GREENFIELD – Returning from fall break last week, Annie Wing’s class of third-graders at Weston Elementary School welcomed each other back like old friends.
That’s because they’ve been classmates for well over a year now.
The Greenfield teacher is tackling the art of looping, in which a teacher transitions with the same group of elementary school students from year to year.
Doing so fosters familiarity and trust among teachers and students, she said, and keeps the focus on learning rather than re-learning a new classroom dynamic each year.
The teacher, her principal, parents and students all had great things to say about the practice when they shared insights at the Greenfield-Central School Board meeting in September.
Wing had approached her principal, Meg Welch, about trying looping after learning of its positive impact in other schools.
The Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), a database of education-related information and research, has shared that looping has proven to increase student achievement, support instructional time and enhance teacher-student relationships. Studies have indicated that long-term teacher-student relationships support student performance and teacher satisfaction.
Welch, whose son Hudson is in Wing’s class again this year, shared how her own child has excelled this year transitioning from second to third grade with the same teacher and classmates.
“It’s just a really neat position for me to be in this year to see something I have dreamed of doing with staff come to fruition, but also having my own child and seeing how he’s flourished. That’s been great,” she shared.
Wing said the positive effects were evident on the first day of school when her former second-graders arrived confident and eager to embrace the third grade.
Last year “we took a picture holding a sign that says second day of second grade. This year we did the same thing on the third day of third grade,” she shared, showing side-by-side pictures from both years.
In the second grade pictures, students looked reserved and compliant, but the third grade pictures showed “a lot more personality,” said Wing, with students grinning broadly and making goofy faces.
“The comfort that they had on the first day they came in, it was like a sigh of relief for them … like, ‘I’m with my people,’” she said.
“On day one we got to hit the ground running,” said Wing, who shared that students came in and got right to work since they already knew her classroom procedures and how each day is supposed to go.
That alone saves tons of time spent on getting students familiar with a new teacher, new classroom and new classmates, which allowed her to dive right into teaching, she said.
Dive right in
“As a teacher, you have this whole lead-up period – some might call it a 21-day fix – where students have to learn how to do school. But they already knew how to do school and my expectations and how to work with each other,” Wing shared.
When a new cadet teacher arrived the first week, the students passed around a “sharing bear” to share their insights on the class. What they shared revealed a high level of comfort with their classmates … They said things like ‘We’re all weird, we all accept each other and all our differences. It’s OK if you’re strange in here. We still will love you,’” she recalled.
“Every single one of them was like a social lesson for being who you want to be. The fact that they are so comfortable to just be themselves with their people that they grew up with all last year,” was great to hear, said Wing.
Welch said looping also makes teachers more comfortable with students, eliminating the time needed to learn about the intricacies of a new class of kids.
“Mrs. Wing is already familiar with each child’s unique needs and is able to begin addressing them and continuing the structures that are in place,” which is especially helpful with special needs kids, said Welch.
Shelby Kramer, whose son Greyson has been in Wing’s class for second and third grade, said her child has also benefited from continuing from one grade to the next with the same teacher and classmates this year.
She recalled how her son came home despondent the last day of second grade, sharing how his whole class had been crying because they didn’t want to say goodbye to each other or their beloved teacher.
That next week parents got an email asking if they’d be interested in trying looping, advancing to third grade as a group, Kramer asked Greyson what he thought.
“He said, ‘Don’t ever think you need to ask me that again,’” said Kramer. It was an immediate and emphatic yes.
As a teacher, Wing “has instilled this confidence in him that I honestly have never seen him. She gets him, and he has really opened up for her, which is huge,” she said.
Another parent, Kristina Pendlum, said her daughter Beatrice has also benefited from being in Wing’s class for the second year in a row.
As the parent of a neurodivergent child, she was thrilled to hear her daughter had the chance to advance to the third grade with the teacher and classmates she already knew.
“The relief we felt was immense,” she recalled.
Rather than fretting over the stress of a new teacher getting familiar with her daughter’s special needs, “I was able to focus on how everybody‘s summer was and what snacks to take to Meet the Teacher Night,” she said.
“I knew Beatrice has strong relationships with Mrs. Wing and her classmates, and I didn’t spend nights lying awake wondering if she would fit in with her new class. She was already part of it,” Pendlum shared.
“For a neurodivergent person, change is challenging and can be difficult. However, Beatrice knew what was expected and how Mrs. Wing worked based on her experience from last year. In return, her classmates know Beatrice and how she sees the world and how she thinks.”
From an academic perspective, Mrs. Wing already knows each of her students’ strengths and areas that need more attention. Beatrice may be challenged academically, but with careful attention to not overwhelm her.
“I have no doubt that looping has been and will continue to be beneficial for Beatrice this year,” said Pendlum, sharing that her daughter has benefited both socially and academically.
ERIC found that while looping has been found to be mostly positive, it has some disadvantages, but the good far outweighs the bad.
One of the major disadvantages cited was the need for teachers to learn a new grade curriculum each year, along with learning children’s developmental needs at each grade level, but Welch said Wing has flourished at both this year.
The principal did say, however, that one young boy shared looping makes it harder to make new friends outside of class.
While she considers that a negative, Welch said she and Wing will continue to make looping an overall positive experience for students.
“We are really early in the year right now,” said the principal, adding that there’s plenty of time to learn how to best serve students.
“It’s been great having this experience, and as a parent and a principal, I am thankful to my families who supported us in starting this,” she shared.
Retired teacher Marciann McClarnon Miller, who taught for decades in the Greenfield-Central schools, has fond memories of the two year-period in which she practiced looping with a classroom of fifth-graders at the former Riley Elementary School.
She felt so connected to the class she got permission to teach them again their sixth-grade year ending in 1981, which was the last year the school was in operation.
“It was amazing. I had the opportunity to bond with those students really well, as well as their parents, and we had the most wonderful relationship,” she said. “When I see them today, we are still good friends.”
