Staff Party

On Wednesday, one of the other teachers arranged a picnic for the school. 

When the picnic was announced, I discussed with all the aides. We determined that while a couple of the students would enjoy the day (Jennifer, Jonas, Yohana), the rest would be difficult to get out to the park. It would be too much trouble for insufficient reward. 

So, we decided to split up the class for the day. 

One of the aides could take the students who could go to the park. The rest of us would remain behind with the students who couldn't go. And I had to remain behind because we needed a certificated person with the students who remained behind. 

The school has a small kitchen. We use it for cooking lessons for the students. But lately the staff will use it to make lunch. And on that Wednesday, the aides decided to take advantage of the empty kitchen. 

We had salmon. We had dessert. We had just a few students who kind of had free time in the way of students who don't get to go on the "field trip" have. 

We kind of had a party for ourselves. 

It was a nice, peaceful afternoon. 

Then the rest of the students got back. They seemed to have had a fun time. Jonas returned with a Styrofoam airplane. They had played games, eaten hot dogs, and had a good time hanging out with the rest of the school. 

I was glad they got to go. 

Last Day

Right when we got back from winter break, Eddy let me know that he would be leaving our program at the end of January. He had gotten into an art program which is in line with what he wants to do. 

As the month wore away, we contemplated how we were going to send Eddy off. By consensus, we staff members decided that we had to throw Eddy a party. We debated whether to make it a surprise or not. Then something told me that a surprise might not be a good idea. 

Eddy had been missing several days for meetings and such. And we were unclear on when his actual last day would be. I could just see us planning a party for a day and Eddy not being in school. 

So, I told Eddy that we would have a party. And he told us what he wanted. A movie and pizza. (Oh, Pizza was in heaven over this idea.) And so, that's what we made happen. 

(And it was so good that I looped everyone in, as when I went to clear things with the principal, she informed me that I had Eddy's last day wrong. So, we were able to adjust.) 

Aide 1 had time to make Eddy a photo album of his time in class. (She takes pictures and prints them to put on the wall. She took the week and made him quite the keepsake.) 

The class next door wanted to join in. Upon discussing if we wanted to do cupcakes as well, I realized that I could just ask Eddy. Turns out, he wanted chocolate chip cookies. Those went over very well. 

It was a lovely little send off. It was so nice to be able to do that for him.

And, it turned out to be my last day as well. They never did hire someone to replace the retired teacher. Instead, the school is going to condense down the classes, distributing the students into two other classes on campus. Which means my services are no longer needed. (I only found out on Wednesday.) 

So, this concludes my adventures at the adult transition center. Back to day-to-day subbing.

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.) 

Tie Breaker

As I was perusing the calendar for December, I noticed that the last day before our winter break is a minimum day. And while there is a chance that the district could hire a teacher before the break, it's unlikely, so I've been planning things through December for the class. 

I decided that we should have a party.

On the day I mentioned this to the class, the party day was two and a half weeks out. But they're adults (young adults ages 18-21). The program is a transition program, readying the developmentally disabled for the "real world" by teaching them skills to enable them to be more independent. 

I figure having them help in the planning for said party is curricular. I mean, I could write a lesson plan justifying my choices if needed. So, I wanted to give them plenty of time to come up with things and help in the getting it all set up. 

I suggested that we should do a gift exchange. For a holiday party, the two I know of are White Elephant and Secret Santa. I left it up to them to choose which one they wanted to do. 

I explained what they were. Sydney was familiar with White Elephant, so she explained it to the group. They were kind of familiar with Secret Santa already. Then I put it to a vote. 

There are nine students in the class. We got five for Secret Santa; then we got five for White Elephant. Logan voted twice. 

We explained to Logan that he could only vote once. I took the vote again. Four for each. Logan abstained. 

I was not going to break the tie. It had to be up to them. I encouraged the class to argue their sides to Logan, but no one took me up on it. 

After a second round of explanations, Logan finally decided.

We're going to do a White Elephant exchange. It should be interesting.

Impromptu Party

Friday. It was a cold, dreary day at the middle school. 4th period I had "leadership", i.e. the student government.

Leadership (or ASB at the high school) is a weird sort of class. On sub days, they generally don't have anything to do. So, I sit back and watch. Normally, I abhor "free days", but in this case, these kiddos tend to be responsible (hence, them being in student government), and my presence is mostly "ceremonial".

Earlier in the day, I had gotten this text from the teacher (I had texted him on another matter for a different period first):

Pizza is being delivered for [student] during 4th. It's a surprise. 

So, when the classroom phone rang and the office told me that they needed a student to come to the office, I knew who and I knew why. So, I sent her.

She returned with a wagon full of In-n-Out. Apparently, it wasn't as much of a surprise as I had been led to believe. She explained to the class that it was her birthday and her father had treated the whole class. (He told her he was bringing pizza, but this got swapped out at the last minute.)

The class was thrilled. So thrilled, in fact, that someone said they should make a video expressing thanks and send it to the girl's father. (They did.) They sang "Happy Birthday" to her. And they enjoyed their treat.

After, several students complained that they were stuffed. (Most had started eating their lunch in class before she returned with the wagon.)

Sometimes I get to be there for the party. It's rare.