[JustLovelyJenn]

School starts tomorrow, so naturally there are a lot of things on my mind.

At the end of last year I was given the most glowing yearly review by my teacher and principal. The teacher I worked with moved to another school at the end of the year and my principal put out a great deal of effort to ensure that I remained at the middle school with her.

So, as the school year prepared to start I was made aware that the teacher I would be working under this year is only a half time teacher at our building, she would only spend TWO periods a day with us, and the rest of the time she would be at an elementary school.

I was invited to attend a meeting before school to discuss the new special educations students that would be in the building and the best way to meet there needs. This meeting included the principal, the three special education teachers in the building, and me. I am only one of 4 educational assistants in our building, but I was the only one invited to this meeting.

I also found out because my new teacher is only part time, I will be responsible for managing my own schedule, as well as the other assistant that will be hired for my room, managing all needed behavior interventions for the students on our caseload while the teacher is out of the building, adjust our students classroom assignments to their ability level, and running my own incentive program with a handful of special needs students. I also teach a small pull-out math class under the supervision of a different teacher.

This is about TWICE the amount of responsibilities that I had last year, and I am the only aid with this type of arrangement. While I am more then willing to do it, I do worry some about being in an in-between place... Not quite a teacher, but more then an aid. But, I look forward to the experience I will gain.

I am so grateful to have a principal and teacher willing to give me the freedom to function in this capacity. I plan on starting back to school sometime this year and working toward my teaching certification in special education. This type of opportunity, while unexpected and slightly overwhelming at the start, will help move me toward that goal.