One more thing....
If I were a teacher with permanent status, and my colleagues/principal
were pushing/forcing me to departmentalize, then I would go to my
principal with a written statement documenting that I refused to be
fully responsible for my students' achievement, by any measure. Period.
I did something like this the year my principal asked me to take all
the special education students in my grade level (at the request, mind
you, of the special education teachers, which I considered a supreme
compliment). I told her yes, but she had better not be comparing my
classroom's test scores with the other third grade classrooms' test
scores next fall. She said, "good point" and we went from there. (And
yes, I did take the students.)
Please reread Jan's post below if you skimmed it earlier. She says it
all (and she's my little sister!)
Renee
On Feb 11, 2009, at 9:57 PM, Jan Sanders wrote:
I often wonder why teachers want to do this. Who does it benefit? Is
it
for the children or for themselves? They will say it is for the
children,
but is it? I myself refuse to switch kids for reading or math. If
you are
truly doing a workshop it is not necessary. Also, when you group by
ability, the struggling student has few exemplar models to learn from.
Yes,
the teacher can scaffold, but in my experience, the teacher ends up
doing a
lot of work during the discussion and sharing, that the more capable
students have done before. It is powerful for students to learn from
each
other.
Another big reason not to... If you truly believe learning is cross
curricular, across the day, linking all subjects and experiences, you
lose
that connection. How can you refer to a read aloud if only 1/3 of your
current class has heard it? How can you use language experience to
build
writing and vocabulary skills if your students change and so some were
not
in the room when that happened?
AND... It would be hard pressed for a teacher to meet the needs of
20-30
"low" students in one class. They often need 1 on 1 support and guided
reading. ELLS need you to model language -much more successful with a
group
of 5 interacting with you in close proximity, than 29 waiting while one
speaks in a class of 30.
Best to build a community of learners who respect and care for each
other,
than have a revolving door where students are "running the bases" all
day
touching home base once in awhile.
I believe in self-contained classrooms in all elementary grades. I
think
the statement we switch kids in 6th grade to get them ready for middle
school is ludicrous. Our school used to do this and started out doing
it
this year. We had a primary teacher move up to sixth grade this year
and
she hated the switching. Behaviors were not up to par, homework was a
chase
them down game and no one seemed to connect or care about the
community.
She talked her teammates into going self contained and they love it.
The
students are doing better, and their is more accountability.
Jan
Holding a grudge is like eating rat poison and waiting for the rat to
die.
-Anne Lamott
On 2/11/09 10:35 AM, "Delores Gibson" <[email protected]> wrote:
Does anyone have and/or know of where I can go to find
research
on departmental teaching for FIRST GRADE? Some of the
teachers want
to seen six year olds from room to room (switch classes) for
reading and math. I'm opposed because I believe strongly in
self-contained classroom for first grade. Instead of just
doing it
because it might be easier I can't get anyone to tell me
what
research supports or does not support this for first grade.
HELP!!!!
Dee
"Painting is just another way of keeping a diary."
~ Pablo Picasso
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