The district Im in decided to reorganize ALL the students according to their EL Level (English Language) due to some law suit(which I don't know much about - but has a profound affect for ALL the students in my district). I get how it may help students who are in the upper grades learning Science or English and needs to be leveled, but it just seems like another form of tracking. My classroom is filled with lovely students who knows the routine, who knows me, who knows what to do during centers, and most of all who knows each other. Then after 2 WHOLE MONTHS of school....I must say goodbye to a few of my favorite students (they make me laugh and smile). I rather keep my full class of 26, then lose my EO (English only) students. My other students speak English too, but their parents wrote that they speak another language at home and so had to take a test in Kindergarten to determine their English proficiency level (which by the way, is hard for ANY child-regardless of language) in Kinder. It just feels discriminatory. I like a mix level classes where other students serve as models for each other or the simple diversity in a classroom.
On another note: three years ago, I was bumped to Kindergarten from fifth grade, so that was a major adjustment. The 2nd year I was in kindergarten, I changed schools and came in October (2 months later), and had 1 day to set up my classroom. Then a few weeks later I moved into another classroom with my students (I had no time to set that class up). I thought my 3rd year in Kindergarten would be a normal one. I WAS WRONG! This is my 3rd year in Kindergarten and I started out with 30 students (eventually another classroom opened up and I lost 4 student), ending up with a nice 26 students. I truly like them and love being their teacher, now Im losing students and will probably end up with other students that I don't know in my class. I feel awful for the ones leaving. I know they're resilient, but I selfishly wanted to be their teacher.
On a happy note (sort of): Ill be posting pictures of my classroom and will be participating in a Teacher Instagram Party hosted by Miss Kindergarten. Come join me!
