Thoughts on my last job...

Now that my job from last year is finished, and I've had some time to process, here's some things that my student and that job taught me:

• Sign Language- I feel like I could now be confident to sign with someone, I learned so many new signs, and the daily practice helped make things become more fluid. Now I want to keep it up so I don't get rusty.
• Discipline Techniques- I even had the district behavior specialist help me. I learned about setting boundaries, and knowing the plan before hand so you don't overreact. It's not the exact techniques I want to use forever, but it's learning and a starting place.
• Endurance- I often said, "It's ok I can wait longer than you." But then I had to stand by that. And to go to work everyday got difficult by the end, but I went and I endured.
• Parenting Skills- Not enough to get me through 24/7, but enough to realize parenting is an extremely big job. Also the importance of bonding and connecting with your own children, and the power that comes through being the mom instead of the babysitter/teacher.
• Early Reading and Math- I saw how many intermediate steps there are to basic reading and math that we sometimes take for granted.
• Mandt Training- How to physically restrain a child, and how to avoid it at all costs.
• Public School- How much I don't like it there, and how much I'm capable of teaching my children.

I also built friendships and relationships, and was able to bond with an angel child. Although he's crazy and frustrated a lot of the time, he really has an angel spirit (as his mom calls it) and is trying his hardest to be heard and understood.