Teaching Strategies.

A very warm and sincere welcome to Barrington Public School and I trust you will enjoy the many years ahead as your career grows and blossoms.  This is your copy of our three page Standard Curriculum which you will need to be fully familiar with as your mind begins to realise the enormity of the task you are undertaking. In three yearly blocks of Multiage Classroom Teaching and together with your teaching partner you will have the company of fifty six children with whom to teach and learn together, to share and teach them to your very best ability and to ensure no child is left behind nor is inhibited by being held back.  You may be bewildered by the lack of content, the brevity of detail, the lack of documented lesson plan outlines that you may have been familiar with in other classrooms you have worked in or visited, like textbooks and worksheets.  We have taken a different approach, starting from the child first and then the Standard Curriculum around which we build our teaching learning framework;, call it a Syllabus for want of a better term.  Whilst all teachers across the nation have the same very brief but detailed Standard Curriculum it is imperative that every school is given the freedom to develop and teach the children in their city, their town, their community and their district according to the environment in which they all live and share.

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Your first priority will be getting to know your children and their families, to find out what they already know, and what this town and district have to offer.  From there you will begin building your teaching and learning framework.  Before offering you any suggestions as to how to build that framework go first to your children and learn all that you can.  "Getting to know you" might give you some ideas.

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Yes and you are most welcome to join us for drinks and nibbles each Friday afternoon in the staffroom, 3.30 to 4.00pm. Some stay a little longer sometimes.

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Getting to Know You 

“I don’t know what to teach you because I don’t know what you know."

Very few teachers would ever consider thinking that.  With a National Curriculum it matters little what kids already know, so they all get the same dose of medicine, sick or not.

 

During the first few weeks of the year it is essential that teachers get to know their children, on a curriculum and personal basis as well as on a name basis.  Below is a number of categories and subjects which are important pieces in the jigsaw of each child’s makeup.  The information needs to be sensitively gathered and treated confidentially where necessary.  It is much like  a doctor would begin his/her first consultation with a new patient instead of diving in and writing a drugs prescription.

 

The way in which questions are structured, how information is gathered and data is recorded bears need for some thought if the process is to continue to be useful.   Some is easily gathered on a common sheet or as a whole class activity.  Some can only be gathered on a one-to-one basis, during a private interview.  Care must be taken as to how and what information is stored, especially as it may sometimes be of a very sensitive nature.  Sometimes parents have the right to be concerned if they feel the schoo

l is probing and prying where it has no right.

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In double teaching spaces children might be strategically divided and then information shared with the teaching partner and Principal.  If some of  the children have been previously taught  by one of the teachers she/he may like to write down what is already known and use that information as an ice breaker, or lead in.  Teachers should be prepared to share their personal likes or preferences with their interviewees when appropriate - eg. if  both have a love of cats, or cooking, etc. In sharing that information they are able to build a common bond of friendship and trust.

 

The following questions and topics may assist your  school in becoming more  aware of your pupils’ real selves and help in the building of productive partnerships with your pupils and their families.

 

Hints on getting to know your children through an information sharing chat.

1. Keep it light-hearted and make it sound that way.  It’s not an interrogation.

2. Use lots of humour.

3. Don’t allow eavesdroppers.  Choose a nice place to ‘have a chat’.

4. Don’t write lots down if that makes the child concerned.

5. Gather some information as whole class activities, like filling in a questionnaire.

6. Gather the data over a period of time if the interview gets too long.

7. Be sure to maintain confidentiality and only share information with the class after asking the child’s permission eg “and Robert has told me the most scared he has ever been was when he went hot air ballooning”  That might be alright so long as Robert has agreed to allow you to share his secret.

8. Don’t gather data unless you feel it is going to be used for the benefit of the child.

9. Most of all be sensitive to the child’s feelings and respect the bond you are aiming to establish.      

 

In Multiage Classrooms teachers have long term associations with their pupils, at least three even four years sometimes, where there is the unique opportunity for the development of strong bonds of mutual respect and understanding.

They form what we call a Moral Contract.  The following questions may assist teachers in becoming a little more aware of the strengths and interests of their pupils. 

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2. Where do you live?  Do you have your own bedroom or do you share?  What’s special in your room?  Do you have a place to read and do things you like to do?

3. What is your family position and do you have any brothers or sisters?  Any babies in your family? Maybe draw a family diagram and talk about the people in the picture. Who lives in your house most of the time?

4. ​Do you have a pet?  Tell me about it.  Do you care for it?  Where does it sleep?

5.  Do you belong to any sporting or recreation clubs or church groups and what do you do there?  How often do you go?

6.  What are your hobbies?  What do you do for recreation?  Who shares these experiences with you?

7.  What sort of music do you like?  Do you play or learn music?  

8.  Do you like to draw, or paint, or make things with your hands?  Tell me.

9.  What do you like best about school or preschool and what do you hope you will be able to do this year? 

10.  What would you like to do when you leave school?

11.  Do you have a TV at home?  Do you watch it much?  What do you most like to watch?  Do you ever fall asleep in front of the TV?

12.  Do you have a computer at home?  What do you use it for?  Do you play lots of  games on it?  Can you use it to learn to type?  Can you type?

13. ​Do you have your own iPhone? What do you do with it?

14. ​When is your birthday?  Did you celebrate with a party? Tell me about it.

15.  Who is your best friend?  What do you best enjoy doing together?

16.  Have you ever been bullied?  Is there anyone in our class, our school, who upsets you or is mean to you?  Who you don’t like to be with?  Have you told anyone about it?

17.  Do you have a favourite food?  What is it?  Do you cook at home?  Tell me about it. Who is the best cook in your family?

18.  Do you help around the house with jobs?  What do you do?  Do you get rewards for your effort?  Pocket money?  What happens if you forget to do your jobs?

19.  How do you get along with you brothers/sisters?  Who treats you the best?  Are you  ever mean to them and how?  How do they upset you, if they do?

20.  Tell me about what you do in the mornings until you get to school.

21.   Tell me about what usually happens after school each day until you go to bed.

22.  Who is usually at home when you get home and when you get home what do you do?

23.  Parent’s surnames - children may not be able to give you this information.

24.  Do you go to Out of School Hours Care? or Vacation Care?  What do you like doing there?

25.  How do you travel to and from school?  Is that OK?  Are there any problems that you’d like to share with me?  Can I help? 

26.  Did you go away for holidays?  Where to?  Do you often go away?  What’s been your best holiday and why?  (The people or the place? etc)

27.  If your mum and dad don’t live together do you spend time with both of them?  How is that shared?  Do you handle that well?  Any problems?  How could it be better?

28.  Do you have a car to go places?  What’s it like?  Where do you like to go and who  usually does the driving?

 

There may be more that you want to learn about each child , but be very aware that seeking information is to strengthen  the moral contract you enter into each time you teach a child.  It is different to statistics or facts which may not benefit your relationship.  Confidentiality is always a most precious commodity. 

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It's only after that when you might be ready to decide what it is you are going to teach to fulfil the obligations of the Standard Curriculum and ensure no one gets left behind and that no one who already knows so much already is not stifled or suppressed or becomes Disenchanted and Disappointed with you, with school.

            

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