Superman's Teachers Are Amazing!

Mondays are hard on Superman.  He catastrophizes anything remotely uncomfortable or out of the ordinary.  He will point out to me that it is his Autism.  At which point I point out that if he is aware enough that his reaction is Autism based, he can control it a bit better.  He hates that response.


Well, today was ugly as we prepared for school. He complained the whole time, hid under a quilt on the sofa while eating his highly nutritious and homemade (NOT) pop tart.  He went on and on about how long the day is and all you do is sit, sit, sit sit and listen to boring stuff all day.  Well, since I know that is not true I can just nod and say that I am sorry he feels that way about school.  I just listen and gently keep him moving forward through our routine.


When I got to school I dropped him off at his classroom door, chatted with his teacher... heads up, Mr Grump is in the house.... and leave.  I then stop off at the AUT room to give his AUT teacher a heads up. She volunteers to do lots of social stories with him later.


This is what brings me to today's topic.  Excellent teachers.  Superman has been blessed to have been placed in the care of two of the most fabulous teachers on the planet. No, in our galaxy. No, in the universe. 


And here is why.


They care.  And you can tell.  They live to teach.  They are devoted to helping Superman feel good and be productive and find his way, and learn more than just academics, and make friends, and learn to cope.  And they do it humanely.


And they celebrate all Superman's accomplishments as if they are their very own.  And they smile a lot.  And they support me.  


And they never give up pushing and pulling and prodding Superman to do more and do it better.


I love these teachers.  Superman does too.  


So, here is to all the gifted, devoted teachers of the world!  You make the world a better place.

New Day Dawning

As of today I have the following.

• No response from downtown suits.
• No response form university registrar about a tuition refund.
• Wonderful response (in writing, by the way) from a professor and ex superintendent of schools stating I was mistreated by the suit and that he was way out of line.  He also takes responsibility for the breach even though he isn't even the prof that required the message board entires.  Imagine!  Someone willing, actually wanting, to take some responsibility for his institution!   

I am feeling free as a bird, validated, committed to contributing to making things better for teachers working in hostile work environments due to bullying, and becoming a school board member.  Even if I don't win, imagine downtown squirming while I am running my campaign!  I am also feeling very sad that someone was so motivated by a dislike of me that they breached confidentiality to a suit!

I had a great experience yesterday observing a practicum student and sharing my notes with the person in charge of hiring supervisors for practicum students and student teachers.  Our notes and points of issue matched, so I think an offer is forthcoming.  I love, loved, loved, watching, analyzing and problem solving. I know how to teach and love helping others be quality classroom leaders.  I cannot wait to find my way in this venue.

Also shopping for a good Ed.D program.  I think my emphasis will be all about advocating for teachers. Now, don't get me wrong.  Crap teachers need to go and go fast.  I say we advocate for the best, work with an supervise the weaker ones, and counsel the crap ones right on out of education.

Superman's new AUT teacher starts Monday!