Should First Year Teachers Teach First Grade?
I'm beginning to think the answer is no. I worry every day that I am doing my children a disservice by basically learning how to teach on them. First grade is a crucial year. Not to downplay the importance of every year of school, but first grade is when you must learn to read. And reading is so critical to continued success, not only in academics, but in everything.
80% of struggling readers in first grade still struggle in third grade. And if you can't read by third grade, you basically can't succeed beyond that year. Third grade is the transistion year from learning to read to reading to learn. Illiteracy has been identifiesd as a national health crisis. And yet, here in the Delta, where education could help these children so much, you have... me. Not only a first year teacher, but basically an untrained first year teacher.
Today Mrs. B-- went and helped out in Ms. T--'s class all day long. I had to practice giving DIBELS assessments on kindergarteners. I managed to get 4 of my 7 done during my "planning periods," but I still had to do 3 more while my class was going on. First graders are not quiet. Not when you threaten them with loss of priveleges or marbles (our class incentive system), not if you offer reward them with tickets or a classroom Animal-Crackers-and-Dancing-to-Jellyfish-Jam party. There is no such thing as 100% silence for more than 20 seconds, and no such thing as more than 85% silence for more than 3 minutes. In the end, I gave up and I yelled and felt so guilty. I made them follow along with a tape of their Basal Reader, and when they couldn't do that silently, I made them sit with their heads down.
I am not a good teacher. I am failing my 24 little star learners. How can they be star learners if I'm too busy raining in the black holes to let the supernovas sparkle? I cried at my ineptitude once they had all gone home and looked for support on the internet, where I found this article that told me I had no place in my classroom anyhow:
Trust Your First Grade Teacher
I hope I get to a point where all my children will be reading. But I can't do it without small group instruction (and preferably, a little bit of one-on-one time). And I can't do either one of those when I'm quieting them down all day long!
80% of struggling readers in first grade still struggle in third grade. And if you can't read by third grade, you basically can't succeed beyond that year. Third grade is the transistion year from learning to read to reading to learn. Illiteracy has been identifiesd as a national health crisis. And yet, here in the Delta, where education could help these children so much, you have... me. Not only a first year teacher, but basically an untrained first year teacher.
Today Mrs. B-- went and helped out in Ms. T--'s class all day long. I had to practice giving DIBELS assessments on kindergarteners. I managed to get 4 of my 7 done during my "planning periods," but I still had to do 3 more while my class was going on. First graders are not quiet. Not when you threaten them with loss of priveleges or marbles (our class incentive system), not if you offer reward them with tickets or a classroom Animal-Crackers-and-Dancing-to-Jellyfish-Jam party. There is no such thing as 100% silence for more than 20 seconds, and no such thing as more than 85% silence for more than 3 minutes. In the end, I gave up and I yelled and felt so guilty. I made them follow along with a tape of their Basal Reader, and when they couldn't do that silently, I made them sit with their heads down.
I am not a good teacher. I am failing my 24 little star learners. How can they be star learners if I'm too busy raining in the black holes to let the supernovas sparkle? I cried at my ineptitude once they had all gone home and looked for support on the internet, where I found this article that told me I had no place in my classroom anyhow:
Trust Your First Grade Teacher
I hope I get to a point where all my children will be reading. But I can't do it without small group instruction (and preferably, a little bit of one-on-one time). And I can't do either one of those when I'm quieting them down all day long!
posted by Jessica at 6:25 PM
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