their plight, hope against hope for a miracle and then - nothing. No pay off. No triumphant moment. It was all for naught. The book ends with a wall of water bearing down on the isle as a group of sorcerers and the like try to combine their wills to halt the inevitable. They fail. That's it. There is a little bit about the bloodline continuing due to those few who had fled and would prosper in distant lands. The last paragraph of the book is the sea swallowing the land.

Your Mothers Must Be So Proud.

I overheard two teenage girls- I would guess around 15 or so - on the train yesterday. Among the many inane comments, and idiotic babble that the two were exchanging at an obnoxious volume was this particular gem.

"Oh My God! Piercing Your Belly Button Doesn't Hurt. Just Go Home And Drink Some Gin or Whiskey. You'll Be Fine!"

"I'll Have A Jack Daniels And Coke. That's So Good! Oh, And I Love Long Island Iced Teas."

"I Love Long Island Iced Teas, Too. But I Can Only Drink Like Two Of Them!"

"Yeah, Me Too."

"Yeah."

I just shook my head and once again wished to only have male offspring. Then an hour later I see this teenage kid wearing his huge, enormous, baggy, baggy jeans sdrawkcab... Backwards! WTF? Are you kidding me? That wasn't even cool back in the early 90's when Kriss Kross sported that stupid look in their music videos. His pants were on backwards!

Kids!

Standing At The Foot Of A Mountain...

...Of Laundry!

Geez, when did I get this many clothes?

I've only worn this shirt once...

Who's socks are these?

Have I ever worn pink?

This shirt must of been from when I wasn't fat... 8th grade.

I don't think I'll have enough quarters...

It'll take me 2 months to do all of this laundry... I have to move in 3 weeks...

I haven't even started cleaning the kitchen yet.

So much to do... I need a drink.

"Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don't recognize them."
- Ann Landers

Maryland Bound!

Holy Crap! I'm going to be a teacher! A teacher! Me!

It's official. This morning the Prince George's County, Md School Sytem and the James E Duckworth School offered me a position as a provisional teacher. I will be working with a class of 4 to 5 Autistic Children, middle school age. I am going to start the first week in November.

Short notice!
Big Change!
Great Opportunity!
So many things to take care of...

Am I Hired?

Would you leave?

Seriously, think about it.

If a job opportunity arose, an opportunity for which you were uniquely suited but underqualified, and you were being considered for the position, would you consider it?

If years of crappy jobs, financial duress, and dead ends had left you feeling helpless, and lost, would you take a step towards something better?

If you had to leave your home of 8 years, and some of your friends for a chance to get on track again and make a difference, could you?

I have the love and support of my family, and my girlfriend - I am not doing anything here in Chicago that I couldn't do if I moved - I would be able to go back to school - I would get to accomplish something that matters - I could be a good uncle - and I could walk away from waiting tables and never look back, hopefully - I might even feel like an adult... eventually.

I would love to work with Children with Autism, again. If they give me the job I will do my best to rise to the occasion. I hope I am given the chance.

Cab 1301

One of the things I will miss most when we leave this city, this urban never neverland that we inhabit, are the cabbies. They can make your whole night.

Tonight we had a great night. Watched some Bears football, spent some time with a married couple whom we really just love, and spent a night laughing at each other. On the way home we flag down a taxi and when we open the door Bon Jovi's Living On A Prayer is blasting on the radio. As if this wasn't good enough the cabbie starts to play the harmonica along with the song. He didn't make a spectacle out of it or anything, just calmly lifted a harmonica to his lips and started jamming. Next came a reall bad cover of Locomotion and so continues the harmonica...

It might seem like a small, little, simple thing but we were giggling in the back seat like a couple of 8 year olds. That silly guy...