Everything I needed to know I learned in 3rd-5th Grades

I was born in 1963, and attended elementary school in the 70s. As a country, we were immersed in the Vietnam war. Every night on the news I would see Walter Cronkite report on the casualties, while a graphic appeared over his shoulder with a large number of the total war dead. The unrest in the country, paired with the remnant idealism of the 60s, made many a school district reexamine its approach to education.

Genesee Hills Elementary School, in DeWitt New York (a suburb of Syracuse) was definitely exploring alternative means to teach its student body. As a third grader, I found myself in an experiment. It was called "Multi-Age." My class consisted of 75 students, grades three through five, with three teachers and probably as many student teachers. They took three classrooms and removed the walls completely between two of them, and carved a wide open passage to the third space.

The idea behind Multi-Age was that the students would interact and learn from each other as much as from the teachers. Some of the concepts applied were:

• Independent learning: At the beginning of the week I created my own schedule. I was presented with a grid, and knew I had to have mark so-many boxes for math, language arts, reading etc.
  
• Learning at your own pace: If a 5th grader was "behind" in math, they would get the appropriate content for their own skill level. There was no real differentiation from 3rd grade work versus 5th grade work (at least in the student's mind.) So there was no stigma associated with "failing" a grade. You simply learned math.
  
• Peer teaching. I felt empowered helping other kids with their work. Older kids served as mentors for me. I had friends of all ages and both sexes. Cliques really didn't exist.
• Tinkering (!!!): In one corner of the classroom was a wood shop. You could schedule a block of time to do art or whatever. Yes, sometimes there was hammering while I studied Math.
• Experiential learning: Our class raised money and leased a pumpkin patch. We went and harvested the pumpkins and sold them for Halloween. We also set up a small bookstore in another corner of the room. We used the money from the pumpkin sale to stock the shelves, Students kept inventory and worked the store. We studied geology by going to a nearby quarry.
• Democracy in action: Every morning we had a group meeting to talk about what was going right, and where we could improve. Now I recognize this as transparency. We kids knew what was going on, and had a voice in our own education. I remember very clearly going on the yearly overnight camping trip and having an unpleasant experience. A young woman, Jo-Anne, was constantly teased by the boys and accused of stuffing her bra. Apparently she finally got fed up, marched the boys into the woods, lifted her shirt and showed them that no, she indeed did not use toilet paper. Not surprisingly, word of the incident spread like wildfire among the students. Eventually our teachers found out, and around that night's campfire Mr. Barnello had the awkward task of addressing the group. We were asked to decide Jo-Anne's fate. Like some crazy kid's version of Survivor, the majority of students voted her off the island. I felt sorry for Jo-Anne, and had wanted her to stay.

I remained in Multi-Age from 3rd through 5th. I flourished under the system. It seemed to have polarizing results. You either loved it, or did poorly. Kids with less structure at home tended not to do as well, not knowing how to manage the independence afforded them. However, I'm not so sure those same kids would have had any better luck in a more traditional system.

Sixth grade was quite a shock. I moved into a Middle School where the other kids clearly didn't come from a Multi-Age environment. The attitudes were different, and I found myself with hurt feelings an awful lot. Happily, my study skills had already been established so I excelled in the rest of my academic career. And slowly I learned how to deal with the "mean kids," and find like-minded friends.

I feel a tremendous sense of gratitude for having been in such a system. Mr. B, Ms. Moser and Mrs. Shadlack remain some of the most influential people in my life.