Departmentalization
News from the 6th Grade
by Savannah, Tanna, Shani, Rachel, and Drew
August 31, 2010
This year the Wakefield Community School, grades 4th through 6th are departmentalizing. There are eleven different teachers and aides working in the classrooms. The five main teachers are Mrs. Nixon, who teaches Writing, Mr. Brenn, the Science teacher, Mrs. Haisch teaches Math, Mrs. Metzler teaches English and Spelling, and Mrs. Garwood is the Social Studies teacher. Each teacher also teaches Reading to their homeroom students. Each class has a forty-five minute period, with their reading block lasting one hour.
We interviewed Mr. Wulf, our elementary principal. When asked, “Why are we transitioning and how did you come up with the idea?” Mr. Wulf replied, “One of the reasons was the creativity of our teachers. Another reason is it gives the students a break and it makes the day go faster.” We also asked Mr. Wulf how he thinks the year will go since we are transitioning. “I feel that the students are much more focused. Also, I think students will have better relationships with the teachers and its fun! We know it’s not perfect, but we are going to work together to make changes to make transitioning more successful.” Finally when asked about how he liked the transitioning, Mr. Wulf responded, “I like it a lot! It’s a lot of work, but students will be prepared for junior high.”
We also interviewed Mrs. Nixon, the fourth grade teacher. When asked about the short time between classes, Mrs. Nixon said, “I think it is plenty of time to get switched and organized.” We asked, “How do you like transitioning?” Mrs. Nixon thinks departmentalization teaches organization and independence. It also allows teachers to interact with more students throughout the day. Mrs. Nixon was also asked, “How do you like teaching one subject besides reading and why did you pick writing to teach?” She responded, “I think it gives me a chance to focus on one subject and teach to all kinds of learners. I chose writing because it is one of my strengths. I enjoy teaching it because allows kids to be creative.”
As you can see, there are a lot of changes in the elementary, but we are getting used to the new schedule and enjoying it!
