Out to Lunch

As I mentioned yesterday, Monday and Wednesday I was back at the adult transition center. It's been a while since I got to be there, so it was nice to see the school again. The students, however, are ones I met at the high schools now. The ones who were there when I was there for practically a school year have since aged out. 

On Monday we were supposed to go on Community Based Instruction, or CBI. Basically this means we leave school to go out to lunch. But, with the last minute call out of the teacher and with several of the students having not brought money, it had to be cancelled. Which was a disappointment as we were supposed to go out to celebrate the birthdays of two of the instructional assistants. (Yes, both of their birthdays were March 9th.) 

But Ms. J left us stuff to do, so we did that. 

Then I went back on Wednesday. And Ms. J told me they were going to go out to Chili's. So, I headed to the school, expecting us to go out for the day. 

But, of course, things did not go smoothly. 

First, a couple students hadn't brought money (even though this was their usual CBI day). Then, they thought about changing our destination, but we couldn't do that without principal approval (and she wasn't on campus at that moment). 

Eventually, it all got straightened out, and we headed out. To the bus stop. It wasn't a long distance, but we had a student in a wheelchair, and the bus was easier. Then we had a half hour to wait until the Chili's opened. We took over one whole section. 

I sat with two students. Josie had brought a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She had money, but she didn't want to spend it on lunch. 

After we ate, we headed across the (busy) street to the Dollar Tree. There, Josie spent her money. On nail polish and lip balm. As one of the instructional assistants said she would. 

I mean, that's impressive. I would have wanted lunch. But no, Josie knew she'd rather have something else, so she made sure to bring other food from school so she wouldn't be tempted. 

Then to the bus and back to school. 

It's good practice for the students. And it was fun to get out again during the school day. It's been a while since I got to go out for CBI. 

Left Behind

So, um, yeah. Summer school... 

I was not expecting to work, but when a gig popped up in the app, I jumped on it. The adult transition center. That's the school I spent pretty much the 2021-22 school year at. So, while I did not recognize the name of the teacher, I still knew the drill. 

(The reason I spent that school year at the adult transition center was due to retirements, so of course they have new teachers now. And I had a whole week off with no work whatsoever when this popped up.)

Right at the start of the day the instructional assistants (IAs) informed me it was CBI day. That is, it was the day the students left campus to shop in the community (read: buy lunch at a restaurant). But, they were supposed to go grocery shopping as well. 

After a bunch of back and forth, they determined that one of the other teachers had the school credit card (they were buying food for the class with the school's money), and she would be around to do that. And, every single class was going out on CBI this day. 

But, a couple of my students couldn't go. Domingo doesn't go out. And June had forgotten her permission slip, so she couldn't attend. That meant that a teacher had to stay behind at the school to supervise. 

Well, it's not like I was really in the mood to go galivanting around town, anyway. 

(I've been on a bunch of CBIs. While I was a little disappointed not to go, I was also a little relieved.)

What does one do with one student left behind? Movie day. (June wasn't talking, so Domingo's one-to-one and I decided on the older Lilo & Stitch.) 

It was a quiet day with all the students gone. And it was a short day, only four hours. But I got a day of subbing this summer, which is more than I did last summer. 

(Will I sub more this summer? We'll see. If something pops up, and I don't have anything else planned, I will take it.)

A Polite Mob

It had been a while since I caught a day at the adult transition center (February 2023, in case you wondered). And my year at the ATC ended in June 2022. 

(For those of you relatively new here, in November 2021, while we were back in school but under Covid restrictions, I caught a long-term assignment for a class whose teacher suddenly retired--because she refused to get vaccinated--at a school for 18-22-year-olds who are very special ed. Here's a link to my "atc" tag where I've collected all the posts from my experiences there.) 

Since it's been a while, I saw many new faces as many of the students I'd been with had finished or "culminated". Or were in other classes. I had one of the instructional aides from Ms. S's class. And Pizza. (Leanne was also in the class, but she was absent this day. Her mother had passed away the previous week.) 

It turned out to be CBI day. That stands for community based instruction, but what it means is we go off campus so the students can practice doing things in the community. Specifically, ordering lunch and paying for it. 

There were eight students and four staff (including me). 

We headed out to the mall. We caught the city bus. We walked the mall (it was busier than normal because December, but it wasn't crazy busy). We had lunch in the food court. (Unsurprisingly, Pizza went to Sbarro for pizza.) They all got to choose what they wanted from the various vendors. 

As we headed out to catch the bus to get back to the school, we stopped in Macy's to kill some time. (We headed out a little early to get Starbucks, but those lines were shorter than expected.) We headed upstairs on the escalator as Pizza needed a restroom. 

As we took over the escalator, Ms. D commented that we were a mob. I replied, "Yes, but we're a polite mob". Because they were. Very polite. Letting others go first. Waiting in line. Doing what one should in public.

I mean, that's the point of these trips, after all. 

It's good to get back there from time to time. Of course, this was the easier class. And it was good to get off campus.

(It was really good for me as I needed to pick up a Christmas gift, and we went right by the place I had planned to hit after work that day. Suddenly, I didn't need to make an extra trip on my way home. Hooray!)

Disappointing Via Email

One thing I don't think I've properly conveyed in my posts is how very child like these young adults in the program I'm covering are. They look adult-sized, but in some ways they are still very much kids.

Because of everything, we were informed that our community based instruction (CBI) has to pause for the moment. Which, while I'm disappointed, I can't really object to. One of the things we do is go into restaurants and eat. And I'm not feeling all that safe doing that at the moment.

Pizza was out all week. (Well, not Tuesday, but see yesterday's post for more about that.) On Thursday he sent me an email: 

Hi Elizabeth to let you know I didn't felt good today, I have to see you tomorrow for cbi, but i still plan on going to taco bell for cbi lunch.

Pizza had gotten his Covid booster the previous day. We had planned to go to Taco Bell on CBI on Tuesday before *waves hands* everything (see yesterday's post). Normally, we would have planned where we were going on Friday after lunch on Thursday. And while Pizza wasn't going to be there to advocate for his choice, he wanted to make sure his voice was heard. 

(Pizza likes to tell us staff members where we should go. We tell him he has to discuss with his classmates. He usually gets his way anyway.)

When I replied, I had to inform him that there would be no CBI on Friday: 

CBIs have been canceled for the foreseeable future. Hope to see you tomorrow, but plan on eating at school.

But remember, child like. Pizza's reply: 

 Oh, I hope that we will go on cbi next week.

(When I read this, I can totally hear his voice. It gives it that extra oomph that I can't really convey in text.) 

So, I attempted to explain again: 

It's not likely. It'll probably be a couple weeks before we go out on CBI again.

Of course, I'm being optimistic. We might not be allowed out before my tenure in the class is over. Such is pandemic life.  

Pizza did not return to school on Friday. Whether it was because he still wasn't feeling well or because we weren't going out for lunch, I don't know. By the time you read this, I'll probably have a better idea.

Cranky

"I am not cranky!" 

Flash snarled this at me as he informed me he did not want to have his picture taken next to the metal dinosaur we spied while out on one of our off campus jaunts. 

Flash is usually pretty mellow. But on this day he was adamant about not wanting to go into stores. He doesn't like to look at things. He likes to walk fast. 

I had not accused Flash of being cranky or grumpy or irritated. I hadn't said much to Flash at all. But he defended himself as if being cranky was the worst thing he could be.

I figure that Flash was probably due an off day. I told him he was totally allowed to be cranky, just so long as he didn't take it out on anyone else.

He didn't. 

He stayed outside while we went into a couple shops. (We have to go somewhere on our outings. It does not take three hours to eat lunch, and we have at least three hours to kill.) He ate lunch. And he stayed away from the rest of the class.

I wonder what upset him. It could have been our outing. Or something else. I'll wait to ask him though. There's no reason to poke the cranky bear.

Unsuccessful Ditch

Last Tuesday was our first day back after the winter break. And Tuesday is one of our off-campus days. The class decided we'd go to the mall (as that's where the Burger King is), and we got ready to head out. 

Before we leave campus, we have to sign out. While one of the students does this, the rest of us wait around by the gate. 

On this day, we were heading out while the alternative education center was on their morning break. 

The adult transition center and alternative education center are separated by a locked gate, but they share a main office. So, while we were waiting, we were on the same campus as the alternative students. That is, the students who were expelled from the other schools in the district, usually for behavior. 

This is not unusual. Pizza will talk to them sometimes.

On this day, however, Yorik was hovering around the gate. 

And I just knew... 

All signed out, we headed out. One of the aides unlocked the gate, and our students walked off campus.

Surprisingly, Yorik was nowhere near us. I thought perhaps I was borrowing trouble.

I was the last one out. I locked the gate behind me. 

Yorik came up to the gate. He waved for attention. I gave him mine. He asked for the attention of one of the aides. She turned around.

"I need to go for a walk," he told her.

She explained that we were going to the mall. He was fine with that. He wanted to go along.

Nope. He just wanted someone to let him out. And the aide wasn't even tempted to unlock the gate for him.

I was expecting him to be way sneakier than he was. I thought he was going to be in the group as we left. While there are only nine students in my class, he would be far more likely to be successful if he had tried that.

But I'm not about to volunteer that information.

Kiddos are not smart. Such deviousness really does not occur to them most of the time. So, as the adult in the situation, I just have to not let slip all of the ways I know they could exploit the situation. 

Can't Go Out

This week's posts are from the week before the break. You may have heard about the TikTok threats on December 17th. While we're not a high school (the students all aged out of high school), we are connected to a sort of high school, and better safe and all. Precautions were taken.

Why would anyone make threats on the last day before winter break? I mean, seriously. It's a good excuse to take the day off, but many students already were. Attendance on this particular Friday is traditionally very low. Very few teachers had anything curricular planned. 

Once I knew I was going to be in the class on the minimum day before winter break, I decided we'd have a party. It wasn't like we could really do work. I mean, we could, but why? 

Because Covid, we couldn't do a potluck with food, so we decided to go out to breakfast (like we usually go out to lunch), and then we'd come back and do a White Elephant gift exchange. On Thursday we decided where we wanted to go, and I emailed the administrator to tell her where we'd be. She replied.

Then I arrived on campus on Friday and was told, "No one can leave campus". Oh no! 

District decided that the best way to keep the students safe from the threat was to keep them on campus. 

The students were not pleased. This was the second time I had to cancel an outing on them. And as we were planning to have breakfast, we were already hungry.

But then a neighboring teacher had a brilliant idea. Someone could pick up food. (Food rules are weird. We can't bring in homemade stuff, but we can bring in bought food.) 

I have discovered that certain fast food establishments have online ordering. You can order your meal, pay online, and then just go and pick it up. So, that's what we did. Each student made their choices, and I input it into the computer. 

As all the students had brought money anticipating eating out, they were all able to chip in their share. (How much does it cost for breakfast for nine students, two aides, and me? About $104.) An aide went to the drive thru and brought it back. 

Of course, the time I was planning on having us out and about was not needed, so we had more time for our party. Yay?

(The day was just weird all around. But we got through it.) 

The Chooser

I call him Pizza because he likes to say "pizza" randomly throughout the day. He wears a mask with pizzas on it. He is very much a fan. But when it comes time to select where we're going to eat on our eating out days, Pizza usually chooses something else. 

Going off campus and purchasing food is curricular. These students have developmental disabilities, and this is one way we train them to be independent. We take the city bus. They have to bring enough money to pay for what they want. And we go over how much they spent after we return. 

And as a group, they choose where they're going to go. Pizza usually gets his way. (We've been trying to get the other students to speak up when Pizza pushes them to go where he wants, but they generally go along. If you've ever tried to figure out where to eat with a group, you know how often no one has an opinion. Pizza always has an opinion.) 

This time, Pizza wanted Burger King. And the rest of the class agreed. 

It was Tuesday. (This was the week before winter break. I saved these stories for when we're back in school.) Rain had been forecast, and sure enough, it was raining. 

I really, really, really didn't want to go out in it. We were taking the bus. The bus stops aren't sheltered. It was windy and cold. 

I told the class we wouldn't go out. They were not happy about it. See, they usually go out in whatever weather it happens to be. And I get it, they should be able to navigate the weather. That's what independence is about. 

So, I gave in. We went out in it.

Luckily, it wasn't too bad while we were outside. We barely got rained on. 

We got to the mall. We ate at Burger King. 

Pizza, however, did not. Pizza did not come to school that day. The weather. It sounded like his mother did not want him going out in the rain. 

Upon his return, Pizza informed me that he really wanted to go to Burger King. 

He'll just have to convince the rest of the class to go along with him. Again. 

As he usually gets his way, I don't think it'll be a hard sell. Although, they just went, and the class doesn't like to repeat right away. We'll see.

Santa Gnome

On last Friday's outing we stayed closer to campus. (That is, instead of taking the bus somewhere, we walked to places within a couple miles of the school.) The students decided they wanted to go to a fast food restaurant that was close by for lunch. 

But, lunch does not take three hours, which is the amount of time we have allocated for our outings on the days we go out. We had to find other things to do. 

There's a thrift store in the path we were taking, so we stopped there. There was an outlet-type of store (in a not-nice part of town). 

In both of those places, Sydney was looking for supplies. 

Sydney is a crafter. Her current project is a gnome-looking Santa for Christmas. 

(She gifted me with one.) 

She uses a frame that she repurposes from some Dollar Tree decorations. The beard is a repurposed mop head. The Santa hat is stuffed and stuck on top. And the nose... 

The nose was the issue.

Syd was out of noses. Her mother had gotten them for her, and she had no idea where her mother had gotten them. So, we went looking. 

Hey, it wasn't as if we had anything else to do. Not really. 

After lunch, Syd asked if we could go to Dollar Tree on the way back. It was only slightly out of the way, but we had time, so we went. 

Sadly, Dollar Tree didn't have what she was looking for. In defeat, Syd called her mom to find out where to find the noses. Turned out that they were at Hobby Lobby (wooden balls). As the Hobby Lobby was on the other side of town, it was something that Syd would have to do after school. 

Sydney has a list of people she's making these for. As I have made things on deadline, I understand her frustration at not having the supplies she needs. 

A Change in Plans

About 2/3rds of the students in the class I'm covering at the adult transition center are diagnosed with autism. So, I've been careful not to upset the routine too much. Things are weird enough as it is. 

But, last Tuesday, right before school, I was informed that we couldn't do our outing that day. 

(The reasons are kind of a long story involving a misunderstanding of new proof of vaccination rules in the county which turned out not to be in the county and a change in administration at the school.)

I was upset. 

It was not fun telling a room full of students who were ready to go out for the day that we weren't going out. But, in the end I was more put out about it than they were. 

There were no plans for the day. We were supposed to be out. But one of the aides suggested that we make it a day in, with us ordering pizza and watching a movie. 

So, that's what we did.

Oh, they were still disappointed. But I guess the day went okay. 

I don't like change either. And I really don't like having my whole day upended two minutes before the school day starts. Deep sigh. 

Out to Lunch

The Friday before Thanksgiving break, we went off campus for lunch. We do this every Friday (and Tuesday). I've already written about things we saw and how taking the bus can get me into trouble. Considering how easy going the class can be, the more interesting things that happen in the class are when we go off campus.

What we do is curricular. The students need to be able to go out and buy things. They should be able to ask for what they need (or want). They need to be understood by the general public. They need to be able to know how much money to use, and they should be able to track their spending. 

Buying food in a fast food restaurant satisfies all of those requirements.

One thing I've noticed is that the boys get a lot to eat. 

It's their money. The whole point is that they get to choose what they want. And I don't food shame. 

But... 

On this particular Friday, five of the students got into one group. Usually the nine students divide into three groups of three, but Sydney wasn't there (see yesterday's post), and the other three were going to their jobs first. The aide and I said if the five wanted to go together, we could certainly supervise the group together. 

We were going to the In-N-Out that's within walking distance of the school, so no bus required. 

But, Pizza wanted to go to McDonald's. 

The McDonald's was about the same distance from the school, just on the opposite side of the street. And we had two staff along, so the aide and I conferred. I'd take Pizza to McDonald's while she took the other four to In-N-Out. (The "other four" were Leanna (who hasn't appeared by "name" on the blog before), Eddy, Flash, and Brittany.) 

I was not shocked that Pizza ordered a 10-piece chicken nuggets or a large fries. I would have ordered the same. What surprised me was when he got the meal which came with a drink he ordered a large soda, and then he added on a large chocolate shake. 

A soda and a shake? Uh... 

I love chocolate shakes. I like to have some water to go with them. But a soda? I mean... 

I asked Pizza the question. Did he want both? He confirmed that he did. And he finished both. 

Ah, to be young and be able to burn off those calories easily. 

I need to be less judgy when we go out to eat. I didn't realize I was, but clearly I am. 

Missed the Bus

We have two CBI (community based instruction) days a week. 

The day before, the students form groups and decide where they want to go. Then, based on that, the aides and I assign ourselves to chaperone a group. I again got placed with the group going the farthest away from school (to a shopping center that's like three miles from my house). 

Before we leave, the students make a travel plan. Using Google Maps on their phones, they figure out which city bus we need to catch. Because of where the shopping center is located, we had to take two buses.

As I am a novice bus rider, I let Eddy figure out what buses we were to take. Kind of. (The initial route Eddy picked went way out of the way to get there. But that route had a bus leaving way earlier than the route we chose to take.) 

Plan in place, we got to the bus stop way early. But the bus arrived when Google Maps said it would, and we were on our way. 

The shopping center is on a busy street. It has parking in the middle with the stores all around the edges, so it's a hike to get from one end to the other. And hike is what we did as we started with WalMart and ended with Barnes & Noble, which are on opposite sides from one another. 

(This is the shopping center with the closest Michael's to me, so I go there quite often. If I were to visit those stores on my own, I would have driven the distance. I mean, it's walkable, but through a parking lot, and it is quite a distance.) 

By the time we got to the bookstore, it was close to the time we had to leave if we wanted to catch the bus, according to the time Eddy had figured out. We had a little time, though.

About the time we should have left, Eddy needed to use the restroom. By the time I located him, it was past time we should have headed out. We had to cross a busy street to get to our bus stop, not to mention the distance it was from the store to the street. 

By the time we got to the street, we spied the bus. There was no way we were going to get to the bus stop before it. 

And the next bus wasn't due for an hour. 

Oops.

Luckily, the group I was with didn't have to get back to campus for anything that day. 

As long as we made the next bus, we'd get back before the end of the school day. (And we had to get back before the end of the school day as some students take the school bus to get home.) We'd be late, but not too late.

It took a bit to convince the students that sitting at the bus stop was not necessary. If we kept better track of time, we could get back in time to make the next bus. (I had them time how long it took us to get to the PetSmart, and then we calculated when we had to leave based on that.) 

We made it with time to spare, and we made it back to the school. It was about forty minutes later than I would have liked, but it was twenty minutes before they would have sent out search parties. (I had my phone, so I could have called the school or the school could have called me.) 

I'm not sure if this was a good lesson for them or not. I'll definitely be more careful about bus times after this.

Flabbergasted

One of the goals of the adult transition center is to make the students more independent. They try to teach them things that they'll need to take care of themselves in the future. Like, they teach them how to go into stores and make purchases.

In practice that means that last Friday we went to the mall. 

The class of nine was broken up into three groups of three (a group each for me and the two instructional assistants). The students chose where they wanted to go. I got the group going to the farther mall. 

Why that mall? Sydney wanted to go to Steak Escape for lunch. 

I was warned by one of the IAs that the last time she took them there, the group didn't go into any stores. So, I was prepared to do a lot of walking and perhaps some of my own shopping. 

Surprisingly, as soon as we got into the mall, Eddy found a store he wanted to look in. And then another. And then another. 

Cool. We got there at nearly 11 AM, and we weren't due back to school until 2 PM. We had oodles of time. And neither Syd nor Flash had any desire to shop. 

(Flash is so nicknamed here because all he wanted to do was walk as fast as possible wherever he was going. I told him he could walk up and back outside the store while Eddy was inside.) 

And then Eddy found another store that he wanted to go in. And I just... 

It was Amazon Books.

Of course, I went in with him. I had to see this place. 

It's a bookstore. I gaped at it, looking at books and games and journals and Amazon devices. 

After we left, I vented to Syd. It was hard to express what I was feeling. I was feeling all sorts of feelings. Part of me thought it was cool. Part of me was amazed at the chutzpah of Amazon. Part of me felt like things had come full circle. 

There are other emotions. I haven't unpacked them all. 

Amazon Books. Am I the only one who's just *shakes head*?