Teaching? I wanna QUIT!

[Cheri]

Not every teacher is gonna like specify approach options in their classrooms that they're teaching, maybe this job isn't the right one for this teacher while it is for another teacher.

As with every approach even in oral/bi bi/ total communication/cued speech to educating children who are deaf or hard of hearing, not all children will be successful in that area of approach it all depends on the particular needs of the deaf child. If the parents are unable to commit to the child's language then the child would be a failure because two languages cannot be mix.

I prefer Total Communication because it's a language that both the parents and child can use in their home environment, better than oral approach or ASL approach without speech skills.

 

[Cheri]

Preschool - ages 3- 5. Practically babies.

If you are teaching preschoolers, are their parents using signs and speech skills with their child, it helps when parents are involved in their child's language approach.

 

[shel90]

Preschool - ages 3- 5. Practically babies.

10 is a lot if you are the only teacher without aides. The pre-school class at my work has 10 too but there are 2 teachers with 3 aides.

 

[jillio]

While those long bus rides may sound bad, it wasn't really so bad after all. I got to meet a lot of other deaf people along the way. I made more friends that way.

Yeah, my son rode a bus with several students from his deaf school, as well as some hearing students that were busing out of district to a Christian school located nearby. It was one big social hour before and after school!

 

[jillio]

I'm working on it . Got a few connections here and there...it's just a frustrating and pain-in-the-butt process. I'm not the kind of person to just sit around and gripe...I like to take action to try to resolve things. I usually do resolve them, too. .

That's what I like! A woman of action! Change in your area will spill over into change in other areas. Keep it up!

 

[Doug5]

deafbajagal u got some balls staring down a crazed kid with a power tool

 

[deafbajagal]

deafbajagal u got some balls staring down a crazed kid with a power tool

LOL. Didn't really have a choice in that situation...let's just say that I learned on that day that there is more than one way to resolve my constipation problems than using laxatives .

 

[jillio]

LOL. Didn't really have a choice in that situation...let's just say that I learned on that day that there is more than one way to resolve my constipation problems than using laxatives .

That sense of humor is no doubt what keeps you sane on those stressful days!

 

[SxyPorkie]

Yep, I know what you mean. I taught in a behavior modification school for two years...we had lots of teachers who got hurt...broken back and ribs, black eyes, stabbed, etc. Dangerous job.

One of my kids came after me with a power drill that the custodian left in my room - plugged in (talk about STUPID! I will refrain from telling you the names I called him when he came back) - so the kid is telling me how he's gonna kill me (he actually axed his parents to death and blew up his cat with firecrackers, so when he said he was gonna kill me...) - I stayed calm (again, Zoloft, thank you!!!) and kept a straight face when I told him (had to use my voice because my interpreter ran off, scared to death) "Who's gonna be here on Friday for the Halloween Festival if I'm dead?" He had this expression on his face and then said, "Oh, shit. You're right!" and dropped it. Then he walked off. WHEWWWW!

Teaching as a job can suck. Yes I can do all the Hallmark comments about how wonderful it is and all that...but that's for another thread. This one is my venting thread .

Wow... you are a wonderful teacher... also you are very brave...you did right things by talking to him in the calm way....youre awesome...

 

[deafdyke]

Deafbajagirl, again what state are you in? I'm sure there are people here who could really help you, or maybe there are people here who know people.
It's good that you've got some nibbles. Even if you don't think it would help, definitly contact the Deaf School. Maybe it might just be a matter of reassigning various and sundry kids to different programs. The reason why your job is so hard, might be that they weren't assigned to the correct school.
Maybe you could contact the Deaf School to have evaluations done.
Since you've got a lot of Spanish speakers, I would definitly contact Lexington in
NYC. They have a formal foriegn language transiston program for kids from other countries. They may be able to help you.

 

[deafbajagal]

Deafbajagirl, again what state are you in? I'm sure there are people here who could really help you, or maybe there are people here who know people.
It's good that you've got some nibbles. Even if you don't think it would help, definitly contact the Deaf School. Maybe it might just be a matter of reassigning various and sundry kids to different programs. The reason why your job is so hard, might be that they weren't assigned to the correct school.
Maybe you could contact the Deaf School to have evaluations done.
Since you've got a lot of Spanish speakers, I would definitly contact Lexington in
NYC. They have a formal foriegn language transiston program for kids from other countries. They may be able to help you.

Thank you for your suggestions - I will check Lexington out this week. I'm not quite comfortable revealing what state to everyone since I'm kind of conservative about personal information being revealed on the internet (yeah, I do read Dean Koontz' novels). But I will give you a hint...there is NO deaf school in this state at this time. My problem is that what I described is the job description of the typical special education teacher...I pretty sure most, if not all, teachers feel the pressure and stress that I do. Special education is not an easy field (neither is regular education for that matter). I've worked in a deaf school before - and will most likely return to work at a deaf school again. It's easier to say - hey! I'm gonna to individualized educational programming for every child that comes - and I'm going to meet his communication modes and language needs. But doing that - when there are other children in the same class whose needs are not the same (nor should they be) - whew. HARD. Not impossible...but it takes a lot of creative management skills to pull it off. Plus most of the children are delayed in the area of language - which pretty much adversely impacts everything else. My gripe is mostly about the extras that I'm doing, which takes away my focus on just being able to teach. Bullentin boards. Blah! Perhaps interactive learning boards would be fine...but what a pain to maintain it. Useless paperwork that can often be concised into one or two forms instead of ...20. Being on stupid committees such as yearbook and staff birthdays. Sponsoring events or clubs. Dealing with fundraising...that stuff. I think that there are a lot of unrealistic and unfair expectations of teachers.

 

[deafbajagal]

That sense of humor is no doubt what keeps you sane on those stressful days!

Might as well laugh, if nothing else .

 

[deafbajagal]

10 is a lot if you are the only teacher without aides. The pre-school class at my work has 10 too but there are 2 teachers with 3 aides.

And my program should too. Honestly - if they would just look at the kids (instead of numbers), they will see the need for another teacher. One teacher and one aide - isn't enough to make sure the kids are getting what they are needing.

The other day someone was trying to pull my aide out to do some kind of task - I was like, "Hell, no!"

 

[deafbajagal]

Wow... you are a wonderful teacher... also you are very brave...you did right things by talking to him in the calm way....youre awesome...

but I'm not really that awesome, honestly. Just doing my job and what I was trained to do. There are many, many wonderful teachers out there. If you know of any, give them a big pat on the back .

 

[deafbajagal]

Cheri;919496]If you are teaching preschoolers, are their parents using signs and speech skills with their child, it helps when parents are involved in their child's language approach.

Hi, Cheri. I'm sad to say: Only one of my kids' parents have shown committment with their child's language development- regardless of what language and communication mode. I've personally went into the homes of every child to work with the families...but they are claim they're too busy to learn signing...or how to talk with the child (such as making sure the child sees them when they talk, etc). I'm not kidding - all but one. Two of them -their families speak primarily Spanish at home...but the families aren't using any kind of manual communication. They don't really seem to value education.

I've stressed and stressed the importance of these kids getting language input and output (at this point, who cares HOW - just get that language input/output going) at home...but I'm not getting anywhere. Nearly all of the teachers at my school (spec. ed. and reg. ed teachers) have told me they've experienced a lot of lack of cooperation and support from many parents. I'm starting to wonder if it's a cultural thing around this part of the state/country, whereas education simply isn't valued in most of the kids' home and culture.

 

[VamPyroX]

Yeah, my son rode a bus with several students from his deaf school, as well as some hearing students that were busing out of district to a Christian school located nearby. It was one big social hour before and after school!

The buses that I rode on were all deaf students from elementary school, junior high, and high school.

Almost all the bus drivers were also interpreters at the schools.

They had the bus schedule set up in a specific pattern.

Bus driver A is an interpreter at high school, she will stop at the elementary school first.

Bus driver B is an interpreter at junior high school, she will stop at the elementary school first.

Bus driver C is an interpreter at the elementary school, she will stop at the elementary school first.

Any high school kids on buses B and C will get off at the elementary school and get on bus A. Any junior high school kids on buses A and C will get off at the elementary school and get on bus B. Any elementary school kids on any bus will simply get off and go to school.

This schedule applies to a few other buses for the junior high school and high school locations depending on the travel route.

At my first house, I was closest to the elementary school. So, it didn't matter what bus I was on. I always got off and went straight to school. When I was in junior high, my bus driver was a high school interpreter. So, I had to switch buses when she stopped at the elementary school. When I was in high school, my bus driver was a teacher at the same high school. So, it didn't matter... I went straight to high school. Of course, I started driving my own car 7 months later.

 

[Miss-Delectable]

Let me guess... Nebraska? As far as I'm aware that Neb doesn't have a school for the deaf any longer.

Hang in there. Sometimes you need a holiday to renew your perspective. So here's looking forward to Spring break for you.

 

[Reba]

The buses that I rode on were all deaf students from elementary school, junior high, and high school.

Almost all the bus drivers were also interpreters at the schools....

That's one reason why I don't want to work as a full-time public school interpreter. I don't want to drive buses. :P

 

[jillio]

Might as well laugh, if nothing else .

Its what gets me through the day! Some situations are jsut so absurd that there is no other appropriate response!

 

[jillio]

The buses that I rode on were all deaf students from elementary school, junior high, and high school.

Almost all the bus drivers were also interpreters at the schools.

They had the bus schedule set up in a specific pattern.

Bus driver A is an interpreter at high school, she will stop at the elementary school first.

Bus driver B is an interpreter at junior high school, she will stop at the elementary school first.

Bus driver C is an interpreter at the elementary school, she will stop at the elementary school first.

Any high school kids on buses B and C will get off at the elementary school and get on bus A. Any junior high school kids on buses A and C will get off at the elementary school and get on bus B. Any elementary school kids on any bus will simply get off and go to school.

This schedule applies to a few other buses for the junior high school and high school locations depending on the travel route.

At my first house, I was closest to the elementary school. So, it didn't matter what bus I was on. I always got off and went straight to school. When I was in junior high, my bus driver was a high school interpreter. So, I had to switch buses when she stopped at the elementary school. When I was in high school, my bus driver was a teacher at the same high school. So, it didn't matter... I went straight to high school. Of course, I started driving my own car 7 months later.

My son's drivers weren't terps...unfortunatley...but they were required to know some basic signs for safety and such. The cool thing was that the kids being bused to the Christian school learned a lot of sign from the deaf students, and the buis drivers finished out the school year knowing a lot more sign than they did when they started.