Script for Mixed Ability Classes.

For this workshop, make sure each group of 3-4 has at least 1 teacher and
1 TA.
Materials:
A3 paper
Crayons
Markers
Blank slips of paper
Hat/box/bag

Slide 2 (3 Minutes)

Project this slide and tell trainees what you will be talking about today. Can
they guess the missing words? Click to fade out.

Slide 4 (10 Minutes)

Ask teachers and TAs to group- aim for at least 1 teacher/TA in each group.
Ask them to discuss and give them crayons and A3 paper to make a poster
with. Allow 10 minutes for this. Then ask them to present their poster to the
class and explain what they drew and why. Use the next slide for FB.
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/ninamk/mixed-ability-classes

Slide 5 (5 Minutes)

This is how we define mixed ability- did the trainees get the same features?
It is important for trainees to realise that, as Ur argues, anything other than
mixed ability does not actually exist in teaching. Encourage them to voice any
comments and aim to show them how beneficial a skill teaching “mixed
ability” classes is as it applies to any and all classes.

Slide 7 (5-7 Minutes)

Give groups 3 slips of paper. On each slip, they should write 1 factor. Put all of
them in a hat.
Ask 1 person from each group to come up. They each pick one slip of paper
from the hat and draw for their team to guess. It’s ok if they pick the same
ones, as they will be able to see which factors are the most common ones.
Take 5 minutes for this activity and then do OCFB. The next slide has the
answers.

Slide 8 (3 Minutes)
Sources:

Slide 9--10

Slide 11 (5 Minutes)
Opportunities for innovation and creativity: Such diverse classes are
interesting to teach and provide greater opportunity for innovation and
creativity. There is ‘educational value’ in mixed ability classrooms, as through
their interaction, students can help and learn from each other (Ur, 1991:305).

A teaching skill that applies to all classes: every class has students of
different abilities in one way or another. Learning to identify individual needs
and finding ways to accommodate them is crucial in order to lead an
inclusive classroom. This skill develops with time and experience, just like all
skills, and will be highly useful for your career as a teacher.

Differentiated instruction: Planning ahead, anticipating different problems

for different learners and coming up with ways to tackle them is part of what
our job as teachers. It allows us to be proactive and prepared for what takes
place in our classroom.

Professional development: In learning what mixed ability classes need, what

strategies you can use to make the absolute best out of them, how to
approach different learning styles, and how to allow learner autonomy and to
what degree for each learner, you are developing as a teacher with every
lesson.

Insight into how different people learn a language: a feature highly useful
not just as a professional but also personally- who wouldn’t want to know
what the best way to learn a language is for him/herself?

Slide 12 (5 minutes)
More time-consuming lesson planning: time-cutting techniques will be
discussed in the next “stretch and support” stage
Classroom management: needs to be clear, easy to understand, consistent,
fair and accommodating to all students
Student engagement: in delivering a lesson, we need to ensure we are
catering all learning styles/intelligences
Effective learning for all students: education is moving forward to
becoming inclusive for all learners, We no longer teach to the average
student but to a range of students. This might be more difficult to achieve
but it offers more long-term benefits to all learners instead of just some.
Same assessment for different learners: that is the biggest issue. Moving
forward, we are looking schools are looking into making assessment more
flexible, giving teachers less prescriptive descriptors to accommodate all
learners and turning assessment into a meaningful process rather than just a
test day. To this end, the Jumpstart assessment has started to change. What
we need to do is provide training to our teachers so they don’t feel
overwhelmed by this task.

Slide 13 (5 Minutes)

Slide 14 (7 Minutes)
OCFB
Techniques used:

All: CM consistent and fair to all, everyone is equal- very important for
students’ morale

K7s: Weaker students are given a lot of positive reinforcement by their peers
(high-five) and teachers and are asked to produce a word instead of a
sentence. The teacher and TAs also repeat the language a few times in order
to give weaker students time to think and respond.

K9: Students are allowed to produce the language they choose. Weaker
students choose easy language (“What’s your name?”), stronger students
more complex language (“What’s your favourite sea animal?”). In all cases, the
teacher drills the language and allows the students to respond, thus exposing
them to possible answers. All students do their best and are equal, and all are
given praise.

K10: All students are praised for following the rules so they know they are
doing great in class. Stronger students are used to model an activity so they
can use their potential, respond to an added challenge (completing a task in
front of the whole class) and engage other learners. In the same way, weaker
students get that extra scaffold they need. During the joint craft activity, the
teacher and TAs make sure all students have a role, and stronger students
take on more responsibility than others while it’s still a team task. Weaker
students are given a choice of what they want to do and more time to
process the language and respond to the task. Finally, attention getters are
vital in a mixed ability environment as students with short attention spans
tend to get distracted and stay off task. Make sure teachers are using
attention getters that require a response from the students and are longer
than one sentence, e.g. simply saying Eyes on me! is a very short structure
that doesn’t necessarily give students the time to process what has been said
and respond accordingly.

It’s important to note that the video was meant to show stretch and
support ideas which require zero preparation from the teacher. They can
always prepare scaffolding worksheets for weaker students and
extension activities for the stronger ones; however, it’s important to know
that is not expected of them for every single activity.

Slide 15 (8 Minutes)

Ask teachers to sit in pairs, choose one of their favourite Jumpstart activities,
and think about how they could use stretch and support techniques to
accommodate all learners. Ideally, these would include minimal prep. When
they finish, ask them to swap pairs and sit back to back with their new
partner. Go through the feedback protocol on the next slide. If time allows,
ask them to find another new partner and do the same.

Slide 16
Allow about 5 minutes for step 2 and 2 minutes for step 3.

At the end, ask a couple of them to share some ideas in front of the class and
encourage them to keep sharing outside this workshop as well.

Slide 17 (5 Minutes)
Questions and Answers