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Wednesday, May 25, 2011

1st Grade Awards & Co-teaching

I'm very bittersweet about the end of the year! I want a break from my kids but I will be so sad when the school year is over. Every year I do awards and a ceremony for my first graders. You could use these awards for any grade level though. We are having our ceremony next Wednesday. Only 9 more days left of school!


Click here to download!

Awards

On a totally different subject, I have been on four interview the past few weeks. Principals cannot tell you if they want to hire you until Friday, May 27 at 5:01. Hopefully I will have choices of which schools I want to go to but I have run into a dilemma. I like two schools equally! Both schools have high parent involvement, excellent principals, creative teachers, and I think I would be happy at either one. One school is doing co-teaching and I could be hired for grades first through third. (This school also includes a gym membership at the YMCA.) The other school I would have my own class and I would definitely be in first.  I know I would be blessed to work at either school but I wanted to hear some feedback on co-teaching vs teaching on your own, so please leave comments!!

4 comments:

  1. Well that is great news! This year was my first year teaching and I am co-teaching, so I don't really have my "own" class to compare it to. How would the co-teaching at your school work? Two teachers in one classroom? My co-teacher and I share a group of kids, but each havr our own separate classrooms. It is very hard to co-teach! I mean, there are some perks. It is great to always have someone to bounce ideas off of and two brains are always better than one. I'm also so thankful that I basically had my hand held as a first year teacher... but there were several days where I didn't feel like "checking in" in the morning. Or when a lesson went longer than expected in my room and it was hard to communicate that with the teacher I'm sharing students with! So it definitely has it's ups and downs. I would say go with your gut...

    And then let us know! Good luck!

    Hadar

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  2. Hadar,

    Thank you so much for your opinion! The co-teaching would be 2 teachers in one classroom sharing 25-28 students. We would both be teaching at the same time. One teacher whole group the other pulling kids for small group and switching that up constantly. I have been teaching in my own room for 3 years now. I know co-teaching would be a great experience and something unique to try. I will have to weigh my options but I'll let everyone know this weekend! Thanks again!

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  3. Co-teaching is like a marriage. You have to have a partner you get along with, can communicate with openly and honestly. Not all marriages work and you need to keep that in mind. Were you given the opportunity to meet the co-teacher and discuss work ethic and philosophy? There was a teacher at my school who I considered a friend until we began co-teaching a class. In the beginning we had our honeymoon phases. Not long after the end of the first quarter she started slacking. She wasn't carrying her weight in our co-teaching partnership. It went down hill from there.

    Sorry I rambled on. Good luck. I know you will choose what is right for you.

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  4. Mrs. Helms,
    Thank you so much for your feedback. I have not met the co-teacher I would work with yet. The principal said I would need to come back to meet them but the problem is I would have to say yes to the position beforehand. So it may or may not work out. I am a little apprehensive about working with someone I don't even know yet. I also like to work hard and it would bother me as well if someone was slacking. I have so much to consider before making a choice tomorrow. Thanks again!

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