Planning for multigrade teaching

During planning, Jatty says she consults the mathematics syllabus and other documents she has received from the regional office, such as annual plans and schemes of work. This is how she described her planning for multigrade teaching:

First of all I have the Grade five syllabus and then I have the Grade six syllabus especially when the two grades are combined. And then I see what they have in common. You start with the, with the same information and then [with] the Grade six you just do the more advanced stage according to the syllabus.

Jatty had been talking about planning, but she had not written out the planning for the observed lesson.

4.2.2.5The teaching of combined grades

Jatty delivered her lesson in English. She asked some questions in Afrikaans and also spoke a few Khoekhoegowab words, the mother tongue of most of the learners. According to her, the teaching and handling of two grades at the same time depends on the lesson activity. Teaching grades separately or together can happen incidentally, but it is also considered during the planning. Jatty described the teaching situation as moving between the two grades. Here she is describing the observed lesson:

This morning, I have spent about ten minutes with the Grade six and ten minutes with the Grade five. Then I go back to see whether [I need] to consolidate then I come back and so go from one grade to another. The Grade six they are very fine and they handle sometimes things on their own and then I have to spend more time with the Grade five, because I have more slow learners in Grade five. It depends on the content of the lesson where I have to spend more of the time whether is in the Grade six or whether Grade five.

Jatty was teaching equivalent fractions to all grades in this lesson. She described how she teaches some multigrade lessons. The description she gave above correlates with what was observed during the lesson. A summary of her lesson is shown in the following vignette.

4.2.2.6Vignette of Jatty’s lesson

The lesson started with the teacher distributing the worksheets to the Grade six learners and told them to start with the activity. Jatty moved to grade five where she asked them about what was done previously. Upon getting the answer, she started with revision of the previous work which was already on the chalkboard. She quickly went to Grade six for few seconds and told them to look for the numerators and denominators on the given activity.

The Grade five learners continued with revision, emphasizing numerators and denominators. She read these definitions with learners. The lesson continued with her talking and distributing worksheets. She also took learners through the worksheet. Where they did not understand, she referred them to the teaching aid which was the same as the worksheet displayed on notice board. All of her instructions for this grade were verbal.

Jatty moved to Grade six and deleted the answers to the questions given on the chalkboard. She then requested learners to come read the phrases before they wrote the mathematical representations of fractions. This activity continued with her mostly reading for learners to write the answers till they were all given the opportunity to come to the board. By linking the lesson to the previous one, Jatty labelled the identified fractions as proper and improper. She also informed learners on to how to convert common fractions to their equivalencies by using multiplication and division. The procedure was done step by step. Learners were told to write in their books because she needed worksheets for the following year.

Moving to Grade five, Jatty ask if learners were finished with the activity. She also assisted individual learners and told them to peer teach others in pairs. She kept on moving between the two groups of the same grade. She also attended to a Grade five learner who went to Grade six for few seconds to look for a pen. The learners were informed to write their observations in books. The whole class teaching started with her showing learners on how to find equivalent fractions but called learners by their names to draw their attention before she began. Learners were mostly looking at their neighbours’ work, but she motivated them to coach each other. Jatty sorted out the remaining worksheet and took them to her table. She came back to find learners having found the correct answers which she was happy with.

learners. This was done by her standing behind the learners and writing answers for them. She noticed that there were only 10 minutes left and moved on with teaching the whole grade on the conversion of factions to whole numbers. This was done through the question and answer method. Learners answered in unison and the voices became louder when they noticed the pattern. Upon completing the sections on the chart, Jatty extended the work by asking them to convert bigger fractions such as one hundred over one hundred. She also told her learners to paste their worksheets into their books and gave them homework with specifications on how to write it.

The lesson continued with her checking the Grade six works. Upon realising their mistakes, she informed them to make sure that they used the correct operation - multiplication or division. She assisted individual learners and also wrote the solutions on the chalkboard for further explanation. She went back to Grade five to distribute the scissors which she had received from the secretary. And then came back to Grade six to continue with the lesson. She also went to attend to the Grade five learners and clarified more on how to write the homework. She quickly went back to Grade six to return the ruler and came to Grade five where she spent time in helping individual learners, even writing for them.

Jatty went back to Grade six to continue with assisting learners. She went back to Grade five to give them additional homework, asking each of them to bring examples of a circle, a square and a rectangle. Upon completing this activity, Jatty came back to Grade six and told them to continue with what they were busy with in class at home. The lesson adjourned after one hour and ten minutes.

Jatty’s lesson took 1hour and 30 minutes, exceeding the allocated time. Most of the interaction with grade five took almost ten minutes and five minutes with grade six. The checking of learners work took a few seconds and more time was spent with the Grade five learners.

Figure 5: A map of lesson presentation for Jatty's lesson Grade 5: Distributing

scissors

Grade 5: Revised the work and continued with

the lesson with verbal instructions

Grade 5: Checking on their work and continued with assistance and presentation

Grade 6: Doing activity on the chalkboard and

continued with the presentation Grade 6: Checking on

their home work

Grade 5: Assisting individuals, continued

with presentation and gave them homework Grade 5: Assisting individuals, continued with presentation and gave them homework

Grade 5: Clarify issues on how to write the homework

Grade 6: Returning the ruler borrowed by a grade

five learners Grade 5: Helping individual

learners to complete the activity presented during the

lesson Grade 6: Continued with

the lesson Grade 6: Assisting individual learners Grade 5: Adding activity to their homework Grade 6: Distributing worksheets

Grade 5: Revision of previous content

Grade 6: Checking ontheir classwork andadding more

instructions

Grade 6: Informed learners to continue the activity at home and adjourned the lesson END!

As indicated in the Figure 5, Jatty’s lesson content was presented by moving between the two grades she has in her class. All grades did mathematics although she had different basic competencies for each grade. More time was spent on the teaching of Grade five group which seemed not to understand the content taught on that day. The Grade six learners were doing revision of previous work.

Jatty claimed to divide the time equally amongst the grades during the interview, although actually in the observed lesson more time was spent teaching the Grade fives. She appeared to focus more on procedures than on helping learners to develop their conceptual understanding and letting them link the classroom mathematics to real life situations. She also played the role of an instructor and explainer throughout the lesson.