More Pictures!

 I saw this on one of the blogs I read. Now sure which but I LOVE IT!

 

I am getting 4 computers!!!!!! So I have 2 tables waiting for them. Not sure when they are going to come along but still exciting.

I have 4 crates to put student binders.

 Each student has a binder specifically for their needs and their goals. 

There is a folder in each binder where students put their  unfinished work.


 

Each tab has worksheets tailored to their goals and other life skills they could work on independently or with some help during free time.

The binders are a work in progress. I will up date as I work on them.

 Here are some views of my classroom this year. I have tables instead of desk! I am super excited to see how this year goes.

Pictures!
Some things stayed the same...

my messy desk

  

my calendar                   

            

                               

my class rules (new rules but old set up)

 

my What's Happening This Week wall

Some things have gotten refined....

 I finished my DIY paper boxes.

My guide t o answering the phone . (I'm not sure who I got the idea from. I bought one example from teachers pay teachers and then made a new one based on the one I bought..) Refined by turn in bins  


 A lot more jobs for my students

Another school year!

Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't up dated in a while. Things have been crazy. Three of my students graduated from high school. Then I taught summer school for the MDD program. I had most of my usual students PLUS a incoming 9th grader AND 3 students who are profoundly deaf. The DHH teacher for summer school got sick the second day of summer school and ended up in the hospital. She is okay but that mean they had no place for the 6 students in the DHH program. I ended up with the 3 lower level students and another coworker received the 3 higher level students. The cool thing was I learned more sign language. In total I had 17 students and 7 aides in my class. It was completely crazy.

Now is the start of a new school year. Our MDD program has expanded. There are now 2 MDD teachers and 22 students with 7 instructional aides. The other teacher and I split the classes by ability. I teacher the lower levels and she teaches the higher levels.
My schedule is as followed:
Period 1: Math
Period 2: Reading
Period 3 Life Management
Period 4 Prep period
Period 5 Life Skills
Period 6 Writing

One of the crazy things is that the DHH teacher here only has 2 students for 1st period. Everyone thought it would be a good idea for them to interact with other students, so they put them in my class with the DHH teacher and a DHH instructional aide. Those 2 students were 2 of the 3 that I taught in summer school. LOL! Who would have guessed?

It has been 2 weeks since school has started. I will post as life happens.

On top of everything else that is happening, I have 3 weddings I am attending, 2 of them which I am the wedding coordinator for. I will post pictures hopefully tomorrow.

YEA! I'm back for another year!!!!

YEA! So I wasn't sure if I was going to keep my job next year due to the economy. However, I was just told that they are not planning on letting me go and in fact hirer a second MDD teacher here at my high school. They like the direction my program is going and are planning on expanding the program.

I am so excited. I will have someone to help me come up with new and better ideas. So for the rest of the school year I will be doing my happy dance.

Oh and I'm getting new curriculum called Basics (or something like that). It's predominately used on the computer with IEP goals on it already. Then when the IEPs are help, I can print out charts and graphs to show parents. At least that is what I was told about the program. I will be trained in the summer about the program. Has anyone else used this program?

Autistic Meltdown

Hi everyone! Today has been tough. In my class about half of my students are diagnosed with autism. One of my students screams and yells when she has a meltdown. I am usually able to help her stay on track but some days (like today) she is inconsolable. In the beginning of the year I had to keep explaining to security that this particular student was okay and was not hurting anyone. Thankfully she is not violent to herself or anyone else.

I don't know about other states but here in California there is a Autism Certificate we can obtain. (I've heard it will be required soon). I unfortunately have not had that training. My only experience with students with behavior issues who are diagnosed with autism is from my less than 2 years of teaching.

Today my student screamed and cried when I asked her to put her blue folder away during 5th period. She proceeded to call me a monster. During 6th period it escalated when she wanted one of my aides to give her all of the answers instead of reading her worksheet. (She is very smart and is able to do it on her own without any help on good days) I then asked her to clean up to go home. She refused to go to the bus to go home. She alternated from running away from me, hitting the lockers, screaming she did not want to go home, screaming for everyone to wait for her, and finally falling to the floor screaming.
Eventually I helped her on the bus and she went home.

I know I'm doing something or several things wrong. I don't know how to help her. She scares the other high school students, she disrupts my class, and most of all she will soon be out in the real world with no coping skills. She is currently a sophomore in high school.

If you have any advice I would love to hear some. I've tried researching some but I can not find anything that would help. So far I am going to use this chart I just found online and modify it.

My Point Sheet

Name: ___________________________                                             Date: ___________

I am working for: ____________________________   My Daily Point Goal: _________

	I have what I need to work. (papers, pencil, crayons…) 1 Point	Stay in your seat 1 Points	Follow directions 1 Point each time	Use polite language 1 Point	Quiet voice 1 point	Working 1 Point every 10 minutes	Put everything away where it belongs (finished work in purple bin, pencil in pencil box, dictionary/magazine put away…) Point 3	Total
Period 2
Period 3
Period 4
Lunch
Period 5
Period 6
Day’s Total >

Did I make my goal today?   Yes   No

What will I work on tomorrow? _______________________________

Science and Work Task

So I've been trying for a couple of months how to teach science lessons to my sophomores and freshmen, while teaching the juniors and seniors other skills. 10th graders are the only high schoolers have a science unit during the CAPA(state test). During 1 of the periods, I split my class in half. My 9th and 10th graders worked with me and we work on science lessons. My 11th and 12th graders work with my aides on some work task skills. I found so many different work task from the autism helper. I decided to take some of her wonderful ideas and then created some of my own.

 Here are our science lessons. I can't remember where I got the project from. If you know who, please let me know so I could give the proper credit.

Here are some of my work task:

Sorting food into food groups.

                                     Alphabatizing

Measure Liquids (I use food coloring so it is easier for my students to see the water.)

 Measuring playdo using rulers.

Writing Checks

Classroom Tour

Here is a tour of my class. So far this seems to work. I started in the beginning of the year with a horse shoe shape for the desk. Then it morphed to 3 smaller horse shoes. That way I can still address the whole class, but my 3 aides are able to work with their assigned small groups easily.

All of my students have a job. They apply for a new job every quarter. I got this from Teacher on a Mission  from Teacher's Pay Teachers.

 My students must pay for items they need. I think next yea I am going to increase the fee every quarter.

 My calendar manager is responsible for getting the calendar ready each month. The words for the months I bought from Lovely Little Leaders. Each month I write the events on the smaller calendar, and my calendar manager must copy it onto the larger one.

 The calendar manager is also responsible for writing out what is happening each week. When there is no even happening that day, they just write "Happy Monday, Happy Tuesday, etc."

 My latest project is to turn these boxes into mail slots for my students.