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Scenario 1: Do One Thing Well
Scenario
Consuelo Martinez is a student teacher. She is observing Mr. Jenkins, her master teacher, in his fifth grade classroom. Mr. Jenkins has been teaching for fifteen years, covering nearly all grades at the elementary level. His students vary widely in ability, background and socioeconomic status. To meet their diverse needs, Mr. Jenkins utilizes a wide variety of instructional strategies.
It is second semester and his students are engaged in many different activities around the room. Some students work in the five learning centers: computer, spelling, math, art and journal. Two students work with a parent volunteer on math skills. One recent immigrant from Taiwan leaves the room with a language specialist. Mr. Jenkins works with a remedial guided reading group. Although students are talking and some are out of their seats to get necessary supplies, the noise level is calm and students are on task.
Every twenty minutes, Mr. Jenkins stands up and uses sign language to tell students to clean up and rotate to the next center.
One Thing
Two students work on a PowerPoint slide presentation about a book they just read, Bud, Not Buddy at the computer center. Two more students write in their journal about a picture they cut out from a magazine. At the spelling center, three students thumb through newspapers. They are looking for letters to cut out and spell the weekly spelling words. "Ha! I found a "q" for "squirrel!" Sammy boasts loudly. Mr. Jenkins looks at Sammy briefly and signs something to him. Sammy grins and signs back. "I wonder what they said," Ms. Martinez thinks to herself. Sammy continues to work.
"I CAN'T DO IT!" Adina says loudly at the math center. She puts her head down on the table, her disheveled hair dangling over the tangram pieces. Another student at the table, Trevor, has already finished his first tangram and is starting his second. He looks over at Mr. Jenkins, who quietly nods toward Adina. Throughout the school year, Mr. Jenkins has worked with students in practicing conflict resolution skills. He wants them to become less dependent on adults and more dependent on themselves for solving problems. Mr. Jenkins knows that students are capable of helping each other and actively promotes a caring community in the classroom.
Trevor sighs, and says, "Adina, I can help you." Adina doesn't respond. "Adina, come on. You can do this. Watch how the first two pieces fit together." Trevor slides two tangram pieces to start making the rabbit shape. Adina watches, keeping her chin on the table. "Now we'll make the ears," Trevor says. Adina eventually finishes the remaining pieces of the rabbit with Trevor's guidance.
Ms. Martinez feels dizzy watching all the action. "I'll never be able to have a classroom like this," she thinks. After the morning recess bell rings and the students go outside to play, Mr. Jenkins and Ms. Martinez have a brief meeting.
"So what do you think of your first day in the classroom?" Mr. Jenkins asks. "Well, I feel a little like Adina," Ms. Martinez answers. Mr. Jenkins looks puzzled. "You know, the whole "I CAN'T DO IT!" statement she made. I look at your class and it runs so smoothly. I can't imagine doing HALF of that and staying in control."
Mr. Jenkins nods in understanding. "Well, I have a secret for you," he says. "You're not even supposed to do half of that. You need to pick one thing. Just one. Take the time to allow yourself and your students to master it. Pick a classroom management strategy, or establish one learning center, or work with small reading groups. Do one thing, and do it well. Then you can add more over time."
"But the students will get less," Ms. Martinez complains. "I don't agree," answers Mr. Jenkins. "If you try to do it all in your first year, the students will actually get less. My first year as a teacher, I had a mentor who told me the exact same thing." "And did you listen?" Ms. Martinez asks. "No," answered Mr. Jenkins, smiling. "I began the year with four learning centers and a complicated system of rewards. It was chaos. So during second semester, I set up only one center. Then we practiced setup routines, rotation routines and cleanup routines until the end of the school year. In fact, I only added sign language to my routine last year! I discovered it was a fun, quiet way to refocus students."
"Just one thing," Ms. Martinez repeats to herself.
Scenario 2: Sizing Things Up
Ms. Liang teaches fifth grade. For the past three years, she has enjoyed small class sizes with a 20:1 student to teacher ratio. This year, however, the class size reduction plan was revoked due to federal and state budget cuts. Less money is available for purchasing "consumables" such as paint, batteries, and other art and science supplies. She has 34 students in a relatively small classroom and there is no space for "extras" such as learning centers or a reading corner. Looking around her room, Ms. Liang feels cramped and barely able to accommodate the 34 student desks plus her own.
Ms. Liang prefers indirect teaching. The majority of her student experiences were with teachers who used teacher-centered, direct instruction approaches. When Ms. Liang was in seventh grade, however, her science teacher was unique and motivating. That teacher inspired her student-centered teaching style.
In the past, Ms. Liang often implemented learning centers and used a wide variety of materials. Now she wonders if she'll have to use a direct teaching style to compensate for the lack of space and materials.
Something from Nothing.
After one month of using direct teaching approaches almost exclusively, Ms. Liang is ready for a change. She takes action to integrate indirect teaching experiences into her classroom and overcome the lack of space and materials.
Ms. Liang searches the Internet for free supplies. She happily discovers many Web sites that offer free resources and instructional materials to educators. Ms. Liang spends several evenings evaluating the sites and ordering the most relevant supplies for her class. She talks to colleagues to share her new information and to find out more ways to find "freebies."
Ms. Liang also finds nearly twenty recipes at http://www.scribbleskidsart.com/generic207.html for making her own paint supplies. Most recipes require simple cooking ingredients, easy enough for students to do. Ms. Liang links the lessons to state standards. She also buys rechargeable batteries for her science projects and solicits recycled materials from her students, including plastic containers, film canisters, and cardboard rolls.
Ms. Liang's "can-do" attitude is contagious and her students fully participate in the search for supplies.
Ms. Liang's final hurdle is to set up a learning center in her small classroom. She decides to have one group of students host a center at their particular cluster of desks. The first group plans a writing center. They are completely responsible for planning, setting up, and monitoring the center. Ms. Liang first sets up a variety of "demo" centers so that students know what to do and how to do it. She is satisfied with the downscaled version of her learning center system.
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