I'm a Good Teacher, and I Still Need Help

In case you haven't heard, the new Senate plan wants to cut teacher assistants. 

This happens every year, leaving TA's wondering if they will have a job. The budget never gets passed until the very last possible second. 

But this time it seems a little more serious... 

Cut funding for TA's by 80% and make smaller class sizes for teachers.... Because some study from the 1980's said that TA's basically don't make a difference in student performance... 

Yeah.. Let's look at a study from the 1980's because school is exactly the same now as it was 30 years ago... 

So, I'm just going to share what my fabulous TA did during the 2014-2015 school year. 

Last year was my 7th year teaching 2nd second grade, but my first year in Lee County at Deep River Elementary. My past 6 years were spent in Pitt County at Grifton School. I have always had a TA for at least 2 hours per day but you can imagine my excitement when I found out I would have one almost the entire school day at Deep River. 

Let's just start from the first work days leading up to open house. My TA helped set up our classroom. She organized all of my books, laminated, moved furniture, filed papers, fixed bulletin boards, and showed me the ropes since I was new. Without her help there is no way my room or myself would have been ready for that oh so important first day of school. But this is nothing compared to what she did during the school year: 

Monitored the hallway/bathroom during morning duty, checked my box, put in the lunch count, checked folders, turned in notes from parents, turned in lunch money, recipted money for fundraisers and what not, checked homework, and helped a child with morning work. This all happened within the first 30 minutes of school. 30 minutes that I got to spend teaching! 

Let's continue: 

Assist with math by helping students with questions and helping students stay focused. Sitting with that one student and giving him one-on-one assistance because he so desperately needed it... Something I cannot do with 20 other students that need me too. Teaching a small math group during math centers (Have you read any studies about small group instruction? Because that can't happen as effectively without a TA). She also has a small reading group during our reading rotations where they practice short passages, questions, grammar, and comprehension. Praise the lord!! Now I can focus on other extremely important skills in my small group. 

Wait, a kid just got sick. She takes him to the nurse. She gets the janitor to come clean it up or SHE CLEANS IT UP HERSELF. 

A kid had a bathroom accident. She takes him to get new clothes without embarrassing him in front of the class. 

A kid had a nose bleed. She takes care of it AND writes a note to let her mother know.

A kid doesn't have shoe strings to keep his shoes on... She BUYS him some with her own money. 

A kid has an asthma attack. A kid needs to go take their medicine. A kid has a complete meltdown. The list is never ending. 

She does all of this so I can continue teaching without missing a beat. Can you imagine having to stop the entire lesson to help these students. I've had to do it several times when I didn't have a TA the majority of the day. And these things happen very often believe it or not. The time spent handling these situations adds up pretty fast. 

It's not even lunch time... 

She is pulled to go sub for another class who couldn't find a sub in time. She has even subbed for our class because my 3 year old woke up at 4 am with a fever and I couldn't find a sub in time. 

She takes the kids to the bathroom and to their resource classes so the teachers can start planning for the next week without wasting any precious time. She makes copies, files papers, displays student work, cleans desks, and STILL asks me if there is anything she can do for me. I don't think I've seen her sit down one time or take a break. 

We take the kids to lunch and she helps serve their food, get them through the line and seated, and cleans up the tray of food that was dropped on the floor. She stays in the cafeteria to monitor the students so I can have a duty free lunch. She cleans up, sweeps, wipes down all the tables, and lines up the students to get ready for the next round of kids coming to eat. She stays and does the exact same thing for them so those teachers can have duty free lunch too. 

She uses flash cards one-on-one with the kid that speaks no English at all. She gives the spelling test to the kid that was absent. She takes the class outside for recess so I can have more planning time. She helps us get packed up at the end of the day and then she leaves to DRIVE A BUS and gets our sweet babies home safely. 

And all of this happens on a good day. 

But wait! There's more!! She helps with testing (quarterly test, MClass, EOG's...) How in the world would we ever survive without our TA's!? There is no way I could do all of this and still have the time and energy to plan lessons that are rigorous and engaging. I would grow to hate my job. I would start to wonder why I even do this at all. There will still be all that I listed above with smaller class sizes. And where are all of these new teachers going to come from and where are we going to put them? We have no room as it is. North Carolina is a joke when it comes to teacher pay. What is your plan for that? 

I KNOW that my TA makes a difference in my classroom, our school, and the lives of our students. Don't use a study from the 1980's. Go visit schools. Go sit in a classroom. And most importantly, ASK US. 

Sincerely, 

A very aggravated teacher. 

A Sister is Both Your Mirror, and Your Opposite

Friday marks the 6th week since Madelyn arrived into the world and stole our hearts. Somebody once told me that if you can make it through the first six weeks then you're golden. This is very true. It has taken me about six weeks to figure her out and learn her little cries and little schedule (which is sure to change again and again). 

While we were at the hospital Madelyn didn't make a peep and didn't mind being laid down (complete opposite of Lilly). I had to wake her to feed her every two hours (complete opposite of Lilly). She only pooped about once a day (complete opposite of Lilly). When we got home she stayed really quiet and chill for about another week or two, which was great because Lilly needed LOTS of attention. I texted a friend and asked her when this baby was going to wake up and start crying. 

Around week 3 Madelyn discovered that she had lungs and could use those lungs to get milk immediately. We were at the beach during this time. I basically wore my nursing tank the whole time and fed her. This is also when I started to notice how uncomfortable she felt, especially at night. She would have one good night mixed in with a bunch of bad ones (good night for a newborn means waking every 2-3 hours... Bad night was when she would wake up and not be able to get comfortable enough to go back to sleep).

We gave her gas drops because she was so gassy at night. I totally thought that was the big issue. 

Once we got home from the beach it continued to get worse. My last blog was about finding out she had silent reflux. Since then she has done so much better and seems way more comfortable at night now. But I still felt like something was off. She made this loud clicking sound when she nursed and was still having a hard time latching and would pop on and off. 

I had heard some things about tongue and lip tie. I didn't really know how to check for that but a sweet friend in our Sunday school class did. She gave me a lot of advice and went to the nursery to have a look at Madelyn. She was asleep so it was hard to see but she said it could possibly be tongue tie and it definitely wouldn't hurt to get her checked out again. 

The next day I called her pediatrician and the lactation consultant at the hospital. The pediatrician told me to go see the LC first and then go from there. If it is tongue tie then they refer you to the ENT. So I loaded up Madelyn, Lilly, and my niece and went to the hospital. 

The first thing the LC did was weigh Madelyn. 8 lbs 10 oz!!! 8 oz more than a week ago. She checked her mouth and her tongue came way out over her bottom lip which is a great sign. Tongue tie makes it tight so they can't bring it out very far. Then she watched Madelyn nurse to make sure her tongue was in the right position, and it was! The problem was that her bottom lip was tucked under instead of out and she was getting more air that way. She showed me how to help her practice getting that lip out (stroke her tongue with my finger and pull that lip down a few times before I nurse her). After we practiced a little bit that loud clicking sound stopped but she said some babies are loud nursers. She also said to stop and burp her if she popped off while nursing (something I never had to do with Lilly). When she weighed her again she was 8 lbs 12 1/2 oz! 

I felt so relieved. It's just so funny to me because Lilly was the perfect nurser from day one and Madelyn and I have had to work at it a little more. I never thought I would have to go see a LC with my 2nd baby... I should be a pro at this right!? Not even close... and that's ok. Just goes to show you that every baby is different. 

Madelyn slept 5 hours straight that night. I love this baby. 

In Lilly news, she is really starting to love her sister. She likes to show her off and give her kisses. She has started to tune her out if she starts crying. She fussed at her in the car the other day and told her to be quiet because she couldn't hear her music. Just the beginning of back seat fussing I'm sure. I can't wait to watch them grow and bond as sisters. I think they are going to be complete opposites. :) 

 

Up All Night

Madelyn is officially 1 month old. She has done a lot in her first month here with us! 

We spent 9 days at the beach with both of our families. Lilly had a blast. It was so great to see her have so much fun. Madelyn even made it out to the beach for about 30 minutes. We just sat under the umbrella and she seemed to really enjoy the ocean breeze. She also got a few bottles while I spent some time with Lilly on the beach and playing putt putt. She did good with the bottles so hopefully she won't hate them like her sister did. In other news, I still hate pumping but I got this super awesome pump for free through my insurance! 

My niece Lindsay has also started coming over everyday to play with Lilly. She is a HUGE help. Lilly is obsessed with her and has a blast. She has also adjusted so much more to having a baby around the house. We all survived! YaY!

Madelyn has also enjoyed going to gymnastics with her sister, chick-fil-a, the lake, and other places around town. She does pretty well in the car and usually falls asleep. She does not really like a paci, just like Lilly, so if she does get fussy in the car we head for home! 

The biggest news to report is that we found out Madelyn has silent reflux. A few weeks ago she started showing some signs: coughing, gagging/choking after nursing, grunting, kicking her legs and arms out of discomfort, frequent hiccups, and having a hard time laying flat. It wasn't as obvious during the day because I held her a lot but it was very obvious at night. It got to the point where she would have a good stretch of sleep from about 9-12 and then after that she would not settle back down. I would nurse her and try to lay her back down and she would immediately start grunting and kicking, gagging, and every now and then she would spit up. I would have to hold her upright for the rest of the night. I knew something was off. She seemed like she was in pain. I took her in yesterday and the doctor agreed that she had silent reflux. The "silent" part comes in because she doesn't spit up excessively or cry so it's harder to figure out what's going on. Her weight gain has been fantastic! She now weighs 8 lbs 2 oz! She loves her milk, that's for sure! 

Madelyn now has to take Zantac twice a day. She had her first dose last night and she did SO much better. She woke up at 12, 2, and 4, nursed for a few minutes, and then went right back to sleep. No grunting or kicking or gagging. I feel so refreshed!! I hope she continues to stay pain free. Praise the lord for medicine and mommy instincts.