departmentalize

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Home : 2008 : February : 27

departmentalize
By Lynetteapo

We're departmentalized (4th grade) so I actually get 60 minutes to teach science because it happens during the math block. I teach science twice a day for two quarters, then switch students with the social studies teacher
and repeat.

right now, our admin told us to stop teaching ss/sci and do math reviews for 3 weeks until the state test. i have a long list of cons to this idea
-after our 3 weeks of review, there's a week of spring break before the test so how much are the students going to remember anyway?
-studies show that cramming doesn't work and this is basically cramming
-how

beneficial is it for students to be taught by teachers not comfortable with the material?
-it's not necessary! the math teachers do a good job of incorporating old skills in their warm up, homework, etc. About a quarter of the students get extra math support in small group from a resource teacher anyway
-it's too much math in one day! the kids get bored and restless
-kids actually like science
-students need content background to understand the informational passages on teh reading state test
-teachers only had 4 days notice (no fair!)
-the science/ss classes are mixed ability (math classes are homogenous) so it's difficult to give help to the students that need it while maintaining the rest of the class that doesn't
-students can't even tell that Maryland is a state, and that Africa is a continent not a country, they need to learn this information and more ss to make political/economic decisions later
-i still have a curriculum to teach that will not get fulfilled
-had we know sooner we might have switched the sci/ss kids sooner to make it more balanced or i would have planned my lessons better to hit the more important stuff first
-where are our future doctors going to come from if they don't have any science background?
-don't they know math is incorporated in science??!
-there is a test in science in 5th grade so students need the background from 4th grade science
-more i can't think of right now!
Pro: students might improve their math score on the state test

Can you tell i'm angry? Sorry for the long post/vent.

Admin says that they think ss/sci is important but their actions don't match their words. A few weeks ago, we were told to spend 15 min a day in ss/sci reviewing math facts- i was okay with this compromise. i didn't like it but accepted it. i hate giving up sci/ss entirely.