schools

Today I started working at my 5th school in 2 months.

Don't worry though. It's not because I'm a HORRIBLE speech-language pathologist or because the schools are terrifying. Since I'm only working until our baby comes in November, the district assigned me to cover another SLP's maternity leave at 3 schools. She came back this week and I started at 2 of my 3 new schools today.

At first I was stressed out about long commutes to the other side of DC and managing multiple caseloads, but I'm actually very glad that things worked out this way. I have loved being exposed to so many different schools and meeting more kids. I wish I had blogged earlier about all the funny things that have happened this year, but I didn't, so I will just try to remember some of the good stuff.

At one school I was separated from the nearby special education classroom with a wall that didn't go all the way to the ceiling. Every morning I got to listen to this little gem of a song which uses children's love of ice cream as a way to review the days of the week and the months of the year. It's got to be one of the worst videos ever made and I don't know how I feel about the phrase "Honey baby I love you," but the kids LOVE it and it's working because they can all name the days and months.  Th teacher knows exactly how to reach them and is fantastic working with them. One other thing cute and awesome thing about that class is that they helped create their classroom rules. My favorites were: 1. No hitting. 2. No crying like a baby.



At another school I had the cutest 1st grader who couldn't get over the fact that it was taking so long for me to have my baby. This was our conversation every week: "Did your baby tome (come) out yet?" "No, not yet." "When he donna (gonna) tome out?" "Around Thanksgiving time." "Is that the one with to'tumes (costumes)?" "No, that's Halloween. The baby won't come until after Halloween" Anyway it always turned into a discussion of how she wants to be Bat Girl for Halloween. When I asked her what I should be she said the only other possibly cool costume: Batman.

One advantage to moving around so much is seeing the actual school buildings. Guess what the newest building is named? Barack Obama Elementary School! If you think it's a little early to be naming a school after him I looked it up and there are already 6 other schools in the US bearing his name. Regardless of what you think of him as a politician or a president, becoming the first African American president is a huge accomplishment/honor/whatever you want to call it. 

One last thought about schools. Has anyone seen "Waiting for Superman"? What did you think? I love public schools and feel like my education was excellent, but I realize there are problems. My biggest complaint is how hard it is to get rid of the really incompetent and crazy teachers out there. For example: "In Illinois, where one in 57 doctors loses his medical license and one in 97 lawyers loses his law license, only one in 2,500 teachers loses his credentials, because of union rules." On the other hand, I applaud and look up to the majority of teachers who spend countless hours for little pay just because they love kids and want to make a difference.

p.s. I don't know what happened to the baby poll. It started over counting again or something... working on it. Thanks for voting!