For several Mondays now, we have not had school - MLK, inservices, Winter break, etc. And actually there are more Mondays off coming up. And it is strange how not having a regular Monday throws the week out of whack. (And when a real Monday does show up, we say, "aack, it's really Monday!!")
Since much of teaching school has to do with routine, not having a regular Monday throws off the routine. And kids say, "What about our Monday night homework?" And you say, "Well, we won't have any Monday night homework since there wasn't a school Monday this week." And my students tend to be confused all week about it.
Not having a "real" Monday also makes the weekend seem longer and more relaxing. So when I do have to get up for a "real" Monday, it can feel oppressive. I could go for a 4 day work week - let's start lobbying!
And I got confused tonight. Yesterday was an Inservice and I went to a conference in Arcadia (at the Masonic lodge next to the library) on Asperger Syndrome. It was pretty boring and I was disappointed that it wasn't more helpful, but it was a change!
And I didn't have to be there until 8:30. And they supplied lunch and snacks. And we sat outside on the Arcadia Libray lawn to eat our box lunches. And afterwards, since there was a lot of congestion in the parking lot, I went and browsed in the "Friends of the Arcadia Library" shop - and found a great recording - on vinyl - of the Weavers singing lots of cool Pete Seeger stuff - and it was only 60 cents!
And on the way home I stopped at the LDS Bookstore and browsed. Then hit the 99 Cents store and found these great strawberries for 99 cents a box - and ran into Jane Andrews from the Nursery School.
And came home to the fact that Dawn was there fixing dinner for all of us!!
Gotta love a Monday off!!
P.S. I got confused tonight when Harry went off for basketball - I was waiting for FHE to start!
P.P.S. The photo may seem to have nothing to do with the post - but if I had every Monday off, I bet I'd spend a lot of them either with my wonderful grandkids, or planning how to spend time with my wonderful grandkids, or making things for my wonderful grandkids, or writing letters to my wonderful grandkids, or maybe starting up a blog featuring my wonderful grandkids!! And it all started with Ara!
5 comments:
Do you have any kids in your class with Asperger's? If you do are any of them really smart but just don't have very good executive function? I'm just looking for ideas to help with Toby. Maybe you have some suggestions.
I too wish we had a 4 day work/school week. It seems that Saturday is spent working, doing errands, cleaning and yard work; then Sunday is spent on Sunday. It would be terrific to have Monday as a relaxation day.
I think I have your email address in my archives - I can send you my take on the whole Asperger scene - I do have 2 students with identified Asperger - and two I think are unidentified! I've never heard the companion deficits referred to poor executive function - that's a nice term. My kids are very socially inept in addition to their very poor organizational and focusing skills. And two of them are hard to love - but the other two are very sweet and charming.
You probably would have enjoyed the speaker - she used lots of examples of the characteristics she was explaining - but a room full of teachers already knows all that - we just want the successful interventions! It probably made parents feel good to know their kids were in such good company!
That's Ella, not Ara, in the picture.
Maybe you knew that.
I am confused by the whole Ara/Ella in the pictures where they are by themselves. Together I can tell the difference - a good case for labeling all photos with dates - because with dates, I would know who was who!!
Another reason why I need to get my scrapbooks done - the longer the pictures sit around, the greater the probability that I will label them incorrectly!
Of course, now that I study it carefully, I can see Ella's expression!
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