Remember how I said my desire for a Friday afternoon nap far exceeded my desire to type a blog post? Well, here it is, way past my bedtime and I am awake...barely. I have been wanting to share my ideas on how to individualize instruction because I think it may inspire my traditional teaching colleagues. The Montessori philosophy encourages independence. It is widely believed that kids get to do what they want to do in a Montessori classroom, but this is not the case. There is "freedom within limits". In fact, I would argue that a Montessori classroom has more order and structure than a traditional classroom. I have never formally taught in a traditional school and my student teaching experience took place in a Montessori school, so I do not know any other way. I did spend one semester in a traditional 2nd grade class, but I do not recall anything from that experience. I am not sure how a traditional classroom operates, even though I attended a traditional school from K to 5th grade. I know we did lots of worksheets and whole group instruction. I do not remember anything being personalized specifically for my learning needs.
Differentiation and individualizing instruction are the "hot button" words in education these days. But who really knows how to do it? How in the world is it even possible to teach 19-25 students individually!? How does one stay sane with 19 kids all doing different things!?!?!? I'll share...
We have currently been in school for almost two months. I will say that we are just beginning to be able to work independently. We are almost over the hump of needing the teacher every second of every minute of every hour of the day. I said almost. I teach kindergarten and first grade. Since we are just getting over that hump, I realized that I have been too lax with making them raise their hands whenever they need something, rather than getting up 874 times. We are a work in progress! Anyway, I digress. It. is. hard. There, I said it. Individualizing instruction takes lots of practice, time, time, and time. In fact, I do not know if you can ever master it because all kids are different. This is how I start at the beginning of the year:
- My first graders were kinders last year, so they just pick up where they left off. The pro of being a K/1 teacher.
- I give lots of lessons.
- I give lots of assessments.
- I make lots of observations.
- I put the assessments, observations, and teacher brain expertise together and we come up with an individualized plan for each student.
- I have two examples of a work plan linked below. I use the one that says Blank Work Cycle Plan 2014 (which was created by my very missed colleague, Emily--come back!!! We miss you).
- I also linked the sight word checklist that I use to give each student their own list of words. Each student has a sight word checklist page in my notebook. As they master the words, I check them off, and they get new ones until the entire list is mastered.
- Feel free to borrow!
What does it look like?
If you were to walk into my room on any given day, you would have to look around the room really hard to find me. I am usually on the floor giving a lesson, on the floor giving an assessment, or on the floor assisting. Each child would be working on their work cycle plan. When you walk through the door it is usually not loud. Everyone is work independently...on a good day. They sit at their rugs, complete their work, record the information in their copy books, get the work checked, and move on to another work. Like I said, some days it works out great, other days they act as if they have never done it before.
How do you manage behavior during this time?
I have yet to write a post about my management system, but solid behavior expectations have to be in place BEFORE beginning this type of thing. Remember how I said I've been slack with making them raise their hands...totally my fault! I need to tighten up. Because in order for this work cycle to be successful, we need everyone working diligently at their given tasks. I still have the ugly pencils and fancy pencils. I still have the peace table. I will share my behavior management system eventually. It's very simple.
What do you do when a child refuses to do their work or lacks the focus to get the work done?
This is quite common. Especially as the demand and stress on children continues to grow every year. I encourage them to keep going. I give verbal positive reinforcement. I help them set goals of how many works they want to finish. I say, "If you finish your work, I will call your group for guided reading first". Something as simple as that sends my kids into a frenzy to get their work done. Does it always work? Shoot, no! Some days they are just not feeling it! Some kids are never feeling it, but they get the hang of it eventually except when they don't. This is when my relationship with students come into play as well. I talk with their parents to help come up with strategies to support their child's learning.
OH! So since your kids are working independently, you can just chill?
Psych! While they are busy, I am either going around helping them or pulling small groups for lessons. I generally do ELA whole group, but I pull small math groups and guided reading groups.
How do you keep up with who is doing what?
I keep anecdotal notes on each student and their work plans live in a folder that they also use for work, sticky notes I give them with words or directions on them, and past work.
All of this would not be possible without my fabulous co-teacher who is a tremendous help. I have done a work cycle when I had to be in the room by myself, and it still works, but it is better to have another person. And that is how I teach two grade levels!
Questions?
Here are the attachments:
Questions?
Here are the attachments:
