End of the Week, Almost

Thursday, October 22nd
I get in and start the day by trying to do a classroom observation on a 3rd grader. At least in my district, elementary school seems much less organized and less formal the middle and high school. The elementary schools don't put student schedules on the district's student information system. I have to wait until almost 9 o'clock to find out if the student is even in. Then when I go to the school, I find out the student just went into gym class. Why I couldn't be told this while I was still at the office and said, "I'm coming over shortly to do a classroom observation", I don't know. So, I leave and go to the middle school to reserve the conference room for another evaluation. After that, I go back to the elementary school and go up to the student's classroom to wait for the students to return from gym. When the students and the teacher return, I learn that the teacher is a substitute today. I still do the observation and feel old as I try to remember if I acted like these kids when I was their age.

After the observation, I leave a Conners CBRS form in the real teacher's mailbox and, while I had planned to test the student, it is just 11 and the class will be going to lunch from 11:30 to 12:20. I would only have an hour with him before I have to attend a meeting, so it will have to wait until next week.

I return to the office and begin to feel a headache come on. Little do I know that this headache will grow and haunt me for the rest of the day, until I take two Advil PM and drift off into sleep.

But that's beside the point. I type up my observation and the observation that I did last week on another student. That, combined with lunch, takes me to the time of my meeting. The meeting is a pre-planning meeting regarding a student at our alternative program. The student was on my caseload last year but I'm still involved because I know the case quite well. The student has already lost credit for the year due to absences. We discuss options for what to do with the student. We also learn the district is pursuing legal action against the parents due to truancy. This meeting takes us up to the end of the day.

I limp home, hoping that my head will explode and put me out of my misery.