TEACHING MULTI-GRADE CLASSES

Administrative Strategies to support Multi-grade Schools

A. Making use of alternative sources

B. Scheduling Schemes
Presented by:

Alferez, Angelica Veron Bardoquillo, Nina Carido, Kimbriel Gardiana, Jeramme Maie
A. Administrative Strategies to support
Multi-grade Schools

The Administrative Strategies to

support Multi-grade Schools
include training of teachers,
through workshops, provision of
resources, looking for resources
and etc.
 Making use of alternative sources
It is obvious that a combined class of students differs a lot
from the conventional type of a student class of a single
grade. It is true that the function of the teacher in the
multigrade classroom is multidimensional or to be more
accurate it is much more complicated and demanding
than the role of the teacher in the monograde school
respectively.
This is the main subject of the MUSE project to assist teacher
professionals to be able to work effectively the multigrade school
environment and be trained on teaching in the different ways
referring to the multigrade classroom. However, many teachers
in multigrade environments are either untrained or trained in
monograde pedagogy; have few, teaching and learning
resources; and regard the multigrade classroom as a poor
cousin of the better-resourced monograde urban schools that
are staffed by trained teachers. In addition, at the majority of the
cases, the multigrade teachers are very young without
significant experience, "chosen" by the state to teach at the
specific rural areas.
The effort should be focused by the educational authorities to
reverse the teachers' negative view for multigrade teaching and
the rural school and provide them with the resources and support
to be able to overcome any difficulties. A training program like the
MUSE project which represents an effort to address the
specialized needs of the multigrade school teachers ought first of
all to record and analyze the multiple role that these teachers
possess in the multigrade class. Multigrade Teacher training is
almost close to non-existent here in the Philippines. With the
universities and colleges just offering a semester for this kind of
subject, it is easy to overlook and to not take MG teaching
seriously.
To help lessen your problems in how to make an effective
MG lesson plan, here are some of the tips I've found: For
each grade level for which the teacher is responsible, he or
she must determine the answers to the questions:

1. Whom do teach?
2. What must I teach?
3. How do I teach?
4. When do I teach?
5. Why do I teach this?
Integrated approaches assume that multiple
resources will be used by students during the course
of the lesson. Textbooks will be one of these
resources, but these will be supplemented by a
variety of additional print, audio-visual, and
community and human resources. Field trips,
community speakers, videos, library books,
newspapers, and magazines may be used as
resources if available in rural, remote areas.
When developing a sequence of learning activities for an
integra ted unit, you have to aim for maximum variety. In
the course of a thematic unit, therefore, students in different
grades will need to work as a whole class, in small groups,
in pairs and sometimes individually.

Lesson planning for multigrade teaching depends on the

number of grades combined in the classroom. But whatever
the number of lesson plans needed per day, there are three
stages of planning to consider: planning activities before
the lesson, during the lesson, and after the lesson.
Before the Lesson

Set the objectives of the lesson, know the materials needed (if there is none,
create one). Decide on the methods of presentation and prepare all the
needed materials beforehand.

During the Lesson

Present the Lesson and continue to monitor each student's progress.

After the Lesson

Evaluate the lesson plan. Note the things that needed revision and think about
what went well and what did not so that it can help you prepare for a better
lesson plan next time.
 Practical tips for teaching Multigrade Classes according to
UNESCO:

Strategy 1: Teach all groups together

Strategy 2: Teach one grade while others work independently
difficulty
Strategy 3: Teach one subject to all grades and at varying levels of
difficulty.
Strategy 4: Develop activities for non-taught groups
Strategy 5: Develop peer, cross-age and cross-grade teaching
strategies
Strategy 6: Relate learning with daily experience

To teach in a Multigrade class effectively, it is important to put the

learner's needs first and consider everything else from there.
 Lesson Planning... An Overview

LESSON PREPARATION is one of the activities that a

multigrade teacher should master.

THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN PREPARING A LESSON

 Identify Groups of Competencies

 Assessment and Evaluation Strategies
 Making Connections Across Subject Areas
 Cultural Context
 Class management Strategies
 Definition of Terms
1. Instruction-methods and processes used o direct learning.

2. Instructional planning-the process of systematically planning, developing, and

managing the instructional process by using the principles of teaching and learning.

3. Daily Lesson Log (DLL) template teachers use to log their daily lesson.

4. Detailed Lesson Plan (DLP) a teacher's roadmap for a lesson; contains a detailed
description of the steps teacher will take to teach a particular topic.

A. The Instructional Process: o Planning instruction

o Delivery of instruction

o Assessment of learning
 Lesson Preparation

B. Lesson Planning:
o Visualizing a lesson before it is taught
o Prediction, anticipation, sequencing, simplifying o Hallmark of effective teaching

Importance of Lesson Planning

1. Confidence in carrying out the lesson successfully.
2. Reflective practice

Mastery of learning area content

o Plan with the end in mind

Wiggins and McTighe (1998) suggest a backward design model for planning that
begins NOT with the lesson, but with our expectations for the END RESULT.
 There are three basic steps to designing a lesson using backward
design:

1. Identify the desired results.

2. Determine acceptable evidence.

3. Plan learning experiences and instruction. (Tileston, 2004)

Elements of a lesson plan

1. What should be taught? (Content)

2. How should it be taught? (Process)

3. How should learning be assessed? (Assessment)

 Basic Parts of a Lesson
A. Before the Lesson

a) Review of the previous lesson/s

b) Clarify concepts from previous lesson/s

c) Introduce the new lesson

d) Inform class of the connection between the old and new lesson

e) State the new lesson's objectives

 B. Lesson Proper

a) Main part of the lesson

b) Teacher explains, models, demonstrates, and illustrates concepts, ideas, skills, or processes

c) Continuation of a previously introduced topic

C. After the Lesson

a) Closing or end of the lesson

b) "wrap-up" activities

c) Summary of the lesson

d) Recall lesson's key activities and concepts

e) Reinforce what the teacher has taught

f) Assessment of what learners have mastered

 After every lesson....
Take time to reflect upon the result, and revise the lesson plan accordingly!

1. What went well?

2. What could be improved?
3. Was the preparation adequate?
4. Are the learning objectives clearly defined?
5. Are the instructional materials, equipment, techniques, and strategies
appropriately selected? =
6. Are the procedures clearly stated?
7. Was the lesson developed logically?
8. Are the assessment activities directly and explicitly tied to the stated
objectives?
9. Were the learners motivated? Interested?
10.Was the style of delivery correct?
 B. Scheduling Scheme

Making use of outside help

A teacher may make use of outside

help by attending workshops on
subject related matters or on matters
regarding management of multi-grade
classrooms and other related
workshops.
 Making use of outside help

A teacher who experienced a problem of high rate failure

among his/her learners for example, may visit other
neighbouring schools or other schools in the region that
have good a good record in the academic performance of
learners.

Making use of outside help

A teacher in particular or a school in general may also make

use of external help by looking for donors to assist multi-
grade classrooms in many different ways.
The teaching scheme will likewise suggest the format of the
lesson plan. The different teaching scheme are the
following:

1. Preparing Lesson Plans for Interaction / Instruction

- One of your functions as instructional Manager is to plan

instruction.

2. Scheming
- Is a teacher's emerging scheme of use related to the same set
of resources used for the same aim.
 Relationship between Curriculum, Syllabus, Scheme of
Work, Scheduling, Unit Plan and Lesson Plan

Curriculum - content of a given subject to be taught over

several years.
Syllabus - content to be taught in a given year for one
subject in one grade.
Scheme of work - total content of all subjects taught in a
term. Unit plan total content of a number of subjects
organized over a 2 to 6-week period.
Schedule - total content of a number of subjects for different
grades spread over a day.
Lesson plan - total activities of a given subject for a
particular grade to be taught in one period.
Scheduling options related to Multi Grade classrooms

Schedule

A schedule is an overall plan of events that is prepared by

the teacher. It identifies the following:

• how the lesson will be presented

⚫ which group the teacher will be teaching

⚫ what the other groups will be doing.

 Purposes of a Schedule

A schedule helps the teacher to manage the

class and available time better. An example of
a schedule is given below. It is based on a
class that is divided into three groups, but
could be adapted for fewer or more groups.
The chart identifies the group that the teacher
is assisting.