Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Narrow the Teaching Path?

This year as a fifth grade teacher, I will focus mainly on two subjects rather than all the subjects. This year my main charge is science and math.

Already I feel less pressure and the advantage of more time to dig in and think deeply about these two subjects, subjects I hope to teach with an interdisciplinary program.

As a fourth grade teacher, I felt stretched beyond the time and energy in a day--stretched to include so many teaching points and subjects with depth. I also felt stretched with regard to support since teaching all subjects meant interfacing with a large number of leaders. Now cutting the number of topics in half also reduces the number of leaders I report to.

The generalist teacher's role is massive, and I'm wondering when is it best to narrow that path to make the teaching/learning schedule, expectations, and role more manageable, targeted, and successful. When do we narrow the teaching path for best effect?

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