Kapitano

12:11 Tuesday 7th August 2018

We watched Blink yesterday.

The children screamed at all the right parts. Then asked for more.

Today it was Midnight, and tomorrow we might do Dalek. But I'm inclined to try a two-parter - Silence in the Library/Forset of the Dead, or The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit.

I've shown Dr Who to almost every group I've taught, and every time...well, I'm not sure they retained any of the vocabulary, but they certainly enjoyed it.

Which means, in the long run, it works. Just not exactly as a teaching tool, but as a priming tool. And most teaching is really priming.

Occasionally a student will have a specific or difficult question, and the teacher is expected to be able to give a specific and detailed answer. But most of the time, our job is to give the basics and a vague outline of the more advanced stuff, giving the students a grounding for their own, more advanced study - from books, experiment, field work etc.

Not that most students actually <i>do</i> any more advanced study, but it's not my job to make them. Just like it's not my job to get them to class.

But that means the vocabulary I taught and hopefully they learned for Blink - Gate, Climb, Weep, Angel, Move, Fast etc. - will be quickly forgotten <i>but</i> more easily relearned, if/when they get taught it in school later, or come across it in real life.

Priming is pre-teaching. It's sketching a map of major landmarks, which is only useful when they draw their own better map.

If I can inspire them to draw their own map, that's good, but a separate task.