holiday madness special edition

The last week of school before winter break (or any break, really) is always a tough time for us teacherly folk, but it's equally hard on the kids. Here's the issues that I've faced in the last week.

First of all, almost everything can be blamed on the fact that there's the vast alterations to the schedule that occur during the month of December. We try to minimize the impact of schedule deviations on our students to the extent that we can (the nice thing about a self-contained classroom is that to some extent bell schedules can be ignored), but any change is always difficult. Kids don't do well with change adjustments in general, and kids in Special Ed, do even less well. When you add Autism to the mix, that just makes for a lot of discontent when the school day doesn't flow in its usual predictable way. Our students do not do well when the schedule gets all wonky before winter break. Most get unsettled or anxious about it, and ask repeatedly when things are going to happen. Many get cranky and aren't shy about letting you know how they feel about having the rug pulled out from under them. Others totally flip out and have meltdowns. Why? The weekly schedule is the master of all routines, and provides a soothing backdrop of stability and security which many students grow to rely on to provide some sense of meaning and structure to their lives at school. Many of our students couldn't tell you the time, or day of the week, but they can follow the schedule like pros--provided that it stays the same. So when you start tinkering with the timing of the periods, or changing lunch times, they show their displeasure by acting out. That's about as fun as it sounds.

Another source of drama is the whole excitement of the upcoming holidays. On one hand, it's exciting and fun, but on the other, it creates some anxiety for some of our kids. Many enjoy the rituals; others find them stressful or overstimulating. Since home situations also vary widely, holidays can either be joyous or miserable for our kids. Some can look forward to family trips and parties and gifts. Others will experience domestic violence or will be lucky if their nutritional needs are met.

Another issue is school parties and functions. In December, people tend to throw parties. Don't get me wrong. I love a party as much as the next person, but there's some issues to consider as well. From a staff perspective, it's kind of annoying that you can't attend any of the staff events--because invariably most take place during the school day. If you're lucky enough not to be completely ignored (a common problem in Special Ed), you'll get invited to potlucks and such, which sounds great, but it's nearly impossible to attend these kinds of things if they fall during the school day. For most of the rest of the building, you have either common planning periods or lunches that you can use for these kinds of functions. But in self-contained Special Ed, there's the need for almost constant supervision...so only a portion of the staff is ever free at the same time. After all, someone ALWAYS has to be with the kids...so inevitably, only some people get to attend. The best solution, really is to have these things before or after school when there aren't kids in the building.

But in spite of all the madness, we do have manage to have fun in our own little world. People do stop by and visit and bring us treats. We take care of each other, and have fun planning stuff to do with our students. We have our own parties, and involve our students in school happenings to the extent that we can. And even though it's crazy and stressful sometimes, December can be a really fun time to be working in a school setting.