Peer Tutoring Ladders in a Multi-grade Classroom

I teach Classes 3, 4 and 5 together in one room. Whole-class teaching simply does not work. Peer Tutoring Ladders are my answer.

Every topic has a ladder of five rungs, from "can count objects" to "can solve word problems". Each child knows their current rung. For 25 minutes a day, every child spends time teaching a classmate one rung below them and then being taught by someone one rung above.

I prepare small task cards for each rung and spend my time with the children at the bottom rung. The weekly rotation means nobody is stuck with the same partner.

The surprising result: the children who teach improve faster than the children who are taught. We now use ladders for Gujarati reading as well.