Precision Teaching is an intensive method of simultaneously monitoring the accuracy and speed of a child's responses. Although highly effective, it is time-consuming and usually only practical with an individual child, or small group.

ACCURACY + SPEED = FLUENCY

HOW DOES A-MINUTE-A-DAY MAKE USE OF PRECISION TEACHING?

A-MINUTE-A-DAY enables teachers to offer all of their pupils systematic practice and monitoring of progress on a daily basis i.e. it retains the flavour of precision teaching. It does however drastically reduce the amount of teacher involvement, by involving the child's parents (and frequently, the whole family!)

IS A-MINUTE-A-DAY A SCHEME?

The games are not sequential. The teacher decides upon the skill which needs to be developed/assessed for an individual child, and then chooses the relevant game. Both books contain their own recording sheet, which can accompany the child's on-going school records - Useful evidence which will help avoid repetition, when the child changes class or school.

HOW WOULD I USE A-MINUTE-A-DAY?

Identify the skill you wish to sharpen/assess, photocopy the relevant game and, using a timer, ask the child to give you as many correct verbal responses as possible within one minute. This result will be the baseline. The child then takes the sheet home - with an explanatory letter (ready to photocopy in each book) and practises with a parent/helper for no more than 10 minutes a night, followed by a one minute test (score entered on the back of the sheet). The child returns the sheet to school each day and all that is required of the teacher, is A-MINUTE-A-DAY to monitor progress.

WHICH CHILDREN COULD BENEFIT FROM A-MINUTE-A-DAY?

A-MINUTE-A-DAY can be adapted to suit the needs of every child. A-MINUTE-A-DAY PHONICS (1st Edition) has been used extensively throughout the UK since 1993 in main-stream and special needs schools, and by parents educating their children at home. A-MINUTE-A-DAY MATHS was introduced in 1999 together with A-MINUTE-A-DAY PHONICS (2nd Edition). Remember - It is unimportant where a child begins. It's how much they improve, that counts. Often the slowest children are able to enjoy the most success, because they have the room for the greatest improvement. Children love competition - provided that the pressure is not too great. Let them compete against themselves. If they can answer six questions one night, make sure they can answer eight the next, and so on.

ARE THERE ANY OTHER WAYS I COULD USE AMAD?

Yes. Your imagination is your only limit! You could have a whole class competition, using one of the 3 content free games included in each book. Just tailor the questions to challenge each child (or group) and photocopy. If most of the class would benefit from one specific game but there are less able children who may be excluded, just blank out the questions, rephotocopy and insert more appropriate words/numbers. The content - free games can also be used to test sight vocabulary. The most able children will have no difficulty in reading thirty words in one minute, so throw them a challenge…'Now try to do it in 30seconds'. If they can't do it the first time, rest assured, they'll be back next day, ready to show you!! If you feel that to learn 30 phonically unrelated words (as in sight vocabulary) is too challenging for less able children, it may be wise to limit the number of new words to suit their ability. You can use the remaining spaces to repeat randomly and therefore reinforce, those words offering most difficulty. Encourage the children to challenge their family - It's a great motivator - They love to beat their parents and siblings!