Bloodborne pathogens

The child with AIDS didn’t know he had AIDS. I found out when he had been hospitalized and a home/hospital teacher came to pick up work for him. That teacher told me that it had taken such a long time to get a teacher because Peanut had AIDS. I didn’t know that it was legal to tell people. I still don’t. His parents had died and his very affectionate grandmother was raising him. He was smaller than the other third graders and his friends called him Peanut. Because he was frequently absent from school, his grades were not very good. But he was a cheerful and willing student. The day I learned he had AIDS I went home and cried a great deal.

The next year I taught fourth grade and I had Peanut in my class again. I was careful to teach students universal precautions in the first week of school. Universal precautions is the term used to cover how one should deal with blood borne pathogens. Universal precautions tell us that we should treat everyone as if they had a disease like hepatitis b, or AIDS because one could never be sure they didn’t. In urban Baltimore that was even more important, and in my classroom, at least one bloodborne pathogen was a certain possibility.

One October it seemed that my worst fears were realized. Another student came running into the classroom with Peanut. Peanut was holding his arm out, dripping red.

“Peanut’s been stabbed!” the student shouted.

“Don’t touch it,” was my first response and I moved to push the other student out of reach.

Then he and Peanut started to laugh.

“It’s Halloween blood!’ they exclaimed.

It took me a few seconds for the information to soak into my panicking head. The blood was fake, it certainly had fooled the teacher, and the teacher’s reaction was certainly gratifying to the practical jokers.

thoughts on our school system's non-policy

I was able to recycle plastic for our school on only one day. Then our maintenance guy must have mentioned something because he was told that his people could no longer put out bags or, so I’m told, even lift bags. Now, I’ll bring in bags and at least collect plastic and aluminum from what kids I can.
It’s less the plastic waste (which IS considerable) that bothers me as much as the hypocrisy we practice when we teach kids that recycling and conservation is important. Our actions show that we really don’t care very much. So I want to do what I can to show by my own actions that I and a few others DO care enough to go through some trouble to recycle.
I get irate over apathy and lack of concern for our planet’s environment. It makes me feel like grabbing a sign and starting a blog/newspaper/TV campaign and complaining. But I think that while it may bring out some concerned citizens, it wouldn’t create any newly concerned citizens. I really am not a charismatic sort of person. The best I could do to transform hearts is to act as a teacher of children, which is something I’m good at.

a letter to my coworkers

Dear co-workers, Dear teachers that I am assistant for,

       Today I've been appreciating how great it is that you have so much diversity in your little team. You are each so different and yet so strong as teachers. Our students are really fortunate to have you for a year (or two). You show them how to love the disciplines you present and you show them with kindness - the kindness that teachers show that is so rare in other parts of our world.

        I also appreciate how you use your human resources ... the assistants and aides and interns that come your way. What a three ring circus you face every day. You are truly gifted with your patience and the ability to think of several things at once. Sometimes, like today, I just have to reflect in awe.

         Finally I marvel at how well you work as a team, without losing your individuality. It's great to be working with you.

Our new school year

I tried to embed this video, but was not successful.
The man giving the introduction is a former music teacher, our new county school superintendent!!!
Between our new school principal and our new superintendent, I'm a pretty happy employee. Now if I could make enough money to pay my bills....

Your tax dollars at work- I have one student

Actually I'm not as disgruntled as people usually are about tax dollars. I'm quite grateful to have a job and I hope my ONE student is happy to be having intensive tutoring in biology. She's a really nice kid and deserves the extra attention. 

I'm learning as we go, too. Biology, the science of life, is really really awesome. If this human science can be so complex and beautiful, doesn't it boggle the mind to think about the Giver of Life?

Goodness a week has gone by since the last blog entry. And I have had time ... but filled it well. Forgive me if I'm saying what I've said before. My life may be more of the same on paper. 

I've been putting together flashcards for teaching remedial biology. The students will have 20 hours to relearn or learn about seventh grade and high school biology. The week after their two weeks with me they will retake the HSA biology which is required for high school graduation. (And I thought New York State Regents' exams were tough!) So I figure the best thing I can do is help them bone up on terminology. Hmmm... I do that a lot when I teach math too.

Speaking of math. I have not gotten any invitations to job interviews. Is there a black mark next to my name? Still I feel very strong promise in that direction.

What's on my mind today is how I want to make as much as my church "fellowship" activities as much an outreach activity as possible. That's the idea of music on the porch or eating out at foreign restaurants (besides liking the interesting foods). I suppose that's a recurring theme too.

I mustered enough energy to get to praise group practice last night. And it really charged me up. Not yet, but someday I'll join the group during church. Maybe within the year. I'm really learning a lot. 

Florence Christoplos

The previous post from Jo Ann reminds me of one of the best teachers I've had (I can't say EVER had because I had many many best teachers). I took as many of her courses for special education teachers as I could, and one was a course on teaching aesthetics. There's no special gimmic to teaching special ed, but Dr. Christoplos taught us many very basic things.

One involved teaching the elements of art using post cards. I used this with my inner city third graders and then took a few of them to the big art museum in D.C. They were able to wow surrounding strangers by walking into an exhibit and identifying the works with the artist's name. In some cases, they were able to describe which period the works were created. I had so much fun with this, that I brought my cards whenever I was visiting an art museum, even with adults. And a visit to the museum gift shop helped me expand my collection.

Here's a hint of what we did.

I'd start with very different works. Say, Audubon and Picasso. I'd say "Sort the cards into Audubon and Picasso. ... How did you know the difference?" Then I'd do the cards like flashcards which would give the kids practice saying the artists' names. Then I'd add another artist, say Rembrandt, and go through the process again. We would describe the differences ... subject matter, lighting, medium, perspective, choice of colors. Then I might introduce another work by one of the familiar artists and have the student guess who the artist might be.

Here is a work by Monet.



Can you find another painting by Monet?
(show the following post cards)






If the student chooses the wrong one, you might make a comment like "Oh that is a Matisse. I love the way its figures are kind of flat, and how there are fabric patterns and natural objects going this way and that in different directions and making your eye dance all round the picture." Such comments open the way to a later matching of Matisses.

What I like about this sort of teaching is that I didn't have to learn a whole lot of stuff before I started teaching. All I needed was the artist's name on the back of the post card, and maybe a date. The student can discover things that the teacher hasn't noticed, and each person can find his way through the art in a unique way.

Jo Ann elaborates

Oh yes, you fill in the blanks so very well! Would it be ok if I put this in my blog?

On May 17, 2007, at 1:50 PM, Jo Ann wrote:

Your blog mentions that we had some times together, but you couldn’t remember exactly what. This is my account of the story:

Early in 1992, we met in a Friday night OA meeting at Woods. You had come back after being away for some time. I added your number to my list of members, called you as good OA’ers do, and talked about what I was experiencing in OA. Of course that was all about my higher power, Who I had become friends with during my early OA years in the late 70’s. During that period in the 70’s through OA meetings, He had helped me to learn about Him and how much He loved me, and helped me to overcome drugs and alcohol. And then again in the early 90’s He had helped me to loose 86 pounds living a “fasted” life. We met at the Indian restaurant for lunch sometime around that time; you were working on a grant somewhere in the city around Baltimore Street. Later I met you when you were working at the Science Center, where you taught me about fractals.

That spring, at dinner after a Friday night meeting, you encouraged a few of our OA associates and me to go to DC to the Art Museum. You met us a Fuddruckers in Annapolis, and there taught us about art – by matching postcards. I was so excited and impressed, that I went to work and told Mark about how interesting you made art to be. Mark had taken an art course when he was in Loyola and got though it, but wasn’t too thrilled with it. So I talked him and you into meeting together; you doing the postcard thing (I love that). And off we three went to DC to the Art Museum. He still says to this day that you were responsible for his knowledge and appreciation of art (and mine).

Later, we three went to the Walter’s Art Gallery to see a Monet exhibit, and Mark brought his niece, Jessica (I think once again, you did the post card thing for Jess). Before the gallery, we went to the Indian restaurant for dinner. Unbeknownst to you, Jess was graduating from high school, and had been toying with the idea of becoming a teacher. Mark and his family were trying to talk her out of it, but after meeting you, she made her decision to become one, and has carried that out. She told Mark, “you have lived your life, Uncle Mark, and now I have to live mine.”

Before you moved to S__, you had a fancy for bluegrass, and first I, and then Mark and I, went to hear you and some others “pick and grin.” Around that same time, I met you and a friend at a “center for handicapped” one day, and tried to play the piano along with you. Later you moved to S__, and around 2001, you came and spent the night with me on your way to a bluegrass concert of some kind. Since you moved to S__, Mark and I had to do an audit there, and we were able to meet you for dinner at a great Mexican restaurant and have a wonderful evening together with you then. In 2002, God had me go into real estate so I could sell your condo. He must have, because that was the only sale I made.