Dealing with a lot of changes with the new school year

Last Monday, I had a staff workshop day at school, to start the new school year. I have been doing the same job for nineteen years, so most things are really easy for me to do. Over the past few years, I think that I have mostly been in grades two, three and four, so when I found out that I was assigned to Kindergarten, I definitely had some concerns!

My new case manager told me that I had to set up a “task board” for one of my new students. Since I have never done this before, I was going to need some help doing this. I had one of the other paraprofessionals help me set it up and explain it to me. Most of the time, mild cognitive impairment will make it challenging to learn something new.

When I got home from school, I just started crying! I guess that I was just so overwhelmed by my day! I’m working in a grade that I’m unfamiliar with, a teacher and a case manager who I’ve never worked with before! Changes are so difficult for me and these are just three very big changes that I have to try to deal with!!

Last week, I met the students and things seemed to go well with me and the three students who I will be helping in their classroom. I’m still getting used to using the “task board. “The case manager was in the classroom and she corrected me for using it the wrong way. She seems very stern and I'm very easy going, so I'm not really sure how we are going to get along. She also doesn't know about my diagnosis. It seems like she is lacking some “social skills.”

We only had three days of school to the start the new school year. Last week, I shared some things with the class so that they could get to know me. I showed them a picture of my three children, a music CD and some pictures that I had taken. Some of the pictures were from the Washington, D.C. zoo, so I told them that I’ve gone to D.C. as an advocate for the Alzheimer's Association. I even told them that I have a really bad memory and sometimes I forget things.

I think that the reason that I shared this with them, was this was an indirect way to give this information to the teacher who I don’t know very well. I haven’t told her or my case manager about my diagnosis. I just want them to get to know “me” first before I tell them that. I don’t want to be judged or treated any differently because of my diagnosis. I know that right now, I can still do my job. Sometimes I might need clarification of something, because I don’t quite understand what the teacher wants, but that is something that I just ask. I guess last Tuesday you could say that I was almost as nervous as a lot of the kindergarteners.