METHODOLOGY 

ETSS Wicklow is interested in all methodologies and classroom activities that create a student-centred approach to learning. Below is a menu of activities/strategies:

IPADS

  • Experience different types of learning as part of our blended learning approach (Visual, Aural, Reading, Kinaesthetic)
  • Collaborate in projects and presentations
  • Access an unlimited well of resources
  • Learn through a more customized learning approach
  • Use as an organisational tool
  • Experience greater engagement in learning activities
  • Gather primary sources
  • Share tasks in pairs and groups
  • Use as 'Show Me' boards
  • Make films

THEME WEEKS

Nine theme weeks during the year allow us to plan for additional innovative ways of approaching learning: 

  • History Week
  • European Languages Week
  • Mathematics Week
  • Science Week
  • Wellbeing Week
  • Chess Week
  • Seachtain Na Gaeilge Week 
  • Arts Week
  • Active Citizenship Week 

ACTIVE READING STRATEGIES:

  • Pre-reading activities
  • Annotating 
  • Identifying patterns 
  • Visual texts – symbolism, images
  • Analyzing assumptions, discovering deeper arguments, responding with arguments of your own 

GENERATING IDEAS:

  • Freewriting – no editing function - just write
  • Clustering – draw some kind of picture to represent ideas and use that picture to show relationships between a central, general idea and several more-focused subordinate ideas 
  • Brainstorming – write down every idea without evaluating them – don't worry about writing complete sentences - just move to the next idea quickly
  • Reverse Brainstorming - write down every idea to create the opposite effect of what you are considering - find solutions through them 

GROUP WORK - ASSIGN ROLES 

Groups work better when everyone knows their role - below is one suggested approach: 

  • Group Leader (Chairperson)
  • Group Note-taker
  • Group Devil's Advocate
  • Group Pacifier

GROUP WORK - OPTIONS

  • Homework assignments prior to group work to help everything get off to a good start
  • Group work based on a series of smaller tasks with time limits for each element (e.g. questions to discuss, time to prepare summary notes, feedback to class)
  • Send envoys to other groups – give them a reason for listening (e.g. they need to find the answer to a particular question which only the other groups are dealing with)
  • Allow time after group discussions for note-taking (focus on talk time during group work sessions) 
  • Adapt the group work philosophy that 'it’s the discussion that counts, not the product'

 TEAM TEACHING IDEAS

  1. Use hot-seating with one of the teachers/students in the role of an expert answering questions from the class groups
  2. Share projects between class groups 
  3. Inter-class competitions (e.g. board races, quizzes, memory games)
  4. Festival of Learning - classes join together and divide into random groups to work on tasks - sessions can end with group feedback, tableau, mime, film productions, displays of primary sources etc...) 
  5. Test Competitions - students of two classes work together as class groups to show all their knowledge on a topic e.g. to complete the same task on half a whiteboard in a set amount of time (nominate writers and audience prompters) - then teachers give feedback and choose the winning team 
  6. Class Exchange - each class shares a topic they have recently learned with another class

 FILM PRODUCTION - THREE DEFINED STAGES

  1. Pre-Production; 
  2. Production 
  3. Post-Production

 FILM PRODUCTION - POSSIBLE PROJECTS

  1. Advertisements
  2. Video Letters
  3. Infographics
  4. Surveys
  5. Animation Films
  6. Autobiographies
  7. Motivational Films
  8. Instructional Films/Tutorials
  9. Split-Screen Films
  10. Top Ten Lists
  11. Reaction Films 

DEBATING (TRY DIFFERENT STYLES)

  • British Parliamentary Debating
  • American Parliamentary Debating
  • Mace Format
  • American Public Forum Debating Format
  • Dotmocracy
  • Switch (1 v 1 debate game - pair work with one person proposing a topic for one minute and then the other opposing that topic for one minute) 

TALK CLASSES

In every subject, talk classes can be a great way to revise by developing a list of talking points and working through them - students can add more talking points as the exercise develops 

WRITING CLASSES

Develop notes on a topic - write creatively - rewrite something and improve it - writing classes can be great for reflection, revision and creativity 

JUNIOR CYCLE FOR TEACHERS RESOURCE WEBSITE

Resource of recommended classroom strategies