Do elementary schools departmentalize in MCPS?

[Anonymous]

I am curious if schools departmentalize in upper elementary - for example is there a teacher for math/ science and a teacher for ELA/ social studies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am curious if schools departmentalize in upper elementary - for example is there a teacher for math/ science and a teacher for ELA/ social studies.

No. Kids might switch for different levels of math but every teacher will teach math, reading etc.

[Anonymous]

In some schools they do this. At my kid’s school, he had a morning teacher for math, science and social studies and an afternoon teacher for language arts.

[Anonymous]

Principals can choose whether to do this and to what extent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Principals can choose whether to do this and to what extent.

+1. It varies by school.

[Anonymous]

We departmentalize at my MCPS elementary school for 4th and 5th grades. Kids switch after lunch and recess. One teacher does reading/writing and the other one does math/science. The homeroom teacher does social studies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am curious if schools departmentalize in upper elementary - for example is there a teacher for math/ science and a teacher for ELA/ social studies.

No. Kids might switch for different levels of math but every teacher will teach math, reading etc.

Not always.

OP, each school is different. Sometimes one (or two at bigger schools) teacher teaches all the math, then another teacher ELA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In some schools they do this. At my kid’s school, he had a morning teacher for math, science and social studies and an afternoon teacher for language arts.

At our school in 4th-5th grade they now split morning/afternoon, with one teacher for math/science and another for English/social studies.

[Anonymous]

Depends on the school. My child's school is departmentalized for 3-5th. They like it so much better. So do the majority of the parents, myself included. One teacher does math, one does ELA, the other does writing/science/social studies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am curious if schools departmentalize in upper elementary - for example is there a teacher for math/ science and a teacher for ELA/ social studies.

Some schools do. I only had one in MCPS for ES, but she had a teacher for Math/Science and one for ELA/Social Studies from 3rd grade through 5th.

[Anonymous]

We have been begging our admin to decompartmentalize classes with switching for math/science and ELA/SS but they will not think outside of the box and even consider this idea.

As a current teacher, I am 100% in favor of switching. Not only are some people better at specifically teaching math or reading, it would also teachers to truly master the core content/curriculum. With the newish curriculum and constant emails (new science lessons, new reconciliation SS lessons, etc.), it has started feeling like I am a “Jack of all trades, master of none.” So many teachers are overwhelmed with the demands of teaching and are leaving the profession, and I believe that reducing the demands of planning for multiple subjects would help with burnout. I’ve been a science of reading advocate for the past ten years (glad MCPS is finally getting on board) and would LOVE to focus on the process of reading and writing (and SS, which currently is in the back burner). There are other teachers at my school that are truly gifted at teaching math in a way the kids get it (esp with Eureka). Would love to see this implemented at the 2nd or 3rd grade level but would be happy if it was considered for 4th and 5th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have been begging our admin to decompartmentalize classes with switching for math/science and ELA/SS but they will not think outside of the box and even consider this idea.

As a current teacher, I am 100% in favor of switching. Not only are some people better at specifically teaching math or reading, it would also teachers to truly master the core content/curriculum. With the newish curriculum and constant emails (new science lessons, new reconciliation SS lessons, etc.), it has started feeling like I am a “Jack of all trades, master of none.” So many teachers are overwhelmed with the demands of teaching and are leaving the profession, and I believe that reducing the demands of planning for multiple subjects would help with burnout. I’ve been a science of reading advocate for the past ten years (glad MCPS is finally getting on board) and would LOVE to focus on the process of reading and writing (and SS, which currently is in the back burner). There are other teachers at my school that are truly gifted at teaching math in a way the kids get it (esp with Eureka). Would love to see this implemented at the 2nd or 3rd grade level but would be happy if it was considered for 4th and 5th.

Elementary teacher here-our school is departmentalized and it is amazing. I love having to focus on one content area. I definitely feel like it makes me a better teacher. Not sure why any principal would think this is a bad idea. The kids love switching blocks too, so it feels very win-win.

[Anonymous]

We are departmentalized and it is great for everyone. No downsides that I could possibly think of.

[Anonymous]

Our test scores also got much better when we began departmentalizing. It's amazing when you can focus on planning for just two subjects rather than all of them.

[Anonymous]

Doesn't it only work with an even number of teachers/class sections? At our school, there were five sections in a grade one year and they had two teachers teach math/science both mornings and afternoons, two teachers teach ELA/social studies both mornings and afternoons, and the fifth teacher taught all subjects.