My third year of teaching was my second year in my current building, and it was the second year that this building had been open. That year, I was teaching Speech and Debate for the first time.
I was assigned to teach Speech and Debate in the Band room. At least I had chairs; the first iteration of the room assignment schedule had me teaching in the Choir room. No chairs, no desks, not even music stands.
Only one school year had passed since a brand new high school had opened, and already we were scrounging for instructional space.
Fast forward to today: we now have eight “portable” classrooms plus we passed a bond that has since added eight new permanent classrooms on the end of one wing (as well as an auxiliary lunch room, since we have to feed them all, too).
And again, in 2014, we are struggling to find rooms for all of our students.
As a close neighbor to Vancouver and a 20 commute to downtown Portland, our community is growing; my principal reported yesterday that there are literally thousands of new houses in various stages of being planned or built within our boundaries right now. Not likely to only draw nice retired couples. Our current futures planning projects no slowdown in that growth.
I believe 100% in the premise that smaller class sizes result in greater learning. There are countless pathways between that cause and effect scenario. My only concern is where we might put everyone. There are a few creative solutions: bona fide, two-teachers-in-the-room team teaching; running sliding schedules at the secondary level; holding English class on the roof, etc.
Class size is a complex problem–as Spencer’s handshake post points out. The problem goes beyond teacher-student or student-student relationships to the very infrastructure of how we do school. Perhaps we need to think of this less as a “class size” issue and consider it as a “teacher:student ratio” issue, and get creative with a teaching partner.
I always vote yes for education. This is no exception. But at the same time we have not addressed the root of issue … How will we find education? And by funding I mean teachers, buildings, resources, and more. Sure, we get a smaller class size but in return will er have fewer resources, broken buildings, less pay and no COLA again? Yes see, the bottom line is that you can take money from one pot and place it in another buy until we increase the revenue, the problems will continue to permeate.
I had to chuckle when you said that you had to teach in the band room. I am a band teacher and I also get frustrated when they use the music rooms for other subjects that don’t really fit into the space. To often then not this is a result of cutting the music offerings for students because of double dosing students in reading and math. My current building has a social studies teacher using the choir room full time and the choir is being taught in the band room. this feels less about what is the best for kids but what is best for the administration and one teacher who doesn’t what to let the choir back in the choir room.
Logistics is indeed a concern. I’m also concerned about where the money is going to come from to pay for this… Currently state money accounts for about 3/4 of staff salaries, meaning local money will likely have to pick up the tab. What are local districts left with – raising additional funds or drawing these funds from other district budget priorities: professional development, materials, arts, etc. Ideally I am for small classes, but I worry about the potential hidden consequences. Will the State actually step up to properly fund this?
That’s a key question, Eric. There’s also another argument related to class size: it doesn’t matter how small the class is if the teacher is not given the time, tools, and resources to do the job well.
I actually have that very same concern. In fact I wrote about it last year: https://storiesfromschool.org/i-sort-of-support-initiative-1351/