Today I spent a bunch of time in my classroom cleaning, organizing, and putting away. I was delighted to find that I get a huge storage closet, and I discovered some awesome presents of posters on my desk this morning as well. I'm also rediscovering the concept of begging, borrowing, and stealing...err...treasure hunting as a teacher. I scored some stacking trays today that the 4th grade teacher didn't want, and the principal is going to look for a stool for me. It seems that once again, just as with Parkview, I have hardly any furniture. (Although, it's not quite as bad as Parkview.)
I prepared my library corner for the most part. I'm really looking forward to the outside reading program I created. Basically the kids will have time during the week for free choice silent reading, and once a week we will have a voluntary book talk. The only requirement here is that nobody is distracting anyone else. However, for every 200 pages recorded in their reading logs, they'll get a small prize/trinket. Of course I'm going to have a chart to show everyone's progress. At the end of each 9 weeks, those kids which have at least made it to the 600 page club will get to participate in a pizza & sundae party. Yum! I'm hoping this will encourage more reading and make reading fun, not just something you have to do for school.
I discovered I have basically no teacher editions for 6th grade when the principal thought she did, and I also discovered that I will have 6 kids for sure, 3 in 5th and 3 in 6th. That will be a really nice number, especially since I thought we would only have 3 or 4 last week. I also met the 4th grade teacher who is new and one of the kindergarten teachers who is also new, very cool, and my age. :) I'm hoping we'll be great friends.
At home I finished up a packet I will hand the kids of our procedures & rules as well as a couple of other paperwork items. I don't quite have all of our procedures yet since the principal isn't really sure how we'll do dismissal or lunch. If you haven't guessed the grade school switched floors with the preschool/daycare, so everyone's a bit confused and reorganizing.
In my last post, I mentioned educational philosophers whom I was impressed with. I forgot to mention my all time favorite of Howard Gardner who gave us the multiple intelligence theory. Basically Gardener has realized that since we aren't all alike, we don't think or learn alike. (no kidding) I've always tried to incorporate all of the intelligences in every unit I've ever planned, to keep things interesting, to reach every student, and to stretch every student in their thinking.
I had to add that little bit that I forgot. Tomorrow my mom will be helping me move furniture, and then we're going shopping!
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Sunday, July 27, 2008
My Ideal "Curriculum" Compared With A Becka
If I could create a curriculum of my own it would be one that was Bible based, practical, hands on, thorough, and fun. It would definitely include a lot of reading of real books, writing, music study/singing & being outside in nature. From my reading thus far, I have been impressed with the philosophies of Charlotte Mason, Maria Montessori, Rudolph Steiner, & Rudolph Dreikurs. Why? Well...
Charlotte Mason invented the word "twaddle" and focused on keeping children away from it. I especially like her focus on quality literature, "living books" or really good nonfiction for science and history rather than boring textbooks, spending a lot of time in nature and keeping nature journals, poetry memorization, narrations of learning, penmanship practice by creating copy books of scripture/poems/sayings to keep, historical timelines, spending time with good art and music, and doing handicrafts (woodworking, knitting, etc.).
Maria Montessori made possible the impossible by working in the slums & institutions of turn of the century Italy. I love her emphasis on having a beautiful classroom which children want to be in, treating children with respect by using quality things (ie real china) and giving them responsibilities, practical life learning to foster independence, learning by doing, and limited freedom of choice to research/learn what interests them.
Rudolph Steiner believed in a child's imagination, and created the Waldorf School. While a Waldorf School is a little free for me, I do love their emphasis on the beautiful, their focus on art study, simple free play from natural objects (ie silk scarves and wood blocks), handicrafts, great stories (ie fairy tales and myths), and creating their own textbooks from what they've learned rather than reading textbooks to learn. I also like the emphasis on severely limiting, if not prohibiting altogether, tv/computer time.
Rudolph Dreikurs believed in natural or logical consequences to our actions rather than working towards punishment or rewards. He also focused on teaching a child to realize where their misbehavior is coming from and how to work things out with others. I very much like the modern day take on this philosophy by Jane Nelson, Ed.D. My behavior management plan is loosely based on Positive Discipline and Positive Discipline in the Classroom.
As you can see, while Mason is the most stringent and Waldorf is the most free, a lot of their focuses overlap. How would this translate to a classroom for me? First and foremost, I will attempt to make a beautiful classroom with pictures of quality art and nature, plants, fish, a cozy place to read, good organization of materials, and play good music often. I would love to be able to just read good books rather than having "readers," this of course would lend to learning an extensive vocabulary. I would have a writing workshop as a method for teaching grammar & spelling to emphasize what needs to be learned rather than what they already know /and/ obviously encouraging the craft of writing. Included in this workshop would be a Daily Oral Language session, which is a time of correcting grammar of a couple sentences every day for review.
I would emphasize experiential learning by science experiments, nature journals, field trips, "experiencing" other civilizations/cultures (ie simulation/storypath units), penmanship copybooks, and hands on/discovery learning in every subject. We would definitely sing a lot. (I love to sing. And yes, I love "The Sound of Music.") I would emphasize the practical in math (how we'll really use this in the real world) and make sure the concepts and facts are truly understood, rather than just getting the answers right. And finally, we would study the Bible by really studying the Bible. I plan to give my kids time for their own personal worship every day by reading & journaling.
So, how does A Becka fare in all this philosophy? Keep in mind that I've just looked over it, but haven't actually taught it yet.
Pros:
Cons:
That's all I can think of at this moment. As I really get into the first few weeks of school, we'll see how the curriculum really jives with me.
Charlotte Mason invented the word "twaddle" and focused on keeping children away from it. I especially like her focus on quality literature, "living books" or really good nonfiction for science and history rather than boring textbooks, spending a lot of time in nature and keeping nature journals, poetry memorization, narrations of learning, penmanship practice by creating copy books of scripture/poems/sayings to keep, historical timelines, spending time with good art and music, and doing handicrafts (woodworking, knitting, etc.).
Maria Montessori made possible the impossible by working in the slums & institutions of turn of the century Italy. I love her emphasis on having a beautiful classroom which children want to be in, treating children with respect by using quality things (ie real china) and giving them responsibilities, practical life learning to foster independence, learning by doing, and limited freedom of choice to research/learn what interests them.
Rudolph Steiner believed in a child's imagination, and created the Waldorf School. While a Waldorf School is a little free for me, I do love their emphasis on the beautiful, their focus on art study, simple free play from natural objects (ie silk scarves and wood blocks), handicrafts, great stories (ie fairy tales and myths), and creating their own textbooks from what they've learned rather than reading textbooks to learn. I also like the emphasis on severely limiting, if not prohibiting altogether, tv/computer time.
Rudolph Dreikurs believed in natural or logical consequences to our actions rather than working towards punishment or rewards. He also focused on teaching a child to realize where their misbehavior is coming from and how to work things out with others. I very much like the modern day take on this philosophy by Jane Nelson, Ed.D. My behavior management plan is loosely based on Positive Discipline and Positive Discipline in the Classroom.
As you can see, while Mason is the most stringent and Waldorf is the most free, a lot of their focuses overlap. How would this translate to a classroom for me? First and foremost, I will attempt to make a beautiful classroom with pictures of quality art and nature, plants, fish, a cozy place to read, good organization of materials, and play good music often. I would love to be able to just read good books rather than having "readers," this of course would lend to learning an extensive vocabulary. I would have a writing workshop as a method for teaching grammar & spelling to emphasize what needs to be learned rather than what they already know /and/ obviously encouraging the craft of writing. Included in this workshop would be a Daily Oral Language session, which is a time of correcting grammar of a couple sentences every day for review.
I would emphasize experiential learning by science experiments, nature journals, field trips, "experiencing" other civilizations/cultures (ie simulation/storypath units), penmanship copybooks, and hands on/discovery learning in every subject. We would definitely sing a lot. (I love to sing. And yes, I love "The Sound of Music.") I would emphasize the practical in math (how we'll really use this in the real world) and make sure the concepts and facts are truly understood, rather than just getting the answers right. And finally, we would study the Bible by really studying the Bible. I plan to give my kids time for their own personal worship every day by reading & journaling.
So, how does A Becka fare in all this philosophy? Keep in mind that I've just looked over it, but haven't actually taught it yet.
Pros:
- Very Bible based - The textbooks are loaded with Scripture, and the history books incorporate Bible history in with world history.
- Part of their penmanship program does include good copy work rather than just worksheets.
- Math includes a daily review time before the lesson.
- Emphasis on geography and mapwork.
- Poetry memorization.
Cons:
- Lots of worksheets, quizzes, and tests. Including weekly penmanship and speed reading quizzes. Seriously, this is more than I had in school.
- Emphasis on cursive from kindergarten up. I'm sorry, I'm just not a big fan of cursive. Although, I do think it's important to learn to know, I would rather have neat, easy to read handwriting.
- Science program is pretty shallow overall and just skims over a lot of terms. Fortunately, I'm allowed to do my own thing in science and social studies.
- Bible program tells Bible stories while showing pictures. If this were kindergarten that would be fine, but for grades 5 & 6? Seriously...
- Readers with clips of stories. Okay, at least its based on good literature for the most part, but the idea of summary/abridged/clipped versions annoys me.
- Traditional grammar worksheets, not a lot of room for creative writing.
That's all I can think of at this moment. As I really get into the first few weeks of school, we'll see how the curriculum really jives with me.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Realizing My Career
This will be my first year as a "real" teacher, and as such, I thought it would be appropriate to journal my experience. I am so excited to be teaching grades 5 & 6 this year at a nondenominational church school.
Why nonconformist? Well, if you know me, you understand. I'm an independent sort, and I like to do things my own way...with research of course. Things done should be things done right. I don't like to do things just because it's required, someone said to, or it's tradition. (Although I do love traditions.) However, being respectful of authority, I will be teaching the A Beka curriculum this year. (which is a good one overall) However, I will be sneaking in my own ideas as much as possible.
So, here's to a great year. Wish me luck.
Why nonconformist? Well, if you know me, you understand. I'm an independent sort, and I like to do things my own way...with research of course. Things done should be things done right. I don't like to do things just because it's required, someone said to, or it's tradition. (Although I do love traditions.) However, being respectful of authority, I will be teaching the A Beka curriculum this year. (which is a good one overall) However, I will be sneaking in my own ideas as much as possible.
So, here's to a great year. Wish me luck.
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