Okay, so my goal tonight is to quickly reflect on the day. I am pleasantly surprised at how smoothly my second day with Zack's new team members has gone. Working with positive, hard-working people like I have all year (it was smooth at the beginning, too--they are all wonderful) makes everything a breeze! So I learned more about braille this morning than I've learned all year. Apparently, there are now different "levels" of braille. "First grade" braille leaves words like "what" or "this" with consonant digraphs (pairs of consonants) spelled just like in English with one symbol per letter. Apparently, "second grade" braille combines the two letters in a consonant digraph (like the w and h) into one symbol. . .interesting, isn't it?! I need to dig in and start doing some research as to why it is taught separately. Also, each number is really a letter with a "number" braille mark before it. . .so a one and an "a" (maybe an a. . .I don't know!) are brailled the same except for an identifying initial mark. The vision team tells me how quickly Zack is learning these braille symbols, and they are amazed by his retention and memory. I wish I knew more so I could watch him learn. . .I guess that should be my mission!
I watched Zack interact with the kids today, and a different child (a girl again) chose him for a partner today. I'm curious now--are the girls more drawn to him, or is it just that I have more girls in my class and notice them more? Zack's behavior has been super these past few days. I haven't had to argue with him about bathroom breaks, and he's not making the disruptive sounds during class that he did in the beginning. I'm trying to really praise that behavior when I see it so it will hopefully become the norm.
Okay, in order to stick to my promise of keeping it short and sweet, I am going to close out. I think it will be easier for me to write a little every day rather than a mini novel every few days. :)
PS One last thought. . .I have Zack doing regular classroom jobs just like the other kids. He is the calendar helper and the caddy leader (in charge of moving the table's supply caddy to and from the table throughout the day) this week. It has been fun to see him be such a seamless part of our classroom community!
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Great idea to give him classroom responsibilities. That is a good way to make him into an integral part of the classroom. Needless to say, that it also builds a sense of responsibility.
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