Elec 301

TEACHING
MULTI-GRADE
CLASSES

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UNIT 2 Multi-Grade Classes: Teaching Ready!

Lesson 5
Crucial Elements of a Multi-Grade Classroom
E. LESSON PLANNING AND EVALUATION

INTRODUCTION

According to Benjamin Franklin, In failing to prepare, you are preparing to

fail. It was also said many times in varying versions, that, preparing for a specific
goal makes you halfway done. In any kind of instruction, preparing for the lesson
and planning for assessment are considered very crucial. Planning and
assessment require time, dedication, research and resources. Since you are
catering diversity in the classroom, careful planning must be effectively delivered.

This will lesson will help you how to plan and prepare lessons for your multi-
grade class and how to effectively use assessments to ensure quality education.
Study the samples given and if you can, take time to watch the given online
resources as well.

OBJECTIVES
At the end of this module the students are expected to be able to:
1. prepare a plan for a multi grade classroom;
2. discuss examples of formal and informal evaluation; and
3. cite reasons for creating a well-planned lesson for a multi-grade class.

LESSON PROPER

ACTIVITY
What are the usual activities you have been given in your classroom to assess what
you have learned? List down at least three. Tick the box under which type of
evaluation it could fall.
Task / Activity Formal Informal
1. short quiz after a lesson

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ANALYSIS

LESSON PLANNING IN MGC

One very significant tool of a teacher in preparing a lesson is the curriculum
guide. For us, the K-12 Curriculum Guide serves as our “mentor / coach / sage” in
guiding us towards effective lesson planning. The objectives are organized
systematically following the four grading periods our school system employs. Look
at the sample plan below:

A SAMPLE LESSON PLAN FOR MULTI-GRADE CLASSES: HEALTH

Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3

Human Person Human and His Health Sense Organs

I. Objectives I. Objectives I. Objective

Identify parts of one’s body Infer that some body parts Observe using sense organs
work together when human
does activities.
II. Subject Matter/ Materials
Concept: Some parts of the body (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, hands)
Pictures of body parts
III. Procedure (With Teacher)
a. Present the pictures of each body part.
b. Tell the story about what each one does.
c. Sing – I Have Ten Little Fingers

Generalization: Touch the parts of your body that we talked about and tell the use of each
one.
Application: a. Show different cut out of faces with some parts missing, then ask:
What parts are missing?
b. Practice further naming of body parts
IV. Evaluation
Copy the name of the body parts Write the name of each body part in the picture. in
the picture.

From Special Topics Vol 2, Andes, Celia D., PhD, Lorimar Publishing 2012

* Check this out:

Lesson Planning | Plans for a Multi-Grade Classroom | Special Education
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOjPIyrnYDs

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Take a look at this strategy for a multi-grade classroom:

PEELING OFF

Look at an example on the next page.

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You must have noticed by now that a multi-grade class is not that different from a
monograde one since we need to focus on learning which is student-centered.

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EVALUATION OF STUDENT LEARNING

Keeping track of how students are learning every moment is part of the
teaching process. Knowledge of results and errors made is valuable to effective
learning. Feedback is an informal evaluation. It helps learning because it focuses
the learner’s attention on certain important aspects of the learning process and
raises the interest of the child. For this reason, a major task of the teacher is to find
out whether the objective of the lesson had been carried out. Evaluation is bringing
together from different sources all forms of information on pupil performance.

There are two kinds of Evaluation:

1 Informal Evaluation
✓ built in or part of the learning activities, like formative test which is
given after every lesson development. Another example is when a
teacher reads a story. She immediately asks questions to find out if
there was comprehension.

✓ The useful activities for informal evaluation:

- Observe students while working, children react differently in
situations
- Engage the individual in informal interaction with children as they
work on some tasks
- Provide follow up activities that encourage application of skills or
concepts. Learned and observe how the children are able to apply
these skills.
- Let children do some designs on varied games. This is to find out
if they have retained what they learned.
- Ask children to write a diary about what they have learned in
school.
- Inspect all works of a child to monitor whether he/ she has learned
something
- Always give assignments for enrichment of lesson learned.

2. Formal evaluation
✓ more objective and not affected by bias or subjectivity. These are
tests like unit tests, short quizzes, long exams, district tests, and
national tests.

✓ Things to consider while preparing a test:

a. Lesson objectives
b. Nature of learners
c. Type of test to prepare
d. Number of items
e. Level of difficulty
f. Key to correction

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ABSTRACTION

Evaluation for Multi-grade Classes

Formal Informal
short quizzes; observations;

unit tests; anecdotal records;

long exams; formative tasks;

district/ national tests giving feedback, etc.

APPLICATION
You are preparing a five-item quiz about the parts of a plant for your multi-grade
class of Grades 2 & 3. Fill out the chart below for a better assessment preparation.

Grade 2 Grade 3

Objective:

No. of Items:

Instruction / Direction:

Questions / Items:

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REFLECTION / LEARNING INSIGHTS:

What differences and similarities do you find in assessment for a monograde and
a multi-grade class? Write your answer in the box below.

Does evaluation and assessment include using checklists and portfolios? Why do
you say so?

REFERENCES

https://www.academia.edu/26004877/MULTIGRADE_LESSON_PLANS_FOR_GR
A DES_I_AND_II_INDIGENOUS_PUPILS

https://sharemylesson.com/teaching-resource/lesson-plans-multi-grade-
classroom174056

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UNIT 2 Multi-Grade Classes: Teaching Ready!

Lesson 6
Crucial Elements of a Multi-Grade Classroom
F. COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION

INTRODUCTION

This lesson will discuss the participation of the community in the multi grade
classes. In every community, schools are very important to show an indication of
growth and development. Same as in every school, community is part of its success
in imparting holistic improvement in each of its students. That is why we cannot
separate the two in making a positive change in oneself and also in our society. But
like other matter in life, multi-grade classes have also its implications that became
an interruption to the aim of everyone in conveying knowledge. But this is not the
end of making a success, evidently educators always make way to ease those
difficulties and do the utmost in bringing the best in each student.

OBJECTIVES
At the end of this module the students are expected to be able to:
1. discuss participation of community in multi-grade classroom;
2. distinguish the educational implications in multi-grade classes; and
3. show ways on how to deal with educational implications in multi-grade classes.

LESSON PROPER

ACTIVITY
Look at the picture below. What message do you think the image wants to give?

How are school and community connected to each other?

_________________________________________________________________
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ANALYSIS
COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION

MULTI-GRADE CLASSROOM IN THE COMMUNITY

In many situations, multi-grade teachers, because of their training and
position, assume an important position in the local community. This is the case, not
only in the eyes of the pupils, but also from the parents' perspective. Thus, the
multi-grade teacher is the critical link between the school and its community. The
nature of many situations where a multi-grade school exists is such that the co-
operation and assistance of the local community is needed to improve the quality
of educational services that Multi-grade Teaching schools provide. This may
include community involvement in such diverse activities as building and
maintaining classrooms, assisting in the preparation of curriculum teaching aids
and acting as a paraprofessional teacher.

1. Parent Involvement in the Multi-Grade Classroom

There are two ways that parents can and should ideally be involved in
the multi-grade:
• As parents of their own children and thus involved in their
individual child’s education.
• As parents who are concerned about supporting the multigrade
classroom in more ways.
If the parents understood more about the expectations of the school and
what kind of support their children will need, they will be in a better
position to support their children and will also want to get more involved.
2. Group Meeting
This is an effective way of making initial contact sustaining contact with
the parents as a group. This gives the teacher time to inform the children
about the meeting through the children and through notices posted in
prominent places in the school.
3. Individual Parent-Teacher Conference
A parent teacher conference helps to communicate to parents the areas their
child are excelling in and to give them specific ideas of how to improve upon
their child’s performance in school. Teacher parent conferences should be used
as a platform to make a lasting bond with the parent to increase the likelihood
of academic success for their child. Teacher parent conferences should not be
used as a venue to acknowledge the flaws and inabilities of students, but as a
steppingstone to foster improvement within each child.

4. Parent as Classroom Volunteers

Parents can be instrumental in the classroom in many ways. The parent
volunteer experience mutually benefits the volunteer's child, other
students in the class, the teacher, and the school. These benefits are too
significant not to take into account, and many classrooms could improve
with additional parent volunteers in their midst. Appropriate activities for
parent volunteers would be:
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• Reading a story to a small group of children
• Playing a game with small group of children in one of the learning
centers, e.g., math game
• Assisting during field trips
• Helping prepare instructional materials, e.g., cutting or pasting,
gathering materials in the environment
• Helping children with projects, like: gardening, woodworking,
caring for animals, arts and crafts
5. Community Participation
Community life and school activities lead more easily to manual
integration since multi-grade schools are located in communities with
small population. The more parents are involved in their children’s
education, the more they would likely succeed in school. And one of the
important help of community in Multi-grade schools is whenever the
school have lesser resources, the community will serve as source of
information and provide services and materials to improve the school.

EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATION OF MULTI GRADE CLASSROOM

Like in all learning environment, students bring a great diversity to
monograde or multi-grade classes. The following list reflect some of
diversities found among students which need to be appreciated by the
teachers:
1. Age 4. Background
2. Ability 5. Experience motivation
3. Developmental level 6. Interest
• The teacher must be able to observe the children individually at
certain times and as a group to learn more about their involvement in
the classroom activities, to gain information about how they relate to
other children, to gain more insights into the quality of their work and
their way of thinking.
• Teachers who are keen and careful observers are able to anticipate
the needs of the children and achieve a more complete understanding
of development of the whole child
• For evaluation to be comprehensive and relevant to the purpose of
improving the quality of instruction, a combination of formal and
informal means of evaluation I highly recommended.
• If a classroom is attractively and neatly arrange with properly
displayed books and learning materials, bulletin boards that contain
children’s works and attractive pictures related to the topics of study
or newspaper clippings that provide helpful information. The children
will immediately perceive the message that: this is a place where our
works are important because they are displayed to be shared with
others. It is also a place that must be kept orderly, clean and neat.
• Read the budget of work and look at how the instructional objectives
have been arranged in sequence according to the four grading
periods.

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ABSTRACTION
Explain the quotation below.

___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________

APPLICATION

I If you were the teacher of a multi-grade class, how do you appreciate the
following diversities of the students?

1. Age 4. Background
2. Ability 5. Experience motivation
3. Developmental level 6. Interest
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________

II Find a multi-grade teacher in your community. Have an interview about:

1 the participation of the community in their school and how these affect
schools’ and students’ performances
2 the educational implication in their multi-grade classes and how they deal
with it.

REFLECTION / LEARNING INSIGHTS:

Do you think the school can stand alone without the community? Why or why not?
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________

REFERENCES
https://www.bulsu.edu.ph/
https://www.ea.gr/ep/muse/data/meth_function.htm
https://prezi.com/ip6tt2pvpc9e/the-multigrade-classroom-in-the-community/
http://www.online-distance-learning-education.com/parent-teacher-conference.html

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