Today I was chatting with my mom and she asked how many more students I could manage in my classroom. Good question. I have 25-30 students in each of my classes. Compared to class sizes for some of the teachers I know this isn't too bad. Yet even this reasonable class size doesn't allow for as much individual attention as many students need.
Most class periods are composed of portions where I am talking to the group as a class, and periods where I am talking to small groups or individuals. During the whole-class periods I could handle twice as many students if there were some behavioral standards in place. During the more individualized periods, 25-30 is too many. One inefficiency of the school system is that I always have the same number of students in my room regardless of the type of instruction that is going on.
So, consider two schools. In the traditional school there are 1,800 students and 60 teachers. Each teacher has 30 students at all times. In the alternative school there are also 1,800 students and 60 teachers. At any given time, 20 teachers have 60 students each and 40 teachers have 15 students.
At any given time, 1200 students are in large classes and 600 students are in small classes. This means that students would spend twice as much time in large classes as in small classes, but their small classes would be small enough to give them a significant amount of individual attention. Teachers, on the other hand, would spend twice as much time in small classes.
Each core class could be divided into a large group period and a small group period so that students get more individual attention in math, reading, etc. What do you think?
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
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i actually think this is a great idea. i also like the idea of longer class periods--because it would give more time to focus on a lesson and then work with individual students as needed.
ReplyDeleteand i think all kids need some individual attention--not just the ones who are having a more difficult time grasping the concepts.
Longer class periods are just a bad idea in general unless the time is really well structured which hardly ever happens. Or maybe I should be honest and say I don't know how to do it. But this large group/small group classes makes sense. Although, clearly, one would prefer small group classes all the time. The problematic thing, of course, deciding on a) how long to have these periods, b) what to do in either. If you have a "lecture" then it can be done in large classes, but it has to be done quickly. On the other hand, if the students are supposed to practice something, or do something on their own (if they can do it) then it doesn't matter how many there are. So I see a short and long large group session. A small group session is the place where you would learn new things. Again, how long should these be?
ReplyDeleteI am not exactly sure which types of activities would be best done in large and small groups. You mention that learning new things should be done in small groups but I am not so sure. When students are initially exposed to something there is often a certain amount of explaining that needs to be done. They experience problems when they actually try it themselves for the first time.
ReplyDeleteBut the main point is that whenever we do large group time we are buying ourselves some small group time.
"When students are initially exposed to something there is often a certain amount of explaining that needs to be done." -- only if you use direct instructional strategies.
ReplyDeleteIn the Response to Intervention Model most of the students would be in Tier One, meaning they might be in a large class with normal instruction. Tier two students who need extra help receive Tier One instruction and are retaught concepts in a smaller Tier Two setting. If they continue to stall, they are referred to Tier Three: Special Ed.
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