Targeted Teaching
Last week I walked with some prospective families on the first school tour for 2022.
They concluded their tour with comments such as ‘impressive’ and ‘an amazing provision’.
Our first port of call was the Year 3 and 4 learning spaces. The touring party was ‘blown away’ by what they witnessed there.
Within the 4 classrooms and the large central space between, were 8 groups of very focused learners, all supported by an individual teacher. Involved in teaching and learning were the 4 Class Teachers, 2 Literacy and Numeracy Specialists, and 2 Learning Support Specialists. Students across Years 3 and 4 had been assessed on a specific strand of mathematics, and then grouped accordingly for that unit of work.
“In today’s ‘inclusive classrooms’, we know age and ability don’t correspond neatly across subjects. Students have different strengths, interests, and needs depending on the content area, specific lesson, or even the time of day. Few students engage at the exact same academic, social-emotional, or linguistic level every day. That’s where flexible grouping comes in.” - Amanda Morin
Teaching and learning is most effective when instruction is targeted to individual needs as much as possible. Too often in many other school settings, ‘very stretched’ teachers teach to the middle of the class, not effectively catering for the needs of their students. In some schools, students are permanently grouped or streamed, (which is a dangerous practice) often leading to a negative ‘labeling’ effect. Children are incredibly diverse in their academic characteristics. Encouraging fluidity of grouping in all subjects, informed by student data, allows students to be taught to their point of need.
Flexible grouping is a highly effective strategy for creating an inclusive classroom culture that honours learner variability. It acknowledges students' differences as being normal. A key component of this approach is that while all students are working toward the same learning goal, the work addresses students’ varying learning needs.
At the heart of this approach is careful use of data to inform groups, and fluid movement between groups according to lesson outcomes and students’ needs.
This approach to teaching and learning is incredibly powerful. It is especially so, where it is supported by Mosman Prep’s outstanding and unique teacher to student ratio.
Peter Grimes | Headmaster
References:
Link - understood/what-is-flexible-grouping - Amanda Morin
