looping

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looping
By Carolyn

I have never looped, but two teachers I work with did. One looped from third to fourth grade, and the other looped from fifth to sixth grade.

Both teachers reported positive results from the looping. The results were
so positive that our principal is considering having teachers loop more often. If you like your class, they respect you, and have been a good classroom community, you will have a great year.
One of the benefits of looping is that you get to start right off with the same rules and procedures you had the year before. You can get started right away in teaching and skip the introductions

and all of that. Since you already know what difficulties your students have, you can proceed to help them with them. I have a brand new bunch of kids this year, and I am having to familiarize myself with their learning styles, their state test scores, their strengths and weaknesses, etc. You can avoid all of that if you loop.

There are some downsides to looping. Although looping can be a positive experience, one teacher, our sixth grade teacher, reported that she was "tired" of having the same kids by the end of the year. There is also the chance that you wouldn't to loop with some groups. I know for sure that I would not have looped with the group I had last year!