Teaching resources to prepare kids for life as it is, not as we would like it to be.

We all need it, we all worry about it incessantly, but we don’t talk about it even with our closest friends. Talk of “numbers” makes our heads spin, even simple calculations important for the wellbeing of a typical family such as APR and compound interest are beyond the comfort zone for many, and potentially life changing concepts such as hedging, IRR and P/E ratios leave most people, teachers included, blinking open mouthed.

If we are going to prepare the next generation of school kids for a successful life, these topics need to be an integral part of the curriculum - alongside more popular and conversation friendly topics such as English and History.

Does it make sense to work all day every day for your whole life, squirreling away a little at a time – and then dumping it in into a pension fund or a bank which you don’t understand and have no control over? Shouldn’t you and your students at least understand it a little? How come even in this current financial crisis, people with good working financial understanding are rubbing their hands with joy? Could your kids be one of them in the future?

Here are some wonderful teaching resources from the AA and RBS which can help your kids get their arms around their finances now and for ever more.

Teaching materials help us soar.

People are always looking for something to inspire them. Today you need look no further than the winning entries of the Teacher of the Year awards. It is a timely reminder that the teaching profession provides us with the opportunity to live at the edge of our abilities: part psychologist, part performance artist, part interrogator - we can re-invent reality every day for fertile and flexible minds.

Reading these accounts it is easy to be intimidated by what seems to be unattainable levels of teaching performance. Just as Eric Clapton’s once unfathomable guitar sounds are now executed by 15 year olds, and Archimedes’ “Eureka!” moment can be replicated by a breathless eight year old with a measuring jug; with the right tools, a little talent and the desire to succeed, the impossible can become the everyday – and that has got to be our aim.

That’s why top quality teaching materials such as this from the British Red Cross, worksheets, technology and content is important – it’s not just to impart learning, it’s to raise the standard of education for kids into something inspirational – and that can change lives forever...

...What have you got planned for tomorrow?

The practical use of teaching technology.

Sometimes using technology can help you save time – you might use a teaching resource, such as this great lesson plan material on slavery. Sometimes technology itself engages kids, sometimes it helps you do things in class you couldn’t have otherwise done – like use video stimulus or conduct polling on a particular topic. Sometimes something altogether different happens, and it makes us into better teachers.

Today we are inspired by this post from Dan Meyer, we can see from a pretty simple couple of photos, a whole teaching community starts buzzing with ideas.

Radicalism in schools plan is so vague as to be completely pointless

The guide which the government has published to target radicalism in schools is so vague it amounts to little more than a statement of the blindingly obvious.

As teachers we use many wonderful, subtle and engaging ways to bring out the views of kids as well as help moderate the more extreme ones – whether through personal expression in poetry and the arts, a broader understanding of various other religious or scientific perspectives.

There’s plenty of help out there to help teachers keep kids in the boundaries of a healthy society, and aside from a media headline or two, we’re not sure what this 47 page bore-a-thon has to offer.

Lessons using Web 2.0 have got to be the way forward.

Think tank Demos argues today that kids in school should be taught about blogging and vlogging. This might have Daily Mail columnists tearing their hair out, but we think it’s 100% right.

It’s not just safety education about child abduction and privacy that are important for kids to understand for their internet identities. One picture posted today may well cost you that promotion in fifteen years, and the chances are you’ll never know about it.

But beyond even that, the trend for connecting with people and organising information in new ways over the internet is here to stay. It’s the most powerful form of leverage the 21^st century has created, and denying this truth won’t make it go away, nor will it stop organisations from using it to communicate, find the best contractors, acquire information quickly or hire talent.

As of right now, people who don’t know how Del.icio.us Twitter can be, or why Facebook can be as important to your career as any other book, is at a distinct disadvantage. If the National Curriculum is designed to prepare kids for adult life, embracing this new technology, especially in our service oriented economy – is an absolute must.

The only problem we see with this idea is that the kids know more about the subject than the teachers.

Check out this page for a whole host of ways to bring ICT learning right into the heart of the classroom.

Nintendo’s Maths research reminds us to always think in new ways about teaching.

Widely reported in traditional media, teachers are seeing their lessons become more effective when their kids regularly use Nintendo DS’ brain training exercise. Whilst this is fantastic PR for Nintendo, the results are a reminder to us in the teaching profession to keep innovating, looking for ways to make learning more fun.

Maths teachers have come in for a lot of flak recently, but there are some awesome resources out there which show teachers are thinking in deep and engaging ways to stimulate kids. Look at the amount of high quality teacher generated content on primary resources, and on our own companion site www.free-teaching-resources.co.uk.

The Nintendo research shows that using ICT can really help bring maths lessons to life, there’s a whole host of great material check out nrich, or this from maths is fun, as well as a whole host of other fantastic resources here for key stages 1-4.

Have you found any more resources you would like to share?

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PSHE lesson plans to inspire even the most disadvantaged kids

We have found some amazing lesson plans, worksheets and teaching resources to help kids manage the real tests that life throws at them, for instance take a look at this from the Children’s Society.

Obviously fantastic material won’t change a child’s life on its own – it’s down to the rapport that we as teachers can create, but a framework for inspiration that’s allows the conversation to take place can make an enormous difference.

That’s why we have a bit of trouble with Oliver James’ article in TES as well this article in influential US blog scientificblogger. While the scientific research may state that a child’s background is the main factor in his classroom behaviour and ultimate results, if we as teachers don’t believe that we can in some way affect genuine change in the behaviours of kids, we might as well not show up. The inspirational stories from this Guardian article are right on the money as far as we are concerned.

What the statistics don’t tell you is that even though we might not be able to improve the lives of every child in the classroom, we might be able to dramatically affect just one – and we think that’s got to be worth the effort.

Check out our website at www.free-teaching-resources.co.uk