Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I think 1-3 together and 4-6 together would be ideal... I hate that kids are separated into classes of kids all the exact same age, but having kids who are starting puberty in with kids who might still wet their pants at some point throughout the year does not seem like a smart move. I think it might work for one or two classes, such as music or maybe a partnered reading class (an older child with a younger child)... but not for a whole day!
You are NOT serious. My SEVEN year old is starting puberty! SERIOUSLY, since when is puberty a determaining factor for what level a child is at acedemcially?
Can you imagine, for just one minute, an advanced third grader, small for their age yet reading at a 6th grade level, sitting in a class with a bunch of kids because they fit their for age, size, and sexual maturity?
So what happens if my daughter were placed in that school? Is she grouped by her age, her learning level, or the size of her chest?
"Ok class, take out your first grade readers. Does everyone see the word go? Gooood..." Can you imagine the torture that puts the child through?
But God forbid the child be stuck in some class with girls growing boobies! "Oh no it nature...GET IT OFF!"
Don't take this personally please, its in general with one of the many things wrong with our public school systems and how they have shaped the minds of society's parents.
My mom went to one of these old "country schools" with 8 grades in a room. However, some grades had no kids at all and there were only maybe a dozen kids total.
I think it would be difficult to do with such a wide age spread in a standard 20+ kid classroom. My daughter was in a 2/3 class one time, and it was good for her. Our elementary school quit doing the multi-age classes when the interest died out. Most parents wanted their kids to be the younger kids in a mixed age group, which I think was one problem.
jps-teacher - given the silliness of some of the responses in this thread, it would be helpful if you could clarify a couple of things about this proposal - how many students/teachers would be in each class and by what criteria would class groupings be made?
jps-teacher - given the silliness of some of the responses in this thread, it would be helpful if you could clarify a couple of things about this proposal - how many students/teachers would be in each class and by what criteria would class groupings be made?
You are NOT serious. My SEVEN year old is starting puberty! SERIOUSLY, since when is puberty a determaining factor for what level a child is at acedemcially?
So what happens if my daughter were placed in that school? Is she grouped by her age, her learning level, or the size of her chest?
I don't know how I feel about everyone being in multi-age classrooms, but I would love it as a choice. Some people work really well in the normal grades, but many people don't. Some people learn faster than others and need more to cover in the year than one grade would allow them to. Some people learn slower and need to cover less. Some people get along with kids who are older than they are and will always be that way. It would also be good for the older kids. They could gain confidence by being role models for the younger kids in the class or helping them when there is a little problem. Maybe try it in some places as a pilot program and go from there. However, I would definitely put my kid in one if he were in public school at the time and it were an option.
The classroom assignments would initially be mostly random, in terms of aptitude, but with the awareness that at times, being grouped with folks of like aptitude/interest has shown major impact in learning.
One of the common problems in elementary school is 'fit' between teacher and student. Contrary to somebody's idea, the notion of a year long struggle between kid and instructor is not seen as healthy for the kid or the classroom. By having all 6+ classrooms organized this way, the number of options becomes much greater.
The comment about pacing is one of the major features presented. Having a student do advanced work in a standard classroom is often contentious. The skipping discussions, the holding back discussions. In a full multi-age classroom, it is far simpler and easier for students to accept that somebody is just doing the next thing, whatever it is - faster or slower or the same pace. It changes things radically.
Research has shown that keeping a teacher together with the same students usually has a beneficial impact on both the relationship with the students and on their learning, compared to other approaches. This permits that.
There are some downsides, some of which have been mentioned:
The teachers need to be far more flexible than many are today. Some teachers can't even imagine doing it.
While transferring in would be easy, transferring out would be hard, because the "end of the year" would no longer be the transition point between grades for most children.
Where do the kids go after 6th, especially if they have accelerated compared with the "normal" pace of instruction? (There is a plan to have an affiliated 7th - 12th, but... we all know about plans, mice, and men!)
The NCLB mandatory testing gets very tricky. Which kids are in which grades? While to me this feels like a very stupid problem to have to address, apparently if this is a charter school, rather than private, then they will have to address it somehow.
What will the teacher to student ratio be? Good question. I know that 20-1 would be very hard for the teachers. I know 10-1 would be very hard for the budget.
Thank you for questions and comments, so far - critical and positive, alike!
It may have worked in the old rural schools a hundred years ago but times have changed.
It's not just in rural schools 100 years ago. They do it now too. If you've only got 15 kids in the surrounding 100 miles, it's a necessity. Believe it or not, there are places like that today (and they can be fabulous).
I work with a couple teachers whose previous positions were at the one-room school house in this county, K-8. They both really liked it. One of them described her one kindergartner, who was reading Charlotte's Web. It was easy to address her needs since everyone else was working at their own pace too.
I did ask my co-workers about "What comes next?". Once they hit high school they got bussed out of state to the nearest high school - it's closer than the nearest in-state high school, which I guess would be my town's.
You are NOT serious. My SEVEN year old is starting puberty! SERIOUSLY, since when is puberty a determaining factor for what level a child is at acedemcially?
So what happens if my daughter were placed in that school? Is she grouped by her age, her learning level, or the size of her chest?
Stuff like this.
Actually there are parents out there that would not want their children in a classroom everyday with children going through puberty because it would raise questions that they feel their children are too young to know the answers to. They do not want their kids around the other kids going through puberty because they talk about the changes among themselves.
And for children who are "blessed" () to start puberty early, I have sat with many people who have called these girls names that would be blocked if I tried to repeat them simply because their bodies developed sooner. I have tried to point out the difficulties their parents must have in finding appropriatly fitting clothing for their children to wear without keeping them in sweaters and sweat shirts until their peers caught up. Not to mention the difficulty in attracting attention from the opposite sex, who are years older, or grown men for that matter. It must be 100 times more ackward to be starting puberty 3 to 7 years younger than other kids, and to be shunned for that by adults, kept from being invited over to sleep overs cause your other 9 year old friend my see your chest or "something" might happen? It is a shame. Yes, there are many parents who do not want their children in the same class as the large bosomed third grade girl simply because they are.
I sure wish it were silly, but it is not.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.