9/17/18
6:25 AM
Finally out of bed after hitting the snooze button on my phone every 10 minutes since 5:50. Turn on MSNBC and Morning Joe before heading for the bathroom. Morning routine is off since husband P has been having severe sciatic nerve/back pain since late last week. He is having to sleep on the couch in the family room and I don’t want to be in the kitchen banging around and making my tea as early as usual since I know he had a tough night of not getting enough sleep. He and I are usually up at about the same time but he won’t be going to work due to a doctor’s appointment this morning. I am feeling anxious and tired after a several days now of worry about him.
7:20 AM
Out the door about 10 minutes late this morning. Got my tea made and lunch packed without disturbing P. I didn’t want to wake him but I want to know how he is doing this morning and can’t believe he hasn’t woken up due to the noise of my getting ready. Talked to daughter A who has come out of her bedroom to feed the cat. Asked her to be sure her dad is up by 8:15 to get a shower and get ready for the appointment. I need to know if he isn’t going to be able to drive himself so I can come home from work and take him. I don’t think he should drive himself but he has insisted he can. As I will have to drive him to Indianapolis on Wednesday for an appointment with a specialist there and will have to miss work then I have agreed to the current plan of him taking himself but it is stressing me out.
7:35 AM
Arrive at work five minutes late but I have let the principal know last night about the situation with the hubby and he has been understanding. “Family and health come first!” was his email response last night. I appreciate having the kind of job and job security that allows me to take time for a family illness but I hate to miss because my students will not get speech/language therapy when I am gone Wednesday and I will miss the professional development scheduled for the first two hours of that day. Probably have to find a time to make that up.
Drink a protein drink I grabbed from the frig on the way out the door while getting my room set up for therapy activities today and checking my work email.
8:00-11:10 AM
I see students for individual and small group speech/language therapy goals back to back to back. Sometimes we go to my therapy room and sit at a table but sometimes now we sit on the floor outside their classroom. Trying to get as much done as possible since I will miss these students later this week since they are scheduled to see me Mondays and Wednesdays. I am also aware I have my SLOs due on Friday of this week and have not yet identified which students I will target for these goals. Start making a list of possible students to target for my SLO goal writing that will be due on Friday.
11:10 AM
Text from P who has been to the doctor. We make arrangements I will call him after the meeting I have coming up.
11:15 AM
Staffing for a kindergarten student who has had a full team evaluation where we look over all the evaluation results and discuss options for services. Parent has expressed concern the child, “doesn’t belong in special education” so we discuss how to present our proposed recommendations for services.
Principal asks me if I have watched the ISTEP video on test protocol and precautions. I have not. I work in two buildings where the video was shown during teacher meetings but these were held at each building while I was at the other building. I need to watch it after school, read the accompanying materials then sign the paper from the state that says I have done so.
11:50 AM
Talk with P who did get a steroid shot. The doctor also prescribed muscles relaxers and more pain meds but the pharmacy doesn’t have enough to fill the prescription for the muscle relaxers. They offered to give him what they have now and will fill the rest tomorrow but it was going to take 20 minutes of waiting and by then he says he was in too much pain to wait that long. I have to pick them up after school. Doctor says even if he feels better by Wednesday he should not drive while taking the muscle relaxers so I will have to definitely go with him Wednesday and miss work. I am thankful we have good medical coverage but we have had other medical bills we are paying off recently and I wonder how much this appointment/tests will add to the bills.
P says he wants me to help him go to school later tonight and get two days of plans ready for a substitute.
12:20 PM
Consult with a teacher who has had a contact from a parent who is concerned her child need speech therapy. I have recommended waiting and rechecking him after Christmas. Teacher will text the mom and ask her to call me if she has further questions. I had forgotten they were not at open house when I had planned to talk about this with the parent. I feel badly I didn’t remember to follow up and call them. I was not aware but the parent has asked the teacher a couple times apparently as mom feels the child needs speech therapy.
12:40 PM
Time for the next groups (I had to miss a grade while attending the staffing) and I have forgotten to go to the frig and get my yogurt for lunch while catching up on my diary darn it. I will eat part of an apple with peanut butter while going to get the next scheduled group. Have to have the yogurt after school.
12:40-2:25 PM
See several speech groups and individuals for therapy. This has been a very busy day.
2:45 PM
While finally eating my yogurt I start working in my classroom to make notes on students for the day, organize files and plan next sessions. While going thru files I am also working on a list of students who might fit into my SLOs. As part of the evaluation process for teachers I have to set up two “Student Learning Objectives” for the year. Two groups of students with some common aspect by which I can measure their growth. Then I have to set a goal such as “4 of 7 students will achieve their targeted goal” for myself. Whether or not I achieve this goal will be figured into my evaluation and help determine if I am “Highly Effective” or merely “Effective.” OR, God forbid “Improvement Necessary” or even. . .eeeekkkkkk. . .”Ineffective.”
Mostly it means I have to do this planning on top of the planning I already have to constantly do THEN do more paperwork to fill out the online forms and submit the SLOs to my primary evaluator. . .on top of the reams of paperwork I already do. Not that I am bitter. 🙂
A long time later. . .
6:00 PM
Call home and talk to daughter A who says her dad P is finally napping after having a lot of trouble falling asleep. We decide I will pick up pizza on the way home since I have to go to the pharmacy to pick up the meds then after dinner go over to school with P to help him get sub plans ready. Also the oven is malfunctioning currently making it harder to throw together an unplanned meal. I pack up my stuff, head to the van. I will call Greeks from the parking lot as cell service is not great inside either of my schools I work at. Order two medium pizzas-one mushroom and black olive (P’s favorite) and a chicken/bacon/ranch A prefers lately as well as some breadsticks. There goes the diet.
Stop at CVS and Greeks before arriving home around 6:50. Since the beginning of the school year the majority of the time I am at school at least 10 hours a day. And yes, that includes working that late after school on Fridays as well but I try to leave weekends for family so I want the work done while I am at school. When the kids were younger this was not possible.
7:00-8:00 PM
Eating, catching up with A and P and watching PBS Newshour. P has just taken first dose of muscle relaxer and is feeling kind of poorly. Wants to wait a bit before heading to the school.
I do kitchen clean up with A, check the laundry, get lunch ready for the next day.
Realize the Emmy’s awards show is on and turn channel from Antiques Roadshow which is playing on mute. . .sometimes they suck me in but mostly no one here is a fan but it starts up after the PBS Newshour. After a couple awards are announced, sister L calls with concerns about another sister. We discuss possible causes and plan of action.
9:15 PM
Head over to school with P so he can do sub plans. After arriving at school he uses crutches to get into the main lobby and I go get him a wheelchair from the nurses station. Push him to his classroom with his bag, my bag and crutches piled on his lap. We look ridiculous.
I work on IEP paperwork for a student who has moved into our kindergarten from another state where he was enrolled in speech/language therapy services.
10:15 PM
Push P to the elevator to get upstairs so he can run copies for the sub to use for the next two days of classes. Run into a custodian P is friendly with and they joke around a bit. All the night custodians know P as he is frequently there late working on things. In the elevator P tells me this is the guy who had twins born last year for whom I picked up a card and gift card.
Catch up on diary entries while P makes many, many copies. I contemplate all the paper we are using in the name of education on a daily basis.
11:00 PM
Finally heading home.
I get into PJs, take out contacts forgoing the cleaning of them I know I should do, and wash my face.
Give P a smooch goodnight, he is catching up on the last of the Monday night football game, and I head into be bed to finish my diary. A comes in and catches me up on Emmy news I missed.
Apparently John Mulaney, a family favorite, had a funny acceptance speech in which he quotes his wife who said she was not flying across the country to watch him lose! I tell A to send to who brother who loves Mulaney and is off at college. She probably doesn’t listen to me.
12:00
Eating a snack of dark chocolate and a nice glass of wine. The wine is probably a mistake now that it is so late and I have to be up early but it has been a very long and tough day so I make an exception. Pizza for dinner AND wine before bed on a school night. . .what a day.