Reinvent the Wheel? NO WAY!

I have reveled on the wonders of accessing valuable materials to make the teachers' life easier, more professional and structured. While some teacher prefer to work on creating whole new units, the reality remains that using already made materials, and modifying it as the term goes proves to be an effective and flexible style of planning to cater for all the learners.

By going through a focus set text for each particular Key Learning Area, structure and essential content can be delivered throughout the term. The foundations has been developed by a team of professional educational instructors who have identified appropriate sequences of learning for a particular area.

Things to look out for in selecting a text book to work from include the following:
-Links to Outcomes and Whole school curriculum plans
-Relevance to share with other teachers
-A varied collection of skills, competencies and higher order thinking skills.
-Interesting and engaging themes.
-Quality Lessons and activities.
-Try not to have too many books to refer to.
-Use a book and make yourself familiar with it.
-Design or make effective use of assessment tools within the resource that tie in to report cards.

However, it is most important that the teacher does not rely completely on the text book chosen, but use it as a skeleton and framework to keep record keeping in sync. The added benefit of progressing through developmental sequences of learning makes for a class who are building on prior knowledge and gain a cohesive tie between the terms work.

The teacher is free to modify, change or develop whole new lessons that cater for the needs of the demographics of the learners at any point in the learning journey. If the class is not grasping a concept, then it is valuable to spend more time on base content before following textbooks exactly.

Ultimately, Assessment, management, planning and security in covering essential knowledge is delivered through using a quality and robust textbook.

Education Makes People

Education is such a vital step in the development of the human being. We are born with no knowledge besides instinct, so we need to provide the right support to shape humans into intellectual and knowledgable people.

I believe in quality education for all. I also believe the quest to suit learning to particular needs, so that people can go into the field of work they are familiar with.

However, Primary school education does not need to suit particular needs, in so much as students need to form the basis of education.

I propose that Primary school sets the ground work and secondary school sets the special knowledge in particular fields.

The Mind frame of being a Primary School Teacher

Primary school is named as such because it is the first real school that children go to.
This means teachers have to teach children how to work in accordance with the routines and structures that make up a school. Teachers are required to coordinate and administer everyday routines to condition students to interact in the school and classroom environment.

Teachers must have patience, understanding and provide sympathetic links to the nature of working with children. This highlights the necessity for teacher to have a repetoire of skills to deal with the various behaviours and attitudes children create. All teachers, learn how to deal with kids all the time. Even the highly skilled and many years contact teacher still needs to learn how to interact effectively with students.

Getting back to the blogs statement, the mind frame of a teacher is to maintain being an individual. You can be creative and unique too. You can show that you too are a person and that you have feelings. This showing of the human condition is appreciated by students, as a barrier is lowered so students feel comfortable that they do not have a tyrant of a teacher, but an approachable and realistic teacher.

Your role is to be a role model and be the responsible manager who needs to control some 30 children to carry out routines, produce learning and follow through personal development, all while dealing with situations that may arise for the safety and comfort of all. It is all in the name of the job, and that is why you get paid to do it.

Enough said, teaching is unique and rewarding if you make it that way. Many people become teachers everyday. It is challenging, energetic and requires effective communication skills. But most of all, you have to enjoy working with children, to see them learn new things and make sure they are comfortable, safe and at peace to learn and develop in the environment that you create.

The wonderful world of the primary school classroom

What makes Primary school teaching a rewarding, interesting, challenging, eventful, social and worthwhile job?