Hi Dan,
-> I agree with you in spirit here.  Every class has a challenging
-> student (in terms of behavior)
Would you believe I've actually had a few classes (emphasis on the word
FEW here) where I didn't have any student I would've cast in that role?
-> and every class has its own unique personality.
Agreed.
-> True that a few students who are consistently discipline problems can
-> make even a small class less manageable, a creative teacher can finds
-> ways to even motivate the unmotivated.
Careful here. The teacher probably can make a big difference in most
cases, but I'd be careful about casting the teacher as able to succeed
with motivating all students all the time. The student does have free
will, after all. There are some cases where no matter how hard the
teacher tries, the student is just unreachable. (I wonder...I know
you're currently teaching Kindergarten...what other levels--if any--have
you taught. I work with teenagers and maybe that makes a difference in
this area?)
-> The "right mix" is far more important than numbers (in my
-> experience).
I don't know as I'd cast either one as being the most important.
Probably depends...?
-> That's in spirit.  Now the reality....
->
-> Class size must be important....there must be a "maximum" number of
-> students per class in order for effective teaching and learning to
-> take place.  Suppose class size in an elementary school approached 75
-> per class.  Would anyone support this?  I don't think anyone would.
-> I think most educators would see 75 as excessive.  What about 60
-> then?  Ok Ok so Im being unreasonable.  Surely 50 students should be
-> manageable.  No? How about 40.  Am I getting warm?  30?  20?  10?
->
-> The point I am hopefully making is that there is a saturation point
-> in terms of class size.  Forget the right mix stuff....it's a crap
-> shoot.
I think you must've misunderstood my post, or else I didn't communicate
clearly. Class size is VERY important and I don't think (?) I've ever
said otherwise.
Personally, I like a class of around 20-25. I've actually had the
pleasure of working with 15-18 on the very rare occassion.
At our school, max size is supposedly 35. (This is a private catholic
high school, where we've been told that cutting class sizes below this
could increase tuition substantially, which would most likely contribute
to a drop in enrollment.) In practice, it can go above. Although I think
that the religion classes, where sizes are over 35, are assigned a
student TA. I was lucky enough last year to have all my classes below
35.
Sheila
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