Sandra J. Stone (1996), Creating the Multiage Classroom, Glenview, IL: GoodYearBooks (an imprint of ScottForesman; a division of HarperCollins). 276 pp, US Letter format (slightly smaller than A4). US price: $15.95.

 

Teachers can use strategies specifically developed or recommended for teaching talented children to improve their teaching, or their provision of learning experiences, in the regular classroom. In the same way, strategies used by teachers to cope with the diversity of a multi-age classroom can be used in any mixed ability classroom. There are many good arguments for adopting such strategies but one of the most compelling is that they enable more effective learning to occur for children at all stages of development, as opposed to the mythical 'average' often taken as the norm for any age-segregated classroom. Since the needs of talented children are often not well catered for in a classroom dominated by grade/age expectations, teachers looking for ways to enhance such children's learning could profit from adapting successful multi-age strategies.

In most cases the adaptation involved would be minimal &endash; all classes are multi-stage in the sense that the children in them exhibit a range of skills and achievements along any particular developmental continuum. The claim that 'there is no ceiling on the progress a child can make in a multiage classroom' (p.34) applies equally well to a multi-stage classroom where the teacher deliberately caters for diversity.

Sandra Stone's book is a very practical 'how to do it' book written by an experienced teacher of multi-age (K&endash;3) classes. The philosophy underlying the commitment to individual children's whole-person development, which is the cornerstone of a multi-age teacher's approach, is simply explained with examples from organisations and states which have adopted a multi-age arrangement (eg British Columbia Ministry of Education, Skills and Training; Kentucky Department of Education). For example, the Mission Statement for Scales Personal Development School in Tempe, Arizona, is quoted:

We believe Scales Multiage Program promotes a non-competitive, cooperative, caring atmosphere, where children grow at their own developmental rate utilizing learning styles and areas of high interest in an integrated literate environment. (p.31)

Chapters or sections in the book outline the various beliefs which underpin such a philosophy, such as beliefs about how children learn, but these sections comprise only a small though essential part of the book. The bulk of the book contains practical suggestions on how to arrange a classroom so that the various beliefs can be implemented. A fundamental tenet of 'developmentally appropriate curriculum' is that different children will have different needs and bring different experiences to every learning situation. The challenge for teachers is to organise the children's learning so that these differences can be catered for in manageable ways, ie without the teacher having to design an individual program for every student, every day. One efficient strategy is to have generic activities which can be completed by different children according to their current level of expertise and their readiness for expansion of that expertise. In turn, this implies that such generic activities are open-ended so that children can take them as far as they desire.

One popular way of exposing children to such activities is through Learning Centres and one chapter in this book provides helpful discussion about creating effective centres, with emphasis both on arranging the physical environment of the classroom to accommodate functioning centres and on what to include in such centres. (Throughout the book the examples relate to the first few years of school though many are easily adaptable for higher grades.) Ideas given for possible types of centres are generic (eg Writing Centre, Big Book Centre, Home Centre, Mailbox Centre) but the activities engaged in by the children may remain general (eg play in the Construction Centre) or have a specific focus depending upon the theme/topic/project being investigated (eg literacy-related or mathematically-related play can be encouraged in the Construction Centre by the addition of specific materials such as pencils and paper for recording the results of experiments with blocks, or puzzle sheets to guide and record a particular investigation).

Learning Centres have not always been welcomed by teachers as a manageable or effective arrangement but the current emphasis on promoting in children a responsibility for their own learning makes them an option which should perhaps be reconsidered, especially as a part of the daily structure of learning for all children rather than simply as 'extension' or 'free time' places. Their applicability within a framework of contracts and choice, flexible groupings, student-initiated learning (autonomous learners), and interest-based learning is recognised in many classrooms, especially those catering for talented children.

Classroom learning centres are only one structure discussed, with examples and advice, as a way of promoting the desired characteristics just mentioned. The value of individual or group projects, long recognised as one strategy for challenging talented students, is also validated as an appropriate way of coping with diversity.

Several chapters are devoted to practical help for teachers of a multi-age class (or class with pronounced diversity, as exists when highly able children are amongst the class members). Chapter 4, 'Planning the multiage curriculum', looks at educating the whole child, focus goals, integrated curriculum and how to plan it, open-ended activities, sample models for the instructional day, planning curriculum with the children, short-term planning, and long-term planning. Another chapter presents sample curriculum plans, while a third outlines strategies for teaching content (creating a literate environment, reading, writing, mathematics, science, social studies, and creative expression).

The author's preferred form of assessment is through portfolios and in a large chapter she promotes its value, looking at the purposes of portfolio assessment, contents of a portfolio, portfolio conferences, tools for assessment, assessing the content areas, integrating assessment into the instructional day, and reporting progress without grades.

Other chapters look at the process involved in setting up and evaluating a multi-age program (establishing a time line, involving parents, answering the most frequently asked questions, cautions for teachers and administrators). These chapters are of less direct relevance for teachers of a regular age-segregated class unless their approach is dominated by a focus on individual differences and individual development. In such cases, the way a teacher arranges, reports and justifies learning experiences will have much in common with that of a teacher committed to a multi-age philosophy &endash; and for the same reason of challenging and providing suitable learning experiences across a range of abilities, backgrounds and interests. I therefore see much in this book of immediate value to teachers who are seeking strategies to cope with diversity, including the diversity caused by the presence in a class of talented children.

Note that at present this book is not published in Australia and should therefore be ordered through a bookshop. The address of the publisher is:

Linley Lloyd, University of New England

TalentEd No. 58, Winter/Spring 1997

©TalentEd is located at the School of Curriculum Studies, University of New England, Armidale, Australia.

This page updated: 23 January 2006 Webmaker: Howard Smith. hsmith4@une.edu.au