A New Classroom

Today I received a new classroom at the Learning Academy. A new classroom brings many emotions; emotions ranging from nervousness to excitment to wondering. Though I only spent a couple of hours in my new classroom, it was eye opening. I am now in a 5th grade classroom. Oh boy! What a difference this is from my previous 2nd grade experience. OG instruction still takes place as many of these students are still overcoming the obstacles of dyslexia. However, these students do not participate in the drawings of each vowel and/or consonant. Instead, they are presented various novel vocabulary words and are expected to write them, in cursive, on their whiteboards. Oh boy! This was an experience. Thank goodness the teacher had the cursive alphabet on the wall. I have not written in full cursive, except for my signature, since the 4th grade. These 5th grade students were helping me with my cursive instead of the other way around. Although it was embarassing, I was pleased to see that some schools are still implementing the knowledge of cursive into the minds of their students. Looking around the room, I noticed that many of the same things were in this class as in the other. For example, both classrooms have a daily routine hanging on the whiteboard. For this class, they receive OG instruction until nine o'clock, and then they go into arts and crafts followed by more OG until it is my time to leave. Having daily routines hanging front and center in a slightly immature classroom to a more mature setting, it makes me wonder if students with dyslexia stuggle with time. Perhaps they need to know what is happening all day everyday in order to focus and succeed. My first day in my new classroom was cut short due to a guest speaker, Dr. Yendol-Hoppey (there is a blog write up on this as well). Once the teacher and I took the students to arts and crafts, I stayed behind in order to plan my comprehension lesson with her. Next Thursday, my plan is to go with the class into their art time. I will compare what I see in this art setting to my experience in a public school setting. I am so looking forward to what this new class will bring me.