Parent/Guardian Form for "Opting Out" of State Mandated Testing in Oklahoma

I received these from my children's school here in Oklahoma. I am sharing this for any parent who wants to have their child "opt-out" for mandated state testing. I can also send these forms as PDF, just send me a private message with and email address.

 

Things Always Change 2013

As usual, I have not added to this blog like I had planned. I will try to rectify this.

Life has a funny way of throwing curve balls when you least expect it. Sometimes I believe there is a reason for everything. At other times I don't. So much has happened to my family, and extended SCA family.

In May I finally decided to take time off from teaching. Stress at school and lack of administrative support helped in this decision. Stress can be hard on a body.  In 2012 I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. In April 2013 learned that I had a torn bicep tendon and needed surgery to repair it. I had surgery on May 30th. It turned out that I had also torn my rotatory cuff. Eight weeks in a brace and 6 more weeks of PT.

To add stress, my mother was diagnosed with a slow growing tumor in her lung. First thing I did when I was out of my brace was to head straight to Lubbock to support my Dad while Mom recovered from surgery. The pulmonary ICU at the hospital allowed family members to stay over night in the patients room. Dad and I took turns with Mom. Dad stayed nights and I had days. Mom did well and the surgeon removed most, if not all of the tumor. I was there almost 2 weeks without Chuck and the kids. The kids survived their father. My husband is a wonderful man.

In August I started attending Moore Norman Technology Center. Originally I planned to take Database Administration. After about 2 weeks I decided that this was not what I really wanted to do. I requested and was admitted into Computer Programming. Interesting thing was that one of Trae's former Computer Programming teachers from his high school was now teaching this program at MNTC. Problem with this was the fact he failed her class at the high school. The was also the same teacher who he blow up on during class, leading to a 3 day suspension from school. Trae does not deal well with sarcasm. He was able to meet and hash things out.

New problem, I was now the problem. Trae had told the teacher we had been upset with her for the way she ran her class and treated Trae. His words were "We had wanted to kill her". I was escorted off the property and asked not to return until this was investigated. By the following Monday I was sitting in Computer Programming learning JAVA.

I attended classes in the morning and spent the afternoon picking up children from school. Michael was accepted into the Pre-Engineering Program at MNTC. This meant that Trae and Michael would be at their high schools in the morning and at MNTC after lunch. This made it easy for the Programming teacher, since I would not be in the same class as Trae. For September and October this was the schedule we followed.

Michael had been complaining of pain in his left hand for several months. The pediatrician gave him medication for inflammation. This did not help. He started wearing an ace bandage on it to help relieve the pain. After the pediatrician told him to stop playing the violin I called my orthopedic surgeon. The Ortho and his intern suspected a ganglion cyst and the MRI confirmed it. He had surgery in October and had full mobility and reduced pain.

Wish that was all he had. In early November Michael called me from MNTC and asked me to pick him up. We thought he had a stomach bug. He complained of feeling sick to his stomach, dizziness, and neck pain. He was unable to eat much and felt better sleeping in the recliner than his bed.  He wanted to attend school, but was unable to stand for long or hold his head up.  After almost a month we learned he had meningioma, the size of a lemon, in the middle of his brain. 

Michael spent about ten days, most of it in ICU, at OU Children's Hospital in OKC. Chuck and I took turns staying over night while the other took the girls to school. We were able to bring Michael home nine days before Christmas. He even attended school in the mornings for the last four days before Winter break. I hung out at the high school at visited with my former coworkers, as a way to keep an eye one Michael at school that week.

2013 ended on a quiet note. No open house Christmas due to the state of the house and Michael's continued recovery. New Years Eve was spent at a friends home. The whole family attended and Michael was able to visit with teens his own age. 

I wish I could say life around us got better in 2014. Michael would still need MRI's at 3 months and 9 months to monitor possible tumor growth in his brain. As always I wrestle with depression. I would loose friends and friends would suffer personal losses. So, for now, we say goodbye to 2013.

Wish I could have skipped 

Where it Begin?

Where to begin? Writing has never been my strong point. Growing up math and science were my interests. I wanted to know how things worked and why. There were patterns that could be seen and described. I also loved history and culture. When I was in high school my mother gave me Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffery. I started reading every book she had written to that point. Reading and writing are two different things, however.

The patterns and rules for the written word, especially in English, can be hard to see for those of us with Dyslexia. There are always exceptions to the rule, ie "i after e, except after c". Now explain these words. species, science, sufficient, seize, weird, vein, foreign, eider, their, feisty. See what I mean?

Nothing frustrated me more that having a teacher tell me to write like I talked. Something about looking at a blank page just made me freeze up. Talking to a tape player did not help because I would loose my place or train of thought. In 1981 my father bought us a TI 99-4A with a dot matrix printer. This was one of the best investments my parents made in my education. My mother helped me organize my thoughts and keep me on task. She would type while I talked, asking questions as we went. Since it was on the computer we could make correction and move things around if needed. As I gained confidence I started typing more of my papers with her help. 

Looking back I should have looked into majoring in Computer Science or Programming. Instead I earned a degree in Psychology and then Special Education. At the time I was interested in studying Dyslexia and Specific Learning Disabilities(SLD). In the USA SLD is defined as an individual with at least an average IQ by demonstrating a delay in either language or math skills. This internship lead me to working first as a teaching assistant and then as a special education teacher. Looking back I can not see how I was drawn to teaching. It was not my original plan. I fell into it through my senior practicum in Psychology. I spent the summer working with students with Dyslexia. I gathered data on 2 different versions of a computer based reading program. It used a Dectalk to read passages out loud to students. It either highlighted each word or the whole sentence. I was hired as a TA that fall to work with 9 to 11 year old's. The rest as they say is history.

I do not know what this blog will become. Mainly I am using it as a way to improve my writing and document my thoughts. I have lead an interesting life (IMHO) and would like to possibly write an autobiography in the future. I have seen how nature vs. nurture can play out.  As a Dyslexic I want to tell the world that children with SLD do not need to be given excuses. We need to TRULY BELIEVE that each child can LEARN.  STOP saying , WELL BUT... (counter example). I know how little time teachers have to focus on those students who are struggling. Teacher need to be given the tools to work with students individually. Stop with the slogans and sound bites.