Blurring Lines Among Both Students and Subjects

Placing honors, regular and special education students in the same rooms is a brilliant idea. Also with the combining of ELA with social studies, it too will create many positive features. From this experience, students at different learning levels will gather and share with others. With students interacting with each other more often, a major goal to be achieved is for higher standards to be met. Also from my understanding of this article, is that by combining students, it may also reduce the “cliques”. Although this is just an experiment right now, many are intrigued with the many positives it has brought thus far.
One benefit from uniting students of all learning levels is that the number of teachers students have to work with each day reduces. As a sixth grader, one of the most difficult transitions they will encounter in life is making this move up to middle school. No more having just one teacher to teach all subjects. Therefore, by combining language arts and social studies it will allow the student to move up, but a slower rate so they feel comfortable. Also another important fact that occurs at this stage is the forming of many cliques. With most of these cliques forming from the child’s lifestyle; derived from an academic, social and financial standpoint, one way to eliminate this is by uniting all students together in one classroom. With combining students to one classroom, a better understanding of how each student views another becomes clearer.
Many students adapt new learning techniques from watching others. Since reading and social studies are closely related, why not combine the two? With some students having greater reading skills than others, they can help make students who do not comprehend as well. This works vice versa for those who can not remember facts most easily. Students will begin to set higher standards for themselves. With using what they have learned from others and combining it with what they already know, the end result will be most productive. With some being able to read better than others, some may become discouraged. With uniting, each student will see what the others are reading but work much harder to achieve their set goals.
The end result is very productive, for I have experienced this when teaching down south. There students in sixth grade are given two teachers with one concentrating on math and science, as the other teachers ELA and social studies. They too combined classes. With the lower level average learners combining with the mild exceptional children, their goal is to have students be in the same as average students and the honors kids.