Coming out of Blogtirement

Last October I decided that I needed to get off the Internets and also that debating with people was not a good use of my time when I could be helping actual people in real time. In the last year I feel I have found some balance and can handle being on the Internet and out in the world as well.

One of the things that I did after I quit the blogs last year was volunteer in the behavior classroom at my daughter's school. I spent roughly 4 hours a week in the classroom but missed a week here and there. I plan to go back this year starting in October and am excited to see some familiar faces who will pretend they are not happy to see me but deep down I will know they are. These kids were such great teachers and seeing those classrooms from the inside vs. the outside gave me a lot of perspective. In some ways my opinions became fact and in others my opinions turned out to be not quite what it looked like from the outside. As a practitioner of positive behavior supports my horizons were beyond expanded. I remember a few times just thinking to myself, "I have no idea how to handle this right now." I now believe even more that segregation is part of the problem. I remember hearing these kids asking, "When am I going to be mainstreamed?" and my heart just sinking. The teacher and staff were incredible and there was no doubt they were there for the kids 100 percent. It is a shame there is still a segregated class for me to go back to but I am hopeful that I will be a part of a future that ends segregation in our schools forever. I think part of my work is educating the people who have absolutely no idea this world exists.