Great points! I just switched to 2nd this past year after 21 years in K! (I had a few years of 1st mixed in there--2 because numbers in K went down, and one year I chose to loop). My reasons for the "change" included really needing a change--the 5-year-olds were really starting to wear me out, especially at the beginning of the year, plus mentally I needed a change, and a challenge. I even sat down and did that pros and cons list thing, and the only "con" was that I wouldn't be working with a great team (the K team were all under 27 except for me--49!). Now, I'm the 2nd youngest on my 2nd grade team--yikes!
I knew I could "go it" on my own, too, since I really didn't have a collaborative team to work with, so that helped. I knew I had the skills and experience and resources to get things done on my own. As it turns out, I LOVE LOVE LOVE 2nd graders--they're funny and loving, can carry on a conversation, get humor. I enjoy the new curriculum, and feel I can use available technology more efficiently. Also, my youngest was a junior in high school, and worked til 5 every day at the in-school child care, so I didn't feel I had to rush home. I felt I had time to stay at school and work on things. As far as schools, I've been in this one since 93, and they'll have to wheel me out on a gurney or in a wheelchair (I figure I have about 10 years to do til retirement). I love working here--the staff, the parents, the community (I live here), and the administration. They only thing that would make me consider moving is if the administration changed and they were idiots (always a possibility!). Even then, I'd probably shut my door and carry on. And since we're on Mosaic--I guess we'd better have some reading content! 8-) I have loved teaching comprehension strategies and using flexible grouping, neither of which I did in K. For the past several years I took the at-risk group, so I had 18 kids WAY below where they needed to be to start K. It was all I could do to get them to a Level A or B before June. Melissa/VA/2nd On Wed, Jun 25, 2008 at 5:00 PM, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > -------------- Original message ---------------------- > From: "Zey, Melissa" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > "Change is hard. Really hard. But I think as teachers, change is good for > us. > It challenges our thinking. It challenges our routine. It challenges our > beliefs. And isn't that what > makes good professionals great?" > > Kristin has a really good point about change. > I switched to fifth grade form third last year, so I just finished my > second year today. Before that I was in third for six years. I just felt > that as an educator, I had to experience children as learners in a different > part of their journey. I was also a bit bored with the literature. Fifth has > richer thematic units and I was thrilled with the children's level of > discussion. It was the same with their writing. I was really ready to meet > them farther along the way in their learning of language arts. I loved third > and am loving fifth. The change WAS hard, no doubt about it. But it was > also stimulating and exciting. I'll stick with it for a while, but I was > only partly kidding with my first grade colleagues about wanting to teach > children as they begin to learn to read and write. It is all so interesting! > > It also depends on what is going on in the rest of your life. Sometimes our > home life needs more of our attention, so that could be a good reason to > continue the status quo. Although that was not the case for me; I also > decided to get my Master's and my son was graduating high school. Go figure! > Still, it worked out. You sound like a very thoughtful person. Good luck > with what you decide and keep us posted! > > Maura > 5/NJ > > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > [email protected] > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. > > _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
