High expectations

If you were to sit down with any one of my students after having me as their teacher for about a month.... you would know I have high expectations for them.

If you're new to my blog (Welcome!), I am a high school special education teacher.    I'm in year 15 working as a Resource Room Language Arts Teacher.    I've been with my district for all 15 years and I'm incredibly blessed to be able to say I LOVE WHAT I DO.

My students have learning disabilities.   It is my personal belief, that we all have some sort of learning disability.   

In my classroom, I have a saying.    By the end of the first marking period with me, students KNOW exactly what this saying is and what it means.    It goes a little something like this:

In Mrs. Geib's classroom, we do not allow our 

circumstance to become our excuse.

In other words, I do not allow my students to use their disability as an excuse to do less than.   I do not allow them to use their disability as a crutch.    We spend time working on us.   We identify our strengths.   We identify our weaknesses.    We work together to grow and improve.    

When school "closed" for the year, I was heartbroken.   I had the ugly tears and everything.   I was really worried about my students.    I didn't know what to expect from them with online work.   I didn't know what to expect from myself.    These past few weeks have been eye opening learning experiences for both of us.

This week, I've asked my students to share with me what they are learning about themselves as online learners and the responses I'm receiving are amazing.    They're honest.   They're raw.    They're authentic.    I can't help but smile as I read each and every one pop in.    Each notification that pops up on my phone or computer, I find myself pleasantly surprised.

I'm also learning that teens have weird hours.    We've read countless articles on the teen brain in class and we've read a lot about the importance of a good nights sleep.    Seriously... there's a boat load of these articles on the NPR website alone.

I am so glad I didn't lower my standards for online learning.    I am so proud of the students who are taking the time to get the work done and not just done... but done WELL.    At 12:04am I was inspired to post this blog.    Why?    Because my phone dinged and I received this beautiful visualization task from one of my amazing students.     She's a phenomenal artist and it seems her creative spark comes out late at night.    She's reading and creating.    She's learning at the beat of her own drum.    She is not giving up.   She is not shutting down.   She rages on, and I couldn't be more pleased.