Today the first group of students presented their inquiry projects to the class. It was really amazing to see how much thought, creativity, and effort my peers put into their work- you could really tell that they were passionate about their questions!

5 things I learned:
Because I am in a combination classroom for my practicum I was really interested in the inquiries that were on combination classrooms. Some things I discovered were:
1. The philosophical reason for having combination classrooms: students will benefit from the range and diversity present in multi-age groupings.
2. The economical reason for having combination classrooms: they are often the result of low enrolment and are a cost effective way to keep the school running.
3. Some advantages are: More opportunities for higher achieving students, instruction is directed more at student levels rather than grade levels, builds confidence and leadership skills in older students, younger students can learn from older ones
4. Some disadvantages are: Increase teacher workload, insufficient instructional time, learning can be difficult for some students, lack of resources
5. It can be hard to teach a combination class, but if done right, can be very beneficial to all students in the class.