This morning I had a choice! I was offered a placement in a middle school classroom or an elementary classroom. It was a struggle to decide, especially so early in the morning! I went with elementary and ended up being placed as a kindergarten aide again (it seems to be my specialty). When I got to the school I was surprised to learn that I was in a PDD classroom (autism spectrum kids). I figured the substitute coordinator would tell me when I was in a special classroom like that, but she left that out for some reason.
It was hard to know where to be or what to do. The teacher normally has three aides, so a total of four adults, with seven children. She was pretty busy handling the two most difficult kids and didn't often give me any specific instructions. I ended up keeping the highest functioning kids focused on something and provided a helping hand with the harder kids when needed.
Almost no instruction happened at all. These kids are learning basic socialization rules and two didn't have much language. They had a hard time transitioning from activity to activity, and needed help with everything. I did a lot of "move over here", "put your arm in the sleeve", "sit quietly", "remember your quiet voice", "lets stay focused on your work", etc. The day went by pretty fast and I didn't feel like I was that helpful but the teacher was really grateful when I left.
On another note, I was offered a long term sub position in the high school and I accepted. I haven't decided what I'm going to do with the blog yet so I'll let you know tomorrow. It would be cool to contrast a long term position with per diem work, but I might not update with as much frequency. Tomorrow will be my last day in a random classroom for a little while.
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