PLANNING FOR LEARNING
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The following sample unit plans are intended to give a suggested overview as to how a subject department and individual teachers may schedule their academic year with First Year students using Touchstones 1. Three options have been generated for teachers to engage with. These are:
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Overview
genre-based units of learning learning-focused units of learning a mixture of genre-based and learning-focused units of learning
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In the first instance, unit plans have been developed for teachers to use on an individual basis.
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After the individual unit plans, you will find three suggested subject department plans. These have been designed to give a recommended outline of how a department might collaborate to plan for learning. These department plans are intended to complement the detailed unit plans. Teachers may decide to take a solely genre-based approach, a learning-focused approach or use a mixture of genre-based and learning-focused plans. All units have been designed working directly from the learning outcomes specified for First Year, whilst also balancing the text study demands as outlined in the specification.
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Blank templates have also been provided should you and/or your department decide to chart your own course through Touchstones 1.
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Rationale, learning outcomes and key learning in focus
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Often the hardest question to answer when selecting learning outcomes is… where to start? Quite often the easiest and most appropriate answer is to select learning outcomes that reflect where students currently are in their learning, i.e. base your learning outcome selection on their prior knowledge. The plan for each unit of learning given here provides a rationale for why the particular learning outcomes for this unit have been chosen.
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As learning outcomes are for three years and your students are at the very start, specific learning for that unit has been identified. Priority has been given in both the design of the book and subsequent planning to the twenty-two circled learning outcomes identified for First Year students in the Junior Cycle English specification – see curriculumonline.ie.
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Each unit also has a suggested learning intention. The book takes the approach of using one broad learning intention for students and teachers to apply across the whole unit, to help students stay focused on what it is they are learning to do. If you are designing your endof-year exams, these learning intentions may serve as appropriate section headings, around which to create tasks for your students.
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