second grade limudey kodesh. please help

Ema of 5

Sun, Jul 17 2011, 4:33 pm

seeker wrote:

You don't know how to use spell check, want to get by with the least work possible, and hope to slide in just by copying someone else's curriculum without putting any thought into it? I feel bad for your students already.

thats not very nice, or accurate. what she said is that she has two little kids, so she wants to minimize her prep time. I dont think that makes her a bad teacher. teachers share material all the time- what do you think chinuch.org is, a site for people to jsut showcase their work??

cut her a little slack here, would you? if you have nothing nice to say, then dont say anything. if you have nothing constructive to ad, just stay away.

did we learn nothing about achdus over the past week, or has it already been long enough that we are already back to mud slinging and petty fighting?

and no, I will NOT hide behind amother, because I stand by what I said.

apple24

Wed, Jul 20 2011, 6:46 pm

Akiva, I think amother has a point, but should not have said it the way she did.

A, it sounds like you don't really have so much experience with teaching. This is not bad in and of itself, but you should be prepared for a hard year of growth for yourself. Teaching is not an easy profession. It's not just about copying someone elses sheets. There's discipline, teaching methodologies, and the students themselves to keep in mind. Each class is different, some are stronger and some are weaker. Some are more visual learners, whereas others are more perceptual.
I understand that you have 2 kidsa nd want to get prep done in the summer, but I would strongly suggest not doing that, as you will see that you can only really build your curriculum properly if you have a feel for your class (and the age, if you haven't yet taught 2nd grade)
I would also recommend trying to get yourself mentored by a good 2nd grade teacher. Meet with her, talk to her, look at her materials. It will help give you a starting point. Looking at someones maerials without having a context may not be so helpful. Hatzlacha!

seeker

Thu, Jul 21 2011, 12:42 am

I actually think prepping ahead in the summer is a great idea. You do have to be very ready to adjust as you go along, so I wouldn't invest too much time into custom designing worksheets for April until you get a feel for what works for your kids.

The part that got my snark up was mainly "let me just copy all there matirial (sic)" Unless it was a desperate stab at sarcasm that just didn't translate well, that is not the kind of attitude that makes good teachers.

I would say the best kind of preparation you could do at this point is start by browsing teaching websites/blogs/books to get ideas of how you want to structure your class - the room, the procedures, routines, policies, rules, etc. and of course your teaching style - your personality style will evolve with practice, but you should already be formulating your own perspectives on things like grouping, multisensory learning, discipline, etc. There are some really nice blogs out there, mainly secular, but many of the basics won't be different.

Rather than have a year's worth of chumash worksheets copied from someone who may or may not share your style and priorities, it will serve you much better to come in at the beginning of the year with a solid management and organizational plan. Plan lessons to get you through the first few weeks, and then use the vacation time to get ahead again after you've seen what it's really like (yes, I used the word "vacation." I know it isn't, but whatever else you have to do, you get a break from teaching to recharge the teaching parts of you. And this may not be the year to do a gourmet sukkos for you.)

Apple24's idea of a mentor is excellent. You should also ask for the number of the first grade teacher in your school so you can get an idea of what the kids are up to coming in (they lose a little over the summer but you'll know where they've been before)