I love teaching. It is for me a passionate calling rooted in rigorous, continuing professional education. In my 30-plus years teaching in Eugene schools, my colleagues and I planned full days that always included not only English/language arts and math, but also incorporated into every school day 60 to 100 minutes of varied essential content — from social studies and current events, to science, to arts and drama, health and emotional growth. A fifth-grade favorite was “Kinderbuddies,” where the older elementary school students mentored the younger students each week.

What made such diverse studies possible was an interdisciplinary approach that combined and recombined various areas — for example, projects that drew on both the sciences and arts — while building on and reinforcing English/language arts and math, making learning more concrete and alive, propelled by the enthusiasm of the students.

Students would find 10-minute cursive or grammar work on their desk, which they checked as a group before English/language arts and current events. We had 75 to 90 minutes of this every day, and more if needed.

After morning recess would be 70 minutes of math. The following hour was often a round-robin style of rotation, with four classrooms offering up to 16 lessons on topics such as nutrition, poetry, marine science, the Constitution, Indigenous life and more.

After lunch we had 20 minutes of teacher read-aloud and discussion. The next block of 60 to 90 minutes was one or more of social studies, geography, science, health or art. P.E. and music were incorporated throughout the week.

The result? Students were successful, scoring well on tests and, more importantly, they learned how to learn, and to love learning.

Carrie Ann Naumoff
Eugene