There are many things that are good about teaching fifth grade in California. The curriculum is suited to how I think. I love the history or social studies. We teach some of the differences in the regional Native American tribes. This allows for some arts and craft pursuits. One of these is the modeling of the different habitat structures that were used.
The tepees of the Plains Indians, the long houses of the Northeastern tribes. The adobe houses of the Southwest, and the plank houses of the Pacific Northwest. Students can recreate the caravel type ship that brought the explorers from Europe to this new world.
They learn who were colonized and why. This led to the original thirteen colonies, and how each functioned depending on purpose of formation and the geographical region in which it existed. Most importantly the stresses that were put upon those colonies to thrive both culturally and economically. It was those stresses that gave rise to the American Revolution. Once we were free all that was left was expanding from coast to coast, manifest destiny.
Math is also an interesting course of study. Now the problems become more involved. It takes many steps to complete a problem instead of just some simple computation. This is where students begin to struggle.
Physical Education is a good thing. Fifth graders get tested in physical fitness. So, students need to receive practice by doing a regular structured exercise. But, they can get some kind of activity afterwards. Kickball, relay races, soccer are student favorites. It is as enjoyable for me to watch the play as it is for them to participate.
There are many things that make teaching fun, however, there are some things that make it miserable. I had both the fun and the miserable this week. Students need to move around the campus in an orderly fashion. Okay, call it by what it is in lines. As a devotee of Fred Jones, I require the line to be orderly. It isn't about control. It is about having the students develop self-control. There is an old saying, "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink." Its the same for students in a way.
Half my students didn't go to science camp so they were left behind all week with a substitute teacher. Sometimes substitutes don't always follow the same procedures and routines that the classroom teacher does. It's not their fault sometimes, we don't leave detailed instructions on line procedures. So for a week, I had a constant struggle reminding the students of my expectations on their lines. So as reinforcer, I told them that they would not have PE activity just exercises until they could line up correctly.
This was starting to work until Wednesday. My other fifth grade teacher, who lines up next to my students, had a training class therefore he had a substitute. He allowed the students to run wild. He gave them three hours of PE. The other class was outside literally morning, noon, and night. My class now thought he was the best teacher on the face of the Earth. My life was miserable because the students ran to the windows to watch their friends play. How could division of mixed numbers match the spectacle that was unfolding outside.
Then came every teacher's nightmare, synchronized bladders. All the students who wanted to avoid work were asking to use the bathroom just 10 minutes after coming in from lunch recess. One, two, oodles of students all up out of their seats demanding to go use the restroom. Typically, only a couple of students need to go after lunch recess and it is close to an hour since their break. Some of the students I have will go into screaming and imitating their best pee pee dance. It was pandemonium.
Then Friday, I came out to pick them up and it was unbelievable. They were in the perfect line. Everyone facing forward and not talking. I, of course, needed to reward this by giving them their activity back for PE that day. They played soccer. It was enjoyable even for me.
Were they little angels after that? No not hardly, they still need to test the boundaries. But for a sweet golden moment it was fun teaching. Who knows what will happen next week, because we start reviewing for a test. So come back for another episode of "This Week in Education."
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