In my frustrated state of mind, I have decided to reach for a sport analogy in attempts to describe it.

Being part of an IEP team is a little like being part of a track team I think. After all, track is full of individuals competing, but their overall performance adds up to a team total, for the win or loss. This applies to an IEP team, made of up of different specialists with different talents (aka, the different individual track athletes) but if everyone does their best, the total equals up to a win for the student (and by connection the team)!

BUT if even ONE single team member blows off their event (aka, responsibility), their practices (i.e. treatment times) and ultimately the big meet (aka, the IEP meeting) we’re all left taking the loss and accepting the punishment!!!

So I have one specialist on my team who doesn’t seem to understand the concept of compliance, and fulfilling treatment minutes, and thinks, apparently, that IEP meetings are OPTIONAL??!! And this person blew off a big one this week, walking us right into the parents lawyering up! WHY??!! I am doing my best by this student as is every other specialist on the team, but ONE. So, to get back to my analogy, we’re now all running punishment laps while this one specialist is who knows where, probably sipping hot coffee and enjoying a sit down lunch!!!

Now, a lesser person would throw this person under the train….I am just waiting for that temptation to subside.

So I have spent my weekend fretting and worrying over the upcoming meeting, knowing that it is NOT my fault, and knowing exactly who to blame, but that doesn’t make me feel better. We are all under a microscope now and suffering the punishment.

Thank goodness for good wine and a supportive family!!

….and other thoughts!

So I did not realize exactly how long it had been since I posted a new blog until yesterday. I knew that time was passing and that I was neglecting this creative outlet in my life, but didn’t realize it had been that long.

I have been working in special education for more than 20 years but this is the by far the most difficult year yet. I feel like I am stuck on a hamster wheel. Everyday is SOOOOO like the other, and not in a good way. I have never had such a physically aggressive class, and for the first time ever, I have suspended students for their combative behaviors !!! It is NOT a good feeling!! BUT I AM NOT A PUNCHING BAG!!

And I don’t want my blog to be all about whining, complaining and horror stories about needing body armor. The funny, positive, or WTF moments have been so few this year! So instead of blogging and sharing my trials and tribulations as a special ed teacher, I have been running in my hamster wheel doing the same things every day….but it needs to stop!! I need to get back to embracing the things I love, and one of those things is blogging about my WTF moments with parents, para’s, specialists, fellow teachers and my students alike.

So I am back, and my (mostly) daily blogs may not be funny or very insightful every time but they are serving a therapeutic purpose because it’s not just a hashtag, the struggle to be a special ed teacher is REAL and daily.

Today was not a wine day….it was most definitely a whiskey day. Some days are not washed away by the sweet taste of fermented grapes and desperately need something stronger…because we all know that whiskey is made from teachers tears!!

Yes, I am finally ending my radio silence….more on that in a later post.

Today I am inspired to once again share my successes and hardships after surviving yet another rainy-recess day!! This must be the 44th day with inside recess since winter break, but I am seriously not counting.

During my daily prep, the approximate 16 minutes I get every afternoon, a time also referred to as “recess”, I had enough of chasing my students out my classroom door and RIGHT INTO the GIANT PUDDLE outside my classroom. I get it! They’re tired of being cooped up in the classroom and it is SO TEMPTING!! “YAY puddle jumping!” But seriously…..more times than I can count already this week (and it is only Tuesday) I have chased 1, 2, or all 3 of my frequent-flyers out the door of my classroom. Today I am wet, tired, also bored of inside recesses, and have a TON of work to get done!

SO, how did I solve the problem? I pulled a student desk in front of my door and sat down with my computer. No one could get by me and I had a perfect view of everyone. Now, how would I explain this to the fire marshal or admin if they had happened to come by? No idea. Luckily I didn’t have too.

Now I am home, dry, almost warm and sitting in front of my laptop finishing IEPs with, yep, a huge glass of wine!! Cheers 🙂