German Class Reflects Diverse Learning Population

A mixed classroom generates a diversity of ideas.
At first glance, Mrs. Rhoton’s German class seems like just another language class because of how well they handle this situation of being the most diverse in the school, with 27 students ranging from German 2 to 5AP.
Due to the limited number of students who take German, there is a lot of different ability levels mixed together.
Ms Rhoton believes that despite the difficulties, there are apparent benefits of a mixed classroom.
“The higher and lower level students can work together and learn from one another. There are confusing and difficult times, but we make it work as best as we can,” she said.
However, she only has 50 minutes to teach four different classes and wishes she was able to spend more time working with each level.
“In a perfect world all of the world language levels would be separate classes, but we would need more students to do that,” she said.
Although it is challenging to teach four different levels, Ms. Rhoton believes that, “if you approach [a challenge] with an open mind, it can be a great experience.”