The One-Room Schoolhouse
This may not stretch too far back, but the one-room classroom was not an unfamiliar concept. Nowadays, finding a school based on this teaching methodology is almost impossible, however you may find it interesting that one Ontario school board is considering its comeback. One of the local high school principals in Hamilton points out that there is plenty of evidence that the traditional method of schooling does not work for everyone. He says that the world is constantly changing, and as an obligation in education we must find ways to keep up with the changes.
The one-room schoolhouse consists of students of different grade levels with learning being led by one or two instructors. The revival of the idea is to rethink the traditional way that students learn. The idea to move away from the traditional age-based approach is to keep students more engaged and to better prepare them to collaborate on projects in the workplace. Grade levels will still be maintained, but classes will be opened to learners based on their interests and abilities. We know that students develop differently (socially, emotionally, and academically), however sometimes the way schools are constructed restricts students to one way development. By creatively reconstructing the one-room classroom, the hope is to foster teamwork in the classroom to promote critical thinking. This approach will also become important for admission into higher learning institutes and in seeking employment, since both require academic success as well as performance and achievement across a large range of accomplishments.
This model already exists at the ALPHA II Alternative School in the TDSB, which opened in 2007, and educators say there is an increase in creativity and student achievement. Multi-grade classrooms have also been in existence in a school board in Vancouver since 1994. This pedagogy was developed based on the idea that young, gifted learners should be academically challenged with advanced curriculum. There are no letter grades that appear on their report cards, but evaluation is based on acquisition, development or mastery of skills.
In addition to the flexible, creative, and student-directed forms of learning, the multi-grade classroom also enhances the sense of school community. The school I had taught in in England dedicated one day a month as a “community day”. Students would be organized into different houses that consisted of students of different academic levels, and throughout the day they would participate in activities that fostered teamwork, leadership, and problem-solving. The idea was not only to get students to work together, but also to nurture school spirit and a sense of responsibility.
The idea of the one-room schoolhouse is nothing new, however with creativity and planning our students could reap the benefits of its reinvention. Of course innovators must contend with roadblocks, and at least for one Ontario school board it is a work in progress. What do you feel about this potential change in student learning? Do you see validity in its reinvention or do you feel there was a reason it was phased out?
