Friday

I am getting ready to head to work for the first Friday of the new school year. Since we do not have two classes, I have an entire morning of planning, preparation, and task box time to fill. My intern is not expected back this week, so I will not have supervision time today. When we are sick, our work responsibilities stop so we can focus on getting better. So, we will postpone our supervision session until the intern returns to work. That means that I have an early release time today. I also have the entire morning to work on my stuff, two groups and one individual in the afternoon.

I have most of a stack of laminating to work with today. I have a stack of file folder activities that I have neglected this summer because my Fridays were days off rather than work days. So, I have plenty to do but little to no motivation at this particular moment. I will find that motivation. I still have the movies that I brought in for my work days to play on the ancient television and DVD/karaoke player to fill up the environment with sound while I am working all by myself.

I used my new animal set this week with my students who use pictures to communicate. One student tried to curl the storage page but did not fold it. I like that the student was not able to fold the page easily. I am impressed with how the 5mm laminate has held up this week. Now, I know that there will come a time when that page and all the others will be shabby, folded, bent, torn, etc. I will also have a way to replace that material with other materials.

I also was able to make the binders that I was envisioning for my emotion and greeting communication books. I have a binding machine - the one that punches holes for comb binders and then opens up that binder so you can put your pages in. Originally, I was not able to get the pages punched, but I figured out that particular situation and put the books together. I still have to add the emotion icons to make the books complete (from the version I have in my head), and add covers to make them more durable, but the majority of the pages are ready to go. I will make different colored covers for each book so I can easily sort the icons to their associated binders. I always make sets in different colors for my convenience. My students don't seem to care if things are colorful. I just like it because I can easily sort materials back into their binders quickly by looking at the materials. That is one of the systems that works really well for me.

I am going to work on the file folder options for my co-workers. I only heard from one of the teachers about using the folders that I've provided. I will ask again. I have to ask a teacher who bought all sorts of materials and then switched classes if she wants me to continue to make task boxes with her materials or if she wants the materials back or if I can give them to others. So, there are plenty of things to do during my planning/preparation/task box time.

I am looking forward to getting this time back. I enjoy being with my students, but I also need time to prepare things for them to use and consume during our sessions. I need to write songs and practice music as well, and I am hesitant to do that when other people are around for some reason. It is nice to have some time to just sit with myself and my planning book so I can get some chores done.

Time to get going on this day. I am going to do my documentation from yesterday and then head into the work room to get going on my movie watching and task box or file folder construction. I also need to organize the work desk and take out the trash from that room. I am hoping that someone will come to my room to vacuum it - that is something that our post-secondary program did last year, and I need someone to do that again. If they do, I will be prepared for them. If not, I need to contact the teacher and arrange for that service again.

Time to go.