Spring Break | Should I Relax or Do some work

March 22, 2016

Decided to pace myself.  To quote my mother who loves to say things like "never put off to tomorrow what can be done today".  So rather than leave all the marking, planning, organization, and preparation to the last weekend I will do a bit a day, maybe an hour or two a day.  Then I won't go back to the classroom feeling like I have not had a break.

Started by thinking about  "Planning with Differentiation in Mind for the Mixed Ability Classroom"  Considering my grade 7, 8 and 9 classes are comprised very complex learners with very mixed abilities -- Ability grade range is Grade one to greater than grade 9.

Thoughts about a list of Teacher Hints from an Australian University website for a student-centred classroom

1. Keep your classroom design clutter free only having the currently needed resources out. Difficult to meet this recommendation when one teaches six classes a day, three different curriculums using different manipulatives not to mention any supplies such as pencils, rulers, calculators, lined paper.
2. Make sure that every child and see and hear from every part of the room.  30+ desks and chairs, 30+ students of varying heights and sizes, backpacks, supplies, textbooks, hmm  this is a challenge.
3. Make sure that there is plenty of space to move around and help students. Difficult when one has 30+ students in each class.  When desks are in rows for tests I have to turn sideways to fit between the desks when answering a question.

When I went to  elementary, junior high and senior education it was a teacher-centred learning environment where the teacher held the power deciding on the content and curriculum.  Students sat in rows facing the teacher who delivered the lesson creating a competitive learning environment where students learn by drill and rote.

As a teacher today teaching students whose abilities range from grade 1 to 10 in grade 7, 8 or 9 classses I differentiate learning providing lessons and tasks with a variety of levels to meet the needs of the students.  Many of these students do not know their basic facts.  In teaching algebra it is frustrating to ask what is the opposite operation and many are unable to answer or do not know their basic times table facts.

I learned by drill and rote.  We had mad minutes, something frowned upon today with the basic facts drilled into us.  I learned my times tables and to this day know them.