What do the students say about being in a combined grade class?
Written By Abena Sey
March 25, 2024
After a busy morning of learning activities in our literacy block, I called the students to the floor to ask them a self-reflective question: What do you like about being in a combined grade class? I gave each student a chance to share their experience. Their responses to this question warmed my heart, because these were first hand evidence that I had achieved what I set out to do to promote a positive classroom environment for my students when I learned about my teaching assignment and saw my class list the summer before.
My first goal was to help my students understand that although we are two different grades, we are one class community. I didn’t want the younger students to feel intimidated by the older students. I wanted them to eventually feel comfortable being cross-grade partners during collaborative time and playing together at recess. I also wanted students to feel comfortable participating in lessons and showing vulnerability by asking questions and /or seeking help from a peer. This required intentionally teaching students how to celebrate and support one another by demonstrating how to advocate for themselves and persevere when work was challenging and helping them navigate through it healthily. My younger students let me know that they were inspired by their older peers, and that they looked forward to all the things that they would experience in the next grade. My older students let me know that they felt proud to be role models to their younger peers. What a great way to boost my students’ self-confidence and leadership! The younger students look up to my older students and I worked hard to show them respect as older students through recognizing their abilities and giving them appropriate academic challenges and expectations. Students let me know that they were excited about the things they learned this year, and felt proud of what they were able to learn and do because they were in a combined grade class. I celebrated a job well done on my part and on my students' part to accomplish these goals.
The next goal was helping students feel excited about being in the combined grade class. I wanted students to look forward to each school day knowing that they had a teacher who cared about them and peers who respected them and made them feel welcome. Mission accomplished! The number one feedback I received was how happy they were to have made new friends across grades. This is a result of their openness to playing and learning with one another.
My students truly care about each other, because of the expectations and standards set for respectful treatment towards one another and navigating relationships early on and continuing throughout the school year. Things have by no means been perfect; I don't want to paint an idealistic picture. My students have learned to use each opportunity to resolve problems fairly and choose to forgive one another and take accountability for their actions. All the work I did in the beginning of the year to set the standard for building classroom community, promoting leadership skills and self-reflection, and focusing on building character through the 7 Sacred Teachings helped my students learn to become more self-aware and responsible to themselves and to our classroom community.
I encourage combined grade teachers to create opportunities for students to share their experiences in their classroom assignment. Their feedback will help guide you in your decision making for your students.