Departmentalizing...NO!!

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Departmentalizing...NO!!
By Abby

I would have to agree with the post before this one. I teach 4th grade and this year we decided to departmentalize so we could each focus on our area of expertise. Well...after two weeks of this, we (two others and myself)
decided this was not the best for our children. Behavior was the biggest problem, the children misbehaved in the other classrooms, the time block was too short and quite frankly, they were just not ready for it (we weren't either!) We talked with the students and they too wanted to be with their "homeroom" teacher for the whole day. It was obvious that all of us were not happy and

we stopped doing it.
Now we have the flexibility to spend as much time as we need to in any subject. If we're on a role and our science experiment is lending itself to so much more learning which of course means a longer time block, now we can do it. One last thing, having my students all day is great for establishing our community in the classroom which is so , so important! Good luck and please stand your ground (it sounds like you are!). DO whats good for the children at this age...