It's Been Awhile!

I write this in between delays of Game 5 in the World Series featuring my beloved Phillies. If they win... a championship for the Philly for the first time in my natural life. Oh, is Hamels's changeup nasty. 2-1, maybe we will get that win tonight! (Oh no... Upton is on base. The one man that can completely change the momentum towards the Rays solely with his baserunning).

As for me, lots have gone on at work. In the past two weeks I have had two 504 meetings, three 3-year reevaluation IEP meetings, two annual IEP meetings, and a change of placement. Tomorrow I have a manifestation and then another change of placement on Wednesday. YIKES. Since last tuesday and going until Wednesday I will have a streak of 7 meetings in 7 school days. I think that is an Ex Ed record.

For you out there that don't know what these meetings are... I'll breifly tell you. A 504 is a form that outlines the physical or behavioral illness a student has that does not require educational services but may require some classroom accomadations. For example, a student with diabetes may be allowed to leave class to use the bathroom at any time throughout the day, or they may need to leave class twice a day to check their blood sugar. Stuff like that. (Shoot, Upton scored on a single after stealing second... UGH)

A three year IEP is a meeting that goes over the results of testing given to a student on an IEP. Every three years a student is evaluated to see what areas they may need services in, or if they are dismissed completely from services. Out of the three, I had one that tested off and no longer recieves services! (Oh boo... here come the tarps and the rain delay). The three year is also an annual just with an evaluation of the test results and a psychologist's report.

An annual IEP meeting is a meeting where we (we as in Ex Ed teacher, Gen Ed teahers, parents, student, adminstrator, and sometimes others) discuss the progress over the last year and also set new goals in the areas of concern. Most of my students are SLD (specific learning disability) and the areas of concern are mostly in Basic Reading Skill, Reading Comprehension, and Math Calculation.

So, for the past couple weeks that has taken up my time. There were a few days where I would get to the school first (6:20am) stay til about 6:30pm, come home for dinner and an episode of West Wing, then back to school from 8-10:30pm. Then do it again. Long days, but I had to get the work done.

But all work and no play makes Bobby... crabby. So this weekend I was lucky enough to catch the PSU win over OSU and also watch the Phils win a couple World Series games. And there was a chili cookoff at Dave Swank and Austin Pryor's ranch house in Lakeview. (Lakeview is a ranching "community" about 15 miles southwest of Mission). So fun times. Last weekend was a mentor conference in Rapid City which was good to see some civilization.

So yeah, all is still going pretty well (though I am coming down with a cold. yuck.)

More to come soon. Hope to update more often.