Introduction to Teaching | CT 100 University Notes
Module 1
Conception of teaching and learning
Teaching
is the set of events outside the learners designed to support internal process
of learning. Or is the purposeful intervention with the aim of promoting
learning and assuring learning to happen or a system of actions involving an
agent and in view and situation.
Important event of teaching
i.
An agent who is the teacher
ii.
An end in view which are students
iii.
The situations the environment of teaching
iv.
The subject matter-content to be learned.
Conception of teaching
Teaching as transmission process
This
view assumes that information is there to be acquired from the teacher by the
students. Involve are one way of information from the teacher to the students.
Advantages
1. Useful
for transmitting factual information such as dates.
2. Help
in concerning a lot of materials in short time.
3. Suitable
for passive learners.
4. Easy
to assess the level of knowledge gained through this teaching.
Disadvantages
1. Little
or no creativity is encouraged.
2. Very
linear and not suited to active learners and some intelligences.
b. Teaching as interaction process
Both
teacher and students participate and contribute in the generation of
information during teaching.
Possible
interaction patterns are:
Teacher
– student
Student
– teacher
Student
– student
Student
– resources
Advantage
1. Can
be highly interactive and engaging.
2. Foster
creativity and reasoning skills.
Disadvantage of interactive process
1. Not
suitable for passive leaners.
2. Time
consuming, therefore affect the coverage and materials.
c.
Teaching as transformation process
The
student utilize the knowledge gained to solve real problems.
Is teaching an art or science?
Teaching as an art
An
art is human creative skills and imagination, example, paint, sculpture, producing
work…
Teaching
is an art of interpretation and self-expression on the part of the teacher.
The
art comes from the teacher’s personality, experience and talent.
Teaching as a science
Science is about evidence, procedures and
strategies. Science in teaching comes from knowledge in a child development and
structure of the curriculum. Also, teaching follow the generalization research
about effective teaching.
Elements of communication
1.
Sender
Initiate
communication.
2.
Medium
The
carrier of information.
3.
Message
Communication
in writing, speech or signals.
4.
Receiver
It
is the individual to whom message is sent.
5.
Feedback
Occurs
when the receiver respond to sender
It
allow the sender to determine whether the message has been received and
understood.
Feedback
can be external (observables) or internal feedback. (Can’t be seen).
Barriers of communication
- Internal
barrier
- Fatigue
- Poor
listening skills
- Negative
attitudes
- Lack
of interest to the message
- Fear
- Emotions
- Other
problems. Eg. At home.
External
barriers
- Noise
- Time
of the day
- Sender
using too many technical words
Function of teachers
1.
Executive
function
- To
plan for teaching
- Manage
classroom
- Assess
and evaluate students
2.
Interactive
function
- To
provide direct face to face instruction to students by using a variety of
approaches.
3.
Organizational
function
- To
realize the school, college as social system with rules, regulation and
structure.
- Work
comfortably with other and the community.
Knowledge base for teaching
1. Content
knowledge
Knowledge
of the subject matter for the difference level of schooling.
2. Pedagogical
knowledge
Professional
aspects of teaching.
3. Pedagogical
content knowledge
Relationship
between pedagogical and content knowledge such as selection of an appropriate
approach in accordance with the nature of the subject student’s background and
environment.
4. Context
knowledge
An
awareness of the social, economic and economical atmosphere of the society and
institution.
Meaning of learning
Learning
is the process of acquiring knowledge, skills and attitude/value by study,
experience or instruction.
Theories of learning
1. Behaviorist
theory of learning
Learning
is defined in the behavior of the learner. Eg Pavlov dogs.
2. Cognitive
theories
It
focus on the inner mental activities.
To
understand how people learn.
Learning
is defined as change in learner’s schemata. Schema is an internal knowledge
structure.
3. Constructionist
The
learner is an information constructor.
People
actively create or construct their own subject representation of objective
reality. (Jean Brunner.)
4. Humanism
Leaning
is viewed as personal act to fulfill one potential. It focus on human freedom,
dignity and potential.
Piaget stages of cognitive development
1. Sensorimotor
stage 0-2 years
Learning
by looking, touching and sucking.
Experience
of the world through senses and actions.
2. Preoperational
stage 2-7 years
Uses
language and symbol.
Language
development.
3. Concrete
operations stage 7-11 years
Better
understanding of mental operations.
Children
start thinking logically about concrete events.
4. Formal
operation stage 12 up
Ways on how different people learn
1. Visual
learner
They
learn through seeing.
They
may think in pictures and learn best from visual displays including, diagrams,
and illustrated, textbooks and videos.
2. Verbal/auditory
learners
They
learn actively through verbal lectures discussions.
They
prefer to hear or read the information.
They
look for explanation with words.
3. Tactile/kinesthetic
learners
Learn
through moving, doing and touching.
Prefer
manipulate objects, do physical experiments and learn by trying.
Teaching/learning model
Before teaching
- Select
topic.
- Understand
different characteristics of students.
- Think
of various approach.
During teaching
- Choose
an approach.
- Carry
out accord nary
- Evaluate
students. Learn through assessment.
Types of teaching approaches
1. Transmission
teaching approaches
2. Interactive
and transformative approaches
3.
Transmission teaching approach
1. Lecture
method
Process
of delivering a body of knowledge. Students listen and take down notes.
Advantages
1. Efficient
for presenting facts or idea in a relatively short-time.
2. Suitable
for introducing subject.
3. Convenient
method for instructing large group.
4. Suitable
for supplicating material from other sources.
Disadvantages
1. Students
become passive rather than being active.
2. Encourage
one way communication.
3. Does
not create creativity to learners.
Drill and practice
Technique
which are carried out, after the initial teaching have taken place. Drill
emphasize is on repetition for the purpose of memorizing.
Advantages
1. Effective
for extending associates and skills.
2. Efficient
in refining skills and abilities that learned.
3. They
develop one ability to memorize.
4. Provide
a basic formation on which higher level cognitive skills are built.
Disadvantages
1. Tend
to become boring.
2. High
motivation may be difficult to develop due to repetition.
3. May
degenerate into a mere rate learning.
Demonstrative
It
combines, telling, showing and doing for the benefit of the learners.
Used
to teach the learners how to perform manipulative operations.
Advantage of demonstrations
1. Useful
for both large sized and small classes.
2. The
use of expensive equipment’s can be maximized.
Disadvantages
1. Is
not good for kinesthetic people.
2. There
is less reinforcement of teaching points if it used alone.
Interactive and transformative approaches
Discussions,
role play, field trips, independent projects, simulations, dramatization,
brainstorming and games.
Discussion
Take
place into different forms such as:
Whole
class discussions
Small
group discussions
Panel
discussion
Debate
Class
discussion involve the entire class.
The
teacher become the leader of the discussion.
This
method is suitable for small classes.
Advantages of class discussion
1. Student
practice oral communication skills.
2. Pull
the idea and experience from the group.
3. Effective
after a presentation.
Disadvantage of class discussion
1. Few
people can dominate.
2. Time
consuming.
3. Not
practical for a class with many students.
Small group discussions
Involve
dividing the class into small groups.
It
is useful for matured learners.
Teacher
appoint a group leader and record for each group.
The
recorder report to the class the summary of point discussed.
Size
of group, more than three and less than 7 is productive.
Panel discussion
Involve
four or five students assigned to give a few minutes talk about different
aspect of a chosen topic.
Advantages of panel discussion
Can
provide better discussion.
Frequent
changes of speaker keep attention.
Limitation of panel discussion
Subject
may not be in logical order.
Some
students will lack attention when saw the students they know are presenting.
Debate
Two
group of speakers talks for or against the action.
Role of debate to students
1. Require
the students to place themselves in a particular situation or role.
Limitation of debate
1. Not
appropriate for large groups.
2. People
may feel threatened.
Brainstorming
Designed
to stimulate creative thinking.
Encourage
full participation as all ideas are recorded.
Who
is complete may continue with evaluation of ideas.
One
idea can spark off other ideas.
Limitation of brainstorming
Can
be unfocused.
Need
to be limited, 5-7 minutes.
Field trip
Organized
visits to point of interests outside of classroom.
Learners
will see in reality or practice what they have studied in class.
Advantages of field trips
1. It
provide first hand learning experiences.
2. It
makes learning more meaningful and lasting.
3. Can
make the learners develop interests of the subject.
Disadvantage of field trips
1. It
involve transport costs.
2. Traveling
itself can be a risk.
3. A
lot of administrative works are involved in organizing.
4. Time
consuming and it may interrupt school time table.
Project method
Is
essentially learning designed and conducted by students under the guidance of
teacher.
The
student more autonomy in deciding what or how she/he is to learn.
Example:
Writing
a history of a local community.
Advantage of project method
1. Encourage
creativity.
2. Give
experience in planning and organizing.
3. Provide
a natural approach of learning.
Disadvantage of project method
1. It
need time.
2. It
is expensive.
3. Scheduling
the project is challenging.
Verbal presentation technique in
classroom
1. Loudness
of the voice.
2. Positioning
of the presenter.
3. Reasonable
movement.
4. The
use of gesture.
5. The
use of reinforcement.
Loudness of voice
Adopt
the volume of your voice to situation you are in.
Check
how quickly or slowly you can speak.
Think
about pitch or tone of your voice.
Your
voice must convey strength, confidence and warmth.
Face
your audience when you are speaking.
Do
not read your notes or presentation.
It
is perfectly acceptable to pause at points during presentation.
Reasonable movement
Use
the classroom as a stage.
Move
around to engage and interact with your learners.
Do
not stand on one spot the entire time.
Move
with purpose, do not move aimlessly.
Use gestures and facial expression
It
help to explain, emphasize and communicate.
Make
eye contact with your audience.
Use
body language at your audience. Make sure the class is with you.
When
the verbal and non-verbal message are contradictory, most people will believe
the non-verbal.
Ability
of the speaker to read the audience and speaking strategies impact transmission
of the message.
Use of questions
1. To
find out something one did not know.
2. To
find out whether someone knows something.
3. To
develop ability to think.
4. To
motivate student learning.
5. To
provide drill and practice.
6. To
help students organize materials.
7. To
emphasize important points.
Characteristics of good questions
1. Clear,
brief, concise and direct.
2. Thought
provoking.
3. Suited
to the age, abilities and interest of the learners.
Technique for questioning
1. Important
question should be prepared in advance
2. Question
should be asked in a conservation manner.
3. Question
should be addressed in a whole class.
4. Do
not repeat question unless there is a reason.
5. Question
should be fairly equally distributed to the member of class.
6. Use
wait time for student to think of a response or question to ask.
Handling student answers
1. Accept
all genuine answers sincerely but only approve correct one.
2. Don’t
make students feel afraid to make mistakes but do not encourage them to guess.
3. Use
fellow up question, in case student are not answering.
4. Answers
in union like class should not be allowed.
Bloom taxonomy of learning
Bloom
taxonomy of learning outcomes is divided into three taxonomy which are:
The
cognitive domain.
The
affective domain. (Feeling)
The
psychomotor domain. (Doing, hands)
The cognitive domain bloom taxonomy
Evaluation
Synthesis
Analysis
Application
Comprehension
Knowledge
Knowledge
To
know specific forms, facts, concept, principles and theories.
Knowledge
is to bring to mind or to remember.
Question
asked are:
What
did the book say about.
Define,
list, who invented?
Comprehension
Ability
to capture the meaning.
May
be seen from translating material from one form to another.
Questions
asked:
What
does the picture mean?
State
in your own words.
What
reasons are evidence?
Comprehension
is to understand, interpret, compare, contrast or explain.
Application
To
apply knowledge to new situation so as to solve problems.
If
you know a and b, how can you determine c?
What
will happen if?
Analysis
To
understand the organizational structure, to pull meaning from parts relations
and organizing principles.
Ability
to break materials to its components parts.
It
is not you who break things but the brain.
It
involve to understand the content and structure of the material.
Example,
what was the author purposes, bias or prejudice?
Which
are facts, which are opinions.
Synthesize
To
put parts together to form a new hole.
Example,
to collect information together to make a speech.
To
write a proposal.
Example,
can you develop a new way? Make up, what will you do if?
Evaluation
Is
to be able to judge something.
Example,
Define
the idea or the Kilimo Kwanza policy.
Use of teaching aids
They
are helpful tools for teaching a classroom with individual learners.
They
are used to reinforce an idea, skill or any other new information.
They
can be visual or audio or both visual and audio.
They
support the presentation of the teacher in the lesson.
The
can be inform of text, cartoons, graphs, photographs, maps or other real
objects.
They
also include videos, DVD’s and audio tape.
Using visual aid
Talk
to your audience and not to the material.
Do
not use visual aid unless they serve a clear purpose.
Use
the aid to support and not as a substitution.
For
a verbal presentation:
Use
a pointer if necessary.
Coordinate
the audio and visual.
Design
your visual with clarity and simplicity in mind.
Effective use of chalk board
Write
big enough to be seen to the back of the room.
Think
of organizational of materials on the board.
Fill
one part of a board at a time.
Do
not scrunch in wards at the bottom of the board or in the margin.
Underline
or mark major points.
Use
colored chalks to emphasize points.
Module 4
Developing classroom management skills
Meaning
of management
Management
is to handle, direct, govern or control in action or use.
Classroom
management refer to organization of learners, space, time and material for
learning to take place effectively.
Classroom management involve two levels
1. Prevention
of problems
Organizing
instructions.
Setting
rules and procedures.
Establishing
positive relationship.
Setting
the learning environment.
2. Response
to disruptions or problem
Nonverbal
response.
Verbal
response.
Penalties
or punishment.
Why classroom management?
- Minimize
instructional time.
- Make
learners attentive.
- Facilitate
appropriate use of materials.
- Prevent
destruction of properties.
- Ensure
securities for learners.
- May
lead to good learning outcomes.
Prevention of disruptions
- Organization
of instructions.
- Characteristics
of instructions.
- How
are lesson introduced.
- Are
student given a preview of what is to be covered?
- Are
pre requisite concepts or previously covered materials reviewed?
- Did
the teacher capture and keep students attentive?
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