I was searching on edweek and found an article about teacher student load. The article discusses that reducing class size will improve student success. The article also discusses decentralization. Check it out here if decentralization is new to you. This seems like it would make the education system a lot more efficient, localized, and focused.
After working in the school system for the first time last year, I discovered that I did not function well when class sizes got much over 15. I do not know if it is because of my low multi-tasking skills or what, but when class sizes reached anything over 20, it definitely affected my performance. There was so much to manage that by the end of the school day, I found myself aimlessly wondering around not getting a whole lot accomplished. My brain was fried and there just seemed to be so much to handle.
My biggest class was right after lunch with 31 students teaching Algebra 1. More than 20 of these students were male, after lunch, after energy drinks, and the class was Algebra 1. So, I do realize that there are more factors playing into a rowdy class then just class size, but class size had a lot to do with my ineffectiveness for the majority of the semester. Having 31 students is too many. When I found this article, I was reminded of my conversation that I had with my wife and my ideas to reform the education world.
After my seasoned 1 year in the classroom and 1 year as a substitute teacher, my recommendation for fixing the system is has 2 parts. Lower class size and extend the school year. The first part is generally accepted and I will be sure to explain the latter. By lowering class size, students will behave better. Teachers will have a better handle on inspiring and making personal conversations with students. More contact and individual attention have always shown to boost student performance. Lower class sizes will also reduce teachers spending countless hours grading papers. This time is not affective and does not give us the “bang for our buck.” Less time grading papers will leave more time for student interaction, feedback, and lesson prep.
My other idea is to extend the school year by 20 days. Now hold on! Check this out. I would not extend student seat time with this, it would be 1 month of added teacher days and this is why. There is no time scheduled in for lesson development, assessment, professional development, and collaboration. When in a teacher’s workday are you supposed to get this all done? By adding 1 month to the teacher’s schedule, there would be time for this. Lessons could actually change a little from year to year, and just maybe, a new one could be developed to replace the decade old ones. Teachers could collaborate on what works and work to coordinate department units. Professional development could take place outside of class time which would reduce money spent on substitute pay.
By adding 1 more month, teachers salaries would could support them for the entire year and they would not have to worry about getting a summer job. The added days would not add stress; it would actually spread the workload of the year out. These 2 easy adjustments would have the biggest impact on improving student achievement. Yes, more teachers would need to be hired and salaries would need to increase. Savings on substitute teachers would help, and the sky rocketing of student achievement would also help make up the difference.
What do you think?
Philip
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Philip,
ReplyDeleteFirst, I have respectfully disagree with you. Granted, I have only been teaching since January but I don't think that smaller classes necessarily cut down on time grading papers, increase student interaction, increase positive student behavior, or increase lesson prep.
My biggest class contains 12 students. Then I have a class of 11 and 10, respectively. I spend the same amount of time grading papers no matter what my class size is because I tend to give more in-depth assignments to the smaller classes.
As far as student behavior goes, you might be able to zero in on the "ring leader" if the class is smaller but then again in my experience you tend to let things slide more with a smaller class than if you had a bigger class. But in the end, kids will be kids. They will test the limits and boundaries to see how far they can go.
Regarding, lesson planning . . . I believe that has nothing to do with the number of students you have. It has everything to do with the individual teacher and school. How detailed do your lessons need to be for you to be effective? In order to brighten my days when I look at my lesson plans, I like to see the little added pictures that I put in. This is purely for my own enjoyment.
I am in favor of year-round schooling but I don't agree with your reasoning to increase the school year in order for teachers to get their
lesson development, assessment, professional development, and collaboration in. Don't most schools offer professional development opportunites and obtain a sub for you when you go? I know that I will be going to a 2-day conference in a few weeks and my principal is having a sub for me both days. Also, don't most school districts give you the option of having your paycheck over the 12 months rather than just the 9 months? This would allow for you to receive a check during the summer months too.
Just my thoughts!
Reducing class size at every grade level could only be benefial, not only for teachers, but also for the students. There couldn't be any disadvantages to a 20:1 class size. Could there? Except fewer students! As far as not having enough time to get all your grading and planning done, don't worry too much about it. You're just starting out (2nd year...right?). My first year, I stayed after school at least for two hours prepping and on top of that, another two or more at home correcting...but I also had 32 students and only one computer in the classroom. As years went by, I now pick and choose what to grade and I don't need to assign a large number of problems to see if my students understand something. Quality not quantity is what I learned. I also do a lot of projects and activities involving technology that are extremely effective (they're Gen Zer's...they need technology!) I'm all for adding school days to the year...but not just for teachers...for students too. Hope this helps.
ReplyDeleteDenise
Class sizes do make a difference in the learning environment not only for students, but also for teachers. While I love this concept, unfortunately I don't believe we could win the backing of our taxpayers to fund this based solely on this reason. I think it would be easier to fund a longer school year but not on the basis of teachers needing additional prep time, but rather for actual contact days. In comparing the U.S. to other countries, the U.S. students could use a step-up. I wonder how many teachers would favor this though...I for one wouldn't mind.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your thoughts!
I like your idea of adding 20 days on to the school year for teachers to evaluate assessments, work on effective lesson planning, or maybe even doing some independent research. I think if teachers had the extra time to work on all these items then classrooms would run more efficiently and be more effective. Hopefully teachers would not take advantage of the workdays but actually make a positive change to their teaching. These workdays could even be used to learn some new tech programs. Teachers could spend time learning and then adding technology to their units. I think you might be on to something.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree that the smaller the class size the better. My children are in 5th grade with 30 students and 1st grade with 25 students. I feel that this is to many. It is difficult to manage that many.
ReplyDeleteAs for adding more contract days (not teacher-student contact time), I have mixed feelings. My children are not old enough to stay home by themselves yet and we do not have to pay for child care. If we had more contract days, I would have to pay for child care. This sound small (we do not have any child care during the year, husband is done with work when kids are home from school), but putting my kids in child care for a month would cost a lot of money. I do feel that if a teacher puts in time in the summer, they should get compensated for it. Also, we are a "lake" family, our summers are just to short as they are. If I have to work longer into the summer, that takes away from the lake.
Year around school works great for some areas. My college roommate teaches in California. She teaches at a school that is year around. She loves it. She usually has Jan. off when it is very hot. For me, I would not like it, we only get a few days of summer. I would hate to be teaching during our lake season.
Sarah