Choosing to Learn : Ownership and Responsibility in a Primary Multiage Classroom

Choosing to Learn thoughtfully refutes the notion that children are not learning unless teachers are teaching. Based on the authors' seven years of coteaching experience, the book reveals how choice and ownership affect student achievement and attitude. We follow the progress of a varied group of students aged five to eight as they set their own academic goals, direct the course of thematic studies, engage in research, and decide what individual work they will do during their investigations, communications, and math workshops.

Through direct quotations, stories, and work samples, a vivid portrait emerges of ordinary students becoming motivated independent learners. The authors suggest many ways in which teachers can recognize, guide, and document student learning, as well as describe how they create and manage learning environments. They also discuss how to involve parents in encouraging their children to become active participants in their own learning.

Penelle Chase began her collaboration with co-author Jane Doan in the field of multiage education while they were pursuing their master's degrees at the University of Maine. After teaching self-contained classes for more than fifteen years, Chase and Doan began coteaching a primary multiage class in 1988 at the Benton Elementary School in central Maine, where they continue to develop and refine their program. Their reflections on the multiage philosophy resulted in the book Full Circle: A New Look at Multiage Education (Heinemann, 1994).

Jane Doan began her collaborative work in multiage education while pursuing her master's degree at the University of Maine. After teaching self-contained classes for more than fifteen years, Doan began coteaching a primary multiage class in 1988 at the Benton Elementary School in central Maine, where she continues to develop and refine her program.