The teaching of myths: planning a scheme of work Student teachers' comments about planning the Myths Scheme of Work
Planning the scheme of work around 'a sequence of core activities' as opposed to a single lesson or even 'lesson by lesson' was different from the earlier planning tasks: it required thought, not about discrete lessons, but about how a topic might be broken down into (for example) weekly units, and how individual lessons need to connect meaningfully not just to those immediately preceding and following them, but to the overall sequence of lessons for the unit.
I felt like I had a context to each lesson and I know where I am heading.
It meant taking a broader perspective on planning, looking beyond the one lesson.
The longer view encouraged me to develop my personal rationale for teaching any literary text.
It made me ask myself: where is this headed and what is it about myths or about literature in general that I think is important for the pupils to take away from the 4-week unit. Interestingly, planning with peers revealed both commonalities and strong differences in our views of literature and its place in the curriculum.
I found it liberating and encouraging to devise the SOW and relating the SOW to the NC was not difficult or constraining, maybe because I started with my ideas about the content and my enthusiasm for it.
I had to plan around the needs of particular learners that I know quite well and identify the more important outcomes of each unit of work.
It gave me the licence to try out on paper a variety of activities that I haven't had a chance to do before.
It placed 'progression' at the centre, progression in terms of how one lesson might build on another, but also more broadly in terms of Year 8's developing skills: where do I want them to go as pupils of literature and how will reading and writing and performing myths add to that?
At a glance I could see if I had used a variety of approaches including a range of pupil groupings.
