I am loving my job! I wrote a post before Christmas about how things were looking up with the start of a new job and I just needed to follow up with how much I am loving it.

I am teaching in a school for children with special needs and I can honestly say that it is the most fulfilling teaching job that I have ever done. The children in my class are fantastic. They are inspiring me to teach in a way I have never felt comfortable with before. I have become the over the top, singing, dancing, making a fool of herself teacher and I am having so much fun doing it.

We are doing a topic on space and so last week I made a huge tub of moon sand (8 cups flour to 1 cup baby oil – have a go) and we took a trip to moon. We played in the sand, exploring it with our hands and feet (and sometimes mouths!) and then we had a moon picnic. This week we made rockets and went zooming around the school with them. I could be found pushing a child in a wheelchair singing ‘zoom, zoom, zoom, we’re going to the moon’ at full voice. It was great. I have been a dingle dangle scarecrow on more occasions than I can remember and I believe that I am the most enthusiastic participant of ‘the wheels on the bus’ in the class.

Of course it comes with challenges. Instead of trying to differentiate a lesson for children between 2a and 5c I am wondering how I can make my PE lesson inclusive for a child who is visually impaired, one who is hearing impaired and three with varying mobility. I am having to think in a different way and teach in a different way. It is fantastic though. I always believed that I preferred a structured teaching approach. I was Mrs K and was actually quite strict. I made sure that something written was produced each lesson and prided myself on fully marked books full of ‘well done’ stamps, positive comments and next steps. In this role there is virtually no ‘produced’ work. Most of the lessons are sensory but that doesn’t mean that learning is not taking place. I can see progress everyday. Tiny little steps of progress but progress none the less.

I believe that I have found my future in teaching. My position is only temporary until the end of the summer term but I already know that I do not want to go back to teaching in a mainstream school.

Do you love your job?

P.S Any sensory activity ideas welcomed!

Image credit – http://www.pinterest.com