A Small Sample of Us: Warm Heart

This week is my first full week back at work and Reed's first full week at daycare. Things seem to be going ok so far. He's apparently had a few reallly fussy days and the ladies are crediting it to gas. I don't doubt that some of it is related to gas, but looking at his "report card" I think it's more related to fatigue. He doesn't sleep as much at daycare and is usually pretty tuckered out by the time we get him home.

Work is going well. Today was a really good day. Our students took a test when they first started that measured their education level across a national average. Most of them tested around a 6th grade level for reading and math (these are 17-21 year olds). This week they are taking the test again to measure their growth at the mid-year point. Each student has a goal of having advanced at least 1 grade level in the two subjects. Each student on my caseload who I got a chance to talk to has scored higher this time than last. One student in particular scored 30 points higher in reading! This is an improvement of at least 3 grade levels! I'm especially proud of this student because he has come a very long way. I've invested A LOT of time working with him to keep him engaged and emotionally stable. It was so special to see how excited he was to come and tell me of his acheivement. I awarded him with some "Shearwater Bucks" (monetary system they can use to buy from the school store), I bragged on him in front of some other students to my supervisor, and I called his mom to let her know how awesome this accomplishment was.

Another touching moment occured when a new student was giving my co-worker some major attitude. A couple of our older students were in the room to witness it and when the new student walked out they immediately began saying that she had no right to talk to us that way and that they were about to slap her. One said "No one talks to our TRS (transition and resource specialist) that way. We would never do that so who does she think she is?" It was just so sweet to see how much they value their relationships with us. It warmed my heart.

If you're not familiar with where I work, check it out: http://www.shearwatereducation.org/

Here are some pics of whats happening in the Sample household this week:

Mom and Reed chilin