I.P.

In college my friend KL would often (well, like once a month or so) take a "mental health day", where she would skip all classes and veg. out or go shopping or the like. Some of us call that the weekend, but I guess a day off during the week is what KL needed. I have been stressed to the max at work and finally took advantage of this person at work called the Instructional Para. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, specialists can check out this guy and have him cover classes. This allows specialists to get paperwork done, call parents, run reports, collect data, observe students, ETC. I seriously feel like a changed woman. I woke up this morning refreshed and ready for the day. This has not happened in quite some time! So, what did I do with my "free" afternoon??
*called two parents
*set up an IEP
*got paperwork ready for two IEPs
*(finally) responded to several emails
*filled out this report that lists all of my kiddos, along with their initial "special ed. date", latest IEP, latest 3-year eval, placement, and environment (served in classroom most of the time, pull-out, separate classroom, separate facility, etc.)
*FINISHED TYPING PROGRESS REPORTS! This was HUGE! (and should've been done a few weeks ago, but whatev)
*made a chart for CBMs (curriculum based measurements) so I can keep track of who I've gotten data from recently and just who has goals in what areas
*finished testing a kid who was gone like the whole week of state testing (phew!)
*cleared off my desk (a little)

Woohoo!! I love LOVE crossing things off my to-do list, but it seems like things in this job aren't quite that easy... they linger... forever... So, getting some things done was like glorious for my mental state! AND it doesn't hurt that we have an all-day field trip today! 1) Med. School 2) Pizza 3) Swimming at the Hyslop!