Advice from a Grandmother

Perhaps you have wondered - or not! - why this blog is titled Third Generation. I chose the name to honor my parents and maternal grandparents who were all public school teachers for many years. Yesterday I was conversing with my mom, and she shared the advice given by her mother as my mom was about to embark on her first ever teaching assignment. My grandmother advised my mother to "...be kind to the children. They don't have any choice about coming to school." I love it! (My mother began her teaching career in 1954, and my grandmother probably in the early 1920s.)

Today my MT began meeting individually with the students for writing conferences. On Thursday, each student had selected a small, but memorable, moment from the summer to write about. Today each wrote briefly about the aspects of their writing that they felt good about and those aspects they wanted to improve. My MT conferred with about one-third of the class today, while the others engaged in silent reading of their choice. I primarily spent the time observing conferences, but also handled the small disruptive behaviors that occurred among the readers.

Both my MT and I have been surprised by how lessons have consistently taken longer than planned for. It's not that the kids have been uncooperative, or that time has been wasted; it simply seems to take the class as a whole longer than expected to complete activities. The other sixth grade teacher has found this to be true in her class as well. They have jointly resolved to "let go" of the expectation of covering all the curriculum, and to instead focus on making sure the students are ready before moving on. I know our Field Placements instructor Robin would concur; as she said, it's better that students know 50% of the materials 100% well, than 100% of the materials 50% well (or something to that effect!)