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The multiage challenge - multiage classroom
Instructor, Sept, 1999 by Jill Ostrow
Challenges and Hurdles
The hardest part of teaching a multiage class comes in June, when the oldest students move on to a new grade. After being together for three years in a row, everyone finds it painful to separate. You need to help the children who are leaving prepare for a new classroom environment and a teacher who may have a very different style.
Multiage classrooms won't work if they are mandated because of numbers rather than philosophy. In some schools, the administration creates split classes - mixing two grades, for example - to "even out" the numbers of students in each class. A teacher may be required to teach both a first- and a second-grade curriculum. Keeping track of two separate groups will only perpetuate age and ability grouping and frustrate the teacher.
Parents must be educated about the multiage experience, too. Until they understand the multiage philosophy, they may suspect their child is being "held back." Parents of current students can provide great support. You might set up an open house for new and returning parents to meet, observe the classroom, and ask questions.
Students will be your best advocates. As Jacob, age eight, said, "It's not an age thing in this class, it's a respect thing." I hope he carries this respect into other learning communities. This is my goal for all my students.
Multimedia Resources
BOOKS
* Making Problems, Creating Solutions, by Jill Ostrow (Stenhouse, 1999).
* Methods That Matter, by Harvey Daniels and Marilyn Bizar (Stenhouse, 1998).
* A Workshop of the Possible, by Ruth Shagoury Hubbard (Stenhouse, 1996).
* A Room With a Different View, by Jill Ostrow (Stenhouse, 1995).
* Exploring the Multiage Classroom, by Anne A. Bingham (Stenhouse, 1995).
WEB SITES
* Multiage Education www.zepcom.com/michelle/multiage.htm Links to multiage-classroom information.
* ProTeacher www.proteacher.com/020058.shtml Articles from experts and veteran multiage teachers.
* TeacherNet http://data.teachernet.com Bulletin board talks on K-8 multiage classes.
ADDRESS
National Multiage Institute
Director: Sandra J. Stone, Ph.D., Northern Arizona University, CEE/INL, P.O. Box 5774, Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5774; or 520-523-4280; e-mail: sandra.stone@nau.edu
Jill Ostrow has taught people of varying ages for 16 years, most recently preservice teachers in the graduate program at Lewis and Clark College, in Portland, Oregon. She taught in a first- through third-grade multiage classroom for several years.
COPYRIGHT 1999 Scholastic, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group
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