The Good, The Bad & The Ugly...

(Good) Ah-ha Moment: 
Several of my students had an opportunity to attend a job fair at the local Applebee's Restaurant.  The students asked for my assistance and support beyond just the normal reference.  I attended the job fair with them and answered their questions as they awaited their opportunity to interview on site which eased their concerns and overall nerves.  It was great to see that these students had taken what we had discussed regarding professionalism to heart.  They were prompt, dressed in slacks and collared shirts and made a effort to make a great first impression and stand out from the crowd.  They took the situation seriously and showed a great deal of self respect, and respect for me and their school to put forth their best effort.  It was also a great honor to see several students from last school year also attending the job fair with the same attitude of professionalism and respect.


 (Bad) Things to change:
 Since I am required to assign a specific number of writing prompts, I had an opportunity this past week to assign my first prompt.  After making the assignment and allowing the students time in class to complete the assignment, it became obvious that one student would not complete the writing.  She had her head down and would not work.   I spoke with the student about her behavior and asked if maybe she was ill.  She didn't give a response but their was only a few words on the paper but they did not make any sense.  I went back at that point to look for an IEP and realized that she did in fact have one.  I realized too late that I should have checked all the IEPs before making the assignment and had allowed for the different accommodations to ensure that each student can complete the task at hand. 

 (Ugly) Learning Opportunity:
While going through class procedures and expectations, I brought in real life examples and scenarios as a learning opportunity.  While I didn't mention specific students names, I did mention one of these non-examples was a "stupid act".  This caused a student to become very upset and voiced that their sibling was the student being described as a non-example.  I realized that while it was a stupid act and that administration agreed with me that it was; it was insensitive to describe it in those terms.  In the future I will make more of an effort to describe these situations in a way the students can relate too without being insensitive to those students who may be close to the situations being described.