The evolution of educational instruction is never ending. Teachers are trying new methods along with continuing to use tried and true methods of the past, together new and old methods allow teachers to provide best instruction practices. However, teachers are challenged with the increase in students requiring additional differentiation with instruction, teachers are always searching for new teaching methods to solve this need.
Explaining the Grid Method
The Grid Method for teaching allows students flexibility to learn a concept, skill or content at a pace unique to the student’s abilities. The method is student centered with embedded assessments. It is another option for teachers to deliver instruction in sections or chunks. The groups of information can be tiered and scaffolded, which provides students the accessibility to work at an individualized pace, including completing assessments to determine mastery of content.
The Grid Method gives teachers an opportunity to monitor student’s progress individually and intervene with other instructional methods if necessary. The method also gives students desiring enrichment opportunities the ability to move at a more rapid pace and learn more material. Lastly, a grid approach also gives teachers a platform to present feedback to students that matches a students’ learning position for a specific subject, concept, or skill.
Positives and Negatives on the Grid Method
Before determining which instructional methods to use in a classroom, teachers must assess the student population, meaning any possible academic support needed in the classroom. Teachers are never given a homogenous class of students, so it is important to select a method of teaching that best fits the group of students assigned to a teacher’s class.
A teacher’s only objective is for students to achieve success with the grade level curriculum. Here are some positive and negative points to consider about the Grid Method before building lesson plans for students.
The following positive and negative points are focused on the needs of both the teachers using the Grid Method in the classroom and the students learning with the grid method. These points are not based on using the Grid Method for every subject method in an elementary classroom but could be used as the sole method in a singular subject middle or high school environment.
Pros for the Grid Method
- Teachers can organize large amounts of content or complex skills into sections or chunks that build upon one another, allowing students to focus on the small pieces of content or the separate steps to a skill, without feeling overwhelmed with too much information all delivered in one school day.
- Grids developed are individualized for each learner and become a student paced learning tool.
- Provides students with a schedule to complete each of the tasks found in the grid that eventually drives to mastery.
- Allows students with additional time for learning and gives more advanced students the freedom to accelerate the learning process.
- Assessments are also found in the grid, but students are prepared for the assessment at different times.
- Builds relationships between teachers and students to provide appropriate interventions if needed.
- Teachers will have a better understanding of knowledge students are retaining based on knowing the students’ progress on a grid.
- Limited amount of grading assessments at one given time, along with giving and grading assessments to less than the total number of students in the classroom at different times during a school week.
- Grids open the door for teachers to spend time sharing feedback with students during the learning process based on exactly what the student has learned thus far.
- Students engage in more active learning while working through the grid.
Cons for the Grid Method
- The initial planning and setup of a grid for students will be lengthy. However, once the grids are created, teachers can reuse the grids year to year.
- When creating grids, teachers must incorporate various activities, tasks, projects, and assessments that will best meet the needs of various learners in the classroom.
- Teachers will need to plan their daily schedule to allow enough time for students to work on grids and provide enough time for students to complete assessments. The schedule needs to be flexible.
- Unstructured daily planning decisions must be made by teachers to allow for meeting with students to share feedback, provide interventions when needed, and to monitor assessments.
- The pacing guide for the school year must be flexible for students to meet the standards required.
- Management of students’ exact position on the grid may be challenging for teachers to monitor daily.
- Teachers will need to create a recording system of which students are at which point on the grid and if mastery has been achieved.
- Students with challenging behavior may potentially need more assistance staying on task with this student paced approach.
- The possibility of unnecessary student competition may be created based on the progress of work on the grids.
- A grid may be overwhelming for some students to use and a feeling of anxiety with how to approach the grid could occur.
The Grid Method gives teachers a platform to include worksheet tasks, links to video instructions, instructions for projects and group assignments all in one area. The teacher has the freedom to individually arrange a grid for students, determine the amount of active instruction, and length of assessment. This method will initially take more preparation time, but the result will include the progress achieved by all learners in the classroom.
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