With the first week of the first semester of grad school under my belt I cannot say enough how excited I am about the movement through my real classroom, virtual classroom, and the movement TOWARD my future classroom. I've never been closer and I can begin to envision all the major components that will a part of my "dream" class philosophy. I still get to dream about a room to call my own, not as a para-professionl but an ACTUAL professional. However, in the meantime this room is still only a dream. This position just a reach of an arms length away. So, close I can touch it but so far that I can still enjoy the joy of working and playing as a child, without responsiblity. Tomorrow work will NOT consist of the paper professional work involved. Tomorrow we will sit on the floor and have fun Friday to follow the lead of the child and I can only continue to wish I could have this moment for life. I can already see the IEP horizon closely looming and I'm glad its not my turn yet! In the meantime, I will do my homework with pride and write the plans, letters home to parents, and enjoy the joys of teaching before I may be burdened with the resposnibility that the special education professionals have on their shoulders as they enter into another school year with new faces to teach, year after year.
As a professional, you are responsible for taking a look at an area of improvement for yourself. After the second week of school, it is clear that my own personal professioal development this year will be learning how to become technologically integrated. The new ways to integrate audio and visual supports into lessons are endless and I am excited to be adding a Smart Board to my future sensory lessons because technology helps one explore through all of their seven senses. Through lessons with audio you can move your body and listen to the rythmn of the sounds. The computer allows you to touch the mouse and keyoard, look at the screen, and integrate cognitve thought through your intergration of those senses.
One could say that humans are senseologically integrated. If the senses are not integrated properly then the miswiring is similar to having to reboot your computer. After a sensory meltdown, the child needs to reboot themselves to reorganize what they see going, how they feel about what's going, what is really going on, and then add any new informatin to their intake to help calm them down.
After a long day of sensory overload from a rainy, gloomy, traffic, 14 hour day I get to come home, take a shower, put on my fuzzy robe and reboot for the next day. I will remind myself its Friday to help calm down so I won't feel too tired, I will just feel closer to the weekend. The waves of our week come crashing down every weekend, but a child with sensory dysfunctions ride these stress waves daily, even hourly and need ways to help them reboot. It is ok to get upset, but it is also necessary to be aware of new information to integrate and reboot yourself with positive thinking. When children are given the choices of how to make the right decisions, meltdowns are not what they WANT to do, however under stressful circumstances thats all they can do in order to reboot and start over. My job is to show them ways to calm down, intake new information, and integrate the reality of their meltdown-Breathe! It will be ok! The week is over, the weekend makes it all better! What will you do this weekend to reboot!?
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