So we've all been there - not a breeze what we're doing, off our heads on caffeine and sleep-deprivation, brains full of themes and reward charts and poster paper and evenings filled with panic and laminating. Yes. It's not the best time of our college experience. But it certainly doesn't have to be the worst. Here's some tips I wish somebody had shared with me before I began!
I've gotten a lot of requests recently - from qualified teachers and from students to do some work around the idea of Thematic Teaching. It seems to be becoming more and more popular, which is great to see. In my current school, the children do not use any textbooks. This can work well - as it allows you to be creative and inventive with your lessons, rather than following a prescribed programme. To be very honest, it can also be a disaster at times. It means you must be prepared at all times - no "Turn to the next page in your X book and do that" while I sort out your homework folders (which we all need to do at times!!) - and you also must put in a fair bit of work to get resources, worksheets and displays done. So to counteract this - a lot of our teaching is done in themes and topics. It saves time on resource-making and also means the children are much more aware of the theme and topic as all their learning is based around it. Logistics wise - every class level has a selection of themes and topics for the year, based on ability and age-appropriateness - so there's no real overlap - bar major themes like Christmas, Halloween, St. Patrick, etc, which will be done in every class level. Time of the year is also a factor, so things like polar animals should be done in Winter time, 'new life' in Spring, etc.
What I've explaining here is how thematic teaching can be done on a whole-school level, but for just regular teaching, it also has lots of benefits. I know for people on Teaching Practice - this is what is recommended, so I hope I can help out a little :) |
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May 2016
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