Grade 7's,
Here is where you will post your responses to this weeks language question.
The question is in response to the Globe and Mail article about a three way spilt class.
Question: Do you think that a three way spilt class could be a positive experience? Why or why not? Be sure to use detail and examples to support your answer.
*Also, remember all level 4 answers have a thesis statement that introduces their main idea, support for their reasoning and a concluding sentence.*
Please post your response in the comment sections below by Monday October 24th, 2011.
Good luck!
Ms. Swanek
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ReplyDeleteya my first post !!!
ReplyDeleteThe idea of split classes with three grades is a bad idea because the teachers will have to find time to teach a whole day of learning to three grades in one day. The students won't get as much attention and there learning will decrease because they won't be getting a full day of learning because the teacher will have to teach the other grades. If this idea goes through we might have to create more learning time. The only ways we can do this is if there's longer school hours, no recess, and may even no summer break! This would be unfair and wrong to the principals, teachers, all school staff, and especially the students. This is why i don't believe in split classes with three grades. So now ask yourself what would be a smarter plan for the future?
ReplyDeleteI believe a three way split class could be a positive experience socially but negative in an academic way. If their are three grades in one class they will learn to socialize with each other. The consequences are that with three grades class the teacher has to divide her attention to three different grades. If there is a three way split class that means there is a time limit for every grade, so instead of 100% of the attention the children need they only get around 30%. Even if one of the students in grade 4 has a question they can’t ask the teacher until he/her is done with the grade 5’s. Would you want to have to wait almost 30 minutes to ask your teacher a question? I didn’t think so.
ReplyDeleteI strongly believe that 3 way split classes should not be used because the students could be distracted, the teacher could not keep up with three curriculums, and they would need a pretty big classroom also.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, how many students do you think are in this class? I think just about thirty. That would mean there would be about 10 students for each grade. I think the students would be distracted because of all their friends in the classroom. They don't necessarily have to have friends in their grade also, they could have, in this case, have friends in all three grades. I have experience. I am in a two way split and I have friends in grade 8. I do get distracted sometimes by all my friends, so I can imagine how distracting it could be for any student in a three way split.
The curriculum for grade sixs is very tough. Imagine now that you have two grades in your class. Now it's even tougher for you to teach both grades with those two different cirriculums. Now you have even another grade in your classroom, you have no idea how you are going to keep up with all three! And I didn't even mention the grade 4's, how they are still kids as they talk all through the clock and hug the teacher! Also the grade 6's are the opposite. They are calm and know what they are doing(well, some of them). Now add all this work and math with those little grade 4's. The teacher would not be able to keep up with this. How could you find the time to teach all 3 grades. Can you imagine that you are hugging a grade 4 while teaching grade 5 and 6?!
Now you have a great classroom, annoying grade 4's and great grade 5 and 6's. All you need is one huge classroom. Think about how big the classroom would be. And by now most classes are three way splits because nobody listened to my response. I think we would have to build larger classrooms and this would eventually lead to a larger school. To make a larger school, you first have to clear out some land so you have space for the school and the students to play around in. Think about all the trees you would cut down! And today they are reminding us to save the earth by not cutting down trees. Well this does not help with the environment. It destroys it actually. So this is why I think three way splits should not be used.
For these reasons, I strongly believe that three way split classes are not a good idea.
I strongly believe that Three way split classes should not be used because the teacher will have to work with the other grades and the kids can get distracted.
ReplyDeleteWhen the teacher works with the one grade the other grades will learn less because they won't be able to get the teacher to teach them.My mom used to be in a two way split class and she said she had a hard time learning since the other grade was getting taught most and my mom's grade didn't get to learn that much.So her school found out that the two way split wasn't good so they had normal classes instead of a two way split.How can the kids get distracted?some
people think its a good idea.But here are some reasons why students can get
distracted.One of the reasons are some of the kids can get friends in the other
grades.They can just talk to their friends because they are in the same
classroom and Everybody would be talking and it would drive the teacher
nuts.The other reason the students would be distracted is one of the grades might be immature.They would probably try to be a class clown or someone who is really annoying.In grade 4 I was in a two way split class and there was a really annoying person and sometimes I couldn't concentrate.So that is why three way split classes are a bad idea
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI strongly believe that 3 way split classes should not be used because of the stress for the teacher, lack of focus for the students and the lack of cirriculums for each class.
ReplyDeleteI think that split classes can be a great idea, but when you have 3 classes blended together its not a great mix. This puts so much stress on the teacher because he/she has to plan and organize 3 different lessons for each subject everyday. Also this teacher has to put 3 years of cirriculum into one year, which would be extremely difficult. For example: when a teacher is teaching the grade 5's their lesson ,what will the grade 6 and 7's be doing? There is also a big difference between a grade 5 student and a grade 7 student because of maturity levels. This would be very difficult for a teacher because a grade 7 student would loose interest in what a grade 5 is learning(so how is the teacher going to entertain the whole class?)
The lack of cirriculum is also a very big part in this 3 way split class. Some students need a lot of help with their work because they have difficulty with that subject ,so when the teacher is working with another grade the student in the other grade would not be able to ask the teacher for help because the teacher is unavailable. This effects the students cirriculum because on a test or assesment the student would not know what they are doing because they could not ask the teacher in class for help.
My last reason is the focus in the classroom. A lot of the time student get very distracted with their social like instead of their school work. I have had experience with this. For example: In my grade 7/8 split class some grade 7's are friends with the grade 8's so during a lesson the grade 7 or 8's can get distracted with their friends(this has happened before).This is just 2 classes so imagine how it will be with 3 grades in one class. That would be huge and very distracting for students.
For these 3 reasons i strongly believe that 3 way classes are not the best idea.
3 Way Split Classes
ReplyDeleteI believe that a 3 way split would not be a positive experience. I think so because the class would be unorgonized and the teacher would not be able to dedicate as much time for each grade.
The teachers and the students would be unorgonized. The teachers would have to keep track of the textbooks, notebooks, tests etc. If the teachers are unorganized than it would be difficult for the students to be organized.
Also the teacher would not be able to dedicate as much time to each grade. Instead of teaching 15minutes to each lesson it would have to be 10 or 5 minutes for each lesson.
That concludes why I don't think that this would be a positive experience. Once again, the teachers and the student would be unorgonized , and the teachers would not be able to dedicate as much time for each of the grades.
I strongly believe that a 3-way split class is not the best idea because of the following reasons why:
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, it would be really hard to teach. The teacher would have to teach 3 different grades for almost 10 months with only about 6 ½ hours 5 days a week. It would not be enough time to cover the entire curriculum for each grade. Also, the teacher would find it difficult to teach 3 different things at the same time. The teacher would also spend so much time organising everything for all 3 grades, he/she wouldn’t have enough time to themselves.
Second of all, the students would find it hard. It would be hard to get everything done in a day, and you would be really behind compared to all the other classes. So at the end of the year, all the other classes will be done everything they had to do in all subjects, but you wouldn’t have learned everything that everyone else did. Also, you wouldn’t do as well on tests because the teacher didn’t have the time to teach you what you had to learn.
Third of all, kids wouldn’t know a lot of the kids in their class because they’re in different grades, and likely not a lot of their friends in their class because of the split. I know from experience that when you don’t have friends in your class, who are you going to call if you (for example) forget a question? Plus, since there are only about 10 people from your grade in your class, the other class rooms would have a lot of students in their class, so that would make it harder for the other teachers as well. It would just be easier for everyone if they just kept it at 2-way split class or no split at all.
This is why having a 3-way split class would not turn out as a positive experience.
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThree Way Split Class Response
ReplyDeleteI strongly believe that three way split classes wouldn’t be a positive experience. Here are some of my reasons why:
The classroom would be just mayhem. He/she would be going back and forth from grad to grade to grade. Having a 2 grade split class is reasonable but I just find a three way split is too difficult. The teacher will probably get confused on which work to give what grade. He/she might switch up the pages and questions in math. I think it is not a good idea to have a 3 way split class because the class would be crazy and unorganized.
The teacher wouldn’t cover the entire curriculum because there is not enough time for every grade. He/she only has about 10 months a year. 5 days a week in those months and about 6-7 hours a day. The teacher would be so focused on getting all the curriculum done and planning out her days with the students he/she wont have any time for themselves. Also some students might need extra help with things and the teacher will be too busy with the other grades she wont have time to help her/him. Therefore the teacher wouldn’t be able to cover the whole curriculum for each grade.
One last reason why three way split classes shouldn’t happen is because of social issues. For example if there were grade 5,6,and 7 in one class and they were split into groups the grade 7’s wouldn’t want to talk to the grade5’s. The grade 7’s wouldn’t want to talk to younger kids (Grade 5,and 6’s). So not everyone will cooperate as well when there are three grades. That’s my last reason why I thinks there shouldn’t be three ways split classes.
Overall I don’t think three way spit cases are a positive experience.
~ Sarah!
I strongly believe that a three way split class is a bad idea. The reasons I believe this are, that the teacher will have trouble teaching the curriculum to three different grade, also that the students will have to much free time. It will be hard to teach the curiclulum to three grade because you need to make sure each grade is getting tought the right amount of stuff. Also that the students can know what they are learning. If a student doesn’t know what they are learning you will have to take more time with that grade and the other grades will have less time to learn. My next point is that students will have to much free tiem if they are done there work. If the students have to much free tiem they will disrupt the class which will be even harder for the teacher to teach the curiculum. With to much free time the students could be getting them selfs into trouble. These are the reasns why i believe that a 3 way split is a bad idea.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI strongly disagree that we should have three grades in one classroom.
ReplyDeleteThe teacher would get so confused with which grade she is teaching at which time and she could get mixed up on dates for each grade. The classroom could become so crazy and noisy that the teacher would keep yelling "stop talking" or "sit down" because she would just get so frustrated. It is much easier to have control of two grades rather than three.
For a teacher to have a split class of three grades she would have to put in so much time and effort for each grade. She would be so busy she would have no time to herself. It would be hard to teach three grades for almost 10 months, six and a half hours a day and five days a week.
The students in the class are each one to two years older than the next, so they would most likely not talk to anyone but their friends in their grade. As kids get older, they think talking to kids younger than them is weird because they think they are "too cool" for them.
In my opinion, I do not think there should be a three way split class. It would make teaching more frustrating for the teacher and may keep students from becoming friends with their classmates because they are older and in higher grades.
I strongly believe that three way split classes would not only have a negative impact on students but also on teachers and parents. If it is necessary for schools to have split grades, then they should keep split classes to a maximum of two grades! A three way split class will devalue the education that the students receive because of the decreased amount of time a teacher has per grade, large age gap between the student, and the higher demands placed on the students forcing higher parent involvement.
ReplyDeleteEven from a teacher’s perspective, how can they balance a three grade split class? Teachers will be very busy trying to manage their time between all of the grades that each grade will not get the attention needed to succeed. This makes it extremely difficult for children to complete and understand the homework. This also applies to the older grades, because they do not have another grade that is older to help them. The expectations that the split grade students have are set to high standards of working independently and diligently. The teacher will be so occupied with the other grades, but in reality every student will lack in subjects because of the limited amount of time in every school day. We only have about six hours a day in school, therefore about two hours for each grade to get through every subject on that days schedule would be challenging.
Another reason to consider not having a three way split class would be due to the difference in maturity levels and the age gap between the grade four’s and six’s. For example, the grade six’s could be having a mature conversation with the teacher while the grade four’s and five’s may not have the ability to take them seriously. This makes it hard to focus and concentrate on the small amount of time with the teacher. Also, the presence of older students might discourage participation of the younger students as they may feel intimidated. This could potentially lower their marks, resulting in bad grades.
The parents will have to spend numerous hours helping their kids with their homework because the teacher has less time to spend with them. This puts pressure on not only the students but also the parents of these children who are being forced to help them with their school work. From a parent’s perspective, they will worry about the teasing that happens usually towards the younger students in the class. This makes the parents feel like its now up to them to be their teachers and take action.
For these reasons I strongly believe that three way split classes would have a negative impact on students!
I believe that three way split classes would not be a positive experience. I believe so for the following reasons:
ReplyDeleteFirstly, dividing three grades in one class room is too much for one teacher to do their job effectively. There is a great amount of curriculum to cover for each grade throughout the year. That being said, it would be difficult for one teacher to cover all of the curriculum for each grade in her/his class. For example: In a class consisting of grades 6, 7 and 8, the teacher would need to find a way to keep the students in grades 6 and 7 quiet and well organized while she/he teaches the grade 8 students. This would involve complete cooperation from all the students which can be very challenging in a big class. It would also be difficult if a student had a question to ask about his/her work and the teacher would be unavailable to assist that student.
Secondly, teachers spend many hours outside of school planning future lessons and assignments. If a teacher had three grades to teach everyday, the teacher would have triple the amount of planning and preparation. This would leave less time for the teacher to spend with her/his family, friends, or interests outside of their job. It would also cut into the extra curricular time that they would have normally spent assisting school teams and clubs.
Lastly, sharing a class with two other grades could result in more homework for the students. The teacher may not have enough time to teach everything planned for the day therefore leaving the work to be finished at home. This could cause a lot of stress for many students. For example, if students are given a history lesson but do not complete the work, then they will have to add that to the list of things that were already given out for homework. Homework time could get out of control.
Overall, I strongly believe that split classes of three grades would not be a positive experience for both the teacher and the students.
Three-way split class
ReplyDeleteI think that this could be great for the students in this class.
First of all I think that the students will end up being more independent and will not always rely on the teacher’s help as some students do. They will not have the option to always be asking for advice and answers. The option will not always be avaible because as the teacher is the other grade they must not be disturbed. This could help them succeed in later life. Children will learn to look to themselves and their peers.
Secondly, the younger students will have a glimpse at what they will be learning in later years. This could possibly help exceed the pupils who did not learn in a split class because of their early learning. Being the younger grade in a split class can help you learn early. I believe this will help students in later years. The particular students will have already learned bits of the other curriculum and will probably learn fast.
Lastly, the pupils will learn how to work in an environment different than what they are generally used to. This will give them some experience with change and, hopefully, help them cope with larger changes later on in life. They may not be so taken aback when big changes occur and will be able to take them as they come.
For the reasons I have stated, I think that three-way split classes are a good influence.
I strongly believe that three-way split classes should not be introduced to schools. My points against three-way split classes are as follows:
ReplyDeleteChildren will have less time to get help from the teachers, as teachers will be teaching three different grades. These children will have very limited time to get help with their homework or class work. This will not help them. When a test comes up and a student did not understand the lesson, and teacher could not help them, then they will most likely not do well on the quiz. The parents will get upset because of the bad mark and the fact that their child is not able to get the help he or she needs.
Teachers will have non-stop work to teach the kids. The teachers will teach the children their lessons three times for every grade. Teachers need a break to relax and mark tests or work on helping out children understanding their lessons. And if the teacher has no time to teach the lessons to the kids then they will have to stay in for recess and not have a break from teaching and not having a rest from teaching the children. I have experienced a similar situation because of the 7/8 split I am in. The teacher assigns time for grade 8 and grade 7 lessons, and it seems our teacher only gets little breaks in-between lessons. Imagine what an three way split would be like.
Children might get picked on by the higher grades. Some children already have enough problems with bullying in their own grade. And if the higher grades are put into their class then even more problems will happen. Higher grades are usually bigger and stronger. The younger kids may be intimidated by the older students in the class. So these kids may have to live with bullying in the classroom and bugging him every day.
These were my three points why classrooms should not be split up into three grades.
Nicholas
Thank you all for your comments and thoughts on this topic. I found it interesting that only one student saw some positive aspects to a three way split class. Good work everyone!
ReplyDeleteMs. Swanek