Richmond

I bought some cheap seats to Richmond the MLK weekend. I'm going to visit my dear friend Lucille. It's always a little scary when one of your best friends is in their 80's. I haven't been able to see her in a couple years, and she's sounding a bit more frail, so I thought I'd best make a time to go see her soon.

She's already planning our itinerary. It'll be a weekend of blue haired ladies and who knows what kind of adventures, but I'll be glad to connect with Lucille again.

On another front, I've been pulled from World Geography. It appears that I'll likely be supporting students in three separate classes. One is a Literature class, one a US History and one is likely to be Citizenship and Economics. All the classes will be in the main building so at least I won't be zooming back and forth. Spring is the busy, busy time for Speds teachers, so a lot of this semester I'll be writing IEPs and doing casemanagement anyway. My boss told me not to get all wound up about doing a lot of the teaching, but to just help out the content teacher, and help the students that are mine and just manage as best as I can without breaking too much of a sweat, because with three preparations they know, I'd either have a stroke trying to do a good job or work myself into being sick. If they're happy with mediocrity, I'm fine with that too.

I've talked to a couple special ed people about my potential for attempting another certification so I could potentially teach regular education. Someone I really respect suggested that I'd be a lot happier and have less pressure on me if I did that. So, I'm kind of pondering the idea of auditing a Chemistry class this summer in the hope that if I learn the Chemistry I'll be able to pass the Science test for teacher certification. It's a lot of energy to put into a shot in the dark, BUT if we ever relocate anytime in the future, I stand a good chance of getting a job easier as a regular ed Science teacher. I'm ready for less pressure and teaching something I like, and teaching students that aren't always .... difficult. So, I'm not sure about all this, but I think I'm going to give it a go.

Sigh, I really don't want to do more school or take more tests, but I like the idea of more certifications and being more attractive to those seeking teachers.

The really nice part of the new classes that I'll be collaborating in this semester is that every one of them is with students that are at least in the 10th grade or higher, and I'm really kind of tired of the dramatics that the 9th graders seem to enjoy. So, maybe something is working out for me in ways that I hadn't anticipated. Who knows?