How do you know what to teach when no planning is left?
How long is a piece of string? It really varies from school to school, and from class to class. It’s really what the workshop is all about- the practicalities of providing a day of educational activities plucked from thin air. I have the “cheat sheets” based on thinking strategies like higher order thinking, the six thinking hats and blooms taxonomy that can get you through those days- making a day of lesson plans appear from thin air.
What do you take to school with you each day?
A whistle, a smile and a (baby) laptop. Everything else is optional. Actually everything apart from the smile is optional in a pinch.
I use a whistle (inside the classroom when necessary- talk about creating maximum impact!) to save my voice, the smile isn’t negotiable, and the laptop makes my day so much easier. The laptop plugs into any breed of smartboard, and depending on the school works as anything from a data projector only (open a word doc, or display a PDF of a worksheet and off you go) through to a fully functional smartboard. In some classrooms the smartboard may be the only whiteboard space available- and in some classrooms (actually most) you can’t write on it with conventional whiteboard markers. So no laptop = nowhere to write. Actually, as I pointed out in my presentation- it is possible to write on windows with whiteboard markers in a pinch. Just make sure you rub it off before you go home.
I’ve found as my confidence has grown, my “bag of tricks” has shrunk. I used to carry a huge array of whiteboard markers, coloured paper, notebooks, “cheat sheets” (you will get them at the workshop), a few favourite books (OK-now I carry all my favourite books with me- I love my kindle)… the list was endless. Now it’s a pen/pencil combo, the kindle and baby laptop, a few bits of pink paper and the whistle.
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