Friday, July 06, 2007

Meet and Greet

Yesterday most schools in the area had their teacher meet and greet.  Did you notice anything different?

My oldest child has been going to the same school since Kindergarten.  I have been to many meet and greets at this school.  This year is a first.  The school is one of the elementary schools converting to YR for the first time.  The teachers where all very nice and the school looked great.  Just one thing though,  the class rooms looked bare.  What do I mean by bare?  There was no personalization of the class room for the teacher and her class.  There was the occasional poster with the children’s names on them but the rooms by and large seemed to be bare. 

In the years past teachers have had the opportunity to personalize their room for the year.  They would create work stations for reading, math and writing.  They would have a book corner for quiet or private reading.  There would be more supplies lined up in the bookcases.  Not this year.

As I understand it, the teachers are working out of fairly large carts that are mobile.  These carts have all the items that they would need for the school year with areas to keep their supplies and the children’s records.  These are made to be mobile because every time the children track out they will be coming back to a different classroom.  We put the question of how will the children know where to go when they go back after break and the teachers where all very reassuring that the “children will know where to go”. 

I am in support of the YR conversion but this does seem to be one of those things that would be an inconvenience.  It’s not an inconvenience to me or my children but for the teachers.  Imagine teaching in one classroom for up to 9 weeks and then you track out.  The teacher must then pack up her fairly large, and I imagine heavy, cart with all those items from the last nine weeks and have them moved to their new room.  I sure do hope that someone helps them move them.  I really do understand why some teachers would not like this part of year round.

And what happens when they go back?  I understand that they will know where they are going before break but does this room change also cut into their track out time.  Do the teachers have to leave later than the students and arrive before they get back to organize the new classroom?  And where on earth will they store these large carts while the room they were in is now being utilized by another teacher and class? 

If you are a teacher currently experiencing these problems, please let me know how this will work or how it is going for you.  I’m sure people are concerned about retaining good, qualified teachers but will YR cause problems with retention?  I sure hope not!