Students Into Higher Level Classes example essay topic

Learning by Teaching and Increased Exposure in the Classroom The idea of inclusion or mainstreaming has been around the education community for a long time. Both of these ideas involve including students with learning disabilities in regular classrooms to be taught by regular teachers rather than special education teachers. The difference between the two is that inclusion allows for a learning disabled student to be in a classroom for the majority of their day and mainstreaming allows or a learning disabled student to be in a regular classroom for a set amount of time if they have shown that they (the special needs student) can keep the same pace as the students in the regular classroom. Both inclusion and mainstreaming that include special needs students in regular classrooms could easily be modified to help students without learning disabilities to excel at their education. Including students from a lower class level in a higher-class level could benefit both the higher level students as well as the visiting students. By including a group of students from a lower level class (preferably 1 grade level lower), in an upper level class, both students would benefit.

The upper level students would benefit by working with a lower level student and mentoring / tutoring them in their (the upper level) subject. The lower level students would gain extra knowledge, which they would normally learn in their next year of school. Along with getting a leg up on the next year of school, the lower level students would be exposed to different teaching techniques when the teacher of the upper level class was teaching his or her lesson. This theory is very similar to mainstreaming with the exclusion of learning disabled students. The Latin phrase "Hominem dum docent discount", which means people, learn while they teach (James Miltner, Graduate Instructor at University of Michigan, March 24, 2005). This phrase demonstrates how an older student mentor would benefit greatly from tutoring a younger student.

A great example of this would be in math courses. Generally a student will take Algebra then progress to Geometry the next school year. If the students from the Algebra (A-students) course were to meet with the Geometry class (G-students) once a week and be taught a lesson by the Geometry teacher and be paired up with a student from the geometry class, they would have a head start on what they were to learn their following year. This would allow the A-students to do better when they reach the Geometry class the next school year. The G-students would then, as Miltner put it, "learn while they teach" the visiting A-students.

The G-students would have to apply the knowledge that their teacher just presented to them in an effort to explain or assist in doing an assignment with the A-students. Both the Algebra teacher and the Geometry teacher would be in the classroom to assist the student pairs but would not directly explain the assignment to the A-students. This would benefit the G-students comprehension in the area that they were currently studying. Split grade classes in elementary school are currently in place in some districts. They generally place the slower upper level or grade children with the faster children in the lower level or grade (Jennifer O'Brien, Language Arts and Social Studies instructor, Dewitt Junior High School, March 23, 2005). By splitting a class into two grades it assists the faster students who are in the lower grade to comprehend the higher-grade material earlier.

O'Brien described the concept as a split second and third grade class. The third graders that were not the strongest students from their prior year would be placed in in this class and the new second graders who were exceptional in their first grade classes could be placed together. The third grade students would get the chance to view the lessons that they may have misunderstood the previous year and the second graders would get a chance to see the lessons that the third graders were learning. By being in the same classroom both students are getting exposure to material that will assist them in their future classes. The students in this class have the chance to interact with other students who may understand a concept a little better than them.

For example, a third grader who may have learned about his multiplication tables in second grade but was not strong in his English skills could be paired up with a second grader who understands the new English skills that are being taught in the second grade portion of the class but is not strong with the multiplication tables. The second grader could help the third grader with his English assignments and the third grader could help the second grader with her multiplication tables. This relationship would demonstrate "ho mines dum docent discount", and would be a positive experience for both students. Their knowledge would increase in the subject each respective student is strong in and their competency would increase in the subject that they are weak in by social interaction.

Prior learning is an integral part to comprehension of material. Neuroscience research explains that prior knowledge is not stored in a specific location in the brain. Rather it is stored in various locations such as the visual, auditory and motor cortices where it is joined in circuits or networks of neurons (Pat Wolfe, 64). The prior methods of learning demonstrate how important prior learning or repetitive learning is to students.

The students use what they have previously learned to fill in the gaps of something new that they may be learning. Fox refers to a young child who knows what a dog is, and sees a cat for the first time may call the cat a dog being that a dog is the closest match to what the child is seeing. By having split grade classes in elementary schools and classes with two different sets of students in secondary schools regularly learning may increase due to a higher exposure to different materials which would allow for faster recollection and increased learning on the students parts. The idea of integrating lower level students into higher level classes may not work for all of the different type of courses offered in a secondary school.

In a language class bringing in students from a lower level for a single class per week may impede their learning (the lower level students) since they have not necessarily been given the proper tools to comprehend what would be presented to them in the upper level class (Lauren Sack, Spanish instructor, Farmington High School, March 19, 2005). Sack, a Spanish teacher expressed her concern with the use of this type of learning in her class because it may confuse the lower level students who are slowly learning a language such as Spanish. The class time would be wasted by the teacher who planned the lesson but the lower level students may be able to recall the information that was presented to them when they actually reach that class. Sack mentioned how the idea of students mentoring students was a positive experience but it could not necessarily give both students extra comprehension in a subject such as a language. The mastery of a language can be essential to teaching the rules of it and only the lower level student would benefit by learning and retaining additional knowledge where the upper level student would need to have a solid grasp of what they (the upper level student) were showing the lower level student. This would be more like tutoring.

Adversely a student with little or no knowledge of a language can be placed in an environment that speaks only the language they are currently learning and become proficient in it rather quickly. Increased or early exposure to courses that a student may not take normally at a specific level is an excellent tool for learning when they are paired with an upper level student. There are excellent benefits to all the participating parties being that the upper level students gain extra knowledge and expertise in the subject which they are assisting their lower level partners with by immediately applying the knowledge they just learned in class. The same is to be said in a primary school where students spend most of the day together if they are in a split classroom.

Students in the class will be able to assist others in their strong subjects and be helped in their weak subjects. By giving the students the ability to teach and be exposed to advanced material, the education system could be made stronger for the future.