During my winter vacation (which I must admit that I am loving every moment of) I have had some time to reflect on what I have been doing in my classroom that is so different from the past two years. Different in the sense of I don't feel connected to my students in their reading as much as I have in the past. Let me explain myself-
In the past five years I have had the amazing opportunity to read, observe, watch, practice, model, and share the workshop process in my classroom community. It has been one of the most amazing experiences that I have had. I was challenged by my students, collected important data about who they were as students and readers, conferred with them, set goals, and just let them fall into reading and their own thinking.
This year, our district has set a ridged curriculum filled with set stories, weekly tests, and unit tests that are graded and then to provide us with some information that will help the students as they say.... this has left me in a hard balancing act. A balancing act of a set basal curriculum or workshop- Do I leave behind what I have worked so hard to polish and practice? Do I leave behind research based best practices for what our school has deemed as a good way to teach?
How do I mix my workshop with a weekly story and set test questions?
It is a hard road to be on, I know what I see works, I know what needs to be done, I know what allows the students to grow and learn to think deeper about who they are as readers and what they are reading. Life long learning- not week to week reading.
What to do- what to do- how do I create this balance?
9 comments:
Oh, that's an awful predicament to be in. I would try and keep as much of the workshop approach in as possible - maybe it's possible to look at the time table and find some gaps of time which can be approached with workshop. Or set stories can be matched with recommendations for other books.
I hope you are able to balance it all.
My heart goes out to you. Children blossom with the reader's and writer's workshop model. I would hate to have to give up a moment of them for something else. It is so fulfilling to see the kids learning so quickly and so enthusiastically.
I'm so sorry to hear this. I feel like more and more districts are moving to the types of practices you are describing here. You know in your heart what is right. How you balance that with what your district is mandating would be a very difficult balancing act.
I'll be following your thinking and cheering you on from afar.
Too much time is devoted to testing. I'm not saying that we as a country shouldn't strive to do a better job educating our children, but something is missing.
There's a reason why the majority of innovations (in science and technology) happen in our country and why our universities are the models of the world. While other countries test to death, we used to leave room to learn a different way.
Whatever we are trying to accomplish with the constant testing and demands on teachers, we're not on the right path.
I set aside daily workshop time. It's shorter and it takes me a loooonggg time to get around to every kid to confer (like 2 weeks :( ), but I still insist on doing it along with the mandated basal series.
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a cookie-cutter curriculum, indeed...so sad!!!
Jen,
How is it going? Have you been able to find a balance?
The hardest thing for me has always been remember to respect the decisions of the administration and fulfill their requirements while at the same time doing what I know in my heart is best for my students.
I admire you for seeking answers. Keep seeking.
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