Something unique about the 5th-grade classes at my elementary school is that the students rotate between teachers. They are the only classes do rotate, all the others are self-contained classrooms. The 5th-grade teacher team consists of two smaller groups: a triad and diad. (I am only going to write about the triad team as this is the only rotation I am able to see this year).
The triad consists of three teachers: Teacher A (my coop teacher), Teacher B, and Teachers C/D (co-teachers). The schedule is as follows:
8:05-8:25
All students are in their homerooms with Teachers A-D
8:25-9:49
Teacher A: Homeroom students for ELA and Writing
Teacher B: Teaches math for students in class C/D
Teachers C/D: Teaches ELA/Writing for students in class B
9:49-10:31
Teacher A: Teaches science/social studies for students in class C/D
Teacher B: Teaches math in class A from 9:49-11:13
Teacher C/D: Teaches ELA/Writing for students in class B
10:31-11:13
Teacher A: Teaches science/social studies for students in class B
Teacher B: Still teaching math to students in class A
Teacher C/D: Teaching ELA/Writing to their homeroom students C/D
11:13-3:00
All students return to their homeroom teachers for vocabulary/spelling, math, social studies/science, lunch, and specials.
The reasoning behind this rotation schedule is that it is an introduction to the middle school schedule that they will follow next year. Additionally, the 5th-grade is departmentalized in that one teacher is the only teacher to teach math to all students due to her academic credentials. The students have adjusted incredibly well to this rotation. They enjoy changing classes and are adapting to the different styles of teaching they are experiencing. This is also the fourth year that this rotation has been in place.
My questions to you are the following:
1. What is your opinion of this kind of a schedule at the elementary level?
2. Do you think this kind of rotation can be beneficial for students, and why?
3. Is there anything about this structure that you would change?
4. Have you seen anything like this in any of the schools in which you have observed?
I personally believe this kind of rotation schedule can be very beneficial for students who will be starting middle school in the following year. This schedule consists of switching classes for different subjects. I believe that switching classes can help students stay engaged and they may become even more prepared for the middle school level. With this schedule, the students are able to learn from various different teaching strategies throughout the day. However, I believe it would be more effective to have at least 2 teachers share in the teaching of a particular subject. By doing so, the teachers can benefit from this as well by sharing new ideas and communicating important strategies with one another. Therefore, the teachers can be given additional time during the school day, in order to discuss their lessons with their colleagues who are teaching the same subject as them. Last year, I was able to see a similar rotation schedule take place within the school, Hillside Elementary, in Montclair. My cooperating teacher, taught two different classes throughout the day- 4th and 5th graders. She taught the same subject within a different lesson for the 2nd group of students- the 5th graders.
ReplyDelete-Maria DiSpigna
In my opinion this kind of schedule would be extremely beneficial for a various amount reasons. The first being that it helps students transition with more ease once they reach middle school. Also this kind of scheduling is effective in terms of deliverance of knowledge to the students. What I mean by this is that, each teacher would be focused on making sure that their students are understanding the subject. The execution of the lesson would be done better because each teacher would have one focus and be able to explain the lesson better while also planning more effective activities. I don’t believe that I would actually change anything in the structure of this scheduling. The only thing that I would think would be better is to start this rotation from 4th grade but instead of having 4 rotations they would have 2 rotations. The reason why I would like to see this is because it would ease them into the structure of rotation and implement organization and the students would be more responsible. During my observations I have never seen this kind of structure. But as a substitute teacher I have seen this structure in a third grade class. Although I have not had the opportunity to observe this structure for a long period of time like you have, but the short time that I was there I saw that this structure did work. I saw a big difference in responsibility and work quality in other 3rd graders from other schools.
ReplyDelete-Aimee
I think this type of schedule is a nice transition for students from elementary school to middle school. With this schedule students are given more independence from teachers as they must become responsible for their work in different classes with different teachers. Because teachers are teaching all the students in the grade for one specific subject area, the teachers are not able to baby their students as much with reminders of missing work or failuring grades as much as they might in a classroom where the teacher has the same kids all year for every subject.
ReplyDeleteI think this type of rotation can be beneficial to students as it gives them short breaks to move around in between classes. This rotation also gives students the abilities to learn multiple subjects from multiple teachers, not just one classroom teacher. In this sense, if a student does not mesh well or learn well from a certain teacher, this student has the ability to excel in another classroom with a different teacher. It is exposes students to a varitiey of learning styles because just as students all learn differently, teachers also all teach differently. Also, because teachers are only responsible for teaching 1 subject area to all students, the teacher may have more time to prepare more hands-on and engaging activities for students because they do not have to worry about other subject areas, only their content area.
The only thing I would change about the structure is to make the transitions and schedule less confusing for students. By looking at this schedule, I am confused and can imagine it would be confusing for a 5th grade student the first week of school.
I have never seen this type of scheduling for 5th graders in my personal observations. But, my cousin is in 5th grade in the Roxbury School District and her school is setup similar to this. In Roxbury, all the 5th graders from the whole district go to one school for 5th grade and will remain there until they go to high school. At her school, because the 5th graders are new to the school, they are kept separate from the 6th-8th graders but the students still rotate teachers and classrooms during the school day.
I think that this kind of schedule would be too overwhelming for students in the lower elementary levels. However, I do think that this type of schedule could be beneficial for students who are transitioning from elementary school to middle school. Switching classes and teachers throughout the day helps the student to become more responsible for themselves and their work. They are in charge of writing their homework down for every class that they have, bringing the required books and supplies to class, keeping track of their assignments themselves, knowing where to travel throughout the day, and making sure that their assignments are done.
ReplyDeleteI think something that is very beneficial for the students is learning from multiple different teachers. This allows them to learn different styles of teaching and maybe find one that is best for them to obtain the content that they need. Students learn very differently and teachers teach the content differently. Maybe a teacher’s method of teaching really reaches a student and then the student will learn what kind of learner they are. This can help them to find studying strategies that work best for them and will help them to better retain the information being taught to them. The teacher may also have more knowledge on one specific topic so it is easier for her to teach that subject. Then the students will gain more knowledge from the teacher who is very knowledgeable on the subject rather than a teacher who knows the basics of the topic.
I thought that the structure of the schedule was kind of confusing and must be very confusing for the students. I would simply make the schedule easier to understand so the students can accurately follow the schedule and know where to go at all times.
I have seen switching in schools but I do not think anything to this extent before. I have not seen something specifically like this within schools that I have observed in but have seen minimal switches throughout the day. In my current school, the 4th and 5th grade just switch for religion and math class. One teacher teaches math for both grades while the other teaches religion for both grades.
Earlier in my observations I was in a fifth grade classroom and have seen this type of schedule be administered. This is something that has been done for a while. When I was in fourth and fifth grade, we switched class for social studies and science. It is appropriate at this elementary grade level to switch classes like this. I feel that it is a great way for students to learn the different style of teaching rather than being in one classroom for the whole day. It is also a great preparation for middle school when you switch for every class. It helps students show responsibility, getting to their class on time and bringing the correct materials. Although they stick to traveling with the same class, it gets their feet wet to see what it is like to be in different classrooms. This is also beneficial for the teachers because they are learning many different students needs, from all classes. It also limits the personal connections and spoon feeding that they gain with the students because they aren’t in their classroom all day.
ReplyDeleteSwitching between classes gives the students a short break, to get up, stretch, and move. It can help with focus and learning. In the lower grades it is called a brain break, switching classes can be the brain break for the older elementary students.
I think that there is a lot going on in this schedule. The thing that I would change is to keep teachers with the same subject. For example, teacher A teacher ELA and math, teacher B teaches science, and teacher C teaches social studies. This would be less of a confusing schedule for students. Keeping the subjects the same between teaches can promote mastery in that subject to help students learn best.
This rotation was similar to what I observed last year in a 5th grade class at Wharton. There were four 5th grade classes, but 2 of the classes would one pair of teachers (ELA and Math), while the other 2 classes had a different pair of ELA and Math teachers. This allowed for the students to move classrooms for math and ELA, as well as experience different teachers throughout the day. In addition, the 5th graders would go back to their homeroom teachers, either the ELA or Math teacher’s classroom, where they would be taught social studies, science, and spanish by a different set of teachers. I believe this type of rotation is appropriate for students in the 5th grade because it allows them to get ready for the sixth grade, where they will be switching classrooms for every class. Although these 5th graders, were with the same students all day, and only interacted with the other 5th grade students during lunch and recess, it allowed for them to experience different teachers in one day, and how they teach, as well as manage their classroom.
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