Monday, January 04, 2010

In An Ideal World

We're having intersession this week (explained at the end of this post). I'm teaching a geometry class to first and second graders.

For the past few weeks I have read about geometry in several fabulous books about math (Teaching Student-Centered Mathematics, Grades K-3 and Math Matters and Navigating through Geometry in Prekindergarten-Grade 2). These books gave me a great foundation for geometry and for how children learn and understand geometric concepts.

Next I went through our district's curriculum expectations for first and second graders to begin to determine our focus for the week. Finally, I browsed through a variety of books with activities and ideas to begin planning.

This was all fairly time consuming. However, it is how I would like to plan for everything I teach. I want to have such a deep understanding of the theory and the curriculum and be able to see the big picture. I just can't find the time.

Should I tackle one subject area each school year until I begin to have a handle on them all? Should I work on one area for a few weeks and them move on to another? Should I just keep trying to figure it all out at once?

How do others deal with this?

2 comments:

Teacher Tom said...

I'm so glad I don't have to do any of it! As a preschool with a play-based curriculum I'm more often than not one day behind the kids, deepening my knowledge only after they get interested in a subject.

It seems like there really isn't enough time for most teachers I know to stay on top of things. Good luck!

Happy New Year!

mburtis said...

See?! This post is an example of how NOT LAZY you are. ;-)