SMILE

I just feel like doing a mini post quickly. This week has really been a good week for me personally. I've had some health issues I'm getting checked out tomorrow, but everything else has been pretty good. I actually feel happy to go to work. For whatever reason something just clicked inside me regarding my job. I genuinely care for the kids I work with. The classroom works as a 1:1 setting working individually with the kids to teach them both academic and practical skills. My classroom is the lowest functioning group of kids who function at around pre-k/kindergarten level despite all being teenagers. While they may not be able to appropriately communicate or talk to us, they still have a ton of personality and are absolute sweethearts. We're each "paired" with a child, which means we consistently work with them on a daily basis. This helps us to really get to know the child and their behaviors and patterns. I've worked with all 4 kids in my classroom, but I ultimately ended up with the lowest functioning kid. I suppose we'll call him Burger, which is a name we use for him around the classroom. He makes me smile every day and I absolutely love him with all my heart. He's hit me and gotten aggressive, but I know it's only because he can't express himself and he gets frustrated. I could gush about him for a long time but I'll spare you for now. My coworkers are also amazing. There are 4 of us total in the classroom - one head teacher and three paraprofessionals who help implement treatment/behavioral plans and assist with individual teaching. The teacher is very sweet and the other para's are just as nice. Just yesterday my face hurt from laughing so much. We all help each other out and vent about work and look out for each other. One of them made us some homemade food and brought in a small hotplate to heat it up in since we don't have a microwave. We might be a chaotic classroom with some wild kids, but it's a classroom of love and support. Burger and I were alone alone in the classroom for a little while today while I was doing some classroom prep and he was on an iPad watching YouTube videos and a song came on. I started singing along and he got up and jumped around so we had a little dance party while I sang along. It's those moments that make me truly happy. I didn't ever see myself getting into the field of special education, but I'm glad I ended up here. Even if I don't end up making it a career, the memories I'm making are ones I'll cherish forever.

Here's Burger and I's dance party song. It's a pretty catchy tune and I've caught myself a few times humming along to it in my head. Hopefully it makes someone else smile.

Smile