Normal

I'm not going to lie to you people.

Leaving teaching was hard.

It was hard because I loved my kids.

It was hard because I loved my co-workers.

It was hard because I loved school supplies and the first day and a new class list and all of the smiles and hugs and watching the kids play school during inside recess and pretend to be me and mimic all of my mannerisms to a T.

It was hard because I have never been in the real world.  Never held a "real" job.  I went straight from being a student to being a teacher.  Never worked during the summer.  Or on a break.  Or on a snow day.  Lord help me the first time it snows and I actually have to leave my house to go to work.  I'll probably take a vacation day because when it snows {even a slight dusting}, I must be at home in pajamas with hot chocolate watching Lifetime.  It's just part of who I am.

But...

This so-called real world job of mine is a lot like teaching.  Only better because I can leave for lunch.

There are kids.  That I love.  Dearly.  They're different from my kids at school.  I never really had a true special needs child in my classroom.  I never had kids with severe behavior outbursts that will bite you, swelling your arm to about four times its original size and leaving you sitting in a doctor's office being told that you might be ok or you might have permanent nerve damage or a permanent bite mark indentation in your forearm.  Luckily I ended up on the "OK" side of things.  And I definitely never encountered a two year old with big brown eyes and the sweetest smile that is a tad bit of a genius, but tantrums for an hour when you don't let him put his letters in order.  {I know, how dare us make the sweet boy cry!}  But these kids are pretty amazing and I don't know that I could work with typically developing children ever again because well, autism is a challenge.  And I love a challenge. 

There are co-workers.  That I laugh with all day.  But now I have to manage them.  And sometimes that can be worse than dealing with 30 kindergartners.

And there are school supplies and first days.  And these first days happen constantly because more and more kids need us every day.

And I love what I do.  And I didn't miss being off over the summer.  I didn't even completely realize that I was working while others were off.  Out of sight, out of mind I guess.

And today I really loved my job.  I went into a teacher store for the first time since not being a teacher anymore.  It felt like home.  I went a little crazy.  My co-worker saw a side of me she never had before.  My creativity was back and I was all, "Dude, I can totally make this!" and "We can come up with so many games that are like this, but with different skills and ability levels!" and I think I may have scared her a little with the ideas that I was firing off.  And it so made me feel normal again.  The bulletin board paper and the pocket charts and the Mailbox books.  It brought me back and made me miss teaching for sure.

But then I remembered staff meetings.

And ARC meetings.

And ridonkulous emails about nothing.

And the eleventy million changes that took place daily that were all allegedly for the greater good.

And how I was constantly guilted into doing any and everything because, you know, it was "for the kids."

And early morning duty.

And lack of discipline at the administrative level that caused mass chaos at times.

And professional development days.  {Praise JESUS that I don't have to go to useless trainings anymore!}

Suddenly I didn't miss teaching nearly as much anymore!  But I left that teacher's store so inspired to make all of these awesome games and resources to go along with what I do now.  And I'm super pumped to start working on it and sharing it with you all!  Tonight is like a normal night: TV, popcorn, clip art, fun fonts, and creating.  First time I've dusted off my fun fonts and clip art in a LOOONNNGGG time.  I am ready to use a font other than Times New Roman again {and all God's teacher bloggers said, "AMEN!"}. 

I feel like I need to change my name from Ms. Preppy's Adventures in Primary and Polka Dots to Ms. Preppy's Adventures in ABA and Polka Dots...but that doesn't sound nearly as good...  What's a girl to do?!

Holly Bloggy Christmas: Part Deux

Here we are again!  It's mid-November and after some arm twisting Sarah and I are back and ready to spread Christmas cheer through the teaching blog land!

We're going all thematic on you this year with Holly Bloggy Christmas 2012: My Favorite Things!

<div class="Holly-Bloggy-Christmas-button" style="width: 150px; margin: 0 auto;"> <a href="http://www.teacherbloggerexchange.blogspot.com"> <img src="http://i1081.photobucket.com/albums/j352/mspreppyblog/hollybloggychristmas1.png" alt="Holly Bloggy Christmas" width="150" height="150" /> </a> </div> <!--end button code box-->

I know you can't hardly wait to use your Oprah voice and give your partner a brand!new!MAC lip gloss!  {I think that everyone should video themselves packing their partner's gift and using their Oprah voice.  Seriously.  How fun, right?!  Bonus points to anyone who actually does it for their reveal post.}

All of the details are over at the Teacher Blogger Exchange blog, but here are some basics:

Sign ups start right now and end on November 26th.  So get signed up and spread the word so that no one can say they didn't hear we were doing it!

You will pack up a super fab gift for your partner with all of YOUR favorite things (a $15 limit, not including shipping)!  I mean, I don't know how anyone lives without Dr. Jart's BB Cream, but I'm sure some of you have never tried it.  And that's a shame.  So that's what I might share with my partner.  And then she would wonder how she lived before I introduced her to it and she would be so grateful for having me as her partner!  Basically, we are going to change the world with Holly Bloggy Christmas this year.  {more like boost the economy with all of the product addictions that are sure to occur after we open our gifts...}

Make sure that you take a picture {or video a la Oprah!  I'm serious, people.  Bonus points.} before you send out your gift so that you can write a post for our linky party on Christmas day.

This is probably the most important part: mail your gift by December 10th and get a shipping confirmation.  Everyone MUST send us a shipping confirmation number.  We don't like getting emails saying someone's gift never came.  It makes us so sad.  You don't want us to be sad, do you?  There's an easy solution--send us the confirmation so that we can send it on to your partner to ease their minds! 

Then the worst part happens.  You have to wait until Christmas to open your special gift.  NO peeking!

On Christmas day, everyone will link up a post you write about your favorite things that you sent to your partner.  Go ahead and show your partner some bloggy love with a link to their blog too!

Oh wait, there's more!

We are also offering the opportunity to sponsor a giveaway during the exchange.  If you would like to give away one of your favorite things (must have a value of at least $10), please email us along with a guest post {include your blog button, store links, information about you} about your favorite thing.  Email this by November 26th too!

All Holly Bloggy emails should go to teacherbloggerexchange{at}gmail{dot}com.

Long time gone...

Has it really been since July?!  No way!

That's a long time, my friends.

Wait.

Do I even still have any friends out here in blog land?

Oh, I hope so.

I've been completely immersed in a completely different world for the past few months.  Gone are the days of RTI and PBS and SST and Aimsweb and morning duty and discipline notices...  Now I toss around words like latency and frequency and duration and ABLLS and LRFCC and VB-MAPP and cumulative graph. {Anybody else out there into Applied Behavior Analysis?!}  And my non-teacher friends and family had JUST learned all of my teacher lingo.  Now they're back at square one trying to learn ABA lingo.  Bless their hearts for trying to keep up with me.

I'm back in school {surprise, surprise!} earning my board certification in behavior analysis {so I can go work with the FBI in the BAU...} and I'm also supervising two clinics.  So needless to say, I've been a smidge busy and my little blog has been very neglected.  Today I started missing my blog and jumped on here and saw that people still read it.  What?!  Shocking, I know.  So I thought I'd pop in and say HI!  I have missed all of you fabulous people.  I have to start blogging and pinning again!  I'm starting to type in default fonts only and well, that just can't continue to happen.  I am not a Times New Roman kind of girl, but I'm afraid I'm becoming one in the absence of my super fab teacher friends.  I need an intervention! 

I also realized that it is November.  And that starting up Holly Bloggy Christmas again slipped my mind.  Last year we started taking sign ups a lot earlier than this.  Think there's still time to make it work?!  Any ideas for a quick swap?  That was one of my favorite parts of last Christmas!  Thoughts?

I've Got My Eye on U {Review & Giveaway!}

I recently came across these absolutely adorable bracelets called Eye on U Bands.  Look how cute they are:

They're so fun and colorful!  They were designed to promote positive relationships and traits among kids.  Each band has a different color and meaning.  For example, the yellow one is called "Lucky Duck Yellow" and should be shared with a friend to wish them good luck on a test or game.  How cool is that?!  Kids love trading these with their friends and using them to encourage each other.  I let some of my kiddos trade these bands for a week and they absolutely LOVED them.  It was so great to see them encouraging each other and picking out the different colors to give to their friends.  It created such a positive environment!

Guess what?!  The awesome people over at Eye on U Bands are giving away a set of 6 bands to one lucky winner!

Here's how you can enter this fun giveaway:
-Like Eye on U Bands on Facebook.  (Mandatory entry)
-Head over to their website and check out the different color bands.  Then comment and tell us which band you would share with your best friend and why.
-Follow me on Facebook.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
This giveaway will close on Saturday, July 7th at midnight.  I will announce the winner on Sunday, July 8th.  

Disclaimer: I received this product free of charge in exchange for an honest review on my blog.  The opinions expressed in this post are my own and may differ from others.  This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook.

Blog Swap and Hop!

I don't know about you, but I'm super excited about today's Blog Swap and Hop!  You can find me over at The Convenient Teacher today!

I was so excited to have the opportunity to post on Ms. Preppy.  I love Caitlin's blog and when I made the arrangements for this blog swap, I sorta, might have, selected myself to go onto her blog because I love it so much.  But then, it came time to write my post.  I froze.  I blanked.  Not only do I have big shoes to fill, but now she's an ABA therapist.   That means that I should talk about behavior management or something, right?    Well, I've done a couple of those lately, and I'm kinda tapped out.  So, I tried to brainstorm for some common ground.

Organization!  Doesn't it seem like no matter what, we all could be better organized?  When I was student teaching, my cooperating teacher used folders to keep herself organized.  She had a different folder for every day and she would store things in those folders.  I loved that idea!  I decided to use letter trays myself.  I have a different tray for each day, and since they come in packs of 3, I have a spare one for long term files.  My desk is still a disaster, but it's the best system I could think of.  I created some file folder labels for you if you'd like to try that system out.  I have a black and white one and a pink and green one since I know color printing isn't always an option for some people.  And they're polka dots because, well, I'm a big fan of polka dots!  Click on the pictures to download the file.

Last year, I started the year with a calendar that I wrote to do lists on.  Then I started using little yellow pads.  No matter what, I never could keep a system going.  I had post it notes all over the computer with reminders.  I don't want to be a disorganized mess this year.  My position is changing and it won't be as crazy (please don't let it be as crazy!) and so I've resolved to be clean and organized!  I created this weekly sheet that I think may help me.

Again, I created a color version and a black and white version.  I like having a To Do list because I love crossing things off.  Don't we all?  I want to put the dates on the bottom with information on important things that week or in the next week or two.  And I want to use the follow up circle for things I need to follow up on from previous weeks.  Plus, there's a little bit of space left over for notes if I need to throw a phone number or something down.  The files are images.  That way you can right-click and save the file.  Then you can paste it into Publisher, Word, or whatever program you prefer, insert a text box, and then type straight onto it.  I like to have my lists written out by hand, but I know many of you prefer the neatness of typing.  

Finally, a while back I bought myself a super fancy Erin Condren planner with some super coupons.  I hope to spend some time this year figuring it out, planning things out, and getting my money's worth.  If you haven't seen those planners, go check them out.  Tons of people love them.

I hope I've given you some resources that you can use to get organized now and for the next school year!

Tessa Maguire is a former reading teacher and differentiated instruction coach.  She currently is in a dual role administration and curriculum coaching position.  She spends her days helping her K-3 teachers find what works best for them and their students.  She blogs about the resources she finds and creates and she shares tips and strategies for effective instruction.  You can find out more information on her blog Tales from Outside the Classroom: http://talesfromoutsidetheclassroom.blogspot.com

When in Doubt: Ignore!

Now that I'm out of the classroom and working as a behavior therapist, I'm able to utilize something I've always been good at: ignoring.  It's in my job description to ignore.  Never thought that would happen!

A kid is throwing a fit?  Ignore.

Now they're waving their hands in your face?  Ignore.

And then they start banging a toy on the table?  Ignore.


I do a pretty decent amount of ignoring every day.  And the fits and noises and banging of toys are easy to ignore.  But let me tell you what's NOT easy to ignore: hilarious repetitive questions and statements.  One of my new friends frequently engages in repetitive questions and statements.  A lot.  And they typically require me to turn my head for a second while I regain composure.  On Friday we were working and all of a sudden he blurted out, "Friskies Seafood Sensations.  Feed the Senses."  And he said it just the same as the commercial.  And I had to turn away.  And then he repeated it 6 more times.  And I had to turn away.  Six. More. Times.  Here's a snippet of the commercial, just in case you want the full effect.

Can you imagine having to ignore that?  It was hard!  I'm getting better at the whole no smiling or laughing thing. But I still have some work to do.

What's the funniest thing you've had to ignore in your classroom?  Or the funniest thing you should have ignored, but couldn't control your laughter?

What a {first} day!

It's been about two weeks since starting my new job as an ABA therapist (applied behavior analysis), and I must say...it's a blast!  It's also probably the closest I'll ever get to being a behavior analyst a la Criminal Minds.  I'll take what I can get.  And here's what I've got:

Six kids on my caseload.

Yes.  Six.  Let's compare that to the 90 kids I tackled each day as a teacher.  No comparison, right?  I don't even see all six kids in one day.  Usually just 2 or 3 of them.  I love it. They range in age from 3-17.  And they're all very interesting characters.  I'll share some stories later.  Right now I wanted to tell you a bit about my first day of work:

As I was gathering my things to head out the door and to the office, I got a phone call saying my first kid cancelled.  Great!  First kid on my first day cancels on me!  She hadn't even met me yet and she didn't want to come.  Now that she knows me, I'm sure she doesn't want to miss a session...

Then my next kiddo showed up, we get to know each other {which was interesting considering he's non-verbal and doesn't know any signs yet either} and I quickly discovered he loved to swing.  LOVED to swing.  Even more than that, he loved to SPIN on the swing.  We spun and spun and spun and do you know where this is going?  Why yes, you're right, he did throw up!  Success!

You know what they say... it ain't over til the cute little blondie throws up on his new therapist.  Wait, do they say that?  Well, they do now.  So luckily the day was over after I had a brush with barf.  Now it was time to learn all about the paper work that comes with this new job.  I was sitting in my rolling chair in the office and bent over to plug in my laptop when all of a sudden...BAM!  I was in the floor.  Yes.  That's right.  I completely flipped out of my chair and onto the floor, scraping and bruising my arm on the way down in front of two of my new co-workers.  We decided it would be best to trade my rolling chair in for a chair with four stable legs so I wouldn't be a liability.  It's been two weeks and I still stay away from rolling chairs.

So, yeah...  That was my first day.  Cancellations, vomit, and injuries.  Some people may look at that and think, hmmm...is that a sign?  But me, I love crazy.  It makes for good stories.