10.10.2005
Holy crap!
I just got back from--are you ready for this?--a professional development session that actually wasn't a complete waste of time! Can you believe it? I know, right?
Seriously, for those of you just joining us, these trainings aren't inherently evil. It's just when you work in SPED and you're worried about how you're going to track each of your 20+ kids in accordance with their individualized education plans, which all have different goals, but you have to teach them in groups anyways, and all the district support you have at your disposal is to go to all these new teacher general ed trainings that only cover remedial classroom management issues, you might find that the so-called support infrastructure isn't actually there and is instead an active, unnecessarily time-consuming pain in the ass.
At least, that's the standard fare.
Today, however, was different: it was a session on inclusion, and I attended it with my special ed facilitator, one of my co-teachers, my principal, and the literacy specialist (who incidentally shares my room). The pacing was (gasp) surprisingly refreshing, the content was almost entirely (gasp) relevant to what I'm doing, and the overall atmosphere was pleasantly productive. In short, it was a huge relief, especially since I had to miss the day and plan for a sub--who ended up being outsourced to another classroom at the last possible second, rendering me with a day of entirely cancelled classes--GRRRRRRR--but I digress. I'm very grateful for this opportunity.
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A few days ago, I was highly complemented by one of my students. She said, admiringly, "I used to think you were New School, Mr. ------. But you're not. You're Old School!"
It's good to be Old School. I've figured out that much. But I honestly hadn't encountered the concept of being "new school" before. I think it has something to do with being uncool, or having a bad attitude, if UrbanDictionary.com is any indication...
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Seriously, for those of you just joining us, these trainings aren't inherently evil. It's just when you work in SPED and you're worried about how you're going to track each of your 20+ kids in accordance with their individualized education plans, which all have different goals, but you have to teach them in groups anyways, and all the district support you have at your disposal is to go to all these new teacher general ed trainings that only cover remedial classroom management issues, you might find that the so-called support infrastructure isn't actually there and is instead an active, unnecessarily time-consuming pain in the ass.
At least, that's the standard fare.
Today, however, was different: it was a session on inclusion, and I attended it with my special ed facilitator, one of my co-teachers, my principal, and the literacy specialist (who incidentally shares my room). The pacing was (gasp) surprisingly refreshing, the content was almost entirely (gasp) relevant to what I'm doing, and the overall atmosphere was pleasantly productive. In short, it was a huge relief, especially since I had to miss the day and plan for a sub--who ended up being outsourced to another classroom at the last possible second, rendering me with a day of entirely cancelled classes--GRRRRRRR--but I digress. I'm very grateful for this opportunity.
---
A few days ago, I was highly complemented by one of my students. She said, admiringly, "I used to think you were New School, Mr. ------. But you're not. You're Old School!"
It's good to be Old School. I've figured out that much. But I honestly hadn't encountered the concept of being "new school" before. I think it has something to do with being uncool, or having a bad attitude, if UrbanDictionary.com is any indication...
// posted by Tom @ 4:03 PM 
