THE GRADE FOUR LEARNER

“My ninth year was certainly more exciting than any of the others. But not all of it was exactly what you would call fun”.

~ Danny, the Champion of the World ~ Roald Dahl (1975: 24)

When Allington and Johnston (2000: 2) refer to Grade Four as the “fourth grade hump”, that is, the point at which previously successful learners begin to experience difficulties, we begin to understand the complexities of this age. They call Grade Four a high-stakes teaching assignment and they comment on the fact that Grade Four has long been regarded a perilous juncture in the primary school. The transition from Grade Three to Grade Four has been blamed, as well as the specific demands of the Grade Four experience with formal assessments, a variety of Learning Areas and academic challenges. Up to now the demands of each succeeding grade has been just slightly more difficult than that of the preceding grade. The transition to Grade Four, however, now implies a quantum leap. To deal successfully with the challenges of Grade Four demands new ways of thinking and abstracting as well as fresh ways to use information (Ames & Haber 1991: 87). The Grade Four learner also comes with her own set of behaviours, which will now be highlighted.

Although there are predictable stages in child development, each child goes through the basic stages a little differently. The common patterns of behaviour will therefore vary according to own individuality but, even as far back as 1955, Ilg and Ames (1955: 3–5) already described the kind of person the Grade Four child might often be. The following characteristics, as described by Wood (2007: 107–113), depict specific facets of the Grade Four learner. Grade Four learners are at an age which is often marked by confusion and deep seriousness, although they can be comfortable and flexible. They need opportunities to practise test taking and they learn better on their own as they master basic skills. These learners tend to be very individualistic, industrious and intellectually curious. Meier, Minirth, Wichern and Ratcliff (1991: 176) refer to Erikson’s Social-Emotional Theory where he describes these learners as developing either industry or inferiority, while Wood (2007: 107–113) reminds us that these learners can manage more than one concept at a time and that they are now reading to learn instead of learning to read. Piaget (in Meier et al. 1991: 178) called this the stage of concrete operations where these learners master mathematical operations, measurement, language and spatial concepts. They can, however, give

up on tasks easily and need adults to build their fragile sense of competence. This will include continuous motivation and honest praise. Ames and Haber (1991: 5) describe the nine year old as anxious and worried. These anxieties of the nine year old will diminish when the cheerful age of ten arrives. Nine year old learners can be very self-critical and sarcastic humour from adults can be very hurtful (Wood 2007: 113). Their emotions vary, as do their behaviour. The Grade Four learner is thus highly variable in emotional responses, what Ames and Haber (1991: 7) call a highly individual and unpredictable age.

Wood (2007: 114, 115) describes some examples of opportunities provided by the curriculum. The Grade Four learner is, among other tasks, expected to tackle assignments that involve doing basic research, mastering capitalisation and punctuation and improving spelling, developing dictionary skills taught in earlier grades, working extensively with word problems and exploring poetry. The academically demanding nature of these tasks can be quite daunting for the learner, as well as the teacher who facilitates these learning opportunities. In demonstrating the practical applications of these expectations, the following is taken from a school’s communication with parents regarding the demands of Grade Four (Reflection Primary, Introduction Newsletter 2011). The Grade Four learner is expected to:

1. be sensitive to how their actions affect others 2. enjoy working on group tasks

3. participate actively in the learning process 4. work independently

5. be increasingly able to investigate and compare information 6. enquire critically about the world around them

7. use methods they have already learnt in new contexts

From an educational perspective it is clear that for the demands made by the tasks to be successfully applied, the Grade Four learner and the Grade Four teacher need to work together effectively. These students are, by nature, excellent students and are ready to tackle most challenges (Ames & Haber 1991: 81).

Such challenging academic demands are then also linked to the specific nine to ten year old learner who is the Grade Four learner in many South African classrooms. The clustering of abilities which refer to a specific stage reveals the levels of

maturation and learning of these learners (Meier et al. 1991: 174). Kohlberg, in his Stages of Moral Development, refers to these learners as reasoning within a structure where the approval of others is dominant (Meier et al. 1991: 181). Ilg and Ames (1955: 290) comment on this ethical sense of the learner when they establish that although younger learners can tell right from wrong, they are not always emotionally ready to do what is right and avoid the wrong. The Grade Four learner, however, is intellectually able to understand the difference between acceptable and unacceptable and emotionally ready to conform to parents’ and teachers’ wishes of doing the right thing. Fowler, who built on the work of Piaget, Erikson and Kohlberg, developed a theory of how children relate to what is important in life (Meier et al. 1991: 182). According to Fowler, these learners see the meaning of life as presented in stories, where facts are clearly separated from fantasy. Fowler also mentions how these learners develop a sense of belonging and responsibility by participating in groups and sharing chores.

To summarise some of the distinct character traits of the Grade Four learner, the following are mentioned (Wood 2007: 107–115; Ames & Haber 1991: 12–14). The Grade Four learner (or the nine to ten year old learner) shows interest in detail, is interested in scientific exploration, displays a remarkable amount of self-reliance and capability, is very competitive and takes pride in attention to detail. Where the nine year old may be slightly rebellious and tends to complain about work being too hard, ten is described as an age of comfortable equilibrium. Ames and Haber (1991: 94) refer to your typical Grade Four learner as an especially endearing child who actually enjoys school.

The Grade Four teacher, as the classroom manager and composer and provider of intervention and support strategies, is expected to deal with these interesting learners. This poses tremendous demands for the Grade Four teacher. As mentioned, not only are nine year olds so significantly different from ten year olds, who are all in the same class, but these learners demand individual assistance and their teacher’s complete attention. They want to please and thrive on praise and motivation. The Grade Four learner is, however, often apprehensive about her ability to do what is expected of her and often underrates herself (Ames & Haber 1991: 8). These learners are such individualists and have marked likes and dislikes. Coupled with the transitional difficulties of Grade Four and the fact that most Grade Four

learners have an abundance of physical energy, the learners and their teachers are faced with various tribulations and obstacles. Added to these obstacles are the barriers to learning of the cognitively gifted ESL underachiever.