![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Sep. 18th, 2015 01:53 amSometimes I miss my dad in this empty, aching sort of way that I can't describe quite like anything else. Like yesterday when Miriam and I were doing some math with ten frames and she looked at me and said "If it had only four spots I'd only be able to count to four." I would have loved to call my Dad and tell him "She just basically grasped the idea of base ten math without ever hearing the words." He'd have kvelled. And I'd have enjoyed telling him about it.
There's an amazing difference between working with Miriam and working with Naomi, and it comes down to how much the mechanics of fine motor tasks were difficult for Naomi. Both of them knew the materials but because we were asking Naomi to do things like "draw the counters in the picture" it would take ten times as long as it needed to. Once we switched to things like stickers, it helped, but it's refreshing to start from a positive experience. We're typing a lot of Naomi's work now, but I'd really like to get her settled with a 504 or IEP soon because while we're very lucky to have amenable teachers, that may not always be the case.
Speaking of amenable teachers, what a change this year's teacher is. Kindergarten was fine, nothing outstanding, just there. The English/Math teacher wasn't very good at differentiation, nor very creative, she was just kind of adequate. The French teacher was pleasant, and slightly more creative. (She's Miriam's main teacher this year.) First grade was a nightmare. It's a challenge to find teachers who are certified to teach both elementary grades and French, and so they hired someone last year who had previously been teaching high school and who was totally inappropriate for elementary school-developmental expectations were out of line with first grade, didn't understand why bringing four cupcakes, saying "only the best students get them" and not giving them to the typically well behaved students who don't stand out meant that my typically well behaved student came home in tears and wondering why her best wasn't good enough. That was a relatively mild incident with her-she was fired at the end of the first marking period. The rest of the year was a cobbled together mix of long term subs (some very good ones) and the second grade French teacher pulling double duty with two sections of second grade French and two of first grade French. We were looking forward to a reprieve in second grade, possibly even having the Mom of one of Naomi's friends this year. Well she ended up moving up to teach third grade, and they hired a new second grade French teacher this year. We were a little nervous, seeing a new teacher's name on the list, especially after last year (and understandably so,) but what a breath of fresh air he is. He's an experienced teacher, solid-he's been teaching for over 20 years, and hasn't been beaten down by the system. He's creative, he has them moving and interacting when he can. He makes sure they go outside every day. He does differentiated education as more than a buzzword. He says that he knows that there's value in good data but that they do too much testing. He says "I know the school policy is that you can't just drop in, but I don't mind if you do." He encourages contact from parents and if you contact him he says "come in for a conference." It feels like he's really invested in their success. (It also doesn't hurt to hear things like "This is probably one of the brightest classes I've ever taught.") They really are a good group of kids-the school is divided into two "academies"-French Academy and Spanish Academy, and it's a small school to begin with, no more than 72 kids total per grade level, 36 in each academy, so the kids know each other well, the parents know each other. I'm told by parents of older kids that they're all kind of like siblings by the time they get to grade 5. The teachers know the kids too-when Miriam started this year there were people saying "You must be Naomi's sister," or saying "Hi Naomi's Mom."
Sweet note-the school is spread over several buildings all contained within a fence. Kids go in through the gate in the morning and then off to their classes. Kindergarten is in it's own building which also houses the resource room, therapy room for kids recieving services and the cafeteria. The steps up to Kindergarten are opposite the entrance to where Naomi goes in the building to go to class. The first day of school I walked with Naomi and Miriam, gave Naomi a hug and sent her to class, which is what she wanted, and then walked Miriam up to the kindergarten rooms. Parents are permitted to walk kindergarteners in for the first week, but it's a nuisance to find parking, walk in, then get back out, so we told Miriam that after the first day there would be teachers and the safety patrol to help her get to her room if she needed help. One of the other parents with a second grader and a kindergartener who enter the school from a different gate (they're walkers, we drive to school) said to me "I see the two of them in the morning, they walk together to the stairs, then Naomi gives her a hug and they go to class." There's some magic between the two of them and I don't know what it is.
I had a really sweet experience tonight at open house. I'm the class parent for Naomi's class, and her teacher had asked if I would mind coming at the beginning and staying the whole time. I said I'd check with the rest of the family and work it out if I could-someone needed to pick up Miriam and really it wouldn't be right to not visit her classroom, so I had to make sure she was okay with Andrew visiting and not me. It was fine, and so I hung out in Naomi's classroom for a couple of hours (good thing I get along with her teacher.) So as I'm sitting there doing the things I need to do, one of the kids I don't know so well comes up to me (I know his Mom-the family is Muslim and the process for religious accomodations in the cafeteria is the same as the process for food allergies, and even though Naomi won't buy lunch, she has to have a plan with substitutions in place for safety reasons, so I see the Mom at the beginning of the year when we all go through these things.) The boy looks at me and says "Hi Naomi's Mom. I think Naomi is really nice and you teach her good." What a sweet thing to say, and in front of other kids, too.
I think Naomi is nice too, Ahmed.
There's an amazing difference between working with Miriam and working with Naomi, and it comes down to how much the mechanics of fine motor tasks were difficult for Naomi. Both of them knew the materials but because we were asking Naomi to do things like "draw the counters in the picture" it would take ten times as long as it needed to. Once we switched to things like stickers, it helped, but it's refreshing to start from a positive experience. We're typing a lot of Naomi's work now, but I'd really like to get her settled with a 504 or IEP soon because while we're very lucky to have amenable teachers, that may not always be the case.
Speaking of amenable teachers, what a change this year's teacher is. Kindergarten was fine, nothing outstanding, just there. The English/Math teacher wasn't very good at differentiation, nor very creative, she was just kind of adequate. The French teacher was pleasant, and slightly more creative. (She's Miriam's main teacher this year.) First grade was a nightmare. It's a challenge to find teachers who are certified to teach both elementary grades and French, and so they hired someone last year who had previously been teaching high school and who was totally inappropriate for elementary school-developmental expectations were out of line with first grade, didn't understand why bringing four cupcakes, saying "only the best students get them" and not giving them to the typically well behaved students who don't stand out meant that my typically well behaved student came home in tears and wondering why her best wasn't good enough. That was a relatively mild incident with her-she was fired at the end of the first marking period. The rest of the year was a cobbled together mix of long term subs (some very good ones) and the second grade French teacher pulling double duty with two sections of second grade French and two of first grade French. We were looking forward to a reprieve in second grade, possibly even having the Mom of one of Naomi's friends this year. Well she ended up moving up to teach third grade, and they hired a new second grade French teacher this year. We were a little nervous, seeing a new teacher's name on the list, especially after last year (and understandably so,) but what a breath of fresh air he is. He's an experienced teacher, solid-he's been teaching for over 20 years, and hasn't been beaten down by the system. He's creative, he has them moving and interacting when he can. He makes sure they go outside every day. He does differentiated education as more than a buzzword. He says that he knows that there's value in good data but that they do too much testing. He says "I know the school policy is that you can't just drop in, but I don't mind if you do." He encourages contact from parents and if you contact him he says "come in for a conference." It feels like he's really invested in their success. (It also doesn't hurt to hear things like "This is probably one of the brightest classes I've ever taught.") They really are a good group of kids-the school is divided into two "academies"-French Academy and Spanish Academy, and it's a small school to begin with, no more than 72 kids total per grade level, 36 in each academy, so the kids know each other well, the parents know each other. I'm told by parents of older kids that they're all kind of like siblings by the time they get to grade 5. The teachers know the kids too-when Miriam started this year there were people saying "You must be Naomi's sister," or saying "Hi Naomi's Mom."
Sweet note-the school is spread over several buildings all contained within a fence. Kids go in through the gate in the morning and then off to their classes. Kindergarten is in it's own building which also houses the resource room, therapy room for kids recieving services and the cafeteria. The steps up to Kindergarten are opposite the entrance to where Naomi goes in the building to go to class. The first day of school I walked with Naomi and Miriam, gave Naomi a hug and sent her to class, which is what she wanted, and then walked Miriam up to the kindergarten rooms. Parents are permitted to walk kindergarteners in for the first week, but it's a nuisance to find parking, walk in, then get back out, so we told Miriam that after the first day there would be teachers and the safety patrol to help her get to her room if she needed help. One of the other parents with a second grader and a kindergartener who enter the school from a different gate (they're walkers, we drive to school) said to me "I see the two of them in the morning, they walk together to the stairs, then Naomi gives her a hug and they go to class." There's some magic between the two of them and I don't know what it is.
I had a really sweet experience tonight at open house. I'm the class parent for Naomi's class, and her teacher had asked if I would mind coming at the beginning and staying the whole time. I said I'd check with the rest of the family and work it out if I could-someone needed to pick up Miriam and really it wouldn't be right to not visit her classroom, so I had to make sure she was okay with Andrew visiting and not me. It was fine, and so I hung out in Naomi's classroom for a couple of hours (good thing I get along with her teacher.) So as I'm sitting there doing the things I need to do, one of the kids I don't know so well comes up to me (I know his Mom-the family is Muslim and the process for religious accomodations in the cafeteria is the same as the process for food allergies, and even though Naomi won't buy lunch, she has to have a plan with substitutions in place for safety reasons, so I see the Mom at the beginning of the year when we all go through these things.) The boy looks at me and says "Hi Naomi's Mom. I think Naomi is really nice and you teach her good." What a sweet thing to say, and in front of other kids, too.
I think Naomi is nice too, Ahmed.
