• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Advertising
  • Write for Us
  • Job Board
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
    • Consulting
    • Advertising
  • Shop
    • Books
    • Shirts

The Educators Room logo

  • Start Here
    • Impact Statements: Teacher Expertise
    • Newsletter
  • Browse Topics
    • Content Strategies
      • Literacy
      • Mathematics
      • Social Studies
      • Educational Technology
      • ELL & ESOL
      • Fine Arts
      • Special Education
      • Popular Topics
        • Teacher Self-Care
        • Instructional Coach Files
        • Common Core
        • The Traveling Teacher
        • The Unemployed Teacher
        • The New Teacher Chronicles
        • Book Review
        • Grade Levels
          • Elementary (K-5)
          • Middle (6-8)
          • Adult
          • New Teacher Bootcamp
          • Hot Button Topics
            • Menu Item
              • Principals' Corner
              • Charter Schools
              • Confessions of a Teacher
              • Interviews
              • The State of Education
              • Stellar Educator of the Week
            • Menu
              • How to Fix Education
              • Featured
              • Ask a Teacher
              • Teacher Branding
              • Current Events
  • Podcasts
  • Courses
    • Practicing Self-Care to Avoid Teacher Burnout- An 8 Week Course
    • Becoming An Educational Consultant
    • Teacher Branding 101:Teachers are The Experts
    • The Learning Academy
    • Books
    • Shirts
  • Education in Atlanta
  • Teacher Self-Care
  • The Coach's Academy
menu icon
go to homepage
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • Advertising
  • Write for Us
  • Job Board
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
    • Consulting
    • Advertising
  • Shop
    • Books
    • Shirts
×

December 18, 2014 Featured

Teachers Need to be on the Same Team

  • About the Author
  • Latest Posts

About Katie Sluiter

Katie Sluiter is currently an 8th English teacher in West Michigan. She has taught middle school, high school, and community college and has her Masters Degree and is currently working on her doctoral degree in Teaching English. Her writing has been featured on Writers Who Care, The Nerdy Book Club, and Dr. Bickmore's YA Wednesday. She is a member of the National Council for Teachers of English (NCTE), the Michigan Council of Teachers of English (MCTE) and ALAN (the Assembly on Literature of Adolescents of the NCTE). She is a National Writing Project participant, has presented at both state and national conferences, and has been published in the Language Arts Journal of Michigan multiple times.
  • Shaking Up Short Stories - August 8, 2019
  • Ditch the Summer Reading Requirements - July 19, 2019
  • Celebrate Pride With Your Classroom Library - June 26, 2019
  • Bringing Climate Change into the E/LA Classroom - May 20, 2019
  • YA Books for Mental Health Awareness - October 8, 2018
  • Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month with Book Talks - September 26, 2018
  • 180 Days: Writing and Reading Maps and Mentors for A Year in ELA - September 16, 2018
  • Teaching Immigration Empathy: Why Refugee by Alan Gratz Should Be Added To Your Curriculum - July 8, 2018
  • Coaching the Coaches: the Benefits of Instructional Coaches - January 28, 2018
  • Six-Word Memoirs as an Introduction to Narrative Writing - September 24, 2017

“A house divided shall not stand,” and neither will a public school. I am really seeing this issue clearly for the first time this year. At my elementary school, we have begun much more integration of grade levels.  Two teachers teach math to three different grade levels, one teacher teaches reading to two grade levels, and I myself have a different grade level for an hour of the day (although not structured lessons, much of the time is intervention).

While I have always felt that our “end of the school” has always been supportive of each other, I feel it, even more, this year. I usually teach fifth grade so by the time the children reach me, EVERYONE knows them and offers suggestions of grouping, discipline, teaching strategies, and dealing with parent strategies. This year, many of us are teaching each other’s students, and so the discipline and teaching strategies have to be shared beyond just grade levels.

Also new for me as a fifth-grade teacher is we are eating lunch with Kindergarten (in hopes that my fifth graders will show the Kindergarteners how to behave, line up, etc in the lunchroom). So, for the first time, I am eating with Kindergarten teachers and listening to their joys and woes. I have found it so interesting because I’m relatively new to the school, so I am still learning the families. But the teachers I work with have watched these children since they were 5. They have a ton of insight! It has also been great because I have been able to offer some “big kid” assistance at times of chaos.

Several of my students help the younger ones with sight words, packing up, just reading to them so they will stay focused. In another school in which I taught, my principal always said things like “we are a team” or “we are all in this together,” but we never had an opportunity to meet across grade levels and just talk. So, I never really believed him, I always felt like it was every grade against another.

I can’t speak for all the teachers in my school, but I have really benefited from these small changes so that in the upper elementary grades we really are “all in this together” and I have had a chance to get to know the younger students as well as collaborate with the younger grade teachers. I guess, what I am trying to say is we really are all in this together and the more we can help each other, not just our grade level or our classroom neighbors, but in the entire school…..we will be happier, and if we are happier, maybe our kids will receive the quality education they deserve and we keep trying to give them!

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailWant to Fix Schools? Give Teachers More TIME! Default ThumbnailPart II: Why a Teacher Cannot have a Normal Life.... Default Thumbnail12 Ways To Reclaim Your Personal Life: Why Teaching Isn’t 24 Hours Default ThumbnailWhy I Thank GOD For Being a TEACHER
« Putting the "A" in AP
Dear Santa... »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

The Educator's Room was launched in 2012 to amplify the voice of educators. To date, we have over 45+ writers from around the world and boast over twelve million page views. Through articles, events, and social media we will advocate for honest dialogue with teachers about how to improve public education. This mission is especially important when reporting on education in our community; therefore, we commit our readers to integrity, accuracy, and independence in education reporting. To join our mailing list, click here.

What we do

At The Educator's Room, we focus on amplifying and honoring the voice of educators as experts in education. To date, we have over 40 staff writers/teachers from around the world.

Popular Posts

  • How to Incorporate SEL Into Any Content Area
  • A Q&A with Baltimore Teachers Union President, Diamonté Brown
  • 6 Reasons to Use Read-Alouds Daily
  • The Secret Ingredients of Lesson Planning

Featured On

Buy Our Books/Courses

How to Leave Your Job in Education

Practicing Self-Care to Avoid Teacher Burnout

Using Your Teacher Expertise to Become an Educational Consultant

Check out our books on teaching and learning!

The Learning Academy

Footer

↑ back to top

About

  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Accessibility Policy

Newsletter

  • Sign Up! for emails and updates

Contact

  • Contact
  • Services
  • Media Kit
  • FAQ

 

Copyright © 2021 The Educator's Room.