As stated in a previous blog, a colleague of mine is retiring at the end of this school year. When I found this out in August, I realized that I needed to consider a shift in my special education career. I have taught in a self-contained classroom K-2 for the past sixteen years. It's had its ups and downs, but 99% of my time has been enjoyable as hell. Still, I couldn't help thinking that I'm at that point where I need to start planning on how I'm going to spend the golden years of my career.

My colleague who is retiring will leave a resource position wide open in June. I knew early on that if I wanted to slide right in there I needed to express interest early on which I did. It's a good thing I did too, because many people have inquired about the position in this latter half of the school year.

When 2nd semester started, I went through the pros and cons of leaving the classroom where I have had many successes, built a reputation of excellence...

I'm not pessimistic enough to believe that no one will ever read this post. I'm continually amazed that there is any readership at all of Pro Teacher blogs given the current state of affairs. Still, I find myself feeling a little let down that PT would let the main Blogs page stay down this long. What's up with that?

If no one at PT is concerned about blog promotion, what else is going by the wayside? I have to admit, I'm getting the same kind of feeling that a student might have upon learning that there's a sub in the classroom. What could I possibly get away with right now?

I'm thinking when I'm done with my posting this morning that I might:

1. Throw in a Vent thread of nothing but F BOMBS.

2. Post an advertisement in the Teachers' Lounge.

3. Cyber-bully a whiny PT user.

4. Start referring to PT as a "home schooling site".

5. Post a picture of my inguinal hernia scar....

The topic this time: [B]Tule Fog

[/B]Soupy.

Today's topic: [B]Uncanny Valley[/B]

Not a place, but a concept.

I realized today that when I post, I tend to ramble. I sometimes ask for advice when I do this, but most of the time, I'm just venting, trying to get out all of the thoughts and emotions going through me at the time, and trying to make sense of it all. It occurred to me that perhaps I should start a blog here instead of boring others and expecting a reply in the Teacher's Lounge. So here it is--my first blog entry. I know that the blog feature here on PT is a bit messed up, so I don't expect anyone to read this right now. I'm mainly experimenting to see if this actually works. Perhaps the next time my mind is swimming with thoughts, I will post again with deeper, more thought provoking musings. But for now, thank you for reading what is essentially the equivalent of "testing one, two."

Well, this is my last post concerning open inguinal hernia surgery. I hope what I've written over the past month will give those looking at having to have this surgery and understanding of what to expect.

I'm now at week four post op. This week was kind of a turning point. One of the things that I can't stress enough is for people to TAKE IT SLOW. I've come to realize that doctors are somewhat like car salesmen and work-from-home scammers. They give you this best case scenario, deal of the century, easy money vibe when in reality you'll be driving a clunker and find yourself having to budget your energy.

After I went back to school, I found that I had a certain limit to walking around. There were days when I'd come home and have to lie down in bed with an ice pack because I was hurting so much. So, the moral of the story is to keep your schedule light, and refrain from going into the office ten times a day.

The turning point...

Today I had students organize their research reports by writing an outline, setting up t-chart notes, and making folders. I felt it went well. Students wrote potential thesis statements and set up their notes.

Our fabulous librarian provided a book talk of nonfiction books. I love having her do that because she always has a different take on it than I do. Quite an interesting mix of books were presented. Many kids picked off the shelf.

My morning group, the more academic of the two classes, picked a wide variety of topics. The PM seemed to pick animal books. In the past I excluded animal books because I know that is about the only type of report kids have done in the past. I cringed when I discovered that three of my top kids picked an animal book. Oh well, maybe they will be good role models for taking it to a higher level.

Today we wrote down the topic on a plain, white piece of paper and set the book beside it. Students then moved around and wrote questions for each topic. Anything that came to mind was fair game. It was a great icebreaker for the reports and made the kids think.

Today we are making folders, thinking of potential thesis...

[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]“[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]His temperature has dropped.”[/SIZE][/FONT][SIZE=3]
[/SIZE] [FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]“[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Has he taken any water?”[/SIZE][/FONT][SIZE=3]
[/SIZE] [FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]“[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Yes, fortunately. He’s been drinking at regular intervals.”[/SIZE][/FONT][SIZE=3]
[/SIZE] [FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]“[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]He’s not vomiting anymore?”[/SIZE][/FONT][SIZE=3]
[/SIZE] [FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]“[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]No. He hasn’t vomited all day.”[/SIZE][/FONT][SIZE=3]
[/SIZE] [FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]“[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Can we move him yet? We’ve got to get back.”[/SIZE][/FONT][SIZE=3]
[/SIZE] [FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]“[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]No. He’s far too weak. His situation...

After all the work on Intros, notetaking, sentence variety, elaboration and conclusions, students will be creating their own research reports. This week they check out a nonfiction book to read.

I love my lessons for this. Most students are very proud of their final creation. I've booked the computer lab for almost a week, so students can do additional research and type their reports.

I'm a bit concerned about helping each student craft and workable thesis statement and topic sentences for each section. Thirty in a class is too many to work with them individually! Yikes. It seems like this is the largest range of abilities that I have had for years.