Tuesday

I'm running out of witty titles for my blog entries. Or maybe I'm too tired to be creative. Henry and I went to obedience class tonight. There's always around 40 dogs in the building, and they can get very excited. Its hard to keep Henry's attention. He's doing pretty well, though. He's super at heeling, and the other difficult things are coming along nicely. He has to settle down some when we get there, though. He shakes an awful lot at first.
School is going well. I had a veteran teacher come to me for advice on behavior management, which really made me feel good. I'm considered an educational specialist, as well as teacher, so having someone I respect and look up to ask me for help is an honor. I've dealt with some of the more difficult kids that have come through my school in awhile, so I guess they figure I'm qualified. One of my current students is having a really tough time (his dad just got out of jail, among other issues at home), and I'm not sure how long it will take to "fix" the problem. Right now he's being a pain the butt for attention. Its a fine line of giving him the attention sometimes and ignoring him at others.
I made another teacher's day by taking one of her kids while he was waiting for his bus. I'm assuming he's on ADHD meds, because his behavior today was abnormal. I guess he ran out (his dad died last week at twenty-seven). Anyway, the kid was crazier than any I've seen in a long time. At one point, he snatched two Sharpies off the teacher's desk and was drawing on his shirt with them. I observed for about fifteen minutes while I got another student ready to go home. I went to Joy and said, "Would you mind if he came with me and waited in my room for his bus to be called?" I had another student coming as a reward, and I didn't want him to play alone. Joy looked at me like I'd just given her a million dollars.
Today I learned that colleagues see my behavior management skills as positive and effective.