POWELL SHOPPER-NEWS • JANUARY 21, 2013 • A-9
Shopper-News Presents Miracle Makers
The move to full-day kindergar ten By Jake Mabe Christi Shields jokes that one reason she chose to become a kindergarten teacher was because she’d never have to grow up. The 15-year educator, who has taught at Brickey-McCloud Elementary for the last six years, says while growing up she loved babysitting and working with kids in youth groups and teaching Sunday school at her church. At UT, she began studying psychology, particularly human learning and behavior, but soon decided teaching was her calling. She also holds a master’s degree from Carson-Newman. Knox County Schools extended kindergarten to a full day this year. Previously, kindergarten students went home at 1 p.m. Shields says the move has gone well. “I wasn’t sure how (the students) were going to handle it. They were used to naps. Some were tired at the beginning of the year, but we’ve worked their endurance up by holding shorter activities and having more movement from activity to activity until they could handle longer periods of sitting, writing and reading.” Shields says the longer day “has been awesome for all types of kids,” giving teachers more time to work with struggling students in small groups, for example, or giving students “in the middle” more time for enrichment. “We do a lot of small group work during the day.” She says the extended day has also allowed teachers to integrate more science and social studies into the students’ writing. “Before, we had a hard time getting done by 1 o’clock. Now, we have a lot of time to do writing. It’s been wonderful.” Shields says the students perform “a variety of different things all day long,” including working in small groups, independent reading, and moving to various work stations around the classroom, “mostly literacy related.” Some activities are performed on computers and iPads. “All the activities are things developmentally appropriate for a kindergarten child to do. Sometimes they think they are playing when they are actually learning.” Students are often paired with a partner. Shields selects the pairings, which are switched every nine weeks. “They love it (working with a partner). It’s their absolute favorite part of the day. It also helps them continue to develop socialization skills.” Shields says when students enter kindergarten, the teachers hope they know how to write their names and
Christi Shields at work. Photos by Ruth White
are familiar with some letters and sounds. She says “it’s helpful” if the students can count to 10 and rhyme words. She says the students practice learning one letter of the alphabet per day for the first few weeks and then a letter a week, “like the old kindergarten (curriculum).” The first half of the year is dedicated to letters, sounds and phonics, while the second half focuses on writing and reading more difficult text. When they leave kindergarten, students are expected to be able to read simple text and write three to five connecting sentences on a topic. Shields says increased expectations for kindergartners is the biggest change she’s seen in her career. The kindergarten curriculum now is more like the old 1st grade curriculum, she says. “When I first came into teaching, I was basically doing what would now be considered preschool. The expectations have jumped a whole year. Students are expected to read and write by the end of the year when some don’t know their letters at the beginning of the year. It’s a long haul for some of these kids.” Shields left Knox County to teach for five years in Rutherford County after beginning her career at West Haven Elementary. When she returned eight years ago to teach at
Norwood Elementary and saw the increased curriculum for kindergartners, she says, “I didn’t know if they could do this. But it’s amazing the progress you see. They pick it up.” She says the kindergarten teachers at Brickey-McCloud work as a team and that their collaboration is invaluable. “We work in planning sessions on Tuesdays and PLCs (Professional Learning Communities) on Thursdays. When we work in planning sessions, for example, we discuss ideas to get kids from one reading level to another. We all have different talents that everyone brings to the table. Somebody might be strong in phonics or math and we help each other out.” She says the collaboration time has “caused us to be focused.” Each teacher is asked to look for teaching strategies in three areas. Following each PLC meeting, they’re asked to practice them in the classroom, bring
Knox County Council PTA
work samples back to the following week’s session and see how well it worked and whether the other teachers can adopt the strategies. If she could wave a magic wand and receive anything she doesn’t currently have, Shields says it would be more planning time. In addition to the planning and PLC sessions, kindergarten teachers get 45 minutes (extended by 15 minutes this year when kindergarten was expanded to a full day) of designated planning time in their classrooms three days a week. “The rest is after school. It’s really hard to get everything planned. We spend a lot of time here after school to get everything done.” During the course of her career, Shields spent one year teaching 4th grade and one year teaching 1st grade. But kindergarten is where her heart lies. “I love it!” she says with a grin.
Nominate a Miracle Maker by calling (865) 922-4136.
ER 101 Join Dr. Landess as he provides tips on what to do and expect in an ER setting.
Tuesday, January 29 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. North Knoxville Medical Center 7565 Dannaher Drive Sister Elizabeth Assembly Center Featured Speaker
Lunch included. Space is limited.
Christopher Landess, M.D.
Call 1-855-TENNOVA by January 25 to register.
Tennova.com
1-855-836-6682