Launching Week Two: Sneaxing Around (slowly)

Test run ^ (photo by bink). Yesterday I sewed Sneax the Fox onto a hair band to hang on my backback.

Lots of students clip toys onto their bags (or their belt loops, etc.).
I kept saying I wanted one, last week, and one of my coworkers--one I do not feel entirely in sympathy with--asked if I was trying to be like the students.
"No," I said, "I just want a toy with me."

(I've already shown a girlette to some people. I don't mean that as a test, but of course it does function that way--the coworker who showed active interest has my utmost respect. But people don't lose respect if they are neutral toward toys--not everyone is receptive to Toy Spirit.)

I'm happy to start Week Two, but I didn't sleep well last night. My dreams were ruffled.
I mention this because I don't share PG Wodehouse's (and Auntie Vi's) stiff-upper-lip philosophy:
I feel better knowing that people go to work on Monday mornings not as well-rested as they'd like, so I mention that I'm in that situation.

Though I still woke up at 5 o'clock. I got up, figuring I'd benefit more from morning blogging w/coffee than I would from sleeping till the last minute. Can't redo a restless night anyway.

And I'm fine, I'm not really tired:
I had a refreshing weekend, seeing people, doing laundry, grocery shopping at ALDI, going outside in the warm sun, and lots of time reading in my comfy chair.
Three-day weekends are the way to go.

Luckily, support staff gets lots of days off. There's another short week in four weeks--leading into spring break, so that's a full ten days off in a row. Unpaid, but for me, the higher pay more than covers these breaks.

I was thinking I might take a trip...
What?
So indulgent!

I'd been saying for a long time that I couldn't reenter the middle classes after life in SlobKnob Alley, but it's been pretty effortless, really.
Teaching jobs are middle-class. Teachers take vacations! Moderate ones. But my former coworkers did not. They'd take the bus long distances (to Mississippi! or the Mexican border) to visit relatives, but they didn't travel just for the fun of it.

But school itself is not middle class.
I mean, students are not free agents--the frikkin' building doors are locked. How is this even legal?
(Also, this is bonkers. The doors are supposed to automatically unlock if there's a fire or other emergency--but are they fail safe? There're close to 2,000 people in this old building... I think of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.)

And these are not rich kids, they are more likely to be children of people I saw at the store.
(My youngest coworker, in fact, had gone to this high school--and dropped out. "School's not for me," he said, and now I see why.)

BUT... I am happy to go there this morning.
I've been thinking of a coupla things I can try.
In art class, I'm going to ask the student if they want to make birthday cards for the two teachers (besides me) who have birthdays this week.
It not, that's fine.
It's a genuine ask.

My teaching philosophy is shaping up. Like my philosophy of leading activities with people with Alzheimer's (which I did in 2015), it's all about respecting individual choice, especially for people who don't have much choice (or respect).

I'm a little astonished (foolishly) at how little school lines up with what I've read about best practices for autistic students--some (not all) do not filter out sensation the way neurotypicals do.
(See also: It's a Pie, not a Line for a visual model of autism.)

At any rate, however you process stimuli, school is the opposite of calm:
NOISE, people talking around you and to you, videos and music playing during classes; LIGHT from fluorescents and huge windows; visual CLUTTER everywhere...; MOTION coming at you all the time; lots of BODIES in small spaces; and, I'm not particularly sensitive to SMELLS, but I imagine they are all up in our noses.

Efforts are made--especially in special ed spaces, but the school's entire architecture--physical and mental--would have to change for this not to be the case.
There are some places set aside where students can go to be quiet, and some of the students wear "ear defenders"--noise cancelling headphones.

Wouldn't it be nice to have a community garden?

The other thing I want to do--if possible--is to pull a couple students, one at a time, from a particularly busy class and meet with them in a quiet place. I don't know if I can take students out, but at any rate, I want to get to know them a little better.
What do they love?

Here and now, I set my intention: GO SLOW.
There are many moving parts---teachers, staff, students, tight time turnarounds in a large building....
Today is only my fifth day.
I will Watch & Wait.

I'm barely even thinking about the advent of my new year tomorrow (my birthday), my life is so adventurous right now!
Going slow will be a good present to myself.