Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
St. Patty's Day 2009
Our lil' apt all decked out...can you tell we like this holiday?
This is the shirt Currie earned for running in the 5 mi St Patty's Day Run downtown. He beat his personal best by 2 minutes, running w/ about 7,000 others!
Little Win Curry...just turned a year old last week. (Good thing Currie mopped the kitchen!)
Wickers, Tamara, & Browns...getting ready to play telephone pictionary. Everyone brought a treat to share. We had Irish soda bread (2 types), stuffed baby potatoes, green punch, green apples, and green guacamole.
This is the shirt Currie earned for running in the 5 mi St Patty's Day Run downtown. He beat his personal best by 2 minutes, running w/ about 7,000 others!
Little Win Curry...just turned a year old last week. (Good thing Currie mopped the kitchen!)
Wickers, Tamara, & Browns...getting ready to play telephone pictionary. Everyone brought a treat to share. We had Irish soda bread (2 types), stuffed baby potatoes, green punch, green apples, and green guacamole.
Friday, February 20, 2009
All in a Day's Work... of Teaching
I am a 7th grade special ed teacher in a public school. This makes up a huge part of who I am, what I think about, how I view education, disabilities, teenagers, parents, math, writing, etc. Oddly enough, today I realized that I don’t think I’ve ever made a blog post about my teaching. Most of the blogs I read are of my friends from college or seminary and since most are my age(ish), most of them are moms that are posting pics of their kids, their thoughts on parenting, etc. Since we don’t have kids yet, I guess I don’t normally think I have anything post-worthy unless we’ve been on a trip, had a special occasion, or have pics to post.
As I think through my day today, though, I realize that it is post-worthy. I need this outlet for reflection and for my own reference. I also desperately need input from other Christians who are special education teachers! So here is the first post of what will hopefully be many others related to my teaching.
Today I:
-helped students cut out “nets” of graph paper to cover plastic boxes as they learned about surface area & volume – the curriculum we use has the kids use manipulatives and hands-on activities to learn the concepts behind things rather than just giving them formulas. I was SHOCKED by one student in particular who I never knew had such poor fine motor skills. I had to help him trace and cut each design. I wonder why this student has such difficulty in this area? I wonder how I can help him overcome this? A 7th grader’s cut-outs should not look like a 2nd graders!
-had my summative evaluation w/ my supervisor and she gave me “proficient” in all categories of my job w/ 4 “superiors”!! (No “needing improvements”!)…This after praying for some affirmation in my job at community group on Wed. Praise the Lord!
-encouraged students in their writing as they responded to the prompt “What is the biggest problem teens face today?” I was amazed at their insights and honesty as they wrote about bullying (including cyber bulling), stress at school, peer pressure, and drugs/smoking. I helped students w/ disabilities in written expression get set up on the laptops to type their essays, prompted students w/ severe ADHD to take drink breaks then come back and re-focus, encouraged a student who has autism who was having a “meltdown” to go talk to the guidance counselor, and told several kids that I was proud of their “voice” in their writing (“It really sounds like you talking!!”).
-I encouraged a student who was having a bad day that he can make changes to his behavior. He feels like the other kids always tell on him and that I automatically believe them over him. I told him he needs to prove to me that it’s not him, but that when 5 kids that I trust are all telling me that it is him making faces, throwing things at them, etc. that I have no choice but to believe them. I reminded him that he is a good kid and that I really like him, and that other students will like him too, but that he needs to stop the behaviors that are annoying the other students! I told him that that’s hard to hear but it’s just part of growing up and maturing, and that I knew he could make positive changes.
-I talked several students through their mistakes on their math test over linear equations. I really enjoy this individual time w/ students and the opportunity to help them succeed in the general education curriculum. I like that I can advocate on my students’ behalf to the general education teachers that they are legally entitled (due to their IEPs – Individual Education Plans) to make corrections on their tests and that it’s an opportunity for re-teaching and finding where their patterns of errors lie.
As I think through my day today, though, I realize that it is post-worthy. I need this outlet for reflection and for my own reference. I also desperately need input from other Christians who are special education teachers! So here is the first post of what will hopefully be many others related to my teaching.
Today I:
-helped students cut out “nets” of graph paper to cover plastic boxes as they learned about surface area & volume – the curriculum we use has the kids use manipulatives and hands-on activities to learn the concepts behind things rather than just giving them formulas. I was SHOCKED by one student in particular who I never knew had such poor fine motor skills. I had to help him trace and cut each design. I wonder why this student has such difficulty in this area? I wonder how I can help him overcome this? A 7th grader’s cut-outs should not look like a 2nd graders!
-had my summative evaluation w/ my supervisor and she gave me “proficient” in all categories of my job w/ 4 “superiors”!! (No “needing improvements”!)…This after praying for some affirmation in my job at community group on Wed. Praise the Lord!
-encouraged students in their writing as they responded to the prompt “What is the biggest problem teens face today?” I was amazed at their insights and honesty as they wrote about bullying (including cyber bulling), stress at school, peer pressure, and drugs/smoking. I helped students w/ disabilities in written expression get set up on the laptops to type their essays, prompted students w/ severe ADHD to take drink breaks then come back and re-focus, encouraged a student who has autism who was having a “meltdown” to go talk to the guidance counselor, and told several kids that I was proud of their “voice” in their writing (“It really sounds like you talking!!”).
-I encouraged a student who was having a bad day that he can make changes to his behavior. He feels like the other kids always tell on him and that I automatically believe them over him. I told him he needs to prove to me that it’s not him, but that when 5 kids that I trust are all telling me that it is him making faces, throwing things at them, etc. that I have no choice but to believe them. I reminded him that he is a good kid and that I really like him, and that other students will like him too, but that he needs to stop the behaviors that are annoying the other students! I told him that that’s hard to hear but it’s just part of growing up and maturing, and that I knew he could make positive changes.
-I talked several students through their mistakes on their math test over linear equations. I really enjoy this individual time w/ students and the opportunity to help them succeed in the general education curriculum. I like that I can advocate on my students’ behalf to the general education teachers that they are legally entitled (due to their IEPs – Individual Education Plans) to make corrections on their tests and that it’s an opportunity for re-teaching and finding where their patterns of errors lie.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
Hard at work
This is the little tool bench that Uncle Currie built Eli for his 2nd b-day (which was yesterday). The tools we gave him for Christmas...
Thursday, January 08, 2009
www.itoldthepresident.org: traffic improvment suggestions
So, I just found a place where you can make comments to the incoming congress and president about improvements to the traffic system: www.itoldthepresident.org
Being the opinionated person that I am, I had several things I've been thinking about and thought I'd post them here to see what others' thoughts were...
I have several suggestions to improve transportation:
I. Driver Competency: We need to revamp our drivers licensing programs to look more like those in the UK and Germany. This would have several components:
Being the opinionated person that I am, I had several things I've been thinking about and thought I'd post them here to see what others' thoughts were...
I have several suggestions to improve transportation:
I. Driver Competency: We need to revamp our drivers licensing programs to look more like those in the UK and Germany. This would have several components:
- Testing: If tests are made more comprehensive and difficult, and training is optional though available at the applicant's expense we allow the licensing process to remain inexpensive, while demanding that drivers meet a necessary competency level before entering the streets.
- Driving System: The US tends to function under the assumption that "slow is safe." We tend to primarily penalize drivers who are traveling fast, while ignoring the far more dangerous infractions of drivers who are traveling slowly. This includes drivers traveling slowly in the passing lane, weaving into other lanes due to lack of attention, etc. By assuming that slow drivers are safe drivers we encourage people to get in their cars and "tune out" making them exceedingly dangerous on the road. A fast-moving driver is generally paying more attention to his/her driving as they realize that they are engaged in a potentially dangerous activity. A slow-moving driver mistakenly thinks that their speed makes the activity of driving safe and pays less attention. Further a "fast lane/slow lane" approach to interstate driving verses a "passing lane/traveling lane" approach makes the road system far less efficient than under the European system. Finally, highways with higher speeds produce more empty (and thus, more safe) highways: if the average speed limit on a highway is increased by roughly 10% (say 55 to 60 MPH), and the average speed of traffic on that highway increases by 10%, that traffic will move through the highway system more quickly, producing a 10% lower traffic density (and thus, a safer highway).
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
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