Minor vindication

In the classroom, that is. A couple of days ago, I had a visitor who came to observe my class. This is not my principal, or assistant principal. This is someone from the district. Here's the background: I'm teaching a research-based, scripted reading program for students with learning diabilities. The visitor is the person who introduced this program to the district. In a sense, it's her baby. She trained me on it, and I'm using it for the first time (she has not taught this program herself). As is often the case, I see that there is a bit of a mismatch between my students' entty skills and the ideal for this program. So, I have made some adjustments to accommodate my kids, that I believe help them to get more out of the experience. In the observation, I was slightly shredded for not following the tested procedures, etc. We discussed it, and I felt bad for slacking off. The very next day, my kids are finishing up their practice assignment, and with some feedback, every single one of them completed it to my satisfaction (I'm pretty demanding), including the one I've been most concerned about. It jsut clicked for him, and he's zooming now. It was a great way to start the morning.