Multi Age Classrooms

Many, many years ago, the norm in the educational setting was the one room classroom where one teacher was responsible for students with a wide range of ages and abilities.  It represented a single class in which students of different ages studied as separate grade/subjects groups as a whole group.  Although today’s classes may mirror that to some degree, teaching cross-grade groups as a whole class and emphasizing individual progress through a developmentally appropriate curriculum is a more popular model. There are many reasons why a multi-age classroom  

works. One of those reasons is that students reinforce their own learning as they support younger peers.  All instruction becomes differentiated because of the many levels of the students. However, most of the students are independent thinkers and learners, which makes differentiation much easier to implement.  Another advantage is the sense of community that is created in this type of classroom, not to mention the family relationships that are created if you loop with the kids.  It also builds character because of the relationships developed between each of the students. Research states that the success of multi-age classrooms begins with understanding how children learn.

Older children help younger ones. The competent older children can reinforce their understanding of the content material while the younger ones have it taught to them in different ways. Sometimes another child can word a concept in a way that an adult can’t, facilitating better understanding for both children involved.

Multi-age classrooms  also allow children to excel. With higher-level materials on hand, and an infrastructure already in place to differentiate the instruction, higher functioning students can do more than the prescribed curriculum.  Additionally, children below grade level are able to focus on concepts that they need remediation in. This ability to “fill in” a child’s gaps in knowledge leads to better and often, but not always, acceleration in that child’s learning curve.

Some worries include that the different ages in one classroom will cause problems. Either older children will bully younger ones; older children will become immature from socializing with younger ones and perhaps slip academically or that having students working on different levels will promote taunting of lower functioning students. Although these are valid points, they also occur in single aged classrooms also. The teacher can alleviate these problems by doing a lot of community building exercises at the beginning of the year and then periodically throughout the year that focus on the individual worth of each child’s natural strengths and help the children learn that the classroom environment is a place that we focus on each person’s growth, not their weaknesses. Children, especially at the younger grades are very accepting and forgiving when it is modeled for them.  Multi-age classrooms are a very positive and enhancing environment when met with encouragement, support and understanding.