**Teach the Teacher Tuesday** What's in your bag? edition.
How to create your perfect relief teacher bag of tricks!
It’s 7:00am. Your phone rings. Relief and panic set in simultaneously.
As Relief Teachers, being caught off-guard or last minute is not unusual. But despite the comfort that a deeply desired booking can bring, almost nothing can prepare us for the dread of knowing we don’t have enough time to properly prepare for a class. This unease is often compounded by a consciousness that our reputation as a CRT and our chances of getting a call back count considerably upon how well we take on a class last minute, keep said class engaged with varied and meaningful learning activities while maintaining a positive classroom environment without any major behavioural issues…. Ugh!
Simply put, knowing or not knowing how to deal with the above scenario can seriously dictate our chance at success, and future, as a relief teacher. But rather than throw in the towel, let’s discuss some fabulously easy resources and ideas, which your students are going to love no matter the grade. Better yet, it will eliminate any ounce of worry as soon as that booking is locked in!
Picture books
A picture book alone can lead into several exciting lessons which can be adapted depending on the grade, like: character studies, alternative endings and creative writing opportunities, discovering and creating similes and metaphors and an exploration into the overall theme. Picture books have plentiful connections to the creative arts, too – like directed drawing and drama. Choosing your favourite picture book is a great place to start.
Dice, playing cards and lego
Class sets of dice and playing cards are often available in classrooms, but carrying around your own kit won’t hurt either. Dice and playing cards can be used to develop fluency in addition/subtraction and multiplication/division and there are a tonne of engaging dice and card maths games out there that can help achieve this: Fat pig, First to 100 and Greed are just a few. Remember, you can always modify games by using one, two or three dice, or by slightly differentiating the activity.
A reliable sports game is always a winner
Golden Child, Snatch, Builder and Bulldozers… The list goes on! Remember, outdoor games don’t just exercise your body, but the mind, too! They can serve as fun rewards after an awesome day of excellent effort, as well. Golden Child is definitely a personal favourite!
And …
Of course - a notebook, pen, whiteboard marker, mug, lunch box, drink bottle, VIT card … the list is ENDLESS!