First, and most importantly, it's September 13th and we haven't started school yet. Our first day with students was supposed to be Sept. 9th, but instead we went on strike. We're working toward a better contract and it has been very slow going with the district. I won't get into the details here. I can't wait to start school. I have a classroom that's all set up ready to go that I'm not even allowed to enter. It's a strange feeling to say the least.
Another important part to the start of this year is that we're departmentalizing the 5th grade. I will be teaching three sections of reading and one section of math- the year ahead math class, along with a homeroom. This has taken a ton of thought and planning to figure out scheduling, logistics, etc. Because we have a class of students who have qualified for advanced math, we have to run a schedule that is more similar to a middle school schedule. Many elementary schools that departmentalize have students rotate through different subjects as whole classes. If we rotated this way, the advanced group would be self-contained all day. Our building worked hard to integrate these advanced classes years ago and we don't want to undo that work.
The basics of how our classes will rotate begins with each of three homeroom classes being split into three cohorts (as we call them) making 9 cohorts. Each cohort will travel together to all of their classes. In each homeroom, one of the cohorts is entirely composed of kids in the advanced math class. These three cohorts come together for math but rotate separately otherwise so that all other classes are integrated.
A rough example of how the cohorts rotate is below. There 9 groups are coded by the first letter of the teacher's last name, so we have K1, K2, K3, S1, S2, S3, W1, W2, and W3.
I'm really looking forward to departmentalizing because it will be less prep and planning each day. I'll teach each reading lesson three times, and therefore only have to prep two lessons, math and reading. This will allow me a lot more time to differentiate and adapt lessons for various needs. I think grading will also be less time consuming. I've always found that grading goes faster when I start to memorize the answer key or rubric. I'll have about 75 reading notebooks or assignments to grade, but all 75 will have the same expectations so they should go more quickly.
I'm hoping to post again soon with the design of my classroom, as I've made some changes to the space to accommodate classes rotating through the room and carrying their resource binders with them from class to class. That post is dependent on the strike ending so I can get back into my classroom. I'll also try to post an update on how departmentalizing is going for us.
Thanks for visiting!
