Question about something during open house today
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Anonymous
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My DD is in K. Today at open house I saw how the teacher handles the class and the type of work my DD is doing. I also saw the teacher pull two children aside and give them different (I'm going to perceive it as more advanced) work during one of the times she had the kids go back to their tables to do a worksheet. I overheard the subject matter (completely different from what the other children were doing). Is this how curriculum 2.0 is supposed to work (I'm asking b/c I know nothing about it as it's our first exposure this year).
Also, I noticed the teacher focused on one set of children in particular (when asking questions and giving directions). My child sits literally right on top of the teacher in the front row on the carpet. She raised her hand several times to answer questions. She did get called on once in the 1.5 hours I was in the room. There were about 5 children that the teacher repeatedly called on though. I'm wondering how each child gets what they need in a class of 24 children with no para-educator. I'm not attempting to start a fight here. Nor am I getting ready to go in and speak with the teacher. Like I said, this is our first experience with public school and I am just trying to get a handle on what to expect from the school, teacher and my DD. |
Anonymous
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Regarding your child getting called on - please don't think too much about this. Can you imagine if everyone got to watch you do your job for a day? I have a few friends who are teachers in MoCO and all of them dread Columbus Day as everything they do and say is under a microscope.
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Anonymous
OP here. I was more curious about that part of things. She seemed to really have the class under control (which is good). I am more concerned as to how the two children given the different work were weeded out and whether that is a moving target throughout the year. |
Anonymous
| Odds are those kids are behind versus ahead. Teacher is probably trying to catch them up. Obviously I don't know anything your kids teacher but from my experience, the teacher is not worried about the kids that are ahead. |
Anonymous
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Parent Teacher conferences are in a month. Between now and then, volunteer in the media center or your daughter's class for another chance to see. Or show up early the day of Halloween parties and scope it out. (I work full time, but I still did this). And ask you daughter every so often if she talks in class. And at the bus stop (or wherever) find out who had this teacher in K and what they thought. Curriculum may change with 2.0, but the teacher's style wouldn't alter that much under a new program.
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Anonymous
Yes, the extensions are supposed to be given to kids who have demonstrated mastery of whatever they're working on--so, a flexible group rather than a fixed group. |
Anonymous
| Teachers can't win. If they give advanced work to kids who have mastered a subject, they are questioned. If they don't give advanced work to those kids, they are questioned. |
Anonymous
| Under Curriculum 2.0, our K teacher gave our DC differentiated work to do throughout the year, mostly math and some reading/writing assignments. DC had a separate folder to go to several times a week when the class was doing stations. The teacher didn't make a big deal about it and none of the kids seemed to notice much. The teachers are supposed to do this for kids who have mastered the basic curriculum. |
Anonymous
We have every right to question. Questioning is better than attacking IMO. |
Anonymous
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A good teaching strategy when calling on kids is to pull popsicle sticks with the names on them to ensure all kids get called on. Simple method to make sure every child gets equal attention.
But as far as answering questions when children have to work independently, I had the same concern yesterday. My son is in 3rd grade. While the teacher worked with 6 students, and a resource teacher worked with another 6 students, my child sat with another student to do a worksheet for 20 minutes. The majority of that time he was off task and socializing but there was no one to monitor his work to see if he even knew how to do the assignment. He spends the majority of his day like this, "independently" learning. Boys in general, have more difficulty focusing for long periods of time at this age. He has received several "red day" slips this year as well as other boys in the classroom. Behavior issues were not a problem prior to 2.0, so I think he is not adjusting well to the new teaching methods being applied in the classroom. My son has mastery of many of the concepts the teacher is teaching the class. That is why I think he is segregated (and ignored) to work independently the majority of the day. The teacher has to focus on getting the rest of the class to proficient. The children that are already proficient or achieve proficient standards quickly have to wait for the rest of the class to catch up. The reality of implementing 2.0. |
Anonymous
The issue is the teacher ignoring students during the day. Just because a kid is working on advance work doesn't mean he/she shouldn't receive teacher instruction during the day. Advance work should not just be busy work to keep the child busy while the teacher focuses on the kids that need to master the on grade curriculum. Advance work should be challenging and teaching something new to a child and therefore the child needs an equal amount of instruction as other kids in the class to learn the new material he/she being taught. |
Anonymous
I interpreted the OP as saying that all the children were doing worksheets, with two children doing different ones. If anything, I read the OP as expressing concerns that the chidren who seemed to be advanced were getting a greater share of the teacher's time. |
Anonymous
You have the right to question. Though it doesn't make it less annoying. The teachers, who are following a Curriculum designed by administrators, have to take the hits and that is rough because no matter what they do someone will complain. Why not question the administrators instead? And by that, I mean questiinging whether the Curriculum is realistic. It is too easy for the administration to say, "well, that is not right, the teacher should be gearing tasks to each child and dividing her time accordingly," without any suggestion as to how that can actually get done. I'm not a teacher, but I feel for them, because they are always caught in the middle. |
Anonymous
OP here. Yes, the teachers do seem to be caught in the middle. I think I'm coming to the same conclusion about questioning the administration as to whether the curriculum is realistic and whether my DH and I want to pull DD from public and find a private that would be a better fit. I saw my DD's teacher pulled in about 7 different directions at once. No child really got any undivided attention (even the 2 she pulled aside to do the more advanced work). I really saw a need for at least one teachers aid in the classroom (and I'm not delusional--I realize that simply won't be happening). The thing that I don't understand is how it's assessed that a child(ren) have already mastered the curriculum currently being taught? Have the children been tested? I ask b/c the concept the teacher was going over with the two children she pulled out is one I know my child has mastered already. I know my child sometimes speaks up in class but will usually not, so how the heck would the teacher know if she already knew something? |
Anonymous
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Not to be snarky OP, but it seems that the issue that is causing you the most angst is that you perceive that your DC is not yet considered one of the "advanced" kids. If you think she has mastered things and that is not reflected, you should ask the teacher. There may be a perfectly acceptable explanation or there may not be...but it beats speculating and wondering about it.
As far as calling on kids, I have found that teachers called on my kid less when I was in the classroom (either Open House or volunteering). Maybe they are sensitive to being perceived as kowtowing to kids whose parents are observing |