Teacher Support for Multigrade Teaching
 history of the village
Teacher Support in a Multigrade Situation
1. Professional Support
• Teachers should be paid to travel to meetings.
• Self-directed professional growth or
development should be encouraged by providing
distance education material at resource centres.
• Materials should be given to small schools.
• Education officers should visit these small schools
regularly, not to inspect but to advise.
• Teachers who have taught at multigrade schools
should be considered for promotion.
2. Staffing Support for Small Schools
• Teachers in small schools must teach in multigrade
classes. This demands extra preparation and
organisational ability. As these teachers have few
colleagues to share ideas with, they need constant
supervision and support by central authorities.
• Teachers who are qualified and self-motivated are
the ones who should be sent to isolated schools, as
they are the ones best suited to deal with the
challenges of multigrade teaching. As they face the
challenges, they will grow professionally.
3. Teacher Training for Small Schools
 INSET – In Service Training
 School/District LAC (Learning Action Cell)
 Division and Regional Seminar, Workshop
and Training in the implementation of
Multigrade Teaching.
4. Economic Support
Some small schools are not able to pay their
teachers, and the teachers are often on lower
salaries than those in big schools. Teachers in small
multigrade schools are usually young and
inexperienced. It can be costly for them to go to
urban areas to visit friends and relatives. In order to
reduce this problem, the government should offer
bonuses or living and travel allowances for remote
teachers.
5. Community Support
The school is part of the community and the
school is established to serve the children of
the community.
For example, they may be able to help in teaching
the following subjects:
 reading
 oral tradition
 arts and crafts
 traditional dances
 agriculture or gardening
 sports
 local technology
 home ecology
 moral and cultural aspects of
community living.
Managing Resources
Resources
 Resources can be classified into various
categories. In this unit, we will focus on
instructional resources and how to manage
these resources.
 By ‘instructional resources’, we mean
resources used for teaching and learning.
Multigrade teaching is much easier if you have
resources such as:
o adequate classroom space,
o portable chalkboard,
o printed materials,
o classroom library or reading corner,
o electronic resources, and
o other instructional resources.
Printed Materials
When we use the term ‘printed materials’, we are
referring to textbooks, newspapers, magazines,
story books, games and non-book materials.
Electronic Resources
Electronic resources include radio, audio tape
recorder, videocassette recorder, television and
computer.
Other Instructional Resources
Other instructional resources are concrete objects
that can be easily obtained in your environment. A
variety of raw materials such as cardboard, empty
boxes, tins, shells, stones, wood, seeds, sticks,
animals, insects, bottles, labels and sand are easily
available.
Some advantages of these resources are listed
below:
• They are relevant and real. Learners can see them,
touch them and smell them.
• They are user-friendly.
• They can be reused or recycled.
• Resources such as animals and insects help
learners to develop a respect for living things and to
take responsibility for them.
• They cost little or nothing.
Resource Management
1. Storage
2. Documentation
3. Maintenance
4. Monitoring System
UNIT 5: Making a Scheme of Work and a Unit
Plan
Planning
 Planning is one of the keys to a successful
instructional program. It helps us:
 select relevant goals and objectives,
 make decisions about the content and
structure of the instructional program,
 ensure that necessary resources are
acquired, and
 evaluate the effectiveness of the program.
 Planning requires dedication, time,
research and resources. It is exceedingly
important in multigrade situations. It takes
planning to effectively address the variety
of needs in the multigrade classroom.
What Is a Scheme of Work?
 A scheme of work is a plan or a schedule
that shows what you will teach each week
of the term during the school year. Each
teacher in a school makes a scheme of
work from a given curriculum and adjusts it
each year as needed.
Why do we make a scheme of work?
 To identify the topics that you and your
learners must cover within a given period
and, most important, to avoid gaps in
students’ learning.
 To assist you in establishing realistic
targets and to assess whether you have
achieved those targets.
 Schemes of work also facilitate continuity.
When a teacher leaves the system or is
absent, schemes serve as a map of the
material that the new teacher needs to
cover. A scheme of work also helps us
think about the learning sequence.
 Planning a scheme of work for the
multigrade classroom helps you to ensure
that learners of different class levels are
always engaged in activities that are:
 interesting, • meaningful, • stimulating, and
• conducive to learning.
A scheme of work makes it easier for you to
sustain the interest of learners and ensure
that they learn. To achieve these goals, you
must understand, among other things:
 how children learn,
 the teaching methods that are effective in
multigrade situations,
 the approaches that you can use to
organise content and to group learners,
and
 the steps involved in preparing a scheme
of work.
Unit Plan: What Is a Unit Plan?
 focuses on teaching and learning
experiences that are organized around
chosen topics or themes.
 extends for a period of four weeks or
more. In simple terms, a unit is an idea we
use for organizing instruction.
 is based on the syllabus and the scheme
of work. It contains broad goals and
specific objectives that serve as guidelines
for the selection of appropriate content
and activities.
Why Do We Plan Units?
 Organizing the subject matter, teaching
methods, learning activities and materials
in a sequence helps students to learn.
 Structuring the learning experiences
around a single theme or topic over a
period of time helps students relate the
ideas in individual lessons to a broader
concept.
The Components of a Unit
The components of a teaching plan generally
reflect the major components of the
curriculum.The main components of a unit are
  goals,
 concepts, skills and attitudes,
 objectives,
 activities,
 materials and evaluation
6 Behavior Management in a Multigrade
Classroom
The ultimate goal of education is to mold young
people into well-rounded individuals. That often
includes making sure that the teaching and learning
process flows as smoothly as possible.
Let's talk about some behavior management
strategies you can tap into to enhance student
behavior and allow teaching and learning to proceed
as planned.
1. Maintain a Routine
Having a set routine is an important behavior
management tool that helps to establish guidelines
and behavior expectations.
A routine ensures that students know what’s coming
next, so you’ll spend less time giving out instructions
—freeing up time to do the real work.
Include the students in establishing a class schedule
that works for everyone and give them responsibility
for some routine tasks.
2. Set Rules Together With Students
Just like a routine, rules help improve student
behavior. However, if the classroom teachers set the
rules themselves, the class may reject them.
That's why it's important to have an audience with
your class to help set the rules.
When children take ownership of the rules, peer
pressure works in your favor to enforce them and
improve behavior management.
3. Create Stimulating Lessons
Structure your activities to engage and involve your
learners throughout the lesson. Strive to allow your
students to uncover knowledge with practical
activities.
Most importantly, vary your teaching methods, use
plenty of aids and make the work as interactive and
fun as you can.
You can draw the attention of younger students by
incorporating games and using plenty of actions in
your learning time. With older students, try to stay
relatable, for example, by referencing modern music
or movies.
4. Use Positive Language
Negative language has a way of reinforcing the
wrong behavior. Typically, kids like to do what they
are told not to do. So, rather than create a vicious
cycle of behavior challenges, use positive language.
For example, instead of saying, “stop throwing those
paper airplanes,” you can say instead, “can we all
focus and pay attention, please.”
Positive language makes the students feel
respected, leading to better behavior.
Some of the outcomes of positive language
approaches include:
A safe learning environment
A sense of responsibility
Self-discipline
Self-motivation
5. Develop a Relationship With Your Students
Get to know your students individually. Take time to
find out their interests and dislikes. If your lessons
are centered around what the learners like, you will
find it easier to keep them engaged.
Also, knowing your students will help you identify
some triggers to behavioral problems. For example,
if a student suddenly starts lashing out and talking
over you in a lesson, they may be going through
some personal problems at home or facing issues
like bullying at school.
6. Adjust Your Scoring Methods
Getting an F on an assignment is demoralizing.
Typically, students who get poor marks are
disruptive in class and deliberately fall short of
behavior expectations to deflect from the real issue.
If you are dealing with a similar scenario in your
class, use a less standard scoring method for
grading classwork.
For example, instead of grading a paper with a
specific score, simply put check marks where they
got it right and point out areas of improvement. This
unconventional grading can help reduce the
overwhelming feeling of poor grades.
Here are some tips to help you create a positive
and productive learning environment for your
students:
1. Incorporate Fun into your Teaching method
2. Build a Safe Environment

3. Listen to your Students/Be open to Feedback

4. Encourage Collaboration Among Students

5. Reinforce Positive Behaviours

6. Up to Date Curriculum/ Teaching Methods

7. Be There for Them