My Little Dudes And Dudettes

I thought I'd take some time today to tell you about my students. It is always interesting to read and write about the activities and lessons we do in the classroom, but really, it is the students who actually make the magic happen. Obviously I am changing the names and I won't reveal any identifying details, but at least you can get the jist of who I spend my days with as of late.

My class is a Life Skills class for first through fifth graders.

Robin is a fifth grade girl who loves to draw and is very kind to the younger kids. She is a sweet girl even though she is always trying to be in charge of everyone... including the teachers! For instance when I was trying to teach her group some math, and I used a dry erase marker to make number bonds on the table, she interjected, in a perfect Mom voice, "Is that really necessary?"

Brant is a fifth grade boy who really likes building things. I love watching him build stuff out of Lincoln Logs. He spends a lot of time helping his dad build stuff around the house. He's the kind of old-fashioned kid who would rather spend his weekends riding his bike around the neighborhood, building something in the yard, and playing Hide And Seek with other kids, than sitting inside playing video games. He is also one of the more friendly and easy-going kids in the class, although lately I think adolescence is starting to get its icy grip on him, because he's been a lot grouchier lately.

Tern is a fourth grade boy who sometimes drives me crazy. He is very easily irritated and spends most of his time screaming at the top of his lungs because someone has somehow annoyed him by looking at him, talking too loudly, sitting too close to him, humming, etc. He's also one of the most friendly kids with adults. He always wants hugs and always wants to tell you about the interesting things going on in his life. He likes to ask tons of questions about us teachers, and he remembers the answers. He also has the makes and models of everyone's car memorized. He's always telling me that he saw my car in some parking lot or another.

Martin is a third grader who has a very low IQ and a very high level of social skills. He loves sports but would rather watch them than play them. His mom took him to see the Harlem Globetrotters once, and he got angry because "They're not being serious about the game! They're just screwing around!" It may take him the rest of his life to learn how to read, but he absorbs a lot just from experiences. He's very interested in the world.  He is another kid who has no interest in video games and would rather be out doing fun things in real life.

Noddy is a third grade boy who cannot, for the life of him, stop moving. On any given morning he is very likely to come somersaulting or cartwheeling into the room. He is the reason I bought a trampoline, a tunnel, and scooters for my class. He's very artistic and will spend hours painting, drawing, or making something out of construction paper. At the beginning of the school year his mom told me that last year she had to pick him up from school a bunch of times for having out-of-control behavior, but this year he's become a model student, often the first one to follow directions in the classroom. He's a neat little dude!

Teal is a second grade girl who, at the beginning of the school year, had a major attitude, did not know any letter sounds, and could not count. She spent most of her time screaming and jumping on the tables, which left very little time for learning. She still has a major attitude, but we've managed to tame it a little bit... and she can now read CVC words, can add one-digit numbers with almost 100% accuracy, and is learning to tell time. She's the kind of kid that makes you get tears in your eyes because you realize what you are doing is actually working for at least one kid!

Towhee is an adorable second grader who loves trains and hates to do anything anyone asks him to do. He spends about half of his time drawing trains, talking about trains, or playing with trains, and the other half of his time having conniption fits because he doesn't want to do any work. I somehow have a soft spot for him though, which is pretty lucky since none of the paras will work with him anymore. The majority of my time these days is spent trying to figure out ways to manage his behavior and get him to somehow learn something while he's at school. Every classroom has at least one kid like this, right?

Wren is our youngest member of the class. She's a first grader who is 7 going on 17. She's always trying to boss Towhee around and look after him. The two of them are like an old married couple. with her looking over his shoulder and saying, "No, you're doing that wrong! Let me do that for you!" We have to remind her to let him do his own work. The two of them are always either hugging and playing nicely, or biting each other's heads off.

That is my whole gang this year! They are very cool kids. Sometimes they drive me crazy... but every day, when I take them to the bus, they all hug me and yell goodbye to me as if it is the last time they'll ever see me. And every morning, when they arrive, they greet me so happily. They love to be at school, they try their hardest, and they make me happy to be a special ed teacher. There are many things that suck about special ed and about the entire school system in America, but these kids make it all worth while for me!