Tuesday 26 August 2014

Being Brave: Straddling Divisions

I am entering my tenth year of teaching next week. I spent six years at a grade 4-8 school, teaching in the intermediate division (grades 7 and 8). This coming year, I had expected to be teaching grade 4/5. I've taught grade 4/5 twice (well, really only once and a bit because of being on medical leave three years ago), but taught 5/6 last year. Because of student enrolment, some of our classes had to be changed and I will now be moving to a grade 3/4 class.

I teach at an alternative school and one of our core tenets is multi-aged learning, so we purposefully plan for combined grade classes. There are so many advantages to teaching two grades in the same room. All students have built-in leadership opportunities and can model appropriate behaviour within the classroom; having a carry-over of students from year to year allows for consistency in routines; learning with people of different ages helps students understand that we aren't all on the same developmental schedule and people learn in different ways on different days.


As the first week of school approaches, I am planning ways to share routines and expectations with my new students. I read a post by Matt Gomez, a kindergarten teacher in Dallas, Texas, about his only class rule: "Be Brave". The idea of bravery ties beautifully to my own philosophies and the "recipe for success" my students and I worked from last year, "ADD EGGS" (accountability, dynamism, drive, engagement, gratitude, generousity and support) as well as some new ideas I have for this year about storytelling, experimenting and thinking big. I look forward to sharing the expectation of "Be Brave" with my new team next week. I am excited to learn what they think bravery is and then to reflect back on that later in the year and see how our ideas have changed and developed.

I try my best to embrace change bravely. When the chance to try something new came up, I reminded myself to "Be Brave" and take the opportunity to teach something entirely new to me. A grade 3/4 class was formed at my school and I'll be the lead learner with this group, starting next week!

In the past, the combined grade classes I've worked with have been within a single division (in Ontario, where I live and work, elementary grades are split into three divisions 1-3 are Primary, 4-6 are Junior and 7-8 are Intermediate). In the nine years I've been teaching, I've supply taught in all grades, but I've only had classrooms of students from grade 4 upwards. My students and I have always been in one division and worked with one set of colleagues in divisional activities. With half of my class in the Primary division and half in the Junior division, I will get a more clear picture of what is going on in the whole school. I'll also have a hard cap on my class numbers, a wonderful advantage and guarantee for a smaller class than I've ever had before! I talk a lot about how small class numbers make all the difference in education and now I'll get to test that out myself!

I know that children coming out of grade 2 into my room next week will be at a very different stage from the amazing Rainbow Eggheads who I said goodbye to last June at the end of their grade 5 and 6 years. I will be entering what I'm sure will feel like a completely different world from what I'm used to, but that will put me on even footing with my new students. We'll all be starting something brand new together. Bravely.

9 comments:

  1. Dear Shauna, like the BraveBots you made today, I know you will make your students feel strong, supported, and cared for, no matter what grade you are teaching. Your capacity for learning, trying new things, being brave, and your work ethic are infectious. I am glad I caught the bug. You are my BraveBot and I proudly carry you in my pocket as a reminder to be more willing to face change as a challenge that I am up for.

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  2. Thank you, Tiiu. That's a comment that will be filed away in my mental "Atta Girl" file for when it will surely be needed this year.

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  3. Shauna, I love your positive attitude to this change! I'm very curious to hear how it goes, but also, how your experiences in primary impact on your decisions in junior grades. A couple of years ago, I moved from teaching a 1/2 split to teaching Grade 6, and then went down last year to Grade 5. While I enjoyed both of these experiences, I really missed being in primary, and am thrilled to be going back this year. That being said, I wouldn't have traded either of those experiences for anything because they made me reconsider how I'll teach Grade 1. Even now, as I set up the classroom, I'm considering things with regards to math learning, reading comprehension, and writing, that I never did before. That's because of Grades 5 and 6. I think it's important for teachers to move around and teach different grades, and I love your willingness to do so!

    Aviva

    P.S. I happen to LOVE splits as well! This alternative school sounds amazing!

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  4. Aviva,

    Thanks for reading and commenting. I am looking forward to working with my new team - so far, there are only twenty of them! That is such a smaller class than I've ever had before! I'm a bit nervous about the younger grades, as I haven't taught grade three before, but a colleague said to me that I know where they're going, so I can help them get there. It was an astute observation. Moving down from 7/8 to 4/5/6 was great, as I was able to position students for the next step. Hopefully, moving down to 3/4 will do the same.

    There are lots of great things about my school. I'm even a former student and work with one of my former teachers! You'll get to hear lots about it on this blog!

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  5. That's a great observation by your colleague, Shauna, and I'm very curious to hear what role this does play in your teaching practices. I'd also love to know what you think of primary. It always intrigues me on how people feel about teaching different grades and why.

    Your school does seem amazing. That is pretty awesome that you were a former student and teach with one of your teachers. I'd love to read more about this on your blog!

    Aviva

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  6. Aviva,

    I guess I'm procrastinating a bit too! I'm doing the finishing touches on my course syllabus for the BEd course I start teaching on Wednesday (that's right, two first days for me next week!). Creating a "legally binding" course syllabus in advance to meeting my students seems totally counter-intuitive to my regular planning and I'm finding it daunting. Perhaps I'll pop it back up on Twitter for some feedback!

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    1. I would really struggle with that, Shauna! I bet that there are some teachers on Twitter that could give you some advice though. I know many that teach university courses. Hopefully you'll blog about this experience. I'm curious to hear what you learn from teaching a BEd course, and if your learning, impacts on your classroom teaching as well.

      Aviva

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  7. Shauna,
    I know without a doubt that you will do fantastic teaching Grade 3/4. Those students are lucky to have you and I know that this year will be a blast. I think it will be so neat to be both involved in the primary and junior divisions, a great chance for your students to be the leaders.
    Amy

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    1. Thanks, Amy! It was pretty awesome to be able to get rid of tables and chairs today. My classroom looks positively awesome with room for twenty, instead of twenty-nine students!

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