Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I have always taught self contained classes, but next year I have been offered a choice between ELA/Social Studies and Math/Science. I enjoy teaching all subjects, so I'm wondering what the pros/cons are for each one.
I would love some insight into teaching Math/Science for the entire day. That seems like a lot of grading and labs to set up.
What you take on in Math and Science, you give up in terms of Reading, LA, and Social Studies grades. My grade level (5th) departmentalized this year...we had several pro's and con's...
Cons:
*Our grade level planning meeting became split between the Math/Science team and the ELA team...so we felt like we weren't touching base
*We felt like we only knew "half" the child
*Our grading system does not show us grades that we don't input, so we could not see other grades
*You have to trust the other teachers...if someone is disorganized, that can be a challenge
Pros:
*Parent conferences were more efficient with 2 teachers. Now parents were able to hear from 2 different teachers...this worked well for those more difficult conversations, and we were able to show that the child was consistent across classroom (usually behavior) or, sometimes, vastly different (more often academically).
*Less prep and lesson planning review for you means more time to get the lesson ready.
*Your classroom can be arranged for that subject, and your bulletin boards too!
Thanks so much! It's hard to give up control and let someone else teach my kids. I'm also used to the flexibility of having them for the whole day. You can get more done that way. I've got a lot to think about. :-)
This is my 23rd year and for the majority of those I have taught LA/SS. I taught all subjects, self-contained, for two years in 2nd grade and another handful in 3rd and 4th. The past seven or eight years though it has been LA/SS. I have two blocks of classes. The good thing for you is that you will only have 44 students. Right now I have 57. Just a few things off the top of my head:
We have standards based grading, so scoring can take a while, especially writing assignments. Right now I am grading my students' biography folders that they completed as a project in LA. I am grading seven benchmarks under two different standards for each. It is taking a while. For the most part grading of math assessments is quicker. I have to do DRA reading assessments for each student in the spring. It takes forever as each child typically completes at least two.
LA and SS lend themselves nicely to integration. I do find it difficult to plan, manage and stay on top of the reading groups.
I'm also used to the flexibility of having them for the whole day. You can get more done that way. I've got a lot to think about. :-)
And that is one of the reasons we elected not to departmentalize for next year...it was much harder to pull aside the kids that weren't in your homeroom the way you would in an all day class. That, and reallocations meant we are going down a teacher next year, so more difficult to split up!
Since it sounds like a done deal, decide whether you are more math based or reading based...for me, it was an easy decision (math), but I still missed the other subjects.
It's funny because my two favorite subjects are teaching reading and science. So, that's not a huge help to just pick my favorites. :-)
I do think Math and Science are easier to plan, except for setting up the labs. I usually only plan for three seperate math groups instead of my usual six reading groups, and science is whole group. I always use science and math interactive notebooks, so I will get to integrate some writing components.
I am not 100% sure I'm going back to teaching, but one of my friends is retiring and the principal would love for me to come back. I've been a stay at home a couple of years.
I have always taught self contained classes, but next year I have been offered a choice between ELA/Social Studies and Math/Science. I enjoy teaching all subjects, so I'm wondering what the pros/cons are for each one.
I would love some insight into teaching Math/Science for the entire day. That seems like a lot of grading and labs to set up.
Thoughts?
Science / Math without a doubt. It would make you very marketable, too.
You can do so many hands on activities with science and keep students occupied every day for a year. There are so many do-it-yourself lab activities on the internet, alone.
Use a rubric to grade labs and projects. Rubrics make your life MUCH easier. Grading labs isn't so bad once you use a rubric. Give a copy of the rubric to the students so that they know what to expect. There are automatic rubric makers online, too, where you can set the grade level, etc. The free tool called Rubistar is one of the more popular ones. http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php Rubrics are also good to grade projects. The only time I didn't use a rubric was to grade a test unless the question was open ended.
Science / Math without a doubt. It would make you very marketable, too.
You can do so many hands on activities with science and keep students occupied every day for a year. There are so many do-it-yourself lab activities on the internet, alone.
Use a rubric to grade labs and projects. Rubrics make your life MUCH easier. Grading labs isn't so bad once you use a rubric. Give a copy of the rubric to the students so that they know what to expect. There are automatic rubric makers online, too, where you can set the grade level, etc. The free tool called Rubistar is one of the more popular ones. RubiStar Home Rubrics are also good to grade projects. The only time I didn't use a rubric was to grade a test unless the question was open ended.
Go science!!
Thanks so much! Great info!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
