The Summer Before a Crazy New Life Begins!

I haven't really used this blog since beginning it last year when I was first hired. I'm hoping to keep it updated this year. So far I've been pretty good at updating our family blog.

For those of you who don't know, last year I worked as a fourth grade co-teacher in a full inclusion classroom. It was amazing and I worked with an amazing team. I learned a lot and went through many many many ups and downs. Within my first few weeks I conducted a re-eval and completed the referral process for a student. Crazy huh? I definitely dived in head first pretty quickly. It was a learning experience that I'm very glad I had.

This upcoming year will be quite different. I will be the 6th grade inclusion teacher rotating between two classrooms. I will have an educational assistant of course. I haven't really met with the EA extensively because of the crazy summer I have had what with being pregnant and barely able to move some days. haha I have been busy planning though. I have a better grip on the paperwork and processes and things needed, so I've been busy organizing.

The year will definitely begin kind of weird. I won't be returning to school until September because I will be on maternity leave. I feel a bit as if I'm walking blindly into the year, but I have high hopes and I know the Lord has placed me in this position for a reason.

Well, I will be updating soon with some of the binders I've been working on. I'm currently trying to figure out the best way to organize a reading and math data binder based on my students' IEP goals and objectives. So stay tuned and hopefully we can swap some advice and war stories!!

The Start of it All

So to begin, a little background:

My husband was stationed here in Hawaii back in August. (I know, I know. Amazing first assignment, right?) So we packed up and moved all the way from North Carolina/Virginia. So far we are adjusting really well and absolutely love the weather and of course, the proximity to the beautiful ocean. I do, however, really miss autumn. HAHA

So after being in Hawaii for almost two months, I finally start to get calls for interviews; and boy did those start rolling in all at once. I think I had about 10 in all. My heart is in special education but I was also interviewing for elementary general ed. positions. Well, long story short I interviewed for a fourth grade, co-teaching, special education position and was offered the job the very same day!!! I felt like I really meshed with the school and so I started my first day 2 weeks ago.

Talk about nervous! I was so terrified, and I am not afraid to admit it. It's one thing to teach while you're still working on your degree, but to finally be out in the real world is a completely different thing! I had the normal first year teacher jitters, but with the addition of the fears of co-teaching. Would I be treated as an equal teacher? Would my thoughts even be heard? Would they think I am incompetent because I am a new teacher? All of these thoughts were rushing through my head... But...

I am an extremely blessed person, because God placed me in the most amazing classroom with students that will capture your heart and with the most amazing teacher and EA! I was instantly welcomed and really fit right in, and I already feel like I have accomplished so much in only 2 weeks. I am so excited to work with such a great team to really meet the needs of our students. It really amazes me how blessed I really am.

So on to the class. We teach a very diverse group of learners, and a very large group of kids. Differentiation is something that is utilized daily in our classroom and with great effectiveness I might add! (So stay tuned for later posts on some of those strategies.)  We have students at basically all levels and work hard to meet all of their various needs.

It's been a crazy start though. In the past week I have gone through 2 re-evals and IEPs and have 2 more coming up in the next week! I'm hoping that after these I will have time to really organize and put forth effective strategies to keep up with all of the various paperwork, and differentiation strategies that I need and use on a daily basis. Right now I'm just trying to stay as organized as possible!

Well, that's it for now because it's time for this teacher to get into bed. If you're a special educator reading this (if I'm lucky to have readers haha) feel free to leave comments and suggestions. Us new teachers have to start somewhere, right?


Mahalo for reading!