Circumstances

One of the things that has always had a big presence in my teaching career is the weight I carry for my students. For me, I take my students' successes and failures very personal. I feel responsible for them when they are not doing well, b/c it is my job to help them make progress. Having that responsibility at times (if not most of the time) is very stressful. I am responsible for their education and whether or not they do well in school. There are a lot of other factors (and people) involved as well, but I feel like my role is even more important. I am shaping their lives, and my lack of effort (or being able to help them), could have a detrimental effect on their lives, setting them up for even more struggles in their lives/education.
You can't control your circumstances-- you just have to make the best of them-- and try your best to adapt to them. Teacher's teach the student's, but it is the parents that know their children best-- Within United States Public Ed Special Education there is a 25ish page document of parental rights. It is something that is required to give to every parent, every time that you meet with them. Parent's have the right to not have their child in special education. It may make the classroom teacher's job more difficult, but those are the circumstances. Teacher's have student's in their classrooms that come from broken homes, neglect, abuse, but it is still their job to teach them, amid the circumstances that they come from. It has been the same here in that there are still circumstances, though they may be different, I have to work around-- and I just have to try to do my best to help my students.

This is week 6 of school- and 4 weeks into my schedule-- I think I have yet to teach a week without a different schedule-- b/c I am constantly tweaking my schedule-- to try and fit more more times with my student's -- and work around the replacement classes I am teaching. We are able to pull student's from 1 Bible class, 1 Spanish Class, 1 Morning Meeting, and 1 day of Sci/S.S. I have 3 replacement classes I'm teaching-- which means I am their Reading/Math teacher (and taking grades)-- and the student's are coming with me during their Reading or Math class time. There are a few classes that have the times I can pull students, when I'm teaching the Replacement classes--so then it get's harder to find a time to see them. I also have a bit of a scheduling crunch in the afternoon, b/c both 2nd and 3rd grade have reading from 12:30-1:30, so providing in-class support is more complicated. In the past I've had para/aides go into classes 5 days a week, whereas here they are going in 2-3 days a week-- and can make a difference with helping students with independent work.

Last year, my Friday schedule was a lot more laid back-- though it was pretty hectic in the morning-- This year I have a back-to-back schedule all day-- with Reading Tests in the morning- and then 2 grade levels with Reading tests, plus my replacement class all at the same time. It definitely give me practice in balance and flexibility!

I haven't had my Spanish classes quite as often during the week, mostly due to scheduling-- (but it's still been a few days a week). Sometimes my teacher hasn't been free when I was able to do the class, or if I've waited too long to sign up for the class, and she doesn't have any open times. Last night we conversed in Spanish-- There are still a lot of words that I struggle with-- and I do need to take the time to sit down and study some of the more common words. I have note cards taped on my wall with words/phrases that we've worked on so far. But I am able to understand more-- and she said I have made improvement, which is encouraging.

There's the possibility of a hurricane coming here in the next several days-- I've been told that hurricanes usually don't affect us here in Santiago-- just a lot of rain-- but since we don't get snow days here-- it would be kind of nice to have a Hurricane Day! The map shows that it will probably go south of the DR, but we can only hope... 

School Has Started...

I'd like to say that this being my 2nd year here, that it's easier-- or that I know what the expectations will be... Well, not exactly....

Ideally, the first week of school is when I would meet with parent's to sign Student Support Teacher (SST) contracts that weren't signed last year, and then start to do baseline assessments with students-- I check students' fluency, phonics, and comprehension level to see where they are at the beginning of the year. The majority of the student's I haven't had before, so it's also helpful for me to see where they are at, to know where to start with their lessons I'll be doing with them. After that, ideally, I would start putting together their resources that I will be doing with them, during the year. I have 3 students that I'm going to be doing an alternate Reading class with them, so I start going through my resources to find a fluency, phonics, and comprehension plan to follow. I'm also trying to find Math resources for students that I will be doing pull-out Math, as well as an alternate Math class. Along with that, I'm trying to create my daily/weekly schedule-- and then figure out push-in services for the students-- with most likely being my aide. Now, it all seems very simple-- in theory-- and on paper... But does it actually go that way? 

Then this happens...

             

I get side-tracked-- and something happens to where I need to go talk to someone, or something needs to be done-- and my goal of what I wanted to get done, gets puts off to the side. 

And then there's scheduling... Scheduling is always something that tends to be stressful-- and for me, just makes my brain hurt-- trying to figure out the times of Reading and Math for all the classroom teachers, and then making sure all the students are covered during those times. You also have it where teachers have their Reading and Math at the exact same time, so you have to be in two (or four) places at once. There's usually 'Take 27' versions of the schedule, b/c something always happens or gets left out. And then somehow, it always seems to come together... 

Special Education in the States has a lot of rules and regulations-- you have the IEP that you have to follow and there are specific things that you can and can't do. But then you get to the day-to-day things, and there gets to be a gray area of "Can I do this/Is this allowable?" Most likely those rules and regulations were created because something was abused, and services weren't being given properly. (Not entirely, but usually rules are created because something has happened to have a rule put in place.)  The Dominican Republic doesn't have standard Special Education rules and regulations. There is no Individual Education Plan for students. What we do is based solely on what Santiago Christian School has created. I have discovered that though not having that 15-page document and the strict guidelines is somewhat nice and more flexible, having those rules and guidelines does make it easier of knowing what to do. There is more gray area here, and without those guidelines, there are a lot more questions. 

Today I'm starting my official schedule with doing my pull-outs and replacement reading and math classes. So now I am more confined to my classroom, and don't have the flexibility to just go see someone when I want to. I'm on more of a schedule/routine! :-) Which means I should get more done now! LOL 

Another example of the language barrier... (and why I need to be practicing my Spanish...)

I can use Uber here for transportation, and is a half as much as a taxi. I have to download an app for my phone, and then put my bank card number. When you want a ride, you request the card, put your location in and where you're going (via Google maps), and then they come and get you, and you don't have to give them any cash. It's deducted from my bank account. When I went to try to use it, it said that my card was invalid. After emailing Uber, they said it's something on my end, where my card isn't able to be used online (It's only my card that has the problem, b/c other teacher's have used their same card and had no problem). It seems like a very simple thing to do-- I need to go to my bank and ask them about the card-- but it gets to be more complex when I need to bring someone with that speaks Spanish to help me with it, b/c I'm not able to speak the language. I have found there are many examples of things like that-- things that seem so simple (or would be simple in the States), are more complex here. Not everything, but just more than I would normally have in the States.