Teachers’ Guide FOREWORD Try out these riddles and see if you can answer them. 1. A woman shoots her husband. Then she holds him under water for over five minutes. Finally, she hangs him. Five minutes later, they both go out for a meal together. How can this be? 2. Children aged between 4 and 6 can solve this problem in 5 minutes. 95% of adults can’t. Can you? 8898=7 4566=2 1203=1 2313=0 4566=2 7774=0 1003=2 4500=? The answers to both riddles are at the back of this book on page 314. I must confess. I didn’t get either of them. Was it because I think in a certain way without seeing other possibilities? Is it because I don’t spend enough time problem solving with riddles and brain teasers? It could well be. I would feel confident after seeing the answers that I would not be caught out with these types of riddles again. The question is; do the students in our care deserve the same platform of thinking? They have been born on the cusp of a century that has seen three technological leaps. These are: 1. Long distance communication: a faster postal service, the telephone and the mobile phone. 2. Transport: the car, the engine-powered ship and the airplane. 3. The storing of knowledge on computers; the modern phones are more powerful than the best computer available to George Bush Sr. They are going to have to work in a century which will see nine or more. The modern workplace shall need students who are problem solvers, who interact well with others and who are creative and open minded about huge changes in both the workplace and society. 1 Teachers’ Guide Bearing this in mind, ‘Blue-Sky Thinking’ is designed to rise to the challenges thrown down by the introduction of technology. More and more, students are asking how class lessons are relevant to them. This Teachers’ Guide hopes to make life as easy as possible for the teachers who use it. This will benefit the students by having structured, interesting and comprehensive monthly modules for them to enjoy. The first 2 months of lesson plans are completed as are the first 11 poetry lessons. The other lesson plans may be filled in by the teacher with the minimum of fuss. Each pre-planned lesson should only take 5-10 minutes to fill in. Furthermore, most lessons have a recommended site to visit in order to provide an extra visual/aural stimulation. I am well aware that each teacher has his/her own, unique brand of magic to a classroom. That is why the lesson content is designed to focus in on the paradigms of English that all students should know. There are personal statements, success maps, Latin phrases on living life well, a points reward system for descriptions, grammar lessons and even a formula for poetry. The pre-planned structure gives the teacher a great opportunity. They can discuss with their students the modules that will be covered in the month, the term and the year ahead. This strategy gives the students a sense of ownership in the process. There are also revision exercises at the end of each monthly module designed to keep the students on their toes! There are nine characteristics that good learners share. This book attempts to fuse as many of them as possible into its content and its lesson plans. The nine characteristics are: 1. Open-mindedness. 2. Self-awareness. 3. Tolerance. 4. An alert mind. 5. Good energy levels. 6. An ability to set goals. 7. A willingness to take risks. 8. Self-discipline. 9. The capacity to value, accept and undergo change. Points 4 and 5 are interesting. That is why diet and nutrition are covered in a manner where the students can subtly discover for themselves the benefits of healthy eating. This is a book which encourages paired/team work also. It is student-friendly yet it will also challenge them in so many ways. It is a book which requires rigour from the students and a degree of flexibility and imagination from the teacher. I hope you and your students enjoy the challenge ‘Blue-Sky Thinking’ throws at you. Hopefully, the Teachers’ Guide will make it pleasurable. Finally, I am mindful that some teachers may have 6 periods of English a week whereas others may have anything between 3 and 5. The class duration may be 30 minutes to one hour. That is why there are more than enough lessons per month to accommodate everyone. If you feel there are too many lesson plans for you to cover in a given month, there are templates on pages 309-312 to make out your own Monthly and Yearly Plans. You may simply pick which weekly units you would like to use and put them in. 2 Teachers’ Guide TABLE OF CONTENTS SEPTEMBER: DESCRIBING A BEACH JANUARY: DESCRIBING MOUNTAINS Creative grid: Full stops: Latin abbreviations Creative grid: Different narrative styles Capital letters: Bullet points: Story-fizzers Personal pronouns, subjects and objects Descriptive grid: The importance of gratitude Descriptive grid: Adverbs: Colour grid Punctuation: Wordsearch: Using a storychain The ‘Blood Rain’ of India: Past simple tense Metaphors: Crossword: Similes Past continuous tense: Present simple tense Mindfulness: The macro and micro in writing Frogs, fish, cows and coal falling from skies? Descriptive writing: Planning a reading day Present continuous: Future simple Interrogative words: Punctuation Future continuous: Assonance: Flash fiction Making a portfolio template: Informal letters Taste and smells grid: Using ‘pulse’ words Texture: Nutrition and diet: Recap on module Associative learning: Crossword: Fun quiz OCTOBER: DESCRIBING A LAKE FEBRUARY: FEMALES AND MALES Creative grid: There/their/they’re: Commas 1st grid describing females: 2nd grid females Onomatopoeia: Achieving success in life Writing a story with character descriptions Constructing a Life Map to success 3rd grid females: Writing a horror story Multi-sensory grid: Direct speech 4th grid females: The beauty and the beastly Crossword: Direct to indirect speech 5th grid females: Make a crossword Wordsearch: The structure of an essay 1st grid describing males: 2nd grid males Writing a diary: The Great Famine 2nd grid males: Writing a battle scene Having fun with colours: Personal statements 3rd grid males: Describing the desert Mission statements: Associative learning 4th grid males: Writing a sports essay Nutrition and diet: Why not fizzy drinks? 5th grid: Female and male wordsearches NOVEMBER: DESCRIBING A FOREST MARCH: INTRODUCING POETRY Creative grid: Colons: Descriptive grid Introduction to poetry module Apostrophes: Plural possession: Semicolons The history of poetry using anthropology The 14 punctuation marks in English The importance of linking music to poetry Adjectives, nouns and verbs: Sample essay The secret to great poetry with Venn diagram Magical words grid: Crossword Nursery rhymes and ‘Rule of Three’ patterns Fun quiz to recap on module: Mnemonics ‘The Fog’ by Carl Sandburg Onomatopoeia: David and Goliath story ‘The Eagle’ by Lord Alfred Tennyson Using Point of View in a story: Colour chart ‘The Splendour Falls’ by Tennyson The history of English: Greek culture ‘The Stolen Child’ by W.B. Yeats Associative learning: Suffixes: Texting ‘The Lake Isle of Innisfree’ by Yeats DECEMBER: DESCRIBING XMAS APRIL: ANALYSING POETRY Creative grid: Colour grid: Descriptive grid ‘The Road not Taken’ by Robert Frost Personification: Synonyms: Descriptive grid ‘Stopping by Woods’ by Frost The genesis gene that exists in all of us ‘Rime of the Ancient Mariner’: ST Coleridge Descriptive grid: Using Point of View ‘If’ by Rudyard Kipling Xmas external scene: Planning a short story ‘The Cottage in the Grove’ by Liam O’ Flynn Sample short story: Associative learning ‘Do not stand at my grave and weep’: Frye Revision grid: Make an Xmas crossword EXTRA CLASSES pages 270-308 Note from author: I strongly recommend that you read pages 278-285 before using this book. It explains how the learning styles of your students may be guided by their multiple intelligence strengths and weaknesses. I hope it will be of invaluable assistance to you. 3 Teachers’ Guide “The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we hit it.” Michelangelo SEPTEMBER MONTHLY PLAN WEEK ONE INTRODUCTION: how aiming high is beneficial: discuss wellbeing, mindfulness, empathy and why you need to get on with classmates Lesson 1 Read page 1 : how spellings are earned, not learned: spelling P45: pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis Lesson 2 Discuss patterns in descriptive writing: fill in 1st grid as a class Lesson 3 Rules for full stops in writing: Latin abbreviations: discuss project work and the importance of portfolios Lesson 4 Fill in 2nd grid: making up a story from words in grid: Pele quote Lesson 5 Discuss communication: rules for capital letters: practise capital letters WEEK TWO Lesson 6 Fill in 3rd grid: devising class management system for weaker students Lesson 7 Writing a story in bullet points for weaker students: practice ‘on task’ Lesson 8 Punctuation and 15 blues Wordsearch: discuss poverty and gratitude Lesson 9 Fill in 4th grid as teamwork activity: using magical words in writing Lesson 10 Archaic words and using metaphors: discuss Muhammed Ali quote WEEK THREE Lesson 11 Having fun with crosswords: using mnemonics to remember similes Lesson 12 Introduction to similes: Using riddles to improve thinking Lesson 13 Punctuating a passage: recap on using patterns in English idea Lesson 14 Fill in 5th grid: team activity: make class grid on words Lesson 15 End of beach module: 1st portfolio assignment WEEK FOUR Lesson 16 READING DAY Lesson 17 Using interrogative words