I didn't say anything about teaching fewer classes...... I was trying
to say that one teacher could spend less time presenting material if
he/she were able to present the material to all students at the same
time. Then the teacher could spend more time in small groups getting
and providing feedback.

I also don't remember saying anything about faster-moving classes. I
said that in college there are lots of large classes. And since they
seem to work well in college, I don't see why they would not work in
high school and middle school( if middle school is the right word. I
lived in a place and time where there were no middle schools ).

We might as well drop this. I can see that neither of us is likely to
change our opinions.

Dan



"Ed Huntress" wrote in message .net...
"Dan Caster" wrote in message
m...
The teacher would have more time
for individual and small groups if he/she did not have to present the
material four times a day to four " small " classes.

Firstly, teachers don't get fewer classes to teach just because their class
sizes are smaller. That's part of the problem. In the system in my town, the
smaller classes tend to be the AP and Honors classes (the very smallest are
the pre-school handicapped classes, which my wife teaches), and the teachers
have just as many of them as other teachers have of larger, standard
classes.

Secondly, I think your experience with larger classes, in which they were
the faster-moving ones, is very unusual, although you're talking about
college and we're talking about public primary and secondary schools here.
In fact, the evidence is very strong that smaller classes produce better
results in public schools. The students advance faster and learn better --
if the teachers exploit the smaller classes to tailor the presentation more
closely to the needs of the students.

That's not to say there aren't many other ways to improve teaching. The
point is simply that smaller classes tend to produce better results.

Ed Huntress