This winter has been extreme, even by Minnesota standards. School has been cancelled 3 times because of temperatures of -30 degrees, and now a blizzard.
The Saint Paul Federation of Teachers (the union that represents me and all of my colleagues) has reached a tentative agreement with the Superintendent and School Board after 9 months of negotiations and teachers working without a contract since July 2013. Whew! We were poised to strike, which was scary. SPFT was the very first teachers union in the US to ever strike. We've done it before, and we would have done it again.
Now, on to the speech-language stuff. I love to read and listen to the experts in our field with regard to adolescents with speech and language disorders. It makes me inspired to do so much more for my kids. I mean, if you have a disorder (-2 SD in Minnesota) in language, that means you are REALLY REALLY bad at listening, speaking, reading and writing. And yet, I'm supposed to make a significant difference 30-60 minutes per week. Our Aunties (Ehren, Reed, Nippold, McKinley, etc) advocate for more intense service--a credit bearing class. This is fraught with logistical nightmares, but I am not afraid of those. I wonder if every day service can be justified. How do I establish a "need" when kids have never had the opportunity to have a Language Strategies class? It may bump many of my students into a higher federal setting, which is frowned upon. But, again, if it's successful, both parents and students would want it...
ZOINKS! VOILA! An Idea: I could take a look and see how many of my students have D's or N's in content areas (especially social studies and science because many already get support in reading and math)… If they do better in those classes after having my class, it can build the case for a need. Hmmm… OK, I'm on to something. Stay tuned. This plan is so crazy, it just might work.
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