It’s Thursday?

Have you ever went through the day and didn’t know what day of the week it really was? That was 100% me today. At one point I thought it was Friday and then the next I thought it was flipping Wednesday. This led to me showing up late to my own meeting and being late to nearly everything!

To start our day we attend adaptive PE. This last year was like pulling teeth. Most of my students were transitioning from middle school to the HS. One student struggled even participating in the classroom let alone trying to leave. Another was so angry that she was in HS and not with her old teacher and her friend, the boy of her dreams, at the MS. However, since starting this year we have a setting where we are almost 1 staff/student helper to 1 student on most days. This is really helping the students participation in class. Gym class is a hodge podge of sensory nightmares if you really think about it. This giant room filled with sounds that echo, lights that don’t dim, and chaos all the time. Today was the first time in gym where I saw true joy on all of my students. Our college student observer came up with the parachute and brought soft mini dodge balls, he called them popcorn kernels. Holy man did we pop that corn. We lifted the parachute and ran under it. We laughed and joked. It was truly a victory. A small victory but one none the less.

Fast forward to 6th hour science. A lot of the students are divided between two general education science classes. Science seems to really not jive again with my students for some reason. Well we enrolled all the sophomores in an environmental science class. I must say, that was one of the best choices! Today, B, a girl who really struggled last year, participated in a lab the entire class!! She laughed with staff, she tried to fish using a straw and gold fish, not once did she draw or color! Again a huge win! Woah 2 wins in 1 day, that hardly ever happens!

What I’m really going for here is life in education is hard and some days you don’t know really what day of the week it is. There are some days where you literally walk out crying wondering how you possibly will ever get a win. Then you will wake up the next morning and start the day fresh and hope with every ounce that you will get that win. Never give up on the kid you thought couldn’t get a win. Today just proved we can get that win when we least expect it.