Methods of Teaching Notes: 1st semester | B.ed Hons | UoB

Subject: Methods of Teaching   (Notes)

A teaching method comprises the principles and methods used for instruction. Commonly used teaching methods may include class participation, demonstration, recitation, memorization or combinations of these.

Methods of instruction

Explaining

Explaining or lecturing is the process of teaching by giving spoken explanations of the subject that is to be learned. Lecturing is often accompanied by visual aids to help students visualize an object.

Demonstrating

Demonstrating is the process of teaching through examples or experiments. For example, a science teacher may teach an idea by performing an experiment for students. A demonstration may be used to prove a fact through a combination of visual evidence and associated reasoning.

Collaborating

Collaboration allows students to actively participate in the learning process by talking with each other and listing to other points of view. Collaboration establishes a personal connection between students and the topic of study and it helps students think in a less personally Group projects and discussions are examples of this teaching method. Teachers may employ collaboration to assess student’s abilities to work as a team, leaders, skills or presentation abilities.

Learning by Teaching

In this teaching method, students assume the role of teacher and teach their peers. Students who teach others as a group or as individual must study and understand a topic well enough to teach it to their peers. By having students participate in the teaching process, the gain self-confidence and strengthen their speaking and communication skills.

Principles of Learning

Educational psychologists and pedagogues have identified several Principles of Learning, also referred to as laws of learning, which seem generally applicable to the learning process. These principles have been discovered, tested, and used in practical situations. They provide additional insight into what makes people learn most effectively. Edward Thorndike developed the first three "Laws of learning:" readiness, exercise, and effect. Since Thorndike set down his basic three laws in the early part of the twentieth century, five additional principles have been added: primacy, recency, intensity, freedom and requirement.

Readiness

Readiness implies a degree of concentration and eagerness. Individuals learn best when they are physically, mentally, and emotionally ready to learn, and do not learn well if they see no reason for learning. If students have a strong purpose, a clear objective, and a definite reason for learning something, they make more progress than if they lack motivation. In other words, when students are ready to learn, they meet the instructor at least halfway, simplifying the instructor’s job.

Exercise

The principle of exercise states that those things most often repeated are best remembered. It is the basis of drill and practice. It has been proven that students learn best and retain information longer when they have meaningful practice and repetition. The key here is that the practice must be meaningful. It is clear that practice leads to improvement only when it is followed by positive feedback.

Effect

The principle of effect is based on the emotional reaction of the student. It has a direct relationship to motivation. The principle of effect is that learning is strengthened when accompanied by a pleasant or satisfying feeling, and that learning is weakened when associated with an unpleasant feeling. Every learning experience should contain elements that leave the student with some good feelings. A student’s chance of success is definitely increased if the learning experience is a pleasant one.

 

Recency

The principle of recency states that things most recently learned are best remembered.
Conversely, the further a student is removed time-wise from a new fact or understanding, the more difficult it is to remember. For example, it is fairly easy to recall a telephone number dialed a few minutes ago, but it is usually impossible to recall a new number dialed last week. The closer the training or learning time is to the time of actual need to apply the training; the more apt the learner will be to perform successfully.

 

Intensity

The principle of intensity implies that a student will learn more from the real thing than from a substitute. For example, a student can get more understanding and appreciation of a movie by watching it than by reading the script. Likewise, a student is likely to gain greater understanding of tasks by performing them rather than merely reading about them.

 

Freedom

The principle of freedom states that things freely learned are best learned. Since learning is an active process, students must have freedom: freedom of choice, freedom of action, freedom to bear the results of action—these are the three great freedoms that constitute personal responsibility. If no freedom is granted, students may have little interest in learning.

Requirement

The law of requirement states that "we must have something to obtain or do something." It can be ability, skill, instrument or anything that may help us to learn or gain something. A starting point or root is needed; for example, if you want to draw a person, you need to have the materials with which to draw, and you must know how to draw a point, a line, a figure and so on until you reach your goal, which is to draw a person.

Cooperative Learning refers to a variety of teaching methods in which students’ works in small groups to help one another learn academic subject. In cooperative classrooms, students are expected to help each other, to discuss and argue with each other, and to assess each other’s current knowledge and fill in gaps in each other’s understandings cooperative work plan rarely replaces teacher instruction. It replaces individual seatwork, individual study and individual practice. When properly organized, students in cooperative groups work with each other to make certain that everyone in the group has mastered the concepts being taught.

Implementation Guidelines: Cooperative Learning

1: Objectives

Be sure that learning outcomes for the lesson are clear to each member of the group

2: Monitoring and Intervening

Monitor students’ performance continuously (circulates to listen and observe group in action; note problems in completing assignments or working cooperatively.

3: Evaluation and processing

Evaluate the quality and quantity of students’ learning. Assess how each group functions. (Give feedback about how well the members worked one another and how they could improve.

4. Decisions

Decide on the size of the groups. (Typically from 2 to 6 depending on the lesson’s objective, the time available and the teacher’s experience using small group methods.)
Assign students groups. Don’t use ability grouping [high ability students grouped together and how ability students grouped together]; group by interests or birthday months or color of eyes, etc. you want mixed ability group.

Effective Teaching

Effective teachers believe their students are capable of learning and they can teach them successfully. If students do not learn from a lesson, these teachers teach it again using a different method, perhaps and different materials.

Effective teacher organize life in the classroom so that time is used for learning and students are not sitting at their desks with nothing to do or roaming around the classroom.

Effective teachers move through the curriculum at a pace that challenges students to keep up but in relatedly small steps to minimize frustration and allow continues progress.

Effective teachers are active teachers in that they demonstrate skills, explain concepts, design problems for students to solve and review regularly. They emphasize understanding and application of knowledge. They provide ample opportunity for practice. They encourage students to take personal responsibility for learning. They move around the classroom continuously to maintain contact with students.

Effective Teachers;

Set goals for instruction that is at a just manageable level of difficulty for students

Build learning in small steps

Connect new concepts to knowledge students have already acquired

Monitor students work and provide feedback

Ask good question

Achieve appropriate pacing for instruction

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Demonstration Method:

Use the demonstration or “doing” method to teach skills. Demonstrate step-by-step, the procedures in a job task, using the exact physical procedures is possible. While demonstrating, explain the reason for and the significance of each step. To be effective, plan the demonstration so that you will be sure to show the steps in the proper sequence and to include all steps. If teacher must give the demonstration before a large group or if the trainees might have trouble seeing because of the size of the equipment involved. Use enlarged devices or training aids. When practical, allo trainees to repeat the procedure in a “hands on” practice session to reinforce the learning process. By immediately correcting the trainees’ mistakes and reinforcing proper procedures, you can help them learn the task more quickly. The direct demonstration approach is a very effective method of instruction, especially when trainees have the opportunity to repeat the procedures.

Techniques used in the demonstration method:

            The basic method of instruction for teaching skill-type subject matter is the demonstration-performance method of instruction. This method is recommended for teaching a skill because it covers all the necessary steps in an effective learning order. The demonstration step gives trainees the opportunity to see and hear the details related to the skill being taught. Those details include the necessary background knowledge, the steps or procedure, the nomenclature, and the safety precaution. The repetition step helps the average and slow learners and gives the trainees an additional opportunity to see and hear the skills being taught.

Advantages:

1.   This method of teaching serves as model laboratory

2.   Experiment shown as demonstration points out this matter of observation and indicates this inference.

3.   It makes the pupils familiar with the nature and apparatus.

4.   Experiments requiring special skill will merely be shown by the teacher. In this method no time is wasted.

5.   Teacher’s time is properly utilized in watching the students doing experiments.

6.   While doing practical, there remains no necessity for explanting except educating precautions.

7.   This method proves more useful if the pupils are told beforehand that they are going to do practical in the laboratory.

Disadvantages:

1.   There is danger of students being dishonest when teacher has to play the main role in the discussion and demonstration of the topic.

2.   Teachers may be tempted to lecture rather than to teach.

3.   Teachers do not try for more experiments than those given in the text book prescribed.

4.   Oral discussion may not be encouraged, since it will go to restrict the demonstration experiment.

5.   Practical as required may not hand in hand with demonstration work.

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Teacher – Student Relationship

Learn something about each student. Everyone likes to be known by others. If someone knows your interests and some details about your life that are important to you, that usually means that person likes you. You will have so many students in your class that it will be hard to remember many things about their lives. You can keep a small notebook in which you record answers to these questions (or others) for each student:

·         Where were you born?

·         How many brothers and sister do you have?

·         What are some things about your family that make you especially proud?

·         What are you hobbies? What sports do you like/ play?

Act in ways that show you have an interest in each student

You can greet each one of them by name when they come into the classroom in the morning. You can look at them directly when you talk with them. As indicated previously, you can move around the classroom frequently so you can make individual comments to students during a lesson.

Use smiles and humor appropriately.

·         Keep a book of jokes and cartoons at your desk and read or

·         Laugh at yourself when you make a silly mistake.

·         Laugh with you students when their laughter is appropriate.

·         If smiling in school is not culturally appropriate in Pakistan, Smile often.

Consistently enforce positive and negative consequences

Establish positive consequences when rules and procedures are followed carefully and negative consequences when rules are broken and procedures are ignored.

            This class is a team: I am your coach.

            Each of you is important to the Team’s success.

If you need help, ask and you will get it.

Don’t be afraid of mistakes; mistakes help you to learn.

Leave highly personal emotional reactions to students at the classroom door.

This doesn’t mean that you will never show emotion in class but if does mean that your emotional reactions (negative reactions, in particular) will not be extreme and that these reactions will be directed towards events and not towards peoples.

Maintain a cool exterior:

·      Speak directly to the student in calm and respectful voice

·      Look directly at the student when you speak without an angry expression on you face or in your eyes.

·      Speak in a clam and even tone of voice

·      Comment on the student’s behavior.

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Direct Instruction

Direct instruction is a theory of education based on the assumption that best way to teach is with scripted lesson plans that cannot be changed. Critics argue that Direct Instruction is ‘canned’ teaching that puts handcuffs on good teachers and gives total control of lessons to teacher. Students are not allowed to learn by exploration and discussion is not included in the lessons.

Steps in a Direct Instruction Lesson:

·                     Introduction/ Review: The first step is for the teacher to gain the students’ attention. Students are told what they will know or be able to do at the end of a lesson and why the knowledge or skill is important to them. This step can be in the form of review and eliciting prior knowledge or it can be an introduction to new information.

·                     Development of Lesson: When the teacher is sure students understand what they will have learned from the lesson, s/he shows them what the learning outcomes will look like by modeling what they will know or be able to do. This step includes clear explanation and lots of examples, both verbal and visual. It is a small lecture with lots of explanations and examples. The teacher continuously checks for understanding by asking questions and encouraging students to ask questions if they don’t understand.

·                     Guided Practice: When the teacher is confident that students understand what they are expected to learn, they begin to practice under the strict guidance of the teacher.

·                     Closure: After a sufficient number of errors free trails, the teacher reviews the lesson including the earning outcome and assigns independent practice worksheets.

·                     Evaluation: Student progress is assessed during the lesion and or as a culminating event. For those students who haven’t learned, the lesson is repeated.

Although there are direct instruction lesson for reasoning and comprehension, direct instruction is most effective for learning basic skills in reading, mathematics, spelling and handwriting. There are variations within the class of teaching theories called direct instruction.

Lesson Plan:

A lesson plan is a teacher's detailed description of the course of instruction for one class. A daily lesson plan is developed by a teacher to guide class instruction. Details will vary depending on the preference of the teacher, subject being covered, and the need and/or curiosity of students. There may be requirements mandated by the school system regarding the plan. Lesson are supposed to learn), how the goal will be reached (the method, procedure) and a way of measuring how well the goal was reached (test, worksheet, homework etc.)

Developing a lesson plan

While there are many formats for a lesson plan, most lesson plans contain some or all of these elements, typically in this order:

·         Title of the lesson

·         Time required to complete the lesson

·         List of required materials

·         List of objectives, which may be behavioral objectives (what the student can do at lesson completion) or knowledge objectives (what the student knows at lesson completion)

·         The set (or lead-in, or bridge-in) that focuses students on the lesson's skills or concepts—these include showing pictures or models, asking leading questions, or reviewing previous lessons

·         An instructional component that describes the sequence of events that make up the lesson, including the teacher's instructional input and guided practice the students use to try new skills or work with new ideas

·         Independent practice that allows students to extend skills or knowledge on their own

·         A summary, where the teacher wraps up the discussion and answers questions

·         An evaluation component, a test for mastery of the instructed skills or concepts—such as a set of questions to answer or a set of instructions to follow

·         A risk assessment where the lesson's risks and the steps taken to minimize them are documented.

·         Analysis component the teacher uses to reflect on the lesson itself —such as what worked, what needs improving

·         A continuity component reviews and reflects on content from the previous lesson