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Strategy of Teaching larger class sizes
One of the biggest challenges that comes up time and again with our communities, is the issue of teaching larger group sizes. Many teachers have student groups higher than 35, and in some cases reaching numbers of 84.
Therefore, we would like to share some strategies and ideas that may perhaps help support effective teaching in the classroom.
Alicia, in Jamaica, teaches primary children and a key strategy that she uses is groupings.
Alicia suggests testing the students initially to establish their levels of attainment and by collating this baseline data, it enables the teacher to group students by ability. This then allows the teacher to adapt teaching and learning to the different levels of attainment in a more suitable and measured style.
As a result of this kind of grouping, teaching can be focused and ability-orientated leading to improved behaviour and progress.
For example, higher attainers are more likely to be able to work independently, so once you have set the task and explained the objectives you could perhaps designate roles within the group to ensure all have a task to do.
Weaker attainers will need more focused support from the teacher and perhaps more simplified tasks with objectives that are more suited to their ability allowing them to achieve success and feel more motivated. If weaker attainers feel unable to complete a task, this is when their
The middle attainers are likely to be a larger group, but again the teacher could allocate roles and tasks, so students feel a sense of responsibility towards their own learning. The teacher will need to facilitate all groups to ensure progress and development is happening but perhaps you could use some of your higher attainers to support the other groups.