[etni] Reducing Class Sizes

Miriam wrote: "If there were 20 pupils in a class, the special programmes would 
probably
not be necessary and the "problematic" pupils would be lost in the crowd and 
not given the amount of power they get when they are all put in a group 
together."
   
  That sentence brought to mind my elementary school class in New York. There 
were only twenty students in our class (one of the parallel classes was 
considered a REALLY BIG class - 25 students!), but five of them were what would 
you refer to as "problematic" - weak, learning disabled, etc. - no labels were 
given then that I knew of - but everyone in the class knew who they were. They 
were taken out of some lessons for special help in the resource room, but most 
of the time they were in the regular classroom. I'm sure it was hard for our 
teachers to deal with so many weak students in a regular class, but they made 
it work. Weaker students got paired up with stronger students for projects, 
etc. Everyone in the class knew the situation and accepted it, and tried to 
help each other. There were no discipline problems that I can recall.
   
  So yes, I agree with every word about smaller classes being one of the keys 
to better education. Hey, I have it here in the school that I teach. My biggest 
group this year is 16 students (a weak group, not easy, but certainly not 
overwhelming), and the biggest I've ever taught in this school is 21. The 
biggest hakbatza I've ever taught was 37 students, and it was a nightmare as 
far as I was concerned. The students were actually on a good level and very 
motivated, but there's no way to reach all 37 students in one lesson and know 
what's happening with each one, as can be done in smaller classes. I REALLY 
don't know how any teacher can deal with classes of 40 on a regular basis.
   
  All the best,
  Rivka

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