As a teacher, I agonize (wonderful word) over scheduling. How will class run? Who will have to switch at what times? How exactly can we fit all this learning into this little amount of time. For most who read this, I’d guess you have much the same experiences, worrying on the amount of teaching that will take place.

 

As an elementary teacher, there are a never ending parade of time grabbers who suck those precious minutes out of my room. They range from those special classes, which students need, to the Antique Society’s presentation on “Buttons of the World” because Johnny grandmother is a charter member and thinks it would be good for the kids. We twist, turn, and adapt our schedule to those who need our time, no matter the subject or time period. However, for the most part, there’s a plan in place, an underlying reason why we do what we do. While I thrive on chaos, I love a good plan. It makes me feel better, plus, I can annoy those around me when I say “I love it when a plan comes together!” Real mature I know.

 

This is the frustration that I have today, a lack of a plan. We’ve changed our schedule to create an addition 60 minutes of reading time for our students. Our class is a multi-level class (three different grade levels in here) and we as a staff have had to come up with the format (Daily 5) because we weren’t offered guidance. School started, and in we were thrown, and because of the awesome teachers we have, we’ve kept our heads above water, starting some good things. Today, we had a late start, and because of this, our reading time would be lost. Well, instead of doing that, our reading time got moved to the end of the day, destroying our library schedule for the day. Now, if asked, I wouldn’t mind giving up library because I know my students will make it up and more later on. That’s my issue, I wasn’t asked, “hey would you be willing to…..”, I just received an email that says “here’s what’s going to happen.” Again, give me a plan, I’m good, but if this is our plan, it takes all of our library times and puts them into that “not really necessary” category.  I’m finding I enjoy the Daily 5 because it offers me that flexibility to change things around as needed.  Why not give me that chance to do so? But we continue the march towards being “The Blank School of Math and Reading”, moving closer with this move.

 

Sorry about the decidedly negative spin here. I’ve worked very hard this year to keep my message with myself, my students, my kids and my wife a positive message, but sometimes, you just need to vent. Thank you for being my sounding board! 🙂