MultiGrade Class

TEACHING MULTI-GRADE

CLASSES

By: Donita G. Gutierrez

ORGANIZING INSTRUCTIONAL CONTENT

A conventional but important organizing principle for

content is alphabetical order. Because most people learn

how to use alphabetical order in childhood, it’s nearly
intuitive. Alphabetical order allows for quick and easy
access to information. Example: Help documentation,

glossaries, lists like this

A. SELECTING CONTENT THAT IS TEACHER

DIRECTED/STUDENT DIRECTED

The first big difference between teacher-directed vs.
student-centered instruction is the actual focus of the
classroom. In a traditional classroom, the vision is that
the teacher is the center focus of the classroom. They

are dictating and orchestrating everything that is

happening from the front of the room.

B. PRINCIPLES OF CURRICULUM DESIGN

This article draws on our 10 principles of

curriculum design.

What and why- The choices you make about what to
include in your curriculum can be driven by your
school’s aims and values

Breaking it down- Curriculum design means planning in excessive
detail by asking what exactly you want pupils to know. Both teachers
and pupils benefit from this clarity; pupils are clear on what they’re
learning, and teachers are clear on what they’re teaching.

1.

2.

Focus- We can only concentrate on a few things at once, so we
need to eliminate distractions from our curriculum and hone in on
what’s most important.

Coherence- Understanding arises through connection. Building in
connections within and between areas of learning allows us to create
a ‘joined up’ curriculum which, according to Clare Sealy, will be
structured “in a way that makes remembering almost inevitable.”

3.

4.

Progression- Think about how learning builds in complexity over time.
It’s important to know where pupils are starting from in terms of their
background knowledge, whilst keeping a look out for misconceptions
that might become engrained as new knowledge is acquired.

Pace and space- In order to securely acquire new
knowledge, we must return to it many times.

5.

6.

Project Goals

Orient Attention- What we focus on is what we learn, and
we focus on what we value.

Big picture, fine detail- Think about how to deepen pupils’
understanding by making links between the fine details of their
learning and the big picture of the curriculum.

7.

8.

Project Goals

Variation in action- For pupils to develop a detailed
understanding of content, we can vary the way in which content
is presented, practised and retrieved.

Review and refine- There’s no such thing as the perfect
curriculum, and improvement is a continual process of
adjustment and refinement.

9.

10.

Multigrade teaching is a teaching method where one teacher teaches
students from different grades in one classroom. Lesson planning in

multigrade context can be challenging because of the different levels of

learning abilities and needs of students. To address this challenge, teachers
can develop a flexible timetable for all the grades throughout the session on

a specific theme. They can also prepare quizzes to assess their students’

mastery of the curriculum content1. In addition, teachers can nurture talent

in the school by organizing related co-curricular activities such as music,

creative arts, games, and physical education.

Lesson Planning in
multigrade context