I've been stressed out all year (which is pretty apparent looking at the few times I've posted during this school year). Besides the regular stresses of my first year teaching 3rd grade, I've been worrying all year that I would be one of the new teachers getting axed due to budget cuts.
A week ago, I met with my principal for my year-end review. I asked if he knew if I had a job and where I'd be (word on the street was that they were planning on moving people to new positions). He told me he loved the job I've been doing in the bilingual classroom at my school, and wouldn't think of moving me for a few more years--if I felt like I wanted a change at that point.
I breathed a giant sigh of relief. I finally feel like I know what I'm doing and I know I have plans for how I want to do things different next year. It's so unlike me to make plans this far ahead. Because I teach in the bilingual program, I knew exactly which kids from 2nd grade would be in my class next year, and spent some time talking to the 2nd grade teacher and hearing all about who needs to sit right by me at all times and who is already reading at a mid-third grade level. I got really excited. I had a job. And I knew how to do it.
Cut to this week. We had a staff meeting after school on Tuesday, where they announced some giant changes to improve special education at my school. They're restructuring all of the grades pretty drastically to include classes that are inclusive of students with special needs. I zoned out for a good portion of this because it wouldn't affect me in my bilingual program. The principal said he'd come around the next day to tell people verbally where they'd be next year. Ha! I already knew!
Well, shortly after the meeting, the principal came to my classroom to tell me I was being moved. I'm going to teach one of the inclusive classrooms in 3rd grade. I was totally stunned. I'm pretty sure I didn't say anything to the principal during our entire conversation. Just nodded my head.
I was so upset. I worked so hard this year to learn how to balance the two classes that I teach...how to deal with the transitions each week, how to keep 46 students straight, and how to work with the Spanish teacher.
My new class will have 5-8 students with IEPs, which basically means they're required to receive some sort of services for special education. My class this year? 0 students with IEPs. My class next year will have half of all of the English language learners in 3rd grade. My class this year? 0 technically had the label ELL, though some of them were labeled that last year. My class next year will have half of the serious behavior issues. My class this year? Mostly angels (until spring fever hit). Why he thought I can do this, I'll never know. I don't have a whole lot of confidence in my ability to teach this class well right now.
The good news is that since I'm not licensed in SPED, I'll have a liasson whose job it is to help me plan for my sped students. I'll also have a whole lot of people coming into my room to work with my sped kids. The other good news was that because my class and another 3rd grade class would have ALL of the students with IEPs, the English language learners (uh, there's a lot in my district...), and a good chunk of the behavior issues (again, a lot in my district...) I would have a very small class--about 18-20 students. Most classes in my school this year have 25.
But this changed again yesterday, when I found out they had to get rid of one of the "regular" classes in 3rd grade. Now I'll actually have 27 students. I don't know what to even think.
27.
That's a lot. It's a lot even in a town where all the students speak English and have parents who read with them every night and 9 year olds don't deal with issues like wondering when their dad who was deported to South America is coming back.
But throw in 5 to 8 sped kids on top of that? Awesome.
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