Two Days in Elementary Special Ed

When my gig at the adult transition center suddenly ended, I called in for a subbing gig for the next week. Alas, all that was available was a special ed class for first through third grade. For two days. 

I figured I'd have an aide who knew the kids. I could handle it. 

How sadly mistaken I was. 

The class was without teacher. The aide had also left the district for a better paying gig elsewhere. The class had been in limbo for a while, and I was a stopgap measure until Wednesday, when presumably they were getting a longer term sub or something. I have no idea. 

It was so bad that I now have enough blog fodder for weeks to come. Or I can blow it all out in one Thursday 13. Let's go for the Thursday 13, shall we... 

ONE

I started off day one sending two students to the health office, one with a toothache, one with a stomachache. The toothache kiddo was sent home. The stomachache kiddo was given a snack. When the stomachache kiddo (Emmett) learned the toothache kiddo (Alberto) got to go home, he said he had a toothache. The note from the health office stated that Emmett felt it was unfair that Alberto got to go home and he wanted to go home because he missed his mother. 

TWO

I was informed that I had no aide by the sub aide (a "floater") who came to help me out. She usually is a one-to-one, but her student was absent on Monday. I so needed the help.

THREE

When the one-to-one went to lunch, it was math time for the class. And, of course, things were insane. I gave one group the harder work, and I worked with the group that was cutting and pasting numbers in the proper order. Aubrey was doing very well. I had convinced her that 5 goes between 4 and 6 and that 2 comes before 3 and 4. And then, somehow, a 3 ended up between 4 and 6, and I couldn't convince her to fix it, no matter what I tried. In the end, I just left it wrong, because she just wouldn't do it correctly. Even though we counted together, and she counted correctly. Sigh.

FOUR

Perry's tooth was loose. He had been trying to pull it out off and on all day. He got fixated on it. I asked him if he wanted to have it for the tooth fairy. When he said he did, I explained that perhaps it would be better to pull it out when he was at home, so the tooth didn't get lost. That seemed to stop him from playing with his tooth.

FIVE

I was warned that Nathan would start crying at the drop of a hat. To keep him on task, he had a chart where if he got three smiley faces, he'd earn his STEM box at the end of the day. Alas, he did not earn it on Monday as the rest of the class gleefully pointed out. So, someone else took "his" box. (The boxes are numbered. There are three with the same pieces as "Nathan's", but he wants that one box.) Nathan ran from the room and proceeded to scream and cry outside for that whole half hour, screaming and crying louder when he saw me watching. 

SIX

The aide I had to help on Monday did not return Tuesday. I was alone with all ten of them. (I got an hour here and a half hour there of "help" at various points throughout the day, but it wasn't consistent.)

SEVEN

Alberto returned to school, albeit late. The minute he arrived, he asked for his "bloo-ee". It was a while before I learned this was his Blue's Clues water bottle. It had gone missing. 

When I did not have the "bloo-ee" to give to him, he cried and screamed at the top of his lungs, demanding that he have his "bloo-ee". Which I did not have. Nor could I find. And so, Alberto was inconsolable, needing that particular water bottle (even though he had a water bottle with water in it). He demanded I give it to him. I explained that I could not make it appear out of thin air. He screamed some more.

EIGHT

Then it was PE time. Alberto spent the whole time not following directions. He took another kid's spot. He refused to play the game, wandering the field while the other kiddos ran around. (There was a PE teacher. I was just there as extra supervision.) 

NINE

We got back from PE, and someone from the office delivered Alberto's "bloo-ee". And suddenly he calmed down. 

TEN

Emmett again had various complaints that "required" a health office pass. And again, Emmett was sent back to class with a note stating that he had asked to go home. He was not going to get to go home. 

I did inform him on his second and third pass that he was not going to get to go home. But sometimes you just have to let them learn this on their own.

ELEVEN

The assignment had them cutting out pictures and pasting them in order. Nathan enjoyed the cutting part a bit too much. Instead of cutting out pictures, he cut the paper into confetti that ended up all over the ground around his desk. 

At various points, I attempted to get him to clean it up. He picked up a couple pieces, but then got distracted by something else. I warned him that he would not get his STEM box at the end of the day if he did not clean up the mess. (He was not earning smiley faces at all.) Still, nothing. 

TWELVE

I went to pick them up from lunch, and Perry was slowly making his way from the playground. That's when I saw his left foot. It was bent back and to the side at a very odd angle. 

Someone said someone pushed Perry on the playground. I just... And for some reason Perry wasn't screaming or crying or complaining of pain. I looked around for someone to help as he shouldn't have been walking on that thing. Eventually, another student helped him to the health office. 

Another adult came over to me questioning what was up with Perry. I mean, his foot? It wasn't obvious? But apparently he wasn't talking. 

He returned to class to gather his stuff as he was being sent home. Another student said he'll probably get a wheelchair. I said it was more likely he'd be in a cast. They did not know what a cast was.

THIRTEEN

For about the last hour, the school psychologist and a trainee came by to help. And they were a great help. I pointed out the mess around Nathan, and one of them stood over him and prompted him to get every piece of paper he had cut. 

I snuck the STEM box away so another student wouldn't claim it. Because they were eager to. And once Nathan had cleaned up his area, I gave him "his" box. It was so much nicer not having him screaming and crying.

CONCLUSION

And that was two of the longest subbing days I've ever had. (Okay, I'm exaggerating. But this was the hardest I've had it in a long time.) This is why I dread doing elementary. Hopefully, things won't be this bad continuing on.