10+ Tips to Prepare for Parent-Teacher Conferences

Individual Education Plan Goals: The Heart of It All

A few weekends ago, my beloved and I decided to take a road trip west of our humble little east Arkansas town. We were both worn out from a long span of various and sundry things—broken fences needing mended, dogs needing trips to the vet, setting up a classroom, meeting after meeting, supporting my aging…

Parent Participation at the IEP Team Meeting

I am sitting at my desk at school, cluttered with papers, folders stacked on the table situated beside it to create an L shape so I have more room to store stuff. There are binders full of tracking sheets, tracking sheets which note the words per minute my kids attempt to read bi-weekly. There are…

Get OUT of the BOX! Our Kids Aren’t Succeeding

Horrified. Saddened. Ticked off. Annoyed. Frustrated. Angry. Stymied. Discontented. Foiled. Irked. Dismayed. These are the words which sit heavily upon my mind today. Ya see, as my good friend (I wish) Jimmy Buffett and his pal Martina McBride once sang, I’ve made a “trip around the sun” enough times to know a thing or two.…

Popping the New School Year Bubble

School started for us a week ago. It was a shock to my system after having taken three graduate classes over the summer as well as having a treasured month of fun with my second-oldest grandson. At eight years old, he is like every other boy in America—he wants to be on the go always,…

To Grudge, or Not to Grudge, That Is the Question

I could lie and say I never hold a grudge…but that would be a big, fat, juicy lie. Or, I could be very vulnerable and say I DO hold a grudge and risk being fodder for dinner table conversation. If you knew me well then you would know I don’t much care what people think…

Quit or Stay? Battle – Special Education

Once upon a time, long, long ago there was a little school in a land far, far away near a lake known for its greatness. It was a school run by the Very Well-Regarded Entity and was granted the ability to exist by an organization which had a big stake in the success of this…

Getting the New Kid

There are days in our teaching careers when all we can do is go home and cry. In some cases we may cry because of what our colleagues have said or done, or we may cry because we have somehow failed our students. We may cry because of the stressors of the daily grind of…

So You Think You Can Be a Special Education Teacher, Eh?

Did you know there are millions of children with special needs who need you? No, I mean MILLIONS. Who NEEEEEED you. According to Special Education Advisor (http://www.specialeducationadvisor.com/special-education/special-education-fast-facts-2/), there are 6,612,752 who need your support, direction, teaching skills, and since 1978, the number of children between the ages of three and twenty-one years of age has…

Have Times Really Changed?

Today is a lazy day here in my home. Went to early church, went to the grocery store, went to the local waffle place, went to the dollar store, ran a load of laundry, and then put on my p.j.’s to enjoy the rest of the sunny, warm, breezy, Southern Sunday. Watched a few episodes…