Organising Instructional content for

whole class, individual and small

group
A PRESENTATION
 Teacher Directed content
Teacher directed content is a method when the
teacher is directing the learners on what to do.
• Jordaan (2006:38-40) identifies three main
approaches to multi-grade teaching, namely
whole class teaching, learning in groups and
independent working.
 Teacher directed content
1. Whole class teaching
Whole class teaching must be used at the
beginning of the school day, at the
commencement of the sessions, when learners
are engaged in a project with associated topics
and specific aspects of the curriculum, such as
poetry, music, storytelling and mental Maths.
 Teacher directed content
2. Small group teaching/learning
Learning in groups in a multi-grade classroom takes
place when the teacher works with one group while
the other groups are pursuing a different task.
3. Individual/Independent
Independent working should take place when
learners show competency of working
independently and learners are able to use
reference book.
 Teacher directed content..
Teachers teaching in multi-grade classrooms
must know when to use each approach on a
daily basis.
 Teacher directed content..
• Wallace et al. (2001:30) agrees on the
approaches that teachers use in their multi-
grade classrooms, namely two groups
approach, whole class approach and mixed
approach.
 Teacher directed content.
• In the two groups approach the teacher
divides the learners into two groups of grades,
i.e. the very high first graders and the very low
second graders.
 Teacher directed content..
• In the whole class approach the teacher
teaches learners thematically regardless of the
grade level. In the mixed approach the
learners in the different grades are engaged in
different activities at the same time. Teachers
must decide when to use each approach and
take care not to mix them.
 Teacher directed..
• Once you start teaching in a multi-grade
classroom, how effective your teaching is will
largely depend on how well you are prepared
to handle multiple activities. The goal is to
create diverse instructional strategies both
suitable to the curriculum content and based
on the needs of your students.
 Teacher directed…
• Management of teaching calls for you to
strategically plan activities to engage the
students through direct teaching, with a peer
tutor, in a small group, or in independent
study.
 Teacher directed
• As noted above, every child comes to the
school with the potential to learn but also
with a unique personality and set of needs
and abilities. This means that you need to
develop and implement teaching strategies
that enable you to address the needs of each
child linked to his or her age, maturity,
interests, capacities, and capabilities.
 Teacher directed
• It will take time to get to know each of your
students, but you can begin by trying to make
your multi-grade classroom inclusive and
conducive to learning for each child and
group.
 Teacher directed
•Group strategically
For some activities, divide your students into
mixed-ability groups. This will encourage
students of different backgrounds to include
each other in their work. You may then want to
group students by age or grade for skill subjects
(such as reading and writing, arithmetic, and
science)
 Teacher directed
• •Prepare flexible and appropriate materials.
For grouping to be effective, materials and
teaching must be varied and made challenging
to accommodate the learning needs of
students with different levels of ability.
 Teacher directed
• Develop a variety of worksheets to be used
with diverse groups in multi-grade classroom
situations; these could include teacher-guided
activity sheets, group learning worksheets,
individual practice worksheets, and peer-
directed instruction sheets
 Teacher directed…
• •Promote self-paced learning. While helping
students to perform activities together, at the
same time ensure that they are allowed to
move through the curriculum at their own
pace. This should help them achieve the set
learning objectives for each grade’s curriculum
 Teacher directed..
• •Give extra attention to children with special
education needs. Ensure that students with
disabilities, learning difficulties, and other
needs can achieve milestones as others do.
You may need to include special preparation in
terms of separate worksheets and more
individual attention depending on the nature
and degree of their special education needs
 Student directed content...
• Peer tutoring and self-directed learning
• Peer tutoring takes place when pupils teach
other pupils (Wallace et al., 2001:38). Peer
tutoring can take place when older pupils (in
higher grades) teach younger pupils, when
faster pupils help slower pupils (in the same
grade) or two friends study the topic together
and through discussions help each other to
understand the work.
 Student directed..
• Slower learners may also tutor faster learners
in areas in which they are stronger, such as
drawing. Peer tutoring is peer assistance that
is usually initiated by the teacher who may
prompt children to seek the help of particular
individuals or prompt individuals to assist
others (Muthayan, 1999: xvi).
 Student directed..
• Peer tutoring can help teachers in multi-grade
classrooms to focus on other grades while the
• learner teaches other learners. Peer tutoring
can help learners to get a better
understanding of the
• concepts that they had difficulty with
understanding when taught by the teacher.
 Student directed..
• Learners understanding may be enhanced
when they are taught by means of peer
tutoring because the tutor will teach them
using language and examples that they are
comfortable with. The peer tutor masters the
content because he knows that he has a
responsibility to explain it to his fellow
learners
 Student directed..
• The teacher must rotate the learners as peer
tutors to avoid an overburden on some of the
learners and learners should be peer tutors of
the lessons or content they mastered.
 Student directed..
• Wallace et al. (2001) define self-directed
learning as a process in which individuals take
initiative with or without the help of others in
diagnosing their learning needs, formulating
learning goals, identifying human and material
resources for learning, choosing and
implementing appropriate learning strategies
and evaluating learning outcomes.
 Student directed
• According to Muthayan (1999: xvii), self-
directed learning is when learners individually
and independently engage in activities. Self-
directed learning in multi-grade classrooms
helps the learners to take responsibility for
their own learning. Independent working skills
are imparted through self-directed learning.
Self-directed learning also helps the learners
to become self-regulated and strategic
learners.
 Student directed..
• Learners are able to identify their learning
styles because they are able to see which way
of learning works best for them. Learners are
helped to work on their own or with minimal
help from the teacher.
 Principles of Curriculum design
• Adapting the Curriculum and Lesson Plans
Revisiting and redesigning the national
curriculum to suit multi-grade situations,
according to the number of classes to be
combined together, is essential for teaching
the required curriculum content in a phased
and continuous manner and for making it
appropriate to the cultural and socio-
economic context of your school.
 Lesson planning in Multi-Grade
context..
• •select common themes from one subject
suitable for all the grades in your multi-grade
classroom.
• •develop a flexible timetable for all the grades
throughout the session on those themes
• •develop daily lesson plans for each unit
related to those themes with the help of
textbooks and reference material as per the
curriculum.
 Lesson planning in Multi-Grade
context
• •select activities linked to the curriculum that
are to be conducted in the class
• •develop relevant worksheets for individual or
group practice
• •relate concepts from the curriculum to
examples from your students’ daily lives
• prepare quizzes to assess your students’
mastery of the curriculum content
 Lesson planning in Multi-Grade
context..
• •nurture talent in the school by organizing
related co-curricular activities such as music,
creative arts, games, and physical education
 Lesson planning in Multi-Grade
context..
• In a multi-grade classroom the curriculum is
best delivered in an integrated sequence of
learning activities. To begin, you can
concentrate on a theme, not individual
subjects or grade levels. This becomes the
focus for all learning activities for the whole
class. You can add to the effectiveness of the
integrated unit by linking it to as many
different learning areas as possible.
 Lesson planning in Multi-Grade
context..
• You will need to take time to become
thoroughly familiar with the content materials
for each theme. Work with students
interested in a particular topic to explore this
as it facilitates their, and your, learning. It is
also important that you are systematic in
planning lessons and developing teaching and
learning materials relevant to each of the
curriculum units.
 Stages of Lesson Planning
• Activities before the lesson include developing
lesson plan itself, deciding on the methods of
presentation, selecting the text, preparing the
materials/worksheets to be used during the
lesson, and assigning task, if any, to peer
tutors
 Stages of lesson planning..
• During the lesson you will need to present the
core materials to all students, again and
supervise group work and /or monitor
individual practice session for every student in
class
 Stages of lesson planning..
• After the lesson you may want to evaluate the
lesson plan and think remedial methods for
weak students. Reflecting on how what
worked and what didn’t go so well will help
you improve future lessons
 Lesson planning in Multi-Grade
context.
• Lesson planning for multi-grade 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.
 References
• UNESCO, (2015). Practical Tips for Teaching
Multigrade Classes. UNESCO, Bangkok Office.
• Msimanga, R. M. (2014). Managing Teaching
and Learning in Multi-Graded Classroom in
Thabo Mofutsanyana Education District, Free
State, a dissertation. University of South
Africa.