The success of any human endeavor lies largely in planning. A well-planned building will be durable, comfortable and convenient, but a badly planned house will not.
Similarly, a teacher who knows how to plan his lesson materials in advance is likely to be more effective, than the one who does not know what and how to plan it. The teacher needs to think ahead and map out what to teach, how to teach and when to teach.
This process involves proper planning of the syllabus, scheme of work and lesson notes or plans. In this post, we will look at the scheme of work for teachers and how to prepare it, but first, you need to know this...
In some cases, some class texts may have been broken down into schemes for you if it was you still need to learn how to create one, but this should not be followed by you religiously. You know your students more than a course writer, hence the need by you to modify freely as per needs. Where no scheme of work exists, you'll have to prepare one.
1. Deciding the Objectives Deciding on the objectives for a topic is dependent on what the students already know, and what you feel should be known, once you have determined the student's level of attainment, you can on the basis of the course-content design the scheme as specified in the syllabus. Course objectives need not be very precise, though they should be attainable. However, as you plan individual lessons to tackle specific areas of these sounds, your objectives should be more behaviourally stated.
2. Sequencing TopicsThe problem in sequencing topics lies with when and how to teach these topics. Your judgment of what topics should come earlier must be reached when you have considered factors like:
i. Logical occurrence i.e you need to decide from the list of topics which one should come first.
ii. Level of difficulty, generally easier topics should be treated first, thus, before students are required to write a composition, enough oral practice should have been done in areas of speech, oral guided composition and oral conversation. Most language textbooks for use in our schools now try to cover the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading comprehension) and writing.
3. Time Allocation The issue of how much material to cover from each term rests with the school term, which is often punctuated by holidays. But you can arrive at an approximate answer by counting out the first and last weeks of each term, to determine the number of weeks left for you per term, after you must have taken out the two.
Most beginning teachers feel very bad if they do not cover the whole syllabus; this should not be the case. Some less important or marginal topics can be left out if the time is insufficient. It's better to do efficient teaching than to cover the entire syllabus in a rush, this may backfire and result in no learning.
Similarly, a teacher who knows how to plan his lesson materials in advance is likely to be more effective, than the one who does not know what and how to plan it. The teacher needs to think ahead and map out what to teach, how to teach and when to teach.
This process involves proper planning of the syllabus, scheme of work and lesson notes or plans. In this post, we will look at the scheme of work for teachers and how to prepare it, but first, you need to know this...
What Teachers need to know
Curriculum and Syllabus
By implication preparing for teaching demands the teacher's time, you need to have your syllabus, scheme of work and lesson plan or notes well prepared ahead of time. That is why a collection of teaching instructions, which involves the scheme of work. The syllabus, on the other hand, is a broad list of items to be taught in a given subject. Each subject has its own syllabus. A syllabus is a condensed outline of the content to be studied.The Scheme of Work
What is the scheme of work?
Scheme of work is a further breakdown or expansion of the syllabus. It contains what should be taught and how the teaching should be covered, the textbooks to use, what exercises are to be done, the activities required and the type of instructional materials to be used. The scheme of work is a good guide to the teacher because it directs the teacher on what topic is coming up, and when to gather the necessary materials that would make the teaching of that topic more effective.In some cases, some class texts may have been broken down into schemes for you if it was you still need to learn how to create one, but this should not be followed by you religiously. You know your students more than a course writer, hence the need by you to modify freely as per needs. Where no scheme of work exists, you'll have to prepare one.
Factors to consider before drawing up a scheme of work
In drawing up a scheme of work, you must address yourself to three very crucial issues: deciding your objectives, sequencing topics and allocation of time to spend on each topic.1. Deciding the Objectives Deciding on the objectives for a topic is dependent on what the students already know, and what you feel should be known, once you have determined the student's level of attainment, you can on the basis of the course-content design the scheme as specified in the syllabus. Course objectives need not be very precise, though they should be attainable. However, as you plan individual lessons to tackle specific areas of these sounds, your objectives should be more behaviourally stated.
2. Sequencing TopicsThe problem in sequencing topics lies with when and how to teach these topics. Your judgment of what topics should come earlier must be reached when you have considered factors like:
i. Logical occurrence i.e you need to decide from the list of topics which one should come first.
ii. Level of difficulty, generally easier topics should be treated first, thus, before students are required to write a composition, enough oral practice should have been done in areas of speech, oral guided composition and oral conversation. Most language textbooks for use in our schools now try to cover the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading comprehension) and writing.
3. Time Allocation The issue of how much material to cover from each term rests with the school term, which is often punctuated by holidays. But you can arrive at an approximate answer by counting out the first and last weeks of each term, to determine the number of weeks left for you per term, after you must have taken out the two.
Most beginning teachers feel very bad if they do not cover the whole syllabus; this should not be the case. Some less important or marginal topics can be left out if the time is insufficient. It's better to do efficient teaching than to cover the entire syllabus in a rush, this may backfire and result in no learning.
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