At Jesse Bobo Elementary we are lucky to have some freedom
in how we chose to spend our time each day.
While we are expected to allot a certain amount of time to specific
subjects, we still have the freedom to develop our schedules with these time
allotments in mind. As I read the
article “Not This” by Debbie Miller, I could not help but think about how much
time I spend on certain subjects each day and the practices that I guard as
important. One such practice is calendar
activities.
Last year I embarked on a new journey as a 4K teacher. As I prepared for the school year I felt the
excitement of a first year teacher, yet at the same time I had no clue what I
was getting myself into. I began
planning with calendar activities in mind.
Every preschool class I had ever seen or been a part of put a major
emphasis on calendar activities, so I was going to do the same. I began researching songs to teach days of
the week and months of the year. While
my schedule reflected that I spent 15 minutes on calendar each day, the reality
was that I was spending closer to 25 or 30 minutes. It wasn’t until around April that I began to
question this practice.
In April of 2015 I was observed by Libba McKinney, an Early Learning
and Literacy Coach for the South Carolina Department of Education. This observation just happened to occur
during our morning meeting/calendar time.
Following the observation Libba sat down with me to discuss the
positives as well as provide suggestions.
She told me how the state department frowns upon calendar in the early childhood
classroom and that she understands this is something that is difficult for
teachers to let go of. She provided me
with suggestions of how to still incorporate the calendar into my classroom
without spending so much time each day on calendar activities. As she left that day I found myself still questioning
what she had said, but decided to give it a try.
Finding the time to squeeze everything in each day can be
challenging as an educator. For this
reason I believe that we sometimes use the excuse of "not having enough time" so
that we can continue practices we hold dear to our hearts. Calendar was a practice that I was guarding
as important.
While I still feel the
skills learned during calendar are important, I’m not sure that devoting 25-30
minutes a day to this practice is appropriate or necessary. Many of the skills I taught during this time I am now teaching in small groups or during interest areas in a much more meaningful and
engaging way. With such limited time in
the school day, I believe it is imperative to think about the practices that we
hold dear to our hearts and why we feel they are so important. We need to consider the amount of time we
devote to these practices and whether this time could be used more effectively
in another way.
I have never taught calendar activities, but I have seen them being taught by several different teachers. I feel like the skills that are taught during this time are valuable, but I also think it is nice for the kids to have a regular routine that includes these activities. I have my own activities in fifth grade that I do daily, and I believe that kids enjoy the routine of doing them every day and knowing what to expect as we build those skills we are working on.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you both! I have several activities in my classroom that we do each morning. I can think of ways that I could reduce this time to cover everything I have planned for that given day. However, at the same time I am a huge advocate of routines and have noticed my kids are also!
DeleteGreat take on this, Amanda. As teachers, we never do anything that we don't think is for the best of our students. To have someone tell us to reconsider sometimes hurts our feelings and our pride. I am so proud of you for trying --even if it was outside of your comfort zone. And I know your students are benefiting. (P.S. I secretly always hated calendar.)
ReplyDeleteAmanda, how true your words are! I'm so glad that the article along with the observation helped you made a change in your practice! It is important for us as teachers to be sure that what we are doing in class is what is best for our students, not best for the teachers. It seems that this has you thinking about and questioning your practice each year. That's so important for out students since one year is never exactly the same as another!
ReplyDeleteAmanda, when I taught preschool and planned lessons I always tried to ask myself if what I had planned showed what students knew in an authentic way. I think that as teachers who want to always do "best practices" we need to ask ourselves this question. Does calendar time show what our students know about numbers and number concepts, print, etc in an authentic way? We as teachers have to keep evolving so that we can do what is best for our students and the first step to evolving is reflecting on the practices we use. You have already completed step one.
ReplyDeleteHi Amanda,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your blog post for many reasons. The biggest one being how open and honest you were with sharing your practices and how it connected with Miller's points in this chapter. She is right, we do not have control over how much time we have as classroom teachers but we do have the opportunity to determine how that time is spent. Taking a close look at our classroom structures and routines and determining what is most important and what can be revised or even taken out can help us make the most of our time. I loved reading how you are taking a close look at your calendar time during your morning routine and how after the observation time you received last year and after this chapter you are wanting to spend more time engaged in meaningful ela time. Thank you Amanda for always being willing to grow! Sincerely, Dawn