Teacher or Tutor
September 21, 2005
Teaching five kids is hard! I have to be careful where I say that because most people think I’m insane when I do. Teaching five kids should be a vacation, especially after having twenty-seven. I mean, talk about individualization!
So let me clarify; teaching five kids is not harder than teaching twenty-seven, but may be equally as difficult on some levels. I can definitely give more individualized attention here than I could in New York. Instead of sitting to discuss their progress, I end up hovering to correct every little mistake as they make it. I have to force myself to do something else while they are working so as to give them time to work things out by themselves.
Class discussions are also rather challenging. Five students just don’t seem to offer a lot of diverse viewpoints. When I ask for questions there generally aren’t any. How does one teach kids to build on other’s ideas when there are no other ideas presented? In my larger classroom a lot of learning happened during class discussions. Here that just isn’t an option.
One of the things I could do with a larger group is break them into small groups for reading, discussion, and peer learning. During reading, for example, I might split them according to ability level. In this way I could have two groups working together while I work with the third group. This keeps everyone busy without giving anyone “busy work”. In the smaller classroom this situation is nearly impossible. I have one kid on the lowest level, three kids in the middle, and one student at the top. No matter which group I choose to work with there will always be at least one child hanging out by himself. Inevitably, the middle group spends most of their time together without me as I try to focus on the singles.
With a larger group time was not really an issue. Discussions, group time, and shifting gears all took time. My plans were rich, but I didn’t need to plan as much as I do for less kids. There are no discussions, group time is pointless, and transitions don’t exist. This means that I have to plan more for the smaller group. This presents challenges as well. A lot of activities I might normally plan to help a math lesson, for example, involve creating small groups, or ordering students by size/age, or surveying the class to create a graph. These activities are simply not possible with such small numbers.
The bonus is that I know each of my students pretty well. I know their parents and their siblings and I know what their home life is like. I see them at the swimming pool, the grocery store, social events, and playing around the neighborhood. I have a pretty good idea of what makes them tick. This has almost eliminated any discipline issues. When that one student starts to act up I have only to remind him that I am going to see his dad later on since they live right next door.
Ultimately, I would like to have 10-15 students. In this way I would most likely have a diverse set of abilities, opinions, and attitudes. I would still be able to provide them with a quality education and they would have the benefit of their peers to help them out (you try peer conferencing with four kids).
I will continue to count my blessings, however. Things happen on my schedule not someone else’s, I get along well with my supervisor (Carrie), I don’t have any students threatening me with physical violence, I can write charts in whatever color I choose (as opposed to the mandated black at PS226), and I get to have fun with my students. Who can complain about that?
Teaching five kids is hard! I have to be careful where I say that because most people think I’m insane when I do. Teaching five kids should be a vacation, especially after having twenty-seven. I mean, talk about individualization!
So let me clarify; teaching five kids is not harder than teaching twenty-seven, but may be equally as difficult on some levels. I can definitely give more individualized attention here than I could in New York. Instead of sitting to discuss their progress, I end up hovering to correct every little mistake as they make it. I have to force myself to do something else while they are working so as to give them time to work things out by themselves.
Class discussions are also rather challenging. Five students just don’t seem to offer a lot of diverse viewpoints. When I ask for questions there generally aren’t any. How does one teach kids to build on other’s ideas when there are no other ideas presented? In my larger classroom a lot of learning happened during class discussions. Here that just isn’t an option.
One of the things I could do with a larger group is break them into small groups for reading, discussion, and peer learning. During reading, for example, I might split them according to ability level. In this way I could have two groups working together while I work with the third group. This keeps everyone busy without giving anyone “busy work”. In the smaller classroom this situation is nearly impossible. I have one kid on the lowest level, three kids in the middle, and one student at the top. No matter which group I choose to work with there will always be at least one child hanging out by himself. Inevitably, the middle group spends most of their time together without me as I try to focus on the singles.
With a larger group time was not really an issue. Discussions, group time, and shifting gears all took time. My plans were rich, but I didn’t need to plan as much as I do for less kids. There are no discussions, group time is pointless, and transitions don’t exist. This means that I have to plan more for the smaller group. This presents challenges as well. A lot of activities I might normally plan to help a math lesson, for example, involve creating small groups, or ordering students by size/age, or surveying the class to create a graph. These activities are simply not possible with such small numbers.
The bonus is that I know each of my students pretty well. I know their parents and their siblings and I know what their home life is like. I see them at the swimming pool, the grocery store, social events, and playing around the neighborhood. I have a pretty good idea of what makes them tick. This has almost eliminated any discipline issues. When that one student starts to act up I have only to remind him that I am going to see his dad later on since they live right next door.
Ultimately, I would like to have 10-15 students. In this way I would most likely have a diverse set of abilities, opinions, and attitudes. I would still be able to provide them with a quality education and they would have the benefit of their peers to help them out (you try peer conferencing with four kids).
I will continue to count my blessings, however. Things happen on my schedule not someone else’s, I get along well with my supervisor (Carrie), I don’t have any students threatening me with physical violence, I can write charts in whatever color I choose (as opposed to the mandated black at PS226), and I get to have fun with my students. Who can complain about that?
posted by Bronx to Timbuktu at 12:45 PM
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