It's Pat!

Sometimes things are just different.
I have a young autistic boy this year. He's high functioning, but one of the things that come along with the diagnosis is a lack of social skills. This was made evidently clear to me yesterday when I sent him to the bathroom on his own from computer lab. About one minute later, I realized that this could be a mistake. The last time I sent him by himself, I found him 7 minutes later with his pants around his ankles, butt cheeks pressed against the wall, and hands over his crotch, all while singing "This Little Light of Mine" and bobbing up and down. Needless to say, he's had a six year-old chaperone since then.
So, back to yesterday, I dart down to the restroom to check on him. He's in one of the stalls, grunting. Next, he tells the toilet paper, "It's time to go to work." So, I go back to the room and send someone down to check on the boy. Then he comes strolling into the room. Doing the math in me head, I think that there was definitely not enough time elapsed to finish "putting the toilet paper to work," wash hands, and walk back to the classroom.
"Hey, Buddy," I say, "Did you wash your hands?"
"Oh," he says, "I forgot," and he walks back to the door. "Thanks!" and then he patted me twice on the crotch as he strolled down to the bathroom.
That's right. He gave me the One Handed Poo Pat on the Crotch.
I don't think this really has much to do with MMEET, other than, I may need witnesses when I give my deposition.
Keep vigilant.

My Excuse

I know that this has little or nothing to do with MMEET, but I did have a reason for missing our first meeting...

Lucia1 from comoprozac on Vimeo.

Nice to Meet You... Where's the Teacher?

So, we had Grandparents' Day at school last week.  It's always a lovely affair.  The constant rain of September let up for a day so our students could eat outside with their various Pops, MeMaws, Nanas, and other assorted generational predecessors.  It's a day when you get to introduce yourself to some of the most important people in your kids' lives.

Outside, I carried on a conversation with an elderly gentleman about sports and other manly things, when his granddaughter - my student - came over and hugged him.

"Oh, is this your granddaughter?"  I asked.

"Yep, she's the jewel of my eye."

"I can see why," I told him as I noticed the time.  Then the six year-old hugged me, too.

"Are you a teacher?" he asked, sizing me up.

"Yes."

"Her teacher?"

"Yeah.  Nice talking with you."  Then I led his granddaughter and the rest of my kids back to class.  I never checked to see if he picked his jaw up off the floor.

Despite this, I can tell that I'm making great inroads in the community.  The longer I'm there, the more accepted I become as a teacher.  I've never been the most confident teacher.  I know I have a ton of things to improve on as a technician in the classroom, but I think I've convinced our families that I care about their kids.  I field questions about what grade I'm going teach the next year.  I get parents who tell me they have requested my class for their kid.  Things aren't perfect, but it's nice to go to work at a place where you feel needed and respected.

Having a male in an elementary setting is a tough sell for many parents initially.  I think my big thing was helping parents to overcome their fear.  I've been to a lot of our after school activities, am very involved in the PTA, and try my best to be outgoing around parents and kids (despite a natural tendency towards introversion).  I don't know when it happens, but eventually, the tide turns.  Things get easier.