So Close

My counter of blog posts tells me that this is my 3,500th post. A milestone of sorts...

The prior Thursday when I covered the ceramics class, Lou complained that I needed to cover his math class. He was not fond of his math teacher who he felt really needed to take a day off. 

I did not have anything scheduled for Monday. Sunday evening, I got an alert from the sub scheduling system. New gig. I pulled up the app and looked. And guess who was taking Monday off?

I laughed. And I took the gig. 

The math class was co-taught. The special ed co-teacher was present. Actually, she was Lou's case carrier. 

(Every special ed student has a case carrier. This teacher is the one who keeps track of the student and generally they're the one that knows them the best.) 

The ceramics class and the math class are within sight of each other. I just happened to step out when Lou stepped out of the ceramics class. He saw me. He waved. He asked where I was that day. And when he saw that I was covering the math class, he was quite happy. 

Then it was time for Lou's period. I got a different co-teacher. As the co-teachers swapped, one said to the other, "Did someone tell Lou he's no longer in this class?" 

Turns out that one of the reasons Lou really hated his math class was because it was too hard for him. He really needed to be in the special day class math that's fully special ed. 

(The goal is to mainstream the special ed students as much as possible, hence the co-taught classes. But there are also "slower" classes for special ed students who can't quite keep up with the general ed classes. The pacing is slower. There are more helps so the students can learn the material.)

So, Lou showed up, said hi, and then he was taken to his new class. He was a bit disappointed. 

Ah well. I'm sure I'll see him in a different class eventually. His English teacher should need to take a day off sooner or later.