Teachers in Galloway's Second Grade Class Able to Teach to Many Levels

The double classroom at , with 43 second graders, is a beehive of activity. Active children take part in counting and sorting activities, all the while cooperating with other children at their tables. The classroom is taught by teachers Chris McCabe and Susan Byers.

One group of children counts straws, another sorted buttons, “By fives and tens,” one student said. The room went from one of work noise, to one of concentration when a math lesson was started by McCabe. Afterwards,the students answered the worksheet questions that dealt with the lesson.

Byers and McCabe are pioneers this year. They combined classrooms - their classrooms. Last year, they worked in adjoining classrooms, swapping students for different levels in reading or in math. This year, since they were swapping students anyway, the two decided to combine into one large classroom and co-teach. Special Education teacher, Dacia Cobarrubias, is the third teacher that shares teaching time in this classroom.

Fourth-three second graders sounds like a lot, but when you divide it up among two classroom teachers and a special education teacher, each child will get more individual time and more chance to be taught at their own level, said Byers and McCabe about their combined class.

”We have both of us to meet all the different levels,” says Byers, a 23-year teaching veteran.

“We collaborate; we meet ahead of time to work on the lessons. Two brains are better than one,” she added.

McCabe, who has been teaching 11 years, continues, “We were grouping our kids last year in flexible groups that changed with each skill. The next step was to be together. Last year we had a wall.”  

This year the folding wall between their two classes was left opened.

“If I’m better at teaching one area, I can depend on the others (teachers) to support me in the other areas," she said. "We all work together on materials.”  

For example, she pointed out that Cobarrubias took the lead in a science unit that was recently taught.

More collaboration means, of course, more time necessary to plan. 

“We work more than we ever worked,” said McCabe.

The students quickly disbursed into three math groups after a math presentation by McCabe. The children were directed into one of three groups depending on how they did on a prior math assessment. 

McCabe said each of the teacher’s group did a slightly different version of work on the same topic. She worked with an enrichment group who understood the concept and were given more sophisticated work on the topic. Byers presented to a group that had mastered the concept but needed to review it, and Cabarribias’ group needed the greatest amount review to master the material.

Expectations are high for students. In the first activity in the afternoon, the seven and eight year olds worked in groups at one of nine tables in the classroom to manipulate math materials. When time came to move, they carried paper and pencils and most got to their destinations with few distractions. Being in this classroom has "raised the bar" for several students who had been in a self-contained classroom for special education, according to Cobarrubias,

Byers pointed out that even the room set up was centered around how children learn. Bins are all at the second graders’ level. Children go and pick up needed materials.

“Everything is kid-centered here," she said. "We are just trying really hard to take what they know and work from their starting point.”

There are sacrifices made to accomodate this teaching arrangement. Each of the two teachers got a half-hour less of daily planning time. But for them, it was worth it.

"We try hard to make this a community," Byers said. "We want the students to be part of a group.  (By staying inside the classroom during the students' fine arts time, the teachers work with other students.) We wanted to be one big class."