Beth Rohloff

Beth Rohloff, a K-1-2 multiage teacher at Buckman Elementary School in Portland, Oregon, states that teaching a multiage class has given her a greater understanding of children's development and allowed her to refine her teaching skills and expectations. Excerpted from a videotaped interview with Beth Rohloff (North Central Regional Educational Laboratory, 1998).

"There's such a wide span of ability levels and skill levels and emotional, maturation development within a single grade classroom that when you have a group of five, six and seven year olds, you can see that the span is even widened. For me, it helps me to see that what I do with the kindergarteners is going to make help them learn to do things as a second grader, so I think it's given me a wider understanding of what I can expect from the really young student and why I think they need to know that, because I can see what they're ready to do by the time they're in second grade."

This Critical Issue was written by Debra Johnson, a freelance writer who also is a multiage resource teacher at Lincoln School in Mundelein, Illinois, in collaboration with Cheryl L. Fox, K-12 districtwide curriculum director, Grand Rapids (Michigan) Public Schools.

Date posted: 1998