From: Creative Commons Search, http://www.flickr.com/photos/audiolucistore/7403731050/sizes/c/in/photostream/
Recently, a colleague and I decided to combine our two small classes (one of 15 and one of 16) in order to create more time in our schedule for science. For the past 6 months, I’ve been teaching at Korea International School in Seoul and the class sizes are quite small in elementary. That is a stark contrast to the classes of 27 or 30 I had in previous years of teaching back in California. The scary part is, 27 is not that bad in public school in the states.
Thus, when we combined the classes, I had an interesting time reflecting on the importance of student to teacher ratios. While it wasn’t too bad to teach 30 kids this time around (they were working in groups), I still was not able to deliver the 1 on 1 attention I have been able to recently.
I have found that I am able to notice more of what my students need on an individual basis since there are fewer of them. I can actually look at their math homework and read over their essays in detail without feeling like I have no life. To me, the value of individual time with kids is sometimes what can make or break a child’s year in the classroom.
I think it is interesting to think about how class size is going up since public schools in the states have little money, yet we are all in a panic since the US is doing poorly among country ratings as a nation. The discrepancies in what we want as a nation and what we are giving our students is confusing to me as an educator. With so much change needing to happen, I feel that smaller classes is a good place to start. But I know money is the driving force of so much and I know it is in high demand for many government funded programs etc.
New York Times article, from 2011, but still seems relevant.
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