Ms. Marichu C.

Parado
Instructor

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Elective: Teaching
Multigrade Classes

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 Checking
of
Attendance
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MULTIGRADE

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Course Description:
"Multi-Grade Classroom Teaching " provides an introduction to the theory and
practice of multi-grade education world-wide; and then applies this knowledge
to classroom contexts. The course examines the pedagogical potential and
learning environments in which students of different grade and age levels are
grouped for instruction. Students will have the opportunity to examine the
growing body of multi-grade, multi-age research and literature (local, regional,
international), as well as theoretical perspectives on how children learn and
develop which lend support to multiage learning environments. Practical ideas
for implementing a multi-grade classroom environment, including teaching
strategies, grouping strategies, management and assessment strategies will be
explored. Students will maintain a learning portfolio that includes tools they
design to support them at their community school sites. The course is intended
to meet the needs of teachers who work in both remote and main island areas.

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Multigrade Classroom
- Refers to a class that has two or more grade level of children in one
classroom.
- “multi” means plenty, many or more than one. The word “grade” means
level.

Multigrade classes is also called “ A multi-Age Group”

Multi-age
- is a term commonly used today to describe mixed-age groups or to mean
two or more grade levels that has been intentionally blended together to
improve learning..

Multigrade teaching
- is a situation in which one teacher has to teach many grades,
all at the same time. It happens in all schools where there are
more grades than teachers. Each learners are usually of the
same age but may differ in abilities.
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Why Multigrade Class Exist?
- It was organized as a matter of necessities for remote barangays where the
number of children enrolled could not meet the required number to
organize a single grade class and assign the necessary teachers from each
class.
- Distance of the barrio and the small number of students for each class
- Shortage of funds teachers and school building.

Component of a multigrade-classroom
1. Learner – center of the educational process
2. Teachers - a critical figure in the teaching-learning
environment.
Roles of Teacher in Multigrade Class
 As a teacher, facilitator, planner, evaluator, material designer,
action researcher and contact with the community.
3. Other adults like parents and community members.

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Classroom Management Practices as Best Strategies for an
Effective Multigrade Teaching

A. Instruction
1. Provides different lesson in every subject for the two or more grade
level
2. Plans learning activities that suit pupils’ ability and interest.
3. Divide class into small group and individual group within a day.
4. Time management is shown by alternating whole group periods with
small group activities and individual work within a day.
5. Prepares different sets of test by grade
6. Provide pupils with necessary materials to work independently after
whole group or small group instruction.
7. Allows one grade to work or read independently or in group while
discussing lessons to other grade level.
8. Treats two grade level as one in the class with different activities
suited to their level.
Different Scheme
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B. Pupil Management
1. Assign seats for individual whole group activity
2. Schedule classroom routine such as flag ceremony, attendance
taking and classroom maintenance activity.
3. Provides attendance chart to be filled up by pupils as soon as
they arrive in class.
4. Prepares daily/weekly job chart for the children to accomplish.
5. Establish clear class routines such as passing of papers, falling
in line and doing individual/group works.
6. Provide an access to all pupils.
7. Involve children in classroom maintenance by using the “Job
Chart”
8. Allows pupils to sit by grade level facing to their own
blackboard.
9. Schedules daily routine and activities.

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C. Discipline
1. Sets classroom rules and regulations for the children
to follow.
2. Talks privately to the disruptive pupils
3. Explains classroom rules clearly.
4. Imposes rules in passing or checking papers, quizzes
and assignments
5. Treats pupils with justice and fairness
6. Assign pupil secretary to monitor class behavior.
7. Requires pupils to fall in line before entering and
leaving the classroom
8. Checks the accomplishments for daily routinary
activities
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D. Classroom Atmosphere
1. Blackboards are in opposite walls of the classroom
2. Classroom lay out is flexible to cater indoor game
3. Desk/chairs are lighter capable to be moved and can be moved freely for
group activities.
4. Furniture and equipment are in movable type capable for arranging and
rearranging.
5. Learning materials are properly arranged and prepared by teachers.
6. Provides a variety of arrangements throughout the year.
7. Arranges furniture in such a way it provide for convenient flow.
8. Labels the areas of the classrooms and containers of materials for the
children to easily learn its usage and function.
9. Classroom is attractively and neatly arranged.
10.Maintain cleanliness and orderliness inside the classroom.
11.All parts of the room are well ventilated.

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Advantages for Learners
1. Maximum social interaction between peers
2. Cooperative learning is predominant
3. Pupils will learn independent, self directed, resourceful,
prepared for real life, assume leading and supporting role as
needed in different situations.

Challenges for Learners

4. Requires more discipline, greater concentration and more
focus in order to benefit from effective strategies.
5. Less reliance on direct supervision by teacher
6. Requires more initiative and resourceful to function
effectively
7. May receive individual attention from a less experienced
teacher.
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Advantages for TEACHERS
1. Can make the most of inter-age, multilevel situation to facilitate learning process
2. Can get to know learners more and carefully assess their needs and adopt
appropriate teaching strategies
3. Can innovate and experiment with different age groups and deal with curriculum
content across subject areas.
4. Shares responsibility for facilitating learning with pupils, parents and other
community members,
5. More opportunities for activity-centered, experienced-based approaches rather
than whole group, lecture/drill/ rote methods of teaching.

Challenges for TEACHERS

6. Requires more preparation of curriculum learning materials
7. Requires more careful study of learner’s developmental characteristics across the
age level involved in the class, approaches and strategies that are effective and
variable within a multigrade class.
8. More investment in organization of the classroom as learning environment.
9. More meticulous and systematic record keeping to keep track of student progress,
curriculum development and implementation is required.

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Advantages for COMMUNITY AND SCHOOL SYSTEM
1. Efficient means of providing educational services to thinly
populated areas and remote communities.
2. Maintaining small barrio schools help to build and sustain the
identity of the community and the cultural life of the people
in the community.

Challenges for COMMUNITY AND SCHOOL SYSTEM

3. Students achievement may be poor in programs do
not have the required resources and teachers are not
properly trained.
4. Requires investment in training of teachers,
supervisors and administrative personnel to prepare
them for the demands of multigrade teaching and
administration of multigrade schools.
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Teacher support for Multigrade Teaching
1.Self directed professional growth or
development should be encouraged by
providing distance education material at
resource centers.
2.Materials should be given to small groups
3.Education officers should visit these small
schools regularly, not to inspect but to advise
4.Teachers who have taught at multigrade
schools should be considered for promotion.

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Community Support
The school is part of the community and the school is established to
serve the children of the community. Some parents in the community may
not have had much schooling but they have experience, and many have skills
that can be relevant to the school curriculum.

1. Organize parent-teacher meetings

2. Discuss with the community when and how it can be help
3. Establish good relationships and willing to cooperate with parents and the
entire community
4. Ask the community to identify the parents who are capable and willing to
help
5. Recognize the parents have their own work. Do not always expect them to
be available when you need them. Plan ahead. Develop a good
communication system. Remind those who promised to help
6. Always make arrangements in advance if you need the community help
7. Allow parents to have access to the school facilities. For example, they
want to use the school for a meeting or to hold a church services.
8. Show appreciation and encouragement. Always thank parents for their
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Basic Principle of Multigrade Teaching
1. Children are unique
2. Children can learn best from experience
3. Children can and do learn well from one another
4. The role of teacher in classroom involves setting-up and managing a
learning environment that will be conducive to learning and
teaching.
5. The implementation of the school curriculum must take into
consideration the varied abilities, levels and interest within
particular group.
6. The value of any educational program will be judged according to
how well it is able to achieve the goals of the program – whether
children actually learn what they are expected to learn and how
well they have learned.
7. Inter-aging or the combination of children of different ages is more
respectful of individual needs of learners and reflects real life.

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Teaching strategies for the Multigrade classroom

1. Differentiated instruction
2. Peeling off
3. One input many outputs

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1. Differentiated instruction
Adapted from PASTEP National Workshop presentation by Dr Steve Pickford.
What is differentiated instruction?
· Differentiated instruction is a STRATEGY used in multigrade classrooms
· Differentiated instruction is a STUDENT CENTRED strategy
· Differentiated instruction provides MULTIPLE approaches to assessment, teaching
and learning processes, and learning outcomes to meet students’ needs and abilities.
How do you prepare for differentiated instruction?
· Shift the teacher focus from teaching to learning
· Explore what each student is capable of doing independently and in groups
· Provide tasks of varying difficulty
· Provide each student with a choice of learning outcomes.
How is differentiated instruction organised?
· Plan to provide different students with different levels or kinds of content
· Organize different ways that students can learn, understand and use content, or
· Design different learning outcomes for different students.

Differentiation occurs through adapting lesson content, teaching and learning

processes, and learning outcomes to meet the differing needs of students.

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Differentiating lesson content
Students in different grades can be given different content or the
same content but be asked to use it differently. Bloom’s taxonomy
is sometimes used to differentiate lesson content.

Knowledge: Requires memory only in order to repeat information

Comprehension: Requires rephrasing or explaining information
Application: Requires the application of knowledge to determine
answers
Synthesis: Requires making predictions, producing original
communications or problem solving with more than one
possible solution
Evaluation: Requires making judgments or offering supported
opinions.

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Differentiating teaching and learning processes
This means providing varied activities or strategies to support
different students learning. It is important to give students
alternative pathways to understanding ideas, For example,
students may use graphic organizers, maps, diagrams or charts to
differently demonstrate their comprehension of the concepts
covered. The following are examples of differentiated teaching and
learning strategies

· Flexible grouping
Students move between independent work, pair, small and large
group work depending on their purpose. It allows students to be
appropriately challenged and supported. Students should not be
kept in the same groups all the time.

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· Learning preferences
Students can be assigned tasks according to their learning preferences, e.g.
· Auditory (students who learn best by hearing information)
· Visual (students who learn best through seeing information in charts or
pictures)
· Active (students who learn best by using concrete examples, or
need to move around while learning)
· Putting students in a preferred learning environment (quiet or noisy,
sitting at the desk or on the floor, inside or outside the classroom)

· Anchoring activities
These are activities that a student may do at any time. For example,
when they have completed assignments or for a short period at the
beginning of each class as students organize themselves. They may
include problems to solve, journals to write, project work, etc. These
activities may also provide the teacher with time to provide additional
specific help and instruction to students.

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Tiered activities
Tiered activities are a series of related activities that increase in difficulty. The
activities are linked to key understandings and skills students need to acquire.
Teachers organize different activities around the same objectives, different
ways of reaching the same goals.

· Adjusting oral and written questions

During large group discussion activities, teachers adjust questions for students
with different needs. In written tests, the teacher may assign specific
questions for different grades or groups of students.

· Learning centers
Learning centers may contain both differentiated and compulsory activities.
However, a learning center is not differentiated unless the activities take into
account different students’ abilities and level of readiness. It is important that
students understand what is expected of them at the learning center and
encouraged to manage the use of their time. The degree of structure that is
provided will vary according to student and independent work habits.

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Independent and shared study projects

Independent study projects are research projects where

students learn how to develop skills for independent learning.
The degree of help and structure will vary between students
depending on their ability. Shared study projects are where two
or three students work together on a project. All students share
the research, analysis and organization of the information but
each student must complete an
individual project to demonstrate learning has taken place.

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How to prepare for differentiated instruction
· Shift the focus from teaching to learning
· Explore what students are capable of doing independently
· Provide tasks of varying difficulty
· Encourage learners to work on tasks with a partner
· Help learners to analyze tasks
· Provide the learner with a choices for the outcome of what they
are doing
· Help learners verbalize the strategies they are using, asking
them, “How did you do this?”
· Help students to engage and remain engaged in small group
and whole group situations
· Explore ways of putting learners in control of their learning
· Explore ways of working with individual students in one-to-one
teaching situations and then in small group and whole class
discussions.
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 The teacher concludes the lesson by bringing
the groups together to share their work and
summaries the main teaching points.
The example on the next page is based on a
Mathematics lesson developing the concept of
area, using the context of gardening. You will
see that the first group are required to explore
area using common units, the second group,
square meters and the third group square
meters and parts of square meters

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