Continuing on from my first blog post, this post will focus on planning and preparation. The dip year is like a marathon, so you need to pace yourself and be prepared.
The dip inspectors have criteria they use when inspecting a teacher for probation. See here for more information: http://www.lec.ie/criteria-used-inspection-work.html
Planning and preparation is what most people dread, whether doing the dip or not! (Trust me; it doesn’t just finish with your last inspection!!) And to be fair, the level of paperwork required for the dip is more than what is expected for regular, day-to-day teaching, but it has to be done. So I’ll tell you what I did for my dip, as I found it worked well for me!
The dip inspectors have criteria they use when inspecting a teacher for probation. See here for more information: http://www.lec.ie/criteria-used-inspection-work.html
Planning and preparation is what most people dread, whether doing the dip or not! (Trust me; it doesn’t just finish with your last inspection!!) And to be fair, the level of paperwork required for the dip is more than what is expected for regular, day-to-day teaching, but it has to be done. So I’ll tell you what I did for my dip, as I found it worked well for me!
Firstly, I got myself two folders - one for planning, the other for assessment. (I will look at assessment in another post)
Planning Folder
My planning folder was divided into six parts (I think!)
1. This week's plans
2. Timetables and Classroom Information
3. Short Term Plans (Past weekly plans)
4. Long Term plans (Termly plan)
5. Cuntais Míosúla (A monthly record of what you have taught - basically your objectives,but in past tense!)
6. Planning Grids and Rough Plans (This is explained further down the blog post!)
I copied each curricular area for my class level (which was 3rd class) and put them into a small folder with dividers for each area. This meant, I wasn’t trawling through the big curriculum books, or wrecking my head with the Curriculum Online. I work better with a visual, and with something I can hold in my hand works best for me! I then did an overall year template, as I was teaching for the year and broke it down into months. I obviously kept in mind school policy and book list when I was doing this. When doing the dip, I broke things into terms, as it would have been too overwhelming to do it for the whole year - plus, you may only be teaching for one or two terms, depending on your job type.
So imagine a table with the months across the top and the subjects down the sides, or vice versa. Each box then has a theme or an idea written in – sometimes two! I choose themes for each month for each subject (loosely!) and then match curricular areas to those themes. This sounds a lot more complicated than it actually is! So I’ll break it down. Here's an example for you - March links quite well with the theme of Ireland and St. Patrick, so I've chosen that to help show you what I do.
March
(I tried to post this in a table format, but it's not working, so hopefully you'll get the idea!
English
Reading – The story of St. Patrick, (link to SESE: History and Drama) Discover Ireland website extracts
Oral Language – discussion about patron saints (link to Religious Education), the story of St. Patrick, retell the story of St. Patrick using ‘Give up yer auld sins’ video as a stimulus, (link to Drama) discuss favourite parts of Ireland, (link to SESE: Geography) things Ireland is famous for, present a tourism show encouraging tourists to visit Ireland
Writing – A modern day story of St. Patrick, a letter to St. Patrick, a postcard to a friend from your Irish holiday
Art
A visual map of Ireland - putting icons in for famous Irish landmarks, features, famous people, etc (link to SESE: Geography), construction of St. Patrick using card and collage
Music
Traditional Irish music/instruments, learn an Irish song (link to Gaeilge)
Drama
Act out the scenes of the story of St. Patrick (link to English)
SESE
SESE subjects are linked and can be taught specifically throughout the month
PE
PE can involve games with an Irish theme – so using traditional Irish games, such as Gaelic football, hurling, etc and focussing on that strand, might be beneficial here.
Maths
Maths is one subject that can be very difficult to link or include in the theme, so what I would do, is when making word problems or worksheets, etc, I would include some thematic-related questions. For example: St. Patrick had ten sheep. Six went missing one night. How many sheep had St. Patrick left?
Gaeilge
Gaeilge is again, another one that can be difficult to link with the theme – so teaching some vocabulary or some small stories based on the theme to bring it in in some way.
Religion
Very obvious links – saints, patron saints, prayers to different saints, etc
So that's where the main bulk of my idea generation happens. I do this per term. I'm going to start for this term very soon, once I get my book list and have an idea of the school policies, etc. So I'l hopefully have a sample to share with you for Term One quite soon.
I then break each term into fortnights, or weeks as you will have to when doing the dip. And this involves looking at each theme and linking it to strands and strand units. It's very hard to explain this without showing an example, so bear with me! I'd have this planning grid, along with my thematic planning sheet - as outlined above and my curriculum objectives ready to pencil in my themes, activities, books, pages, etc. (I store these in the back section of my planning folder. No point in having rough work and nobody looking at it, eh?!)
In the first box below, for Week One Irish, I'd have my theme for the week - Mé Féin, then I might scribble in some suggested lessons - paired conversations, revise colours, rhymes, vocab from last year, etc and so on.
Planning Folder
My planning folder was divided into six parts (I think!)
1. This week's plans
2. Timetables and Classroom Information
3. Short Term Plans (Past weekly plans)
4. Long Term plans (Termly plan)
5. Cuntais Míosúla (A monthly record of what you have taught - basically your objectives,but in past tense!)
6. Planning Grids and Rough Plans (This is explained further down the blog post!)
I copied each curricular area for my class level (which was 3rd class) and put them into a small folder with dividers for each area. This meant, I wasn’t trawling through the big curriculum books, or wrecking my head with the Curriculum Online. I work better with a visual, and with something I can hold in my hand works best for me! I then did an overall year template, as I was teaching for the year and broke it down into months. I obviously kept in mind school policy and book list when I was doing this. When doing the dip, I broke things into terms, as it would have been too overwhelming to do it for the whole year - plus, you may only be teaching for one or two terms, depending on your job type.
So imagine a table with the months across the top and the subjects down the sides, or vice versa. Each box then has a theme or an idea written in – sometimes two! I choose themes for each month for each subject (loosely!) and then match curricular areas to those themes. This sounds a lot more complicated than it actually is! So I’ll break it down. Here's an example for you - March links quite well with the theme of Ireland and St. Patrick, so I've chosen that to help show you what I do.
March
(I tried to post this in a table format, but it's not working, so hopefully you'll get the idea!
English
Reading – The story of St. Patrick, (link to SESE: History and Drama) Discover Ireland website extracts
Oral Language – discussion about patron saints (link to Religious Education), the story of St. Patrick, retell the story of St. Patrick using ‘Give up yer auld sins’ video as a stimulus, (link to Drama) discuss favourite parts of Ireland, (link to SESE: Geography) things Ireland is famous for, present a tourism show encouraging tourists to visit Ireland
Writing – A modern day story of St. Patrick, a letter to St. Patrick, a postcard to a friend from your Irish holiday
Art
A visual map of Ireland - putting icons in for famous Irish landmarks, features, famous people, etc (link to SESE: Geography), construction of St. Patrick using card and collage
Music
Traditional Irish music/instruments, learn an Irish song (link to Gaeilge)
Drama
Act out the scenes of the story of St. Patrick (link to English)
SESE
SESE subjects are linked and can be taught specifically throughout the month
PE
PE can involve games with an Irish theme – so using traditional Irish games, such as Gaelic football, hurling, etc and focussing on that strand, might be beneficial here.
Maths
Maths is one subject that can be very difficult to link or include in the theme, so what I would do, is when making word problems or worksheets, etc, I would include some thematic-related questions. For example: St. Patrick had ten sheep. Six went missing one night. How many sheep had St. Patrick left?
Gaeilge
Gaeilge is again, another one that can be difficult to link with the theme – so teaching some vocabulary or some small stories based on the theme to bring it in in some way.
Religion
Very obvious links – saints, patron saints, prayers to different saints, etc
So that's where the main bulk of my idea generation happens. I do this per term. I'm going to start for this term very soon, once I get my book list and have an idea of the school policies, etc. So I'l hopefully have a sample to share with you for Term One quite soon.
I then break each term into fortnights, or weeks as you will have to when doing the dip. And this involves looking at each theme and linking it to strands and strand units. It's very hard to explain this without showing an example, so bear with me! I'd have this planning grid, along with my thematic planning sheet - as outlined above and my curriculum objectives ready to pencil in my themes, activities, books, pages, etc. (I store these in the back section of my planning folder. No point in having rough work and nobody looking at it, eh?!)
In the first box below, for Week One Irish, I'd have my theme for the week - Mé Féin, then I might scribble in some suggested lessons - paired conversations, revise colours, rhymes, vocab from last year, etc and so on.
So then, once that's done, you need to start on your actual planning. All the work up to now has been preparation, which is the bulk of the work. Once you have everything organised and prepared, the planning works itself out. I find the planning might only take a couple of hours in the first few weeks, but after that, you shouldn't be spending hours upon hours typing up plans. Get your template sorted, and stick with it. The plan itself, the layout and structure of it, is down to you - whatever suits you. The NIPT (National Induction Programme for Teachers) website has some guidelines there, and explains what titles and headings you need, but as I say, the layout is up to you. I would keep in mind the school policy on planning, and, as always, ask for help if you're struggling.
http://www.teacherinduction.ie/images/pdfs/Planning_Guidelines/Short_Term_Planning/Short-term_planning_-_Draft_guidelines.pdf
I know some people like tables, other people don't. Some people like to hand-write plans, some people don't. It is up to you - these plans are your work (and obviously to show the inspector!) but they're for you, so make them whatever way suits you best,and whatever way your school does planning. Ask in school if there is a template available, or ask somebody who has done the dip previously in your school. I was so lucky to have an experienced teacher working alongside me when I was doing my dip, and I found this invaluable from a planning point of view. This teacher was so generous with her time and helped me so much. (Thanks Orlaith! x) Don't be afraid to ask for help. As I've said before, this time will be tough, but you can do it and you will get through it! :)
I'm not going to share my own template for my plans, as I feel that's saying my way is perfect and my way is the right way, which it's not. I will help people out, and I will guide people, so if you do have questions, please, feel free to ask. But I hope you understand why I'm not sharing my plans, or selling them!
I tried to do most of my planning either in school on a Thursday evening, or at home on a Saturday morning. I found I needed to set a specific time for planning, otherwise it could take over. I also dedicated some time to preparing resources and lessons each evening after school. I tried not to stay any later than four o'clock in school - some evenings it was later, other evenings I was gone by three.
What I'm trying to explain is - the dip can very easily take over your life. I just text my friends there to tell them I'm doing a blog post about the dip, and one of them wrote back - "Ya, I didn't leave the house for the dip...bar the odd Sunday outing when I went to pick up resources for lessons" - And that's all well and good, if that's the way you want to do it. But personally, I think there's more to life. You need to set specific times for planning and resources, otherwise you'll end up crashing and burning!! Have a hobby, get out and meet your friends, go to the cinema on a school night, havea lie in on the weekends, don't let the dip define you. You are a teacher. Yes. You are doing the dip. Yes. But most importantly, you are a person. Life is for living. Don't let one day of your life go to waste. Life is precious, and it's for living. When the dip is done, you'll look back and wonder what the panic was, what the stress was for. And at the end of the day, it's pass or fail. You either get the dip done, or you don't! And if you don't, you pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and keep on going. That's also part of life.
So, I'm waffling!! Just to remind people, I'm not an expert, nor do I claim to be. Anything posted is from experience (personal or from friends/colleagues) and research. I hope you find this post helpful. As always, any questions, just ask! I'm only too happy to help! :) x
I'm not going to share my own template for my plans, as I feel that's saying my way is perfect and my way is the right way, which it's not. I will help people out, and I will guide people, so if you do have questions, please, feel free to ask. But I hope you understand why I'm not sharing my plans, or selling them!
I tried to do most of my planning either in school on a Thursday evening, or at home on a Saturday morning. I found I needed to set a specific time for planning, otherwise it could take over. I also dedicated some time to preparing resources and lessons each evening after school. I tried not to stay any later than four o'clock in school - some evenings it was later, other evenings I was gone by three.
What I'm trying to explain is - the dip can very easily take over your life. I just text my friends there to tell them I'm doing a blog post about the dip, and one of them wrote back - "Ya, I didn't leave the house for the dip...bar the odd Sunday outing when I went to pick up resources for lessons" - And that's all well and good, if that's the way you want to do it. But personally, I think there's more to life. You need to set specific times for planning and resources, otherwise you'll end up crashing and burning!! Have a hobby, get out and meet your friends, go to the cinema on a school night, havea lie in on the weekends, don't let the dip define you. You are a teacher. Yes. You are doing the dip. Yes. But most importantly, you are a person. Life is for living. Don't let one day of your life go to waste. Life is precious, and it's for living. When the dip is done, you'll look back and wonder what the panic was, what the stress was for. And at the end of the day, it's pass or fail. You either get the dip done, or you don't! And if you don't, you pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and keep on going. That's also part of life.
So, I'm waffling!! Just to remind people, I'm not an expert, nor do I claim to be. Anything posted is from experience (personal or from friends/colleagues) and research. I hope you find this post helpful. As always, any questions, just ask! I'm only too happy to help! :) x