There have been a lot of them going on lately at my campus.
We knew that there was going to be a schedule change for sure in 6th grade, but I never though that Language Arts would go to only one 55 minute class period. Yep, you read that write. I will now be teaching Language Arts in a single block setting. I am both nervous and excited about it. Having them double blocked for class this school year has been too much time. I know that with only 55 minutes there will be no room for error so I will have to be a better lesson planner. I am hoping I will still be able to implement portions of Daily 5 in my class. My thought right now is that we will just have to do one rotation a day and do a complete rotation by the end of a week.
I also found out that I am only going to be teaching Language Arts next year and no math. I am really bummed because I was excited to teach math. My principal called me yesterday right when lunch started and told me she had bad news for me. The director of HR said that I could not teach math because I was not highly qualified. Me being a 4-8 Generalist is not good enough. I either had to have had 18 hours of math in college or be 4-8 Math certified. It just plain sucks. So now I will have at least 4 sections of ELA, probably 5 with one period being spent as a resource teacher and doing some reading intervention with bubble kids.
At least I will not have to learn anything new content wise. It will be nice to already have a good grip on what I will be doing. The only problem is instead of having 55 kids, I will end up with at least 100. I am going to be grading all of the time. :(
You will still be fabulous!! :) I believe in you!
ReplyDeleteThat's too bad...but, when one door closes another one opens! Maybe you were meant to stick to ELA for some reason (like being awesome at it!) or maybe it's the push you need to eventually get the math credits so that you will qualify to teach it. Although it didn't work out in your favour for next year, I like the fact that your district sets higher standards for teaching. Where I live, you can teach ANYTHING as a generalist. Literally. One year I was given a block of music to teach and when I protested saying that I have absolutely no musical background - scholarly or otherwise - I was told that the "music police will not find out"! Seriously scary stuff! Congrats on the position you did get! By the way, what are bubble kids?
ReplyDeleteNo math! Boo hoo :( At least you can focus on one content area. I will miss all your great mathy ideas though.
ReplyDeleteI was a high school teacher and I had 100+ kids each year. You learn to manage the workload. It's about balance. If you are interested in the workshop model for writing, it would work well with your Daily 5, and hopefully keep your work load rotating.
ReplyDeleteClearly, you were meant to teach reading and writing!!
I am doing something VERY similar next year... I am a smidge worried about it... Hoping it will all work out (planning on trying Daily 5 with the same 5 day rotation as well. I will have 7 40 minute classes.
ReplyDeleteJust started a new blog- check it out :) I am giving away a $25 G.C. to Target to celebrate
Darn, Katie!
ReplyDeleteI really wanted to math buddies with you!
But I am still looking forward to learning plenty of ELA ideas from you!
You're an amazing teacher...
Kim
Finding JOY in 6th Grade
Bummer about math and having more kids and only having 55-minute blocks!! You've got your work cut out for you but I am sure you do FABULOUS! Good luck to you :)
ReplyDeleteI am so bummed you won't be teaching math! I was already loving your task cards :) Good luck with the transition in your schedule. My first year I taught at a charter school where we had 80 minute blocks and my current school has 35 minute periods. It was a little difficult at first, but you just learn to be more efficient with time!!
ReplyDelete☼Kate
To The Square Inch
Sucks to get the news at the last minute... but you can spend the summer prepping for how to rock the 55 minutes. I always tried to focus my LA Curriculum into days (like Writing Wednesdays! Grammar Monday!) to keep me sane.
ReplyDeleteLauren
Life in Middle School
http://middleschoolforlife.blogspot.com
I stumbled on your blog from Pinterest. As a 6th gr ELA teacher, I'm jealous that you're just now moving to 55min classes. I've taught ELA to 6th graders for a few years with 48 minute classes. My last load had 150 students + a 32-student homeroom! Enjoy your summer. :)
ReplyDeleteI too stumbled on your blog through Pinterest. I teach grades 6-8 ELA with 2 classes of each. I have 105 students. Two things I would love to hear about - my biggest problem is trying to organize my 55 minute class to get everything done! Anyone out there have a schedule that I could build upon? Also, the reproducible that are used in the journals - such as the POV example - can I get a copy of them or purchase them? Thanks for all of the great ideas.
ReplyDelete