Twenty five one and onlys

 Twenty five one and onlys

As a beginning teacher I thought I understood how important each child was to their parents. Once I became a parent I realised that, children weren't important to their parents- they were their whole world! They want what is best for them, and many parents will do whatever it takes to give their children 'the best' of everything. I truly get that now... although there's differing opinions between parents on what constitutes 'the best.' So when parents go on school tours, or onto school website and they see the phrase 'catering for the needs of all students' (or something similar) most parents would think 'great, that's just what I need for my child.' Sounds fabulous. May I have an enrollment form please...  However, what seems to be a fantastic opportunity is flawed in many ways.

One of my main concerns as a teacher and as a parent is class sizes. Before we decided to home school I wanted my boys to be in a school that offered small class sizes because, of course, that's what they needed and 'deserved.' Where is this magical school where classes were small, all the way through the school (not just in the first few years), that is Government funded, where there are places, that is located nearby?

In my time as a teacher I've had as many as twenty nine students and as few as eighteen at one time. If you've got less than 25 students in one year you feel like you've won Tattslotto. But in reality even 18 students is a lot of kids who need your time and resources.

This is a common concern many home schooling parents have and the reason cited for their decision to take their kids out of mainstream schools. And rightfully so. Why? Let's break down the typical school day.

Thumbs up for small groups... but what about the rest of the class?

Reading, Writing and Numeracy is expected to be taught each day, for an hour each. Sound great! Sounds like plenty of time to work with each student! Hhhhmm. Well, let's break it down further. Each one hour session should consist of a 'whole group focus' which should take 10-15 minutes. An independent learning task which should take 25-30 minutes. In this time students work in groups at 'their level' and the teacher works with a 'focus group' for around 15 minutes of this session. Then there is a 'share time' at the end session which takes around 15 minutes. Sound great. Let's break it down even further. Let's look at that middle 'independent learning' block. This includes group work which always includes a group using technology (i.e. ipads, netbooks and PCs) It usually takes 5-10 minutes to get the computers that the kids are using to work and for the kids to find the app or website which they are meant to be using during that session. After these kids are sorted out and working, the teacher then goes to the kids working in the 'focus group' to spend 15 minutes with these kids. After the session with the focus group is over there are 5 minutes left to work with the rest of the class... If I exclude the children who were in the 'focus group' -you've still got around two thirds of the class that you haven't 'seen' yet. So in the average class of 25 kids, you've got around 16 kids you haven't seen yet for this session.... So you then have your share time and move onto the next lesson, hoping that anything they've written down will give you a clue as to how they were going to understanding the concept of the day's lesson.

This is what it feels like!

As a teacher I feel guilty about not being able to 'see' each student individually for the all important reading, writing and numeracy. I endeavor to make sure that my focus groups for each of these lessons are with different groups of children. That way I've at least seen each child once a day-even if I don't see them individually for each session.

Teachers, principals and schools know this is a problem. This issue is addressed by using the phrase 'differentiated curriculum.' For non teachers out there this means, that the lessons are designed to be 'open' enough that all students can enter the lesson at 'their level.' This is often incorporated into the lessons with the use of group work. Each group has a different task each day of the week and they work with students who have similar needs to their child. For parents going onto the school's website you'd be reading this, thinking, "Wow that's great." Well here's the reality of what's I've seen. I've seen students working in groups at roughly the same 'level' but expected to complete the same task as students in every single group in the class. The only difference is that they complete the task on a different day to the others. So the highly able kids work on the same task as the kids who are academically struggling- just on a different day.

This is what it feels like being a classroom teacher.

Then there is the size of the groups. I can remember seeing one class who had three groups during each Numeracy session. There was a 'bottom group,' a 'middle group' and a 'high group.' (I've used quotation marks around these group names because these were the names given to each group... I have a big problem with these names.... but that could be a whole new post!) In this class of Grade 1 and Grade 2s there were 26 children. There were two children in the bottom group and four students in the high group. Which means there were 20 children in the middle group. I'm not joking. This was in a room where the teacher claimed that their lessons were differentiated. 

I'm by no means saying that class size is the only factor that influences student performance but it is a contributing factor. There are many factors that have an impact a child's education- and this is one of them.