It’s a bit frustrating teaching a split class. There is just so much stuff that I need to juggle. I’ve been trying my best and I know that I’ve been doing a good job. But I also know, that I can always do better.
I’ve been staying late almost every single night for the past two weeks. I’ve been trying to figure out how to teach the Grade 3 and Grade 4 curriculums at the same time.
Truth is, sometimes I just can’t. There are certain lessons or topics that I just can’t fracture. I need to spend some time on these topics so that everyone in the class can understand them. So I try to teach a lesson that can apply to both grades and then just vary the work that the students do afterwards.
Of course, this doesn’t always work. I find that I don’t have enough time to do everything that I want to do. So I need to pick and choose which topics or lessons need more time and which ones don’t.
The problem is that I know my students are losing out, just a bit. I can’t spend as much time on a science unit as I can if I were only teaching a single grade.
I finally have my year plan down to my liking. The problem is that I am already a week behind schedule. I found that my students needed that extra time for this current unit of math and science. So I gave it to them. Now I need to trim my plan once again.
It’s really not fair.
I also found that I don’t have the same amount of time I used to have for blogging. I think I might drop down to only three or four posts a week. But I don’t really want to cut back on my posting schedule. Besides, if I do that, wouldn’t I need to change my header again?
Ah man, there’s always something more to do. It’s crazy. I need a break.
Good thing it’s a long weekend.
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
5 responses to “Twice as Much Work”
my daughter was in a class that was 1st and 2nd. most kids learned everything together, but then certain subjects were split up, like math.
Hi Natural,
My class is pretty much the same way right now. I do find, however, that they do better when I can teach one thing to the entire class instead of splitting my focus (and theirs)
Happy Thanksgiving Chase!
S
I used to teach Spanish in middle school, and I had 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. It was way hard to break up the material and teach kids on their level. I just didn’t have the time to invest. I pretty much taught the 6th and 7th graders the same thing and tried to advance the 8th graders as much as possible so they would be ready for high school. It was impossible. So I left 🙂
Hi Silverfish,
Thanks for the well-wishes. I hope you’ve had a great long weekend. Mine was awesome!
Hi Oktober Five,
That does sound impossible.
I try to cover my butt by teaching one lesson but showing how it covers both grade’s curriculum expectations. But I feel a lot of pressure to differentiate grade levels. It’s crazy.
Perhaps I should get paid twice as much. After all, I am doing the job of two teachers.