The Department of Basic Education has again announced curriculum changes to be implemented in 2012 in South Africa's classrooms. Now is clearly not the time to invest money in Intermediate Phase textbooks which will soon become irrelevant and outdated.
School Principals should focus instead on class workbooks to tide the classes over until new textbooks are available. Teachers should be encouraged to make use of the many websites which offer free teaching resources and ideas to compile these workbooks.
As long as teachers acknowledge their sources properly and do not violate copyright laws, they can save time by downloading ready-made worksheets, assignments and rubrics for use in the classroom in 2011. Teachers need only Google "free teaching resources" to access pages and pages of content. A review site such as www.sitesforteachers.com provides an overview, ranked by users of the many sites available.
A thematic approach has never been easier. These sites offer free posters for your display boards in addition to classroom resources. You will even find recognition certificates and awards to reward your learners ( in line with the themes you are working on).
Teachers could be encouraged too to download and print free E Books to promote literacy and refine research skills. If one is lucky enough to have access to computers in the classroom, learners could be kept busy with online tests and quizzes. The beauty of such an exercise is that the learners have fun learning and the assessment is done for the educator. Talk about pain-free marking and saving time!
When the annual budget is presented to the parent body, the adjustments in expenditure need only be explained - a cut in textbook expenditure has been moved to the paper and reprographics budget line-item instead. Once the parents see the workbooks provided for their children the following academic year, they should agree that the expenditure in time and money has been worth it.
Principals should encourage their staff members to have fun creating workbooks. A staff competition with a decent reward will encourage teachers to ensure that the workbooks are professionally presented and a worthy replacement for an equivalent textbook.
Teach the "old dogs" on the staff new technological tricks and cut your teachers' preparation time in half. Teaching websites have been created by teachers for teachers. The quality of the lesson materials is excellent. No teacher would put a lesson idea or materials on a website for millions of viewers, if it were substandard in any way.
Many websites for teachers even offer chat forums, where one can connect with teachers from all over the world and share ideas, problems and solutions. Teachers who are new to the profession need mentoring. Instead of piling hundreds of textbooks in front of them; hand them the current textbook or workbook in use and direct them to an Internet-enabled desktop or laptop. They will soon realise that they need have no fears about how they will gather content for their lessons.
A visit to a teaching resources site will also enable new teachers to cut down on administrative duties in that work programs, lesson plans and so on are freely available on the Internet.
Principals should assist their teachers to save time and money on resources so their teachers can spend their time doing what they are paid to do - teaching children.
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