Husband and I have been home the past week for the holidays and have discovered many channels on our U-verse that we didn’t even know we had. I have been sucked into the Smithsonian Channel (nerd alert!), as well as many of the Animal Planet-esque shows. I’m noticing there are ton of “Best Of 2010” shows on lately. Yes, I even recently watched America’s Cutest Dogs-2010 with husband. I love break. P.S. I voted for this dog and he won. Do ignore the lame commentary and focus on the cuteness.

To quote my Internet BFF, Mrs. Mimi: And I die.

So, in the spirit of countdowns from 2010, here are the most popular blog posts of 2010 on Notes From the School Psychologist. I suppose I could have tried to understand my sitemeter statistics program to determine most viewed, but that would require more patience than I can muster, so here they are, month by month, by highest number of comments. Next year, I’ll get fancier on you and analyze it properly. So if you missed any of these, enjoy!

January: Awkward Conversation #249: Telling a Parent her Child has Mental Retardation. I still cringe when I read this. So hard. So awkward. *

February: (by default, my only post in Feb because I was swamped with retention referrals) March Madness Comes Early This Year. A post on (not surprisingly) grade retention.

March: You Got Served. This post got picked up by Brazen Careerist, so I think that drove up the comments. It is one of my favs though, because this kid I work with is so awesome. He got served…..by math.

April: You Are My Fire, People. This post is about the cutest music video project with developmentally disabled adolescents, which illustrates the difference between concrete and abstract thinking. Also, a confessional from me about The Backstreet Boys**

May: From the Emailbox: The Top 5 Questions I Get as a School Psychologist. This post has saved me so much time answering emails from prospective school psychologists. I love emails though, keep ’em coming. 🙂

June: Well Hello Summer Break, I’ve Been Expecting You. This post is on how to relax over break. I know, it should be easy, but it isn’t. June was a great month for me. My book, The Teachable Moment: Seizing the Instants When Children Learn came out in June and I felt like my book baby had finally been born. And she was gorgeous. Except I hate the cover. Other than that, gorgeous.

July: Did You See the Memo About Interventions? I was a little afraid to post this one at the time, because it was pretty heavy-handed on pre-referral interventions and I didn’t want to seem teacher-blaming. Teacher blaming was very hot this year. It was meant to get people thinking about how special education is seen as the ultimate intervention, and often, it just isn’t.

August: This Week, With Debbie Downer. This post is in response to Teacher-Bashing-A-polooza-Fest 2010 that was happening on all the Sunday morning talk shows in August. Grrr.

September: Lessons from My Tea: Experience.Totally a default winner, because September was back-to-school madness, and I only had time for one post. But, I still like this one. It reminds us to be as patient with ourselves as we are with our students, and has tips for working with perfectionistic students.

October: Trapped. This one was when Mommy was in the New York Times discussing the hazards of telling people on a plane trip that you are a psychologist.

November: School Psychology Awareness Week: Monday. Apparently, detailing my day by the hour is interesting to folks. Who knew? That whole week, I kept referring to School Psych Awareness Week as SPAW week, and hoped that people would think I was saying “Spa” week and get me a gift certificate to a spa. No such luck.

December: Too early to tell, it’s a tie, but I’m gonna go with Sleep. So Hot Right Now because I am on a one-woman fight for appropriate sleep for children. My teenage clients are so annoyed with me right now, I’m sure. Plus, I have been taking my own advice and banking sleep for 2011. It’s delicious.

Here’s to a fabulous 2011! Thanks for all your support and readership. A special thanks to all my frequent commenters on the Facebook page for the blog. I love hearing all your perspectives on our fine profession!

*Close runner up, one of my favs: The Softer Side Of Sears. In this post, I share ill-fated wardrobe decisions.
**Coming to concert soon with NKOTB. Squeeeeel!

5 Responses

  1. I read your piece, "The Softer Side of Sears." Thanks for the link.

    I don't think you were flaunting your hotness. Boys in middle school will "hit" anything. The "dat" could be a hole in a fence, and it would work for them.

    I hope you have a fun time ushering in 2011. Maybe we will wake up on January 1 and find the world transformed…parents are suddenly caring and involved and appropriate. Students are confident and content and willing to take risks. Administrators are sane and realistic…What a wonderful, wonderful world it would be (sang Art Garfunkle).

  2. I loved Awkward Conversation. I like your 13 doors explanation. I'd love to learn more about what the programming looks like in the different programs in your district. I know every student has an *I*EP, but are there some standard curricular materials/programs that most students with a mild (or moderate) MR exceptionality access or do their teachers focus primarily on the gen. ed. curriculum materials (texts, etc.) w/accommodations and modifications? Do most students with mild MR classifications in your district spend most of their academic time in gen ed classes or in pullout SpEd classrooms?

  3. We tend to be really standards based here in cali, so I typically see IEPs for MR (now called ID-intellectually disabled) with modified goals related to the standards and vocational ed goals. Most of our ID kids are in special day classes and do 90% of their schooling there, with some mainstreaming in electives. Mild ID kids may have a bit more mainstreaming

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