The Daily CAFE Discussion Board

2nd Grade Tracking, engagement and more

stephanie.windon 2017-02-14 10:35:42 UTC #1

Daily 5 friends- we have 33 students. People that have come into our classroom have been shocked at the number because most international schools keep there class sizes at 15. However my principal wants to keep the grade level together for Daily 5. Honestly, I love working with my co teacher and we have learned a lot and I feel like I have been made into a better teacher because of co teaching. Things that we are running into: engagement. How do we keep students finding joy in what they are doing? Also, how do you keep track on 30+ students and what they are doing? What happens when a child is off task but you and the other teachers in the room are busy with a strategy group or word work group? If you do words their way- how do you assess that they are doing word work activities when you are limited on space. Our classroom is not that big and 2nd graders grow through the year. Surprise.
Any helpful tips would be welcome!!

srea 2017-02-24 12:25:27 UTC #2

Stephanie,

I'm not a classroom teacher, so I'll leave suggestions on those areas to teachers who are :).

I would like to comment on "keeping track" of students. Have you looked into the web-based CCPensieve? I can't even begin to tell you what an awesome tool I think it is :). It would be particularly helpful for you and your co-teacher. After one of you sets up the class on the Pensieve, you can "share" all your students with him/her. Once this is done, both of you can make comments about students, and you can see both in the same thread of conferences!

I'm a reading specialist, and I do this "sharing" with the classroom teachers whose students I work with. It really is incredible that you can see the notes in "real time". One of my kids commented that it's just like texting--and it is! You also have the capability to print reports for conferences or weekly reports as you desire.

You can have a 30-day free trial of the CCPensieve to see if it works for you. Just click here:
http://www.ccpensieve.com/login.php, and you can read all about it.