From One Room to Many: Adapting Teaching Strategies in the Multi-Grade Classrooms of Nikolaevsk, Alaska

 In the ever-changing landscape of education, one role stands out as a beacon of adaptability and resilience: the rural educator. As the sole certified teacher in the rural K-12 school of Nikolaevsk, Alaska, I have personally experienced the challenges and triumphs that come with being responsible for educating students in a multi-grade classroom. With a growing student population and the responsibility of training instructional staff to support student needs, I embarked on a journey of adapting teaching strategies to meet the unique needs of each student.

As the 2021/2022 school year drew to a close, I reflected on the unique experience of navigating a classroom with just six students. It was a year of close connection and personalized attention, allowing me to personalize learning for each student. Little did I know that the following school year would present an unexpected twist. As the new academic year commenced, the student count skyrocketed to 20, spanning grades K-11. 

The shift was both exciting and challenging, as I grappled with the sudden influx of students and the diverse needs they brought with them. Throughout the year, students would intermittently join our classroom, carrying the weight of their own traumas, behavior management issues, and a wide range of unknown skills and abilities. This fluidity brought forth the need for adaptive teaching strategies, requiring me to create a safe and inclusive environment where each student could thrive. 

All students participating in 3 craft projects hosted by a visiting artist.

Imagine stepping into a single classroom where the entire student body, from kindergarten to eleventh grade, coexists under one roof. Elementary desks sit in pods at one end of the room, while secondary students sprawl across tables and couches at the other. It was, on good days, a harmonious blend of youthful enthusiasm and teenage camaraderie. As the teacher in this vibrant space, I found myself applying my old waitressing skills, expertly maneuvering tables together to create more room for unexpected patrons. My instructional aide and I, out of necessity, leveraged all of the best-practice of mixed age groups were we could in order to support learning in this challenging environment.

A 9th grader reads to the K-5 while my instructional aide preps her next activity.

In this extraordinary classroom where students of varying ages coexist, my instructional aide and I recognized the opportunity to leverage the best practices of mixed age groups to support learning in this unique and challenging environment. We implemented strategies that capitalize on the benefits of mixed-age teaching and learning. We partnered older students with younger during reading and project time.  We relied on older students to mentor younger students' behavior in the gym and lunch room.

My instructional aide holds a poster on worms created by the K-5 while they present their information to the secondary.

Research suggests that such practices foster collaboration, peer mentorship, and individualized learning experiences. Incorporating elements of the multiage approach, where students learn together across grade levels, we embraced cooperative learning structures that encouraged students to work in diverse groups, promoting communication and mutual support. Additionally, we utilized differentiated instruction techniques and technology to tailor tasks and assignments to meet the individual needs and abilities of each student. By intertwining these evidence-based approaches, we created a vibrant educational atmosphere that celebrated the richness of mixed-age interactions and nurtured the growth of every student.

A 4th grader, 6th grader, & 9th grader participate in a sockeye salmon dissection.

In the journey of adapting teaching strategies in my multi-grade classroom, the training and empowerment of my instructional aide played a pivotal role. With a diverse background as a Forest School pre-school teacher, long-term elementary school substitute, and private tutor, she brought valuable expertise to our classroom. I guided her in citing educational standards, implementing backwards design lesson planning, and fostering clarity, transparency, and accountability with colleagues and parents. Her proficiency in behavior management and trauma-informed strategies was evident from the start. Remarkably, she onboarded what amounted to an entire teacher preparatory program in just six weeks, further enhancing our classroom practices. Together, our collaboration and partnership elevated our teaching strategies, creating an inclusive and dynamic learning environment for our students.

I learned to love working with the elementary, getting on the floor and messy with them!

When my aide was ready and our student body had growth from 20 to 37 students, I had her move most of the students K through 5th grade into a separate classroom where their needs would be more effectively met and so that my secondary students could then benefit from my more focused attention.  

I'll be honest, I was conflicted about moving the little ones out of my room.  My confidence in my aide's abilities was absolute and I knew that she would keep me informed on her practice and progress with the students but I, a secondary social studies and language arts teacher more suited to discussing Aristotle than the alphabet, was going to miss the little angels.

The secondary struggled to adapt to a more intensive teaching and learning environment.  Here is my SPED aide sitting with students from 6th-11th grades.

With the elementary portion of our new student body population, which had nearly doubled in a semester, safely nested into their own classroom under the direction of my instructional aide, I was able to focus on my secondary students.  We spent more time in whole group discussion, dove into case studies, critical thinking, concepts in government and in rhetoric, built up their digital portfolios, and worked on reflection and self-assessment.  Most of my students finished out a wild school year with exemplary behavior and citizenship and decent grades.  I am a happy and proud teacher.

A 1st grader uses his free time to try out a YouTube drawing tutorial.

From starting with a small group of six students to unexpectedly welcoming a larger and more diverse student body, my journey has been one of constant adaptation and growth. With the support of my instructional aide, we leveraged best practices, embraced mixed-age teaching, and fostered an inclusive and dynamic learning environment. Together, we nurtured the growth of our students and provided them with personalized attention, while empowering them to take ownership of their education. 

A couple students grapple with pre-algebra and geometry.

My advice to fellow educators who are diving into multi-age classrooms, in or out of rural environments is as follows:

• Teach to the top; assess according to grade-level-  Students will meet your expectations whether they are high or they are low.  Even a kindergartener has the potential to do amazing things... if you expect it of them (and scaffold appropriately).  Teach a standard or skill according to the expectations you hold for the top grade or oldest student, then assess the other students at their own grade level.
• Use PBIS or other supportive behavioral management strategies- Never make the assumption that kids, regardless of their age, know how to act.  Take the time to explicitly teach them your expectations and they will work to meet them.  Trust and rapport among your community of learners will be your best friend.
• Use your apps- My aide and I relied on our instructional apps for direct instruction.  We used Lexia Core5 & PowerUp, iReady math and ELA, and Khan and we monitored the data from the apps to pull kids in small groups or one-on-one for intervention and enrichment.  This "flipped" approach to instruction creates an environment where teachers have the time to deliver more targeted and personalized instruction for all learners.
• Leverage cross-curricular PBL- Gold Standard PBL is research based best practice for ALL learners and standards from all sorts of content areas can be jammed into one project, saving time, energy, and creating a more relevant and engaging learning experience for the students.
• Invite in community partners- from parent volunteers to community educators, I was able to enrich our classroom experience by bringing in experts from many fields to support classroom instruction.  We had parents that led classes in cooking, sewing, and gardening.  We had visiting artists.  We had the Alaska Department of Fish & Game, the Alaska State Troopers, & The Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies send in their experts to teach our kids.  You don't have to do everything on your own.

Trooper Bozman of the Alaska State Troopers giving our kids a talk on safety and community helpers.

If you find yourself, as I did at this time last year, facing down what seemed to be the impossible challenge of the one room school house and/or multi-age classroom, don't panic.  What you're facing is actually what is best for kids.

Feel free to reach out with questions.

Cheers!