Departmentalizing in the elementary
schools has become a big topic recently. I have seen schools do this in a
variety of ways. I have also heard teachers share both pros and cons to this
method of teaching. This year, my school decided to departmentalize in the 4th
and 5th grade and it has sparked lots of thoughts and conversations
among us.
There are numerous cons that
teachers have shared about departmentalizing. First, when you departmentalize,
you have less flexibility in your daily schedule (Mulvahill, 2016). This proves
to be difficult when teachers may want to spend more time on one subject during
the day. Timing is everything with elementary school schedules.
Departmentalizing can negatively impact the transition time (Mulvahill, 2016).
I notice this when we are switching blocks. We lose valuable minutes in
switching and settling back down. Another con is that specializing in just one
subject can wear teachers out (Mulvahill, 2016). Personally, I wanted to become
an elementary teacher because I love teaching each subject to a group of
students. This year, I am only teaching Language Arts and I get bored of the
content. I am a math lover so for me, teaching Language Arts all day burns me
out. This is not my specialty.
While there are cons, there are also
several pros to departmentalizing in the elementary schools. First, when only
teaching one subject, teachers are able to spend more time on their plans and
differentiation (Mulvahill, 2016). I certainly do enjoy spending more time on
making my lessons the best they can be with maximum differentiation. Another
pro to departmentalizing is that teachers feel equal ownership over all of the
grade level students (Mulvahill, 2016). I really like that, as a grade level,
we all feel responsible for each and every student instead of only one class. I
can also see that it prepares students for middle school and the transitions
they will be making there.
Lots
of people ask me if I would recommend it. I always say that it just depends on
the teacher. Personally, I do not prefer departmentalizing because of the loss
of classroom community. Because some of my homeroom students have no “blocks”
together, their only interactions with this group of students are lunch,
recess, specials, and snack time. I still feel that the classroom community is
so important in the elementary classrooms.
Any thoughts on departmentalizing in
the elementary schools? Pros? Cons?
References
Mulvahill, E. (2016, June 20). Should Elementary
Schools Departmentalize? We Look at the Pros and Cons. In We Are
Teachers. Retrieved from https://www.weareteachers.com/should-elementary-schools-deparmentalize-we-look-at-the-pros-and-cons/
Hi Olivia!
ReplyDeleteI agree that there are pros and cons to departmentalizing in elementary schools. I understand the need to better prepare students for what middle school will be like but I feel like we are starting too early. Do we really need to start preparing a student for transitions and having multiple teachers in 4th grade?
At my school we departmentalize only in 5th grade and we do it a little differently than most schools that I have heard of. There are two teams with two teachers on each team. One teacher teachers math and science and the other teaches ELA and social studies. This limits transitions to only one time a day which helps the 5th grade teachers maximize their instructional time. In my opinion this introduces them to the idea of switching after each subject and gives them a taste of what they will do in middle school without going over board.
There are definitely pros and cons to both but like you I really enjoy building a strong classroom community at the elementary level. It is so important for us to use the elementary years to help students develop a since of what it means to be a member of a community. Our classrooms give us the opportunity to start small with this idea and really teach our students how to build and maintain relationships. We must continue to do what is developmentally right for our students by not skipping over important experiences in order to better prepare students for the future.
Olivia,
ReplyDeleteThis has been a hot topic in my school! This year we had grades 3-5 departmentalize, but many of the same concerns you mentioned were raised. This is my seventh year in fifth grade and my fifth year being departmentalize. When we began, I taught one class of writing and three blocks of reading. There were two teams of three teachers (each teacher taught one writing segment, then we were split by reading/math/science and social studies). By the third reading class I felt fried and not nearly as enthusiastic delivering the information to students. Additionally, I was serving three classes so I saw 75 students daily. That's a lot of students to meet the needs, build connections, and keep up with parent communication.
As time has passed we have changed our model for departmentalization by having team of two teachers instead of three. Now I partner with one other teacher and we both teach writing, but I teach math and science while she teaches reading and social studies. There is far greater flexibility, less transitions, and better relationships with students. As a school we have also decided that it is not in the best interest of the students to departmentalize in third and fourth anymore. Only fifth grade with continue as it prepares students for middle school.
I really do think there is a lot to consider when determining if departmentalization is beneficial for students. I think you have to look at your population and what is best for the kids.