Hi Dan,
DT>RL>What grades did you practice teach? I did some kindergarten and grade
DT>I taught 5th grade and kindergarten.  I also had experience in 3, 2, and
  >6th.  I didn't like 6th because most the kids were bigger than me.
My first subbing job was for 6th grade - I was so nervous. It was,
however, near the beginning of the school year and the kids weren't
bigger than me yet - or at least most of them weren't. It doesn't take
much to be bigger than me - I'm just a tad shy of 5ft 2ins. ;)
I was lucky in the fact that I had been volunteering in the school and
though I didn't know the kids I felt comfortable in the environment. My
first outside job was also in grade 6, it was just for the afternoon. I
got to the school and found out I was just helping supervise and all the
kids - my class and others - were going to watch a Disney movie as a
treat....The rest of the school were on a trip to the ballgame or
somewhere like that. :)
  >RL>happy where you are. So now is the big question - Why have you stayed
  >RL>so long?
DT>I do like that grade level but there are times......I tried to switch
  >last year to a 2nd grade but in the 8 years at my school, last year was
  >the only year there was NO movement!
Why did you choose 2nd grade? I think I would prefer 1st so I could pick
up where I left off the previous year. I'd love to do that - especially
once I implemented the Mathematics Their Way program.
DT>So for now I'm looking to improve on last year.  I'm trying to go to
  >more of a learning center approach and teach the students to be more
  >self-directed in their learning.  I think for now it will be the teacher
  >directing the self-direction 
Exactly what do you do now that is different? Have you ever read Bobbi
Fisher's book Joyful Learning? I have a friend who swears by her
philosophy, etc. She has her classroom set up into colour centres with
each colour standing for a different area. Each day she introduces a
different workjob for the children to do. The class rotates around the
centres during the week so that by the end of the cycle they have worked
in all the areas - that is the teacher directed part. She then has a
period of time that they can have a free choice of what they do and
where they go at the centres - is this more what you are after?
DT>I have set a few goals for myself and one of them is to be more
  >organized and do a better job in considering learning outcomes.  I'm
  >working on this to develop a better focus and have more of the big
  >picture in mind.
Does your district/board provide much direction in this area? I think I
have mentioned that I recently went to a workshop put on by my Board on
assessment and evaluation. I learned about rubrics and portfolios and
more about learning outcomes/reports.
We have a big binder for each division with learning outcomes and
reporting statements that tie in for each subject area. Especially
wonderful is the math binder that has these terrific pull out sections
per grade, math strand, etc. with all the outcomes, indicators, and
reporting statements that you will need.
As you can probably tell our Board is one of the leaders in curriculum
development, etc. and sell our binders, info to other boards for their
use.
                        Must go - Speak to you again soon -
                                                        -Ruth-
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 þ QMPro 1.53 þ Young at heart...slightly older in other places.
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