Classroom Management
It’s no secret that there’s a large teacher shortage across the country—there have been countless incentives popping up to “fill a teacher position” mere weeks before the start of the school year. What we haven’t explored much, however, is the effect of that teacher shortage. What does it mean when our schools are in desperate need for more teachers? Large class sizes. What happens when our schools are hurting for funding and can’t afford to add an extra *needed* teacher to the payroll? Large class sizes.
And what do large class sizes affect? Everything.
Here are ten ways in which large class sizes negatively affect students.
1. Large class sizes divide our attention.
More people means less one-on-one time. No matter which way you slice it, teachers have to divide their attention by the number of students in their class at any given time. If a student is one of eighteen in a classroom, they will undoubtedly receive more personalized attention than the student in a class of thirty others. (Yes, THIRTY others. I once had a class of 33 students!)
2. Grading is too heavy for meaningful assignments and feedback.
There will be less project-based/hands-on learning and more multiple-choice assignments. Have you ever graded assignments for six classes with 30+ students each? It’s not a quick task; and honestly, there just isn’t enough time in the day. Therefore, when teaching large classes, I naturally gravitate toward easy-to-grade assignments. This takes away from developing students’ critical thinking skills. Of course, there will be some open-ended questionnaires and projects, but they will be few and far between because it’s just so overwhelming with a group of thirty.
3. Test scores for large classes are lower on average.
Speaking of multiple choice, studies show that large class sizes negatively affect students’ test scores. It’s a proven fact! According to Project STAR (also known as the Tennessee Study), students’ math and reading skills were significantly higher for those students in a small class setting by an average of 9 percent!
4. Behavior issues increase with class size.
I can say, without a doubt, that my students are more well-behaved when there are fewer students, for many reasons: I can see them all clearly. I have ample time to make phone calls to parents when I need to keep a child’s behavior in check. The students are seated further apart, causing less confrontation from tight spaces. The list is endless.
5. The number of students impacts our emotional energy.
With fewer students, I am less overwhelmed. And when the teacher is less overwhelmed, the class is less overwhelmed. The teacher’s mood has a trickle effect into every area of her classroom. A good attitude is simply easier to maintain in a more manageable setting.
6. Large class sizes make good discussions difficult.
The discussions are less thorough. There isn’t time for each student to contribute to a discussion in a large class. I also don’t have the brain power to remember who has contributed and who hasn’t. Therefore, discussions tend to be less thorough and more “surface-level” when teaching a larger audience.
7. Student progress becomes low priority.
As a teacher, I want to be able to monitor every student’s progress effectively; this means not only their test scores, but also their social skills, academic performance, and emotional well-being. However, when there are just too many students to monitor, I miss many of the details, and unknowingly let some students slip through my fingers.
8. More students means less flexibility.
Large class sizes greatly limit the style of teaching a teacher may use. In college, I learned about different teaching styles and I couldn’t wait to implement them in my own classroom. Then, I walked into a classroom of 33 students and quickly realized that all I could manage to use was a “whole group” approach.
9. Students from large classes are not prepared for future educational systems.
Students will not leave my classroom prepared. If they leave my large classroom and move into a smaller classroom setting with “small group” projects and constant participation, it will be a culture shock. This class size is simply not conducive to our goals in the education system.
10. The chaos of large classes is a bad learning environment.
Lastly, it’s just not the environment I would want for my own children; therefore, I don’t want it for my students. Large class sizes are a recipe for disaster. It’s a stressful environment that sets us up for a noisy, overwhelming, difficult-to-manage space noncompatible with learning.
Can we open our eyes to the absolute disservice we are doing to our students? We do not need another new program or “quick fix” curriculum; we need to lighten the load of our teachers so that they can give individualized attention to students again. Now that would be the gamechanger in our schools! Our students are the ones suffering when teachers are leaving the profession and funding is dwindling; large class sizes are a byproduct of that enormous loss. Meanwhile, we’re treating this problem too casually.
“What will five, or ten, extra students in a classroom hurt?”
Turns out, it hurts everyone involved.
