Week 10

I feel like my journals are always so dramatic, but today was definitely exceptional. During third period Ms. O was doing some tidying up near the door while the kids were taking a test and she saw police officers and EMT's running down the hall to the Special Ed room across the hall. One of the police officers told her to move her kids away from the hall. Ms. O very calmly took the kids out the side entrance and let them go early for lunch. She came back and we stood by the doorway to figure out what was happening. Then the EMT's came by with B., a fully paralyzed student with full mental capacity but no way to communicate, on the stretcher with an EMT performing CPR on her. She appeared as though she had passed. We went to the special ed teachers across the hall to try and console them (we eat lunch with them every day). They explained that B. had stopped breathing and turned blue before they noticed since she can't speak or move to let them know something is wrong. The immediately called 911 and got the school nurses down as they tried to get a tube down her throat to open the airway, but it was shut tight. They did CPR for 30 minutes until the EMT's arrived and even tried the defibrillator. We all believed she was dead. She had a life expectancy of 2 years, so the fact she made it to 20 was a miracle. It was such a strange period of time. Ms. O was very upset because she is so close with all the special ed students, other teachers were either crying, nonstop talking, or silent. I was glad that we had lunch next to cool down, but it was still hard to go to 5th period and try and teach while some students had caught wind of the situation or were there or were oblivious. It was hard not to talk about it with them. Luckily, we did get news later that period that she had survived. She was stable at Riley's. We still don't think she'll be okay. Having no oxygen for 30 minutes will definitely result in brain damage and you wonder about the quality of life she already had was severely limited and now this could lower it even more. What makes me nauseous is thinking about the panic she must have felt when she couldn't communicate she was dying. Trapped in your own body. Just gross. So that totally shook us for the whole day. It really was a wake up call for me though. Like we literally are responsible for their lives. Definitely will make me take CPR training a lot more seriously (not that I wouldn't in the first place, but this definitely shifted my perspective). Also the first time I've ever seen someone in a life threatening situation.

Then, after that horrific experience, a strange thing happened. An art teacher had found a girl in the bathroom, sitting on the ground, after a girl from her class told her that she was worried for her. The art teacher went to check on her and found out that she didn't even go to Fishers, she was an 8th grader. The girl didn't tell her her last name and didn't want to go to the dean's office. So the teacher told her to contact her father to pick her up. The girl texted her "dad" and then the teacher asked Ms. O to walk her to the back entrance to be picked up without telling her that she wasn't a high schooler or why she was leaving. Ms. O walked her out the back doors and watch her wave at a man in a car and then get in. Afterwards the teacher told Ms. O the whole story and Ms. O was pissed. Obviously, that teacher should have immediately taken her to the main office to report the incident. But she didn't which led to a series of questionable decisions. 1.) Texting the father to pick her up? She could have texted anyone. Seriously. 2.) Again, sneaking her out the back? 3.) Didn't follow through herself, instead asked another teacher unaware of the situation to take her to the doors to make sure she was picked up 4.) therefore making Ms. O liable as the last adult to see this minor get in a car whom she has no idea who he was for sure. The whole thing was grossly mishandled and Ms. O reported it immediately. Kind of scary that any kid who looks like a student can get inside. Like two weeks ago, my mom noticed a graduated student that used to be on dance team in the halls and asked what he was doing. He told her he was helping out with another teacher's class. Apparently, he told the other teacher he said was helping my mom out and just jumped between classrooms, playing off one another. He was kicked off dance team and banned from coming to practices after he graduated because his 15 year old girlfriend on the dance team broke up with him under sketchy circumstances. My mom couldn't have an adult that flirting with teens during practice. Well apparently he just walked in the high school with out the slightest suspicion and was there for two days, stalking and harassing his girlfriend. He was taken out in handcuffs. The parents were pissed beyond belief and my mom was liable since she knew he was in the building. Thankfully she didn't get in trouble because they saw that they played two teachers against each other, but it just is scary.

Okay, now on to teaching experience during today (sorry this journal is so long). I helped Ms. O grade tests and learned how to grade essays for art classes. I thought the prompt was really interesting. I'll have to get a copy of it from Ms. O but basically it had students argue whether they believe Jewelry making is an art or a craft or both. I was able to read some of the essays and practice grading them with her rubric. It'll be good evidence for Teaching Reading and Writing once I get everything organized. Then I helped S., a special ed student I've been working with, make bracelets! I was surprised how easily she was able to manipulate the strings considering she has some trouble with fine motor skills. Here's a video of her working on her bracelet!

She loved it! I have also been put in charge of AP Drawing's final project so I'm going to be typing up a lesson plan this week! Really excited! Ms. O also sent me a very sweet text after I left for the day and reassured me that my work ethic and compassion are shining through my work at Fishers.

Last bit of info and then I'm done (I'll be surprised if you actually read this whole journal). Ms. O told me that they are definitely hiring a new art teacher for the 2018-2019 school. She said ideally the best candidate would be me by that time, but I will be student teaching in the fall of 2018. I want to talk to you in person, but I want to try and figure out some kind of loophole to make this situation work in my favor. I want this position. SO these are some options I'm going to look into that I have no background knowledge about so they may sound stupid to you but I'm just brainstorming,

Option A: See if I can take summer classes to get some of my studio courses completed. Then see if I can finagle my way into taking both blocks of classes in the TEP during fall semester so I can student teach in the spring.

Option B: Split up my student teaching? Do a few weeks of student teaching at the end of the spring semester since school lets out in the beginning of June to complete the observation time and then do my couple weeks of solo teaching while I'm employed under an emergency license. Or see if my hours through mentorship count as supervised student teaching hours and do my solo student teaching as a hired employee or long term sub.

Option C: Get hired as a long term sub for the fall semester since I don't need a license, complete my student teaching through my job, and then get hired for the spring semester.

Option D: Convince them to hire a long term sub for the fall semester while I student teach and then take over in the spring.

I don't know if any of these are viable. I know a friend who student taught as a long term sub so maybe that's the most promising solution? I don't know. Some insight would be great because I want this so bad. I hate that the timing is just a smidge off. But I'm willing to fight for it. Help me do it! I'll talk to you on Tuesday too.

Thanks for reading!! Sorry!

Update:

I'm writing at 11:54 pm. B. passed away tonight. At least her parents were with her one last time before she was gone.