We have a wonderful problem of having two grade 5 teachers AND a computer teacher and educational assistant to work with during our Reading block. This is my current schedule for that block (The students are ability grouped.): 9:20 - 9:55am Groups 1 and 2 leave me for the computer teacher and EA (to do, Rewards, a direct instruction program), Group 3 remains with me for guided reading, etc. 9:55 - 10:30am Whole class is with me for mini-lessons, vocabulary(from a vocabulary book), etc. 10:30 - 11:00am Groups 1 and 2 remain with me for guided reading, etc., Group 3 leaves for the direct instruction program, part of group 3 leaves for small group instruction from the Reading specialist. The other fifth grade teacher has a similar schedule. We are both new to the school this year (there are only 2 teachers per grade) and my partner is fairly new to teaching. Our school has also been implementing quite a few changes this year, including a major schedule change which has allowed us to pull in staff members to help with the reading block from grades K-5. As you can see our schedule is very disjointed and we have been given the go ahead to make it work better for the students. I would love to change my whole reading block into a reading workshop format (and remove the vocabulary book and direct instruction program) and have one of our two extra teachers work with me in my classroom or have the EA roam between our two classrooms and leave the computer teacher in her room to work with students on their writing projects (she's across the hall from both of us). This would also make it easier to integrate other subjects as well. Our computer teacher was once a fourth grade classroom teacher and our EA is most comfortable with direct instruction programs. Both of them don't want to take on their own reading group and be responsible for reaidng grades. I don't blame them and would rather keep my students. The only control we don't have is over the few students that need to meet with the Reading specialist. I'm also concerned the my partner may not be comfortable with trying a reading workshop set-up as she is happy with the vocabulary book, daybook (critical thinking with short stories/articles) and schedule. I'm still fairly new to the reading workshop myself. So, I'm wondering what would you do with this wonderful problem of having 4 teachers for 2 classrooms Thank you in advance for your advice and ideas. Carmen _________________________________________________________________ Want to do more with Windows Live? Learn “10 hidden secrets” from Jamie. http://windowslive.com/connect/post/jamiethomson.spaces.live.com-Blog-cns!550F681DAD532637!5295.entry?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_domore_092008 _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org.
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