Are you preparing teacher-made instructional materials? Here's a guide

Preliminary Considerations in Designing Teaching Materials

(by Howard, J, et. al., Christchurch College of Education, New Zealand[1])

Preliminary Considerations

1. Contextualization

a.  The teaching material is aimed at a specific group of learners or a particular cultural or educational context.

b.   Resources – Teachers should consider the use of the best resources available in their teaching context.

2.   2. Individual Needs

a.  Modern teaching methodology increasingly emphasizes the importance of identifying and teaching to the individual needs of learners.

b. Teacher-designed materials should be responsive to the heterogeneity inherent in the classroom.

c.   In addition, teacher-prepared materials provide the opportunity to select texts and activities at exactly the right level for particular learners, to ensure appropriate challenge and levels of success.

3.  3.  Personalization – The teaching material should tap into the interests and take account of the learning styles of students.

4.  4.  Timeliness – Teachers should design their own materials to respond to local and international events with up-to-date, relevant and high interest topics and tasks.

5.  5.  Organization

a.  The teaching materials should be organized around an identifiable principle and follow a discernible pattern throughout while this can be rather dull and boring. However, without some overall organizing principle, materials may be piecemeal and can result in poorly focused activities lacking clear direction.

b.  Physical organization and storage of materials – Without a clearly thought through and well-organized system, teacher-produced materials may be difficult to locate for ongoing use, or may end up damages or with parts missing.

6.  6.    Quality – The materials should not contain errors, properly constructed, clear in layout and print and durable.

7.   7.  Time – The teachers must passionately believe in the materials.

8.  Pilot Testing (Trial Period) - The materials are pilot-tested before they are used by all the teachers and the learners.  

(*Note: I added number eight.)

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[1] Christchurch College was a college of education founded in 1873 located in Christchurch, New Zealand until it was amalgamated with the University of Canterbury and formed a new Faculty of Education with the university’s School of Education.