Super Tuesday

Alright, it is a week late but I needed something catchy for a title.

I started my day by torturing a...I mean testing a student.  My goal had been to test two students today but I only got the one and I still have to finish this one up.  So now I'm hoping to finish the one I started on Thursday and begin the second one.

After my testing session, I received a call from a guidance counselor that one of my students had said something unusual in a very brief conversation just before the counselor went into a meeting.  The counselor was calling to see if I would like to meet with the student because they were going to be in an I&RS meeting for the rest of the day.  So it was important enough to call me, who is not in the building that day, but not important enough to postpone attending this meeting to explore further with the student themselves.

Maybe I'm being a little critical but if the student had been a general education student would the counselor have taken the time to meet with the student?  There is a feeling in education, at least in the districts that I have worked in, that special education students don't belong to the general education.  That they are ours.

Just as their is this perception, people in special education both rail against this and promote it, depending upon convenience.  Or so it seems to me.  I know I have been guilty of this.

I did end up going over to see the student and it turned out to be nothing.  A five minute conversation would have resulted in this conclusion.  A few simple questions.  Although I may have known what questions to ask while the guidance counselor may not.

I returned to the office later on after lunch.  I did some paperwork and looked up some information on students that I'm testing.  I also arrange my first field trip of the year to an out of district school to test a student.  I get to travel on Friday which will be fun.

I ended up accomplishing a few things today so I feel pretty good.