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Teaching with Other Teachers in Your Grade Level

In most cases primary teachers are self-contained. In most schools there are more than one homeroom class per grade level. I have taught three different grade levels. In tow, I was a self-contained teacher. In the other grade level, I taught semi-departmentalized. In the first self-contained teaching environment I was in I was basically on my own. I planned the units and teaching how I desired. I made my own copies for my classroom and worried little about what the other teachers in my grade level were doing. On occasion we would share good ideas with each other. However, we … Continue reading →

Departmentalized Teaching

In my previous article, I discussed the teaching method that I encountered during my eighth grade years. I refer to this method as semi-departmentalized. In this article, I will discuss the method that I consider to be complete departmentalized. Most high school and middle school teachers teach using a departmentalized method. In a departmentalized grade, all subjects are taught by a different teacher during a different block of time. For example, one teacher will teach math while different teachers teach English, history, science, and reading. In some cases, reading, spelling, writing, and language arts are all combined into the same … Continue reading →

Semi-Departmentalized Teaching

Through my eight years of teaching, I have encountered several different teaching situations. Classroom set-ups and teaching styles vary greatly from room to room and teacher to teacher. However, the class schedule and subjects taught also come with variety. My first four years of teaching, I taught in a semi-departmentalized setting. This is the name that I labeled it. I have never heard anyone use the term before but it seems to fit nicely. I say semi-departmentalized because there were only two teachers and we shared the subjects that were to be taught. To some extent we were departmentalized because … Continue reading →

The Teacher’s Method

Many teachers have specific ways of doing things in the classroom. Some of them read from notes written years ago and expect their students to copy these notes and know them for the test. This is one way of doing things. Other teachers try desperately to entertain their classrooms and be a friend to their students. There are so many teachers I have encountered as a student and the one thing I know for certain is that fighting whatever model your teacher chooses to use it often a losing battle. This is not to say that there aren’t bad teachers … Continue reading →

Should Children be Allowed to Change Homerooms?

Should a child be changed to a different class after the beginning of school and the homerooms have been assigned? I say yes and no. I will explain both of my answers in more detail below. When a child begins having trouble in school, it is not unusual for the parents to first blame the teacher. Next they usually blame the other students. They suggest that either the teacher is picking on their child or that the other students are a bad influence. Either way, the thought of taking their child out of the class and moving him/her to a … Continue reading →

Education Week in Review: August 25- August 31

This has been a very interesting week at Families.com. There have been several changes and additions to writing topics. I plan to continue bringing you up to date information about educational issues. Check out below for articles from this week. Sunday, August 26 Pay Students to Stay in High School? Arizona has devised a plan to attempt to keep students from dropping out of high school. Under the new plan, students will receive $25 a week to stay in school and keep up good grades. The students must also stay out of trouble. Montessori Celebrates 100 Years Maria Montessori introduced … Continue reading →

Self-Contained Classrooms

The past two types of teaching that I have discussed dealt with students seeing multiple teachers throughout the day. In today’s teaching style, I will discuss the self-contained classroom. When a classroom is considered to be self-contained, the students remain with the same teacher for all subject areas. The only time that the students leave the teacher is for lunch and for a scheduled activity such as music, physical education, or library. Most primary grades are self-contained. The students stay with the same teacher throughout the day and the teacher teaches all of the subject areas. In a self-contained classroom, … Continue reading →