After enjoying nearly two weeks of Winter Break spent wearing sweatpants and not brushing my hair, my colleagues and I were back at work today. We didn’t have students today, which is probably the best choice in terms of their safety. A bunch of cheese-bloated, middle-aged teachers coming in fresh off half a month of box wine and baked goods are about as dangerous as agitated hippos during mating season. But I digress.

Let me take another swig of coffee.

The work day was actually very productive, and I’m not just saying that because I think my principal might read the blog. Teaching partner Chris and I got a solid couple of hours put in planning the next nine weeks for our PLS class. All of third quarter is spent gearing up for Job Olympics, and this year we are determined to come home with our shields or on them.

Anyone who thinks people with intellectual disabilities aren’t competitive hasn’t watched the cutthroat machinations of Advanced Grocery Sacking. Trust me. People with disabilities like to win just as much as anyone else.

***Cue the theme song from Rocky***

Chris and I are devoting every class period between now and the end of March to learning everything we can about how to succeed in the workplace. Based on cadet observations from last year, the biggest stumbling block students had wasn’t their actual task performance. It was the social part of things that messed up their scores. Skills like shaking hands and making appropriate workplace small talk really kicked their butts.

So…first thing on Monday morning, we’re starting the new semester off right! We’ll be playing a new game–E2E Safe Smalltalk Sort–to introduce the idea that there are some questions you just don’t ask at work. I think it’ll be a fun and on-topic start to our new semester.

Spoiler alert! Don’t ask your colleagues what type of underpants they wear!

Tags: secondary special education, life skills, SECD lesson, SECD game, peer models