Adapting your teaching technique to children of all ages
As a supply teacher, you may find that you teach a variety of age groups. It may be that you are literally going from teaching reception classes one day (where pupils can be as young as 4) to teaching year six pupils the next (up to the age of 12). There is a huge difference in ability between these ages and also the way the pupils learn varies.
At the age of four many children have a short attention span and they need to often visualise things to be able to start to understand them. By the age of twelve, many children will have a good basic knowledge of many of the subjects and will be able to start to imagine scenarios and can spend longer on one specific task without losing interest.
Many supply teaching agencies will offer their members advice and support on how to teach different age groups and many even have resources such as lesson plans and aids that you may be able to use in a specific year group.
