Homogeneous Cllassrooms
Teachers are well aware of the challenges and hardships in trying teach a class of verious level of understanding and skills
It is especially hard to teach a language to a class where different
.students have mastered the language at different level
Take, for example, an average fourth grade class: some kids are reading fluently, some are saying
.full sentences in English and some barely recognize the A B C 's
The kids who are struggling and cannot follow the lesson tend to disrupt the class, which makes it hard to teach the brighter, motivated students
To deal with this problem my school has instituted a system problem to minimize this phenomena
In the younger grade when we first introduce our students to the English language and to the basics of reading we have two teachers simultaneously in the classroom
One teacher teaches the majority of the students while the second teacher focuses on the weaker students
There is also a lot of interactive learning where the teachers are constantly mingling among the studends and assessing their level and knowledge
The weaker students are also sometimes pulled out of class for individual private lesson
This system has proved to greatly minimize the gaps in the class
If more school will adopt this system we won't have to deal with
lots of non-readers by the end of primary school
Does your school have a similar system? Would you want to
?implement the same idea
lots of non-readers by the end of primary school
Does your school have a similar system? Would you want to
?implement the same idea
Yes, we cave Reading Recovery thing on some hours. Yet, the class is still very heterogeneous and some of the kids are disruptive. What I do is give them a Matching Picures game or worksheets to fit their level. Once they realized they'll get a sticker if they complete the page they start working really well to get the (coveted😊) trophy.
ReplyDeleteWe do the same in my school. It has really helped all the students with improving their English skills.
ReplyDeleteWe do have individual private lessons at our school for the struggling students but the gab is still large because we are junior high school and each group gets about two lessons a week which is certainly not enough . I agree one hundred percent these students should have had more attention and help at earlier age .
ReplyDeleteGood for you for the difference you make at those students' lives .
I also believe that two teachers in the classroom can be a strategy for applying differential teaching.
ReplyDeleteHodaya- I really like the idea you applying in your school. I always try to teach differential. But still sometimes I feel so bad for my students who do not read. I have a desire to bring your idea to execution also in our school.
ReplyDeleteDifferentiated instruction in a large heterogeneous group of English language learners is a kind of a unicorn from the fairy tales. It's a beautiful beast. Everybody knows how does it look like, but, frankly speaking, have you ever seen the unicorn in reality? A lot of schools are making everything possible to provide maximum support to the whole class, and especially to the struggling students. Our yeshiva is not an exception.
ReplyDelete