My answer: to prepare them for life outside of school and after school.
I have found that the more relevant and explicit this link is for children, the more readily they engage, especially if the content is linked to something they care about outside of school.
For example, which would you think your children would get more excited about - learning decimals or working with money or learning how to become rich?
What? Learning how to become rich? Yes, working with money is more motivating for students, but if you amp it up even more, dramatise it a bit and attach a tangible reward, the investment, excitement and motivation in the lesson is amplified as well...
So, what bits of wisdom can you offer your students?
I just completed the planning of a whole day of teaching the children how to be rich. In fact, when I plan for relief around a theme, I tend to plan broadly for a range of activities for a range of subjects, so I could teach multiple grades over multiple days on the same subject. Basically, the idea is to take a topic of interest, amp it up, and teach skills or wisdom in that topic.
For example, on the topic of being rich:
Literacy - Learning to write a business plan, USP, persuasive letter to a client, news release to a reporter, marketing material, or a persuasive text on how your business will succeed (with points to consider provided).
Maths - Working with calculations to decide which is a better business choice, calculating returns on investments, calculating how long it takes for small sums of money to add up to large sums.
Social studies - Responsibilities associated with being rich. Plan as a class to take action on an issue now and execute in coordinated small groups.
Basically, I am working within the curriculum, but adding in relevant themes and wisdom they might otherwise never hear. How many of us learned about USPs while writing persuasive texts in literacy? Yet well written USPs can make the difference between being unknown or successful. While we all learn about calculating monetary sums in class, how many of us were taught how to handle that money and make wise decisions? My husband had to teach himself how to budget, and as a result of this, he is one of the few in his family who handles money wisely. Teaching our students such skills may be woven in naturally to the curriculum and give them an advantage they may not otherwise receive.
As a relief teacher, I am constantly reminded that my time with the children is limited, so I cannot continue such a large theme across a long amount of time usually. This leaves the children without the whole picture. However, I believe that even with one day, a difference can be made, skills can be taught, a passion can be sparked, a journey can begin, and the influence can last much longer. Choosing a huge topic, such as being rich, and starting with small, practical goals can be exciting enough to become a memory that pushes them to greater things. As a child, I hated the news, but I there are single news stories that impacted me, which I will never forget, and that was in a fifteen minute time span, but we have hours with the children. Let's make our lessons memorable, inspiring, practical, and worthwhile!
What real-world wisdom do you have that you believe students should learn about in class?
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