I need to become better about blogging more often. that way I won't always feel like I have a billion things to share when I actually do sit down to share. well, this summer has turned out to be less eventful than I anticipated. right after school ended, ricky's scheduled changed to 1-10pm thurs-mon. BOO. as if I didn't see the guy little enough. this schedule is fine during the summer but will suck in the fall when I go back to work.

I don't know why I'm complaining. having summers off is awesome. not having to work but still getting paid is in and of itself a pretty great summer. I have had so much down time, that the irony is the majority of my thoughts have been about, what else, SCHOOL. I have plans that are a'changing for next year, and I think that, if I don't get them out of my head somewhere, I am going to drop all of the thought balls I have been juggling (that's what she said).

SO... I'm thinking of doing more life skills in my class. Since so many of my students are missing out on one or more of their electives because they have to "take my stupid class", I thought it would be good to at least teach them some real life skills they can use in their... real lives. I am thinking of incorporating cooking, crocheting (which is ironic, since I have 90% boys), and I'm not sure what else. I am going to do more journaling this year than I did last year. I am going to vary class activities more, because we spent WAY too much time not doing a whole lot of being productive.

The weekly schedule I am thinking is:

m: social skills (we have a curriculum to use for this)

t: study skills (homework catch-up and/or maintain current assignments)

w: life skills (cooking, etc)

t: study skills

f: store/life skills finish/reward time (store is every other friday; finish cooking project or whatever; good little boys/girls can have game time, etc)

My thoughts as far as WHAT TO COOK are things that don't include knives (safety first, people), can be prepped and/or prepared in one class period, are things kids like to eat, and are easy. My list so far is as follows: cookies, mac n cheese, brownies, ice cream, pizza, and ask the kids for suggestions.

The reason I thought of crocheting is because I was trying to think of some way to teach the kids about giving to the community and maybe help think outside themselves. The idea for crocheting starting with thinking about making blankets for the kitties at the animal shelter. I thought that they could work on this skill when they have free time after we've all learned HOW to do it. We could also crochet for Christmas, if they wanna make gifts (scarves, pot holders, etc.)

And then, like I said, I want to incorporate more journaling. Kids with emotional and/or behavior disorders often have deficits in their expressive language skills. I want to make opportunities for them to draw and/or write out their feelings.

Some ideas for prompts:

"Draw or write for five minutes how you're feeling today."

"What is a goal you have? Draw or write about it."

"What is your dream? Draw or write about it."

"Name at least two ways you could (say, tell a person, do)..."

Things I need to do to prepare for next year (to get this out of my head)

Learn to crochet (:D)

Put together/organize recipes

Order WhyTry Journals (that go with curriculum - running low)

Talk to Brandon about his SS curriculum

Print out monthly schedules to write lesson plans in

Draft course schedule per quarter