Running Out Of Steam

Today marks the last day of my second-to-last week at Sky Elementary. Although I definitely love the children, I have to admit I am running out of steam. Its getting hard for me to drag myself out of bed each day, force myself to take a shower, put on my usual corduroys and sweater, pack a lunch, eat a healthy breakfast, part ways tearfully with my dogs and cats, and drive myself to "work." 
I guess part of it is because, as an "intern" and not a student teacher, everything I do is really mostly the duties of a teacher's aide. I don't have any real responsibilities, like lesson plans or assessments or special activities, to think about. I just show up. do calendar time the way I have been told to do by the teacher, and then do whatever center activity I've been given to do. Always cut-and-paste. The kids cut-and-paste, cut-and-paste, cut-and-paste! Cut-and-paste pictures of vegetables onto a picture of a plate. Cut-and-paste farm animals and zoo animals into the correct categories. Cut-and-paste paper hearts into the correct order by size. Cut-and-paste the parts of a bird onto a piece of blue paper. Cut-and-paste the letters of their names. I'm surprised they haven't developed carpal tunnel from all that cutting! 
Not to speak poorly of the teacher. I like her a lot, she's been very nice to me, and she is kind and loving with the children. But she's been a preschool teacher for 30 years. Probably 30 years ago preschool was all about cut-and-paste... but now there are so many more ways to teach children, so many more ways we could be enriching their lives! 
Plus there is the fact that I still haven't found out my placement for my ten-week assignment. Which starts in one week. Where will I go?
And then there is the fact that I was just informed in "seminar" that, with an LBS1 certificate (which is what I will have when I graduate this spring) all I will be able to be is a resource teacher. An LBS1 certificate apparently doesn't make you highly qualified enough to have your own special education teacher. The professor cheerfully said, "So you'll be a support person! You'll help with homework!"
Help with homework? I don't want to help with homework? I want to teach! 
The professor in my seminar says there is a test you can take in order to be considered highly qualified enough to have your own classroom. But its a hard test. And besides, she can't remember what the test is. UGH! 
This information might not even be true. I have been looking at job openings in my state, and the qualifications just ask for an LBS1 certificate. So... you never know. I guess I'll just hope for the best, right? But the prospects of just helping kids with homework is enough to make me want to curl up in a ball on the couch and refuse to leave the house again. 
Oh well. Lets think about more cheerful things. 
Ani has been getting more talkative every day, has been playing with other kids (especially Pewee), and has even been seen smiling! 
Robin comes up to me every day and tells me, in this sleepy, slow-motion way he has of talking, "I like you, Miss Angel! I like you so much!" 
Quail, a precocious three-year-old who probably doesn't really need to be in the "at-risk" program, swears that at night he and his sister wake up and turn into werewolves!
Rhea allegedly kissed Wren twice on the bus the other day, and has asked her to marry him. Rhea was lectured about keeping his lips to himself , but Wren didn't seem bothered at all. She cheerfully announced that she was going to tell her mother that Rhea kissed her. "I think Mommy will be happy, because she kisses her boyfriends all the time!" Wren declared.
After I read a story to the children about police officers and what they do, Teal raised her hand to contribute, "If you drink alcohol the police will come take you away!" 
And when we were learning about the five senses and I asked the kids what they use their noses for, Pewee replied, "Sneezing!" 
They are wonderful, sweet, funny kids. A lot of them are underappreciated by their parents. The school projects we send home go in the trash. The library books we send home go unread. They are exposed to alarming situations. Yet they show up at school, just happy to play with blocks and color with crayons like ordinary preschoolers. I wish I could do more for them! 
But, one week from now, I will be gone. 

Miss Read Takes The Test!

Hi everyone! Those of you who are special ed teachers probably had to take three tests, before you managed to get certified. You had to take the Basic Skills test before you even started a teacher education program. Then, before you could student teach, you had to take the LBS1 test. Finally, somewhere during student teaching, you had to take the Special Education Curriculum Test. 
I was scheduled to take the LBS1 test on November 12. I had no idea what would be on it, but I did know that, if I didn't pass, I wouldn't be allowed to student teach in January. So I went on Amazon and looked for a study guide. I found one called the Special Education Learning Behavior Specialist 1 Teacher Certification Exam Guide. I bought it. I studied my brains out! I took the practice test in back, made flash cards for all of the questions I didn't get right, studied the flash cards, did the practice test again, and repeated this process until I was getting them all right all the time! Even so, I thought, I might just be memorizing the answers in the study guide, and this might not help me in the real exam! I was so nervous.
And then yesterday, I went to take the exam. 
And...
absolutely nothing I studied for was on that exam! Nothing! 
There were no questions about semantics, pragmatics, syntax and morphology. Nothing about the special education referral process. Nothing about ratios of reinforcement schedules, locus of control, or methods of teaching reading. NOTHING!
Instead, it was all sort of hypothetical situations. 
Just to give you an example (this is not a real question that was on the test, but just something I'm making up that would fit in nicely on the test if they ever ask me to help write a new version)...


Amy is a fourth grader with a learning disability. At a Parent-Teacher Conference, Amy's parents tell you that they'd like to work with Amy on her reading skills and they are wondering if you have any tips. What do you tell them? Choose the best answer. 
A. Say, "I went through school to learn how to teach children like Amy. I'll handle the teaching, and you can handle the parenting, thank you!"
B. Give Amy's parents a list of words and ask them to drill her on them each day before dinner.
C. Recommend that Amy's parents take her to the library to choose books that are on her reading level and interesting to her, and then read together at home, with the parents reading one page and Amy reading the next; and talk about the story together. 
D. Tell Amy's parents that, because of assistive technology, there is no real reason for Amy to worry about working on her reading skills. Computers can read aloud to her anything she needs read! 


Which would you choose? 
Basically, I wasted a lot of time studying for a test that was really more common sense than anything else. I mean, there really isn't a way you could have studied for that test, because they were all hypothetical questions and scenarios! 
For anyone about to take this test, here is my advice: Relax, and trust your instincts! 
Now, maybe all that stuff I studied for will show up on the Special Education Curriculum Test? I guess I'll have to wait and find out!