My friend Mark Ransby was a secondary school math teacher. After getting fed up with one of his year nine classes he spent the weekend recording his next lesson. Instead of fighting with the class to get them to settle down and pay attention he put on the video. The class sat in rapt silence watching the recorded version of Mark. The video was no better than anything Mark would have done live in class, in fact it was little more than an iPhone recording of marks hand writing out problems and working through the solution. Now I am not going to try and work out what made the class pay more attention to the virtual version of Mark as I don't have access to his class to ask.
What I want to ask is how much can teachers start to use per-prepared lessons produced by others instead of the lessons they produce themselves. Now I don't want to suggest that we turn teachers into baby sitters and have them sit idly by while the calls watch videos all day. What I am suggesting is that they could them spend more time supporting the students while working through problems. It students were also allowed to work at there own pace it would allow students who have grasped the topic quickly to move on, while letting students who are struggling get more support.
I remember my own school experiences where we sat down in anticipation whenever we saw the 16 mm projector being wheeled into the classroom. We knew then that we were going to be given a break from the teacher, and in retrospect get a richer introduction to the topic.
Creating a curriculum map of topics in GCSE maths and sciences, and mapping these to the specific exams boards with sample questions is a significant undertaking. However, once completed it is then reusable and up-datable as better content, and supporting materials are produced. The final question is who should do this. Should it take investment from the Government or evolve from the content being put out on the web via youtube.
What I want to ask is how much can teachers start to use per-prepared lessons produced by others instead of the lessons they produce themselves. Now I don't want to suggest that we turn teachers into baby sitters and have them sit idly by while the calls watch videos all day. What I am suggesting is that they could them spend more time supporting the students while working through problems. It students were also allowed to work at there own pace it would allow students who have grasped the topic quickly to move on, while letting students who are struggling get more support.
I remember my own school experiences where we sat down in anticipation whenever we saw the 16 mm projector being wheeled into the classroom. We knew then that we were going to be given a break from the teacher, and in retrospect get a richer introduction to the topic.
Creating a curriculum map of topics in GCSE maths and sciences, and mapping these to the specific exams boards with sample questions is a significant undertaking. However, once completed it is then reusable and up-datable as better content, and supporting materials are produced. The final question is who should do this. Should it take investment from the Government or evolve from the content being put out on the web via youtube.
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