Multiage & Looping Practices, August 1995
At the end of this year-long adventure in learning, we are left with the impression of a reflective teacher who, like her students, is evolving, changing, and find-tuning both the metacognitive awareness of her own style and the processes of learning. We recommend this book for those interested in the design of multi-age curriculum, the integration of various content areas, the explicit description of challenge problems, and, most of all, for those who wish to see a dynamic and dedicated teacher in action.
From the Back Cover
When Jill Ostrow's class decided to build an island, they built a world.
In A Room with a Different View, Jill reveals how this group of six- to nine-year-old children physically transformed their classroom, created a community, and completed projects that grew out of the Island, involving everyone in real-world problem solving.
After reading this engaging narrative you may not want to turn your classroom into a tropical island, but you will see a new and different approach to curriculum and a philosophy to draw on and apply with your own students. Although this classroom will introduce you to some unusual features of the physical environment, it is still one in which traditional school subjects-math, writing, reading, art, and science-are thoroughly integrated in projects that center on the Island.
A Room with a Different View:
- Illustrates how cooperative learning and problem solving takes place in a multi-age classroom.
- Reveals the process of negotiating a curriculum.
- Presents substantial material on alternative assessment.
- Addresses a host of questions frequently asked by teachers and parents.
- Includes a portfolio of sixteen four-color photos of the work described in the story.
- Features several thoughtful examples that integrate mathematics with other subjects.
Next year Jill's classroom will be different. Some children will move on to the fourth grade and a new group will come in to start first grade, and the Island will be replaced by a new setting, again built with the powers of cooperation and negotiation. And the constant throughout all of it is the importance of choice, challenge, independence, and respect.
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