It's Been A Long Time...

Sorry folks,

I can't believe I let almost 2 months pass between posts. I guess that's what happens when you are in the thick of annual review season. Let's recap the last 2 months.

-I finished reading the entire Percy Jackson and The Olympians Series (all 5 books) by Rick Riordan. I highly recommend them. I think they are at a 4th grade reading level, but I know plenty of kids that enjoyed those books. My favorites were Book 1, The Lightning Thief; Book 3, The Titan's Curse; and Book 5, The Last Olympian. Rick Riordan just started a new series of books based on Egyptian mythology. Those should be good as well.

-The search for a new principal is ongoing. There were several rounds of interviews and they may have narrowed it down to a handful of candidates. The process is so secretive that only those on the interview committee know anything, and they aren't saying a word.

-For the first time ever my teacher's union gave concessions for the upcoming school year. We took a contract extension with a limited raise, in the hopes that the economy will turn around and we will get a bigger raise the year after. This will prevent any layoffs and program cuts. This was threatened to happen last year with every new teacher in each building getting a pink slip. In the end, only 4 teachers were laid off, and I believe most of them retired anyway.

-Year one of RTI is coming to a close and there have been mixed results. Our initial evaluations have gone down a lot. My team is afraid that we will be swamped next year. We will wait and see. It will be interesting to see how this unfolds with a new principal since my current one is in charge of RTI.

-I have a student that likes to sleep. He has a gastro-intestinal issue, and his parents are not reliable. He has missed a lot of school. He absolutely hates his teacher and does whatever he can to get out of her class. We are starting to realize that he can be manipulative and we need to come up with a survival plan for him and us until the end of the year.

-I was recently trained on the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS). I'm excited about adding a new weapon to my testing arsenal. I already have 2 students to use it on next year.

-For some reason, parents think that they can just send in a letter saying that they want their child tested and then "poof" it magically happens. They are all astonished by the 60 calendar day evaluation timeline. I have either received or heard about 3 such requests in the last 2 days. That's all for now. I'll try to keep this updated more frequently.

BBC

Percy Jackson

I'm not sure how I existed this long without reading Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. My school is completely enthralled with this series. I dare say, my school is more into this book than Harry Potter or Twilight. It probably helps that our school librarian is into the books as well. I'm a big Greek mythology fan, so this book was a delight. I know a movie was recently released, but like all adaptations, there are some differences between the novel and the film.

Although the book was printed in 2005, there may be some of you out there that haven't read it yet. Well, I suggest that you do. It's a great story for kids with disabilities. From a school psychologist standpoint, there is a lot to like about the story. Percy is dyslexic and has ADHD. But when he finds out that's he's a demigod, or half-blood (half-god, half-mortal) he learns that his impairments are actually strengths and by-products of his "godliness". His dyslexia stems from the fact that he was meant to read ancient Greek, not English. (clever!) And his ADHD symptoms are in fact his battlefield reflexes that allow him to respond to his opponents' moves (hyperactivity) and see things that others cannot (inattention). It's very clever and gives those that have these disabilities a hero that they can identify with. As a plus, Percy also has some absentee father issues, and I know I have plenty of students that can relate to that. The Percy Jackson series is intriguing and I can't wait to read the next one.

BBC