April 2016
Dear Multigrade Teachers,
Invitation to Participate in a Provincial Multigrade Project
In September 2015 the BC Rural & Multigrade Teachers’ Association was awarded one of the province’s K-12 Innovation Partnership grants to explore and examine multigrade education as an effective and sustainable approach to personalizing learning. Although our members’ experiences are based on numerous varieties of grade combinations in diverse rural communities, can common elements of successful multigrade teaching be identified? And, if so, could they also be applied to larger schools that might intentionally adopt multigrade configurations for learning?
Our PSA[1] executive and a core project team consisting of Shirley Giroux (PSA President), Heather Johnson (BCRMTA member) and Dr. Paige Fisher (post-secondary liaison and research consultant) have since worked to create an action plan based on our proposal. We are now ready to ask multigrade educators from across our province to participate in, and contribute to, this project. Specifically, we are asking you to share some of your experiences, reflections and practices regarding teaching and learning in a multigrade classroom. Further details are outlined below:
Questions & Answers:
- Who is able to participate in this project?
- BC certified teachers who currently teach in a Multigrade classroom consisting of 3 or more grades, and who have 3 or more years of Multigrade teaching experience
- Teachers who are also principals are welcome to take part as long the first condition is also met
- What will be required of me?
- You will be asked to respond (by writing, audiofile, or podcast) to a written survey seeking your professional reflections on the extent to which multigrade teaching and learning fulfills (or could fulfill) the OECD’s #7 Principles of Learning (through examples, please).
- Attendance at a one time, all-expenses-paid gathering of project participants (date and regional locations t.b.d.)
- How will this information be shared?
- The spirit of the Innovations Project is to make our findings public and easily accessible to BC educators and others who are interested in this topic. Participants can choose to be acknowledged, or to remain anonymous.
- Because we would like others in the province to learn from this research, we hope to share papers or articles, and to make presentations or short videos that will address the unique features of multi-age learning. Results will also be posted on the BCRMTA website bcruralteachers.org and the K-12 Innovations website http://k12innovation.ca/projects/
- Will I be required to sign a release form?
- Yes
- If my teaching assignment changes, or for some other reason, may I withdraw from contributing to the project?
- Of course; no hard feelings. 🙂 Your participation is always voluntary. You may withdraw at any time.
- Do I need to be a member of the BC Rural & Multigrade Teachers’ Association to participate?
- No, but we’d love to have you join! Visit our website at bcruralteachers.org for more information.
- How do I participate?
- By completing the attached survey, then emailing it to psac67@bctf.ca or faxing it to (250) 284-3232 before September 30, 2016.
- May I send this survey to other multigrade teachers who may be interested in participating?
- Yes!
On behalf of the BC Rural & Multigrade Teachers’ Association, thank you for participating in this survey. We appreciate your professional reflection and response.
Heather Johnson hjohnson@sd85.bc.ca Shirley Giroux psac67@bctf.ca
[1] The BC Rural & Multigrade Teachers’ Association is a Provincial Specialist Association (PSA) of the BCTF (British Columbia Teachers’ Federation) https://bctf.ca/PSAwebsites.aspx
Multigrade Teacher 