2-NATURE-OF-TEACHING.pdf

NATURE OF TEACHING  To give instruction to To train To cause to understand Teaching per se: is a phrase taken directly from the Latin, meaning “by itself,” and with the sense of “in and of itself.” The universal processes through which education and culture are transmitted across gene...

NATURE OF TEACHING  To give instruction to To train To cause to understand Teaching per se: is a phrase taken directly from the Latin, meaning “by itself,” and with the sense of “in and of itself.” The universal processes through which education and culture are transmitted across generation. GOAL OF TEACHING -To enable the young to survive on their own as they became adults and had families of their own  Teaching is a profession To graduate with a teaching degree, you are required to be relevantly and formally qualified and to have completed the appropriate teacher training.  Teaching to be effective: Must follow a well-organized process and system of activities Facilitate and evaluate learning of students It should be based on established principles and psychological theories  Open ended questions What are your reasons for teaching? Which are positive and which are negative? Is teaching a profession or a semi- profession? Is it an art or a science? What degree of autonomy or input should teachers have in making decision about the curriculum? What professional knowledge or content is most important in teaching?  Should teachers focus on the whole child or an academic skills? Can we define good teaching? Who should prepare, hire, and evaluate teachers? What philosophy of teaching is best for teaching students?  What theories of learning are most conducive to student’s learning? How do teachers maintain their mental health? What teaching organizations should teachers join? How can the working condition of teachers be improve?  The teaching act Teaching is a process because it necessarily involves a lot of activities, ideas, and material resources in order to achieve the best product. What is implied here is that the teacher must have a full view of what is going to transpire in the whole teaching and learning activities.  Teaching Behavior Establishment of a favorable classroom atmosphere Student-centered learning process Effective and efficient teaching must be considered  Effective classroom practices. 1. Teacher Clarity Clarifies the purpose and learning goals, and provides explicit criteria on how students can be successful. It's ideal to also present models or examples to students so they can see what the end product looks like. Classroom Discussion Teachers need to frequently step offstage and facilitate entire class discussion. This allows students to learn from each other. It's also a great opportunity for teachers to formatively assess (through observation) how well students are grasping new content and concepts. Feedback Students also need to be given opportunities to provide feedback to the teacher so that she can adjust the learning process, materials, and instruction accordingly. Formative Assessments Teachers need to assess frequently and routinely where students are in relation to the unit of study's learning goals or end product Metacognitive Strategies refers to methods used to help students understand the way they learn processes designed for students to 'think' about their 'thinking'.  Examples of Metacognitive Strategies By Chris Drew, PhD Self-Questioning. Self-questioning involves pausing throughout a task to consciously check your own actions. Without self-questioning we may lack humility and awareness of our own faults  Most importantly, we would not be able to improve because we never took the time to ask ourselves important questions like: Is this the best way to carry out this task? Did I miss something? Maybe I should check again. Did I follow the right procedure there? How could I do better next time? Am I looking at this task the right way? How can I do a better job at thinking about what I’m doing?  Meditation. Meditation involves clearing your mind. We could consider it to be a meta cognitive strategy because meditators aim to: Clear out the chatter that goes on in our heads. Reach a calm and focused state that can prime us for learning. Be more aware of our own inner speech.  Reflection involves pausing to think about a task. It us usually a cyclical process where we reflect, think of ways to improve, try again then go back to reflection. Reflection is metacognitive only if you consciously reflect on what your thought processes were and how to improve upon them next time.  Awareness of Strengths and Weaknesses. Central to metacognition is a person’s capacity to see their own strengths and weaknesses. Only through looking at yourself and making a genuine assessment of your weaknesses can you achieve self-improvement. One way to start looking at your strengths and weaknesses is to use a SWOT chart.  SWOT Strengths: write down what you perceive to be your strengths as a learner. Weaknesses: write down what you perceive to be your weaknesses as a learner. Opportunities: identify opportunities you may have to improve your cognitive skills in the coming weeks or months. Threats: identify potential threats that may prevent you from improving your cognitive skills in the coming weeks or months.  Awareness of Learning Styles. Learning styles theories such as Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences and Learning Modalities theories argue that different people learn in different ways.  Some common learning styles include: Visual: A visual learner learns best through images, graphics, TV documentaries and graphs. They are good at identifying patterns and matching complementary colours. Auditory: A visual learner learns best through listening rather than watching or reading. They enjoy being read stories and listening to podcasts. Kinesthetic: A kinesthetic learner learns best through movement. They like to learn by doing things rather than reading or listening. They are active rather than passive learners.  Logical-Mathematical: People who are logical- mathematical learners are good at using reasoning to find answers. They are good with numbers but may struggle with subjective issues in the humanities. Interpersonal: An Interpersonal learner loves learning through social interaction. They’re good at group work, have high emotional intelligence, and can compromise to get their job done. Intrapersonal: An intrapersonal learner is someone who likes to mull things over in their own heads. They’re happy to learn in silence and isolation and may find working with others to be a distraction.  If you are aware of how you learn (i.e. the way your brain processes information!) you may be able to use your strengths and work on your weaknesses more efficiently.  Mnemonic aids- are strategies you can use to improve your information retention. They involve using rhymes, patterns and associations to remember. ou might remember a name in one of the following ways: Rhyme: You meet a singer named Tom. You tell yourself “Tom would sing a song before long.” Now, next time you meet Tom the singer, you might be able to recall your rhyme to remember both his name and profession! Association: I have a sister named Vanessa. I always remember people named Vanessa because my head says “Oh, she has the same name as my sister!” every time I meet a Vanessa.  Writing Down your Working-This teacher is ensuring you are employing the right thinking processes and can show others how you went about thinking about the task. Thinking Aloud- The benefit of sociocultural theory‘s strategy of thinking aloud is that it makes you really think. You have to talk through what your brain is doing, making those thinking processes explicit.  Teachers will often ask students to speak out loud about what they’re thinking. It not only helps the student be more conscious of their cognitive processes, it also helps the teacher identify areas where the student is going astray.  Graphic Organizers also sometimes called cognitive tools, help us to consciously improve our thinking processes. They assist us in: Organizing our thoughts. Creating connections between things we know. Thinking more deeply about something. Visualizing processes and procedures.  The ideal graphic organizer will allow us to spill our thinking out onto a sheet or screen and shuffle and sort our thoughts to help us organize our minds better. By using a graphic organizer, we are more effectively thinking about our thinking.  The ideal graphic organizer will allow us to spill our thinking out onto a sheet or screen and shuffle and sort our thoughts to help us organize our minds better. By using a graphic organizer, we are more effectively thinking about our thinking.  Regulation Checklists A task based regulation checklist is usually created before a task begins. It will: List the thought processes required to succeed in the task. List the observable outcomes of higher order thinking linked to the task. List the checkpoints during the task where people should pause to reflect on their thinking.  Active Reading Strategies: are strategies that ensure you are concentrating while you read and actually comprehend the information. Underlining text: Underline key or important bits of information to highlight their importance in your mind. Using a ruler to read: place a ruler under the sentence you’re reading to help you focus on that line. Scan for the main ideas: In informational texts, you can scan for the information you need. Pay close attention to subheadings that give you a clue about where you will find the key information. Some approach to active reading is the reciprocal teaching approach. This approach emphasizes four more strategies: Questioning: Ask yourself questions or ask your friends questions to check comprehension. Summarizing: Try to sum up the page you just read in one or two sentences to check for comprehension before moving on. Active Listening Strategies strategies students use to ensure they are listening attentively. Turning your body to directly face the speaker. Making eye contact. Asking questions. Nodding when appropriate. Repeating what was said to you.  Teachers can directly teach and model active listening strategies to help students develop these metacognitive skills and internalize them for future use. Planning Ahead we often have to think about how we’ll go about a task. We might call it our “plan of attack”. involves thinking about what we’re going to do in order to complete a task.  During your planning phase, you might make decisions such as: Deciding what strategies you’ll use when your task, competition or activity begins. Tossing up a range of different thinking skills you might use when approaching a task. Reminding yourself not to make the same mistakes you made last time. Preparing some tools that will help you keep your thinking on track, such as preparing graphic organizers.  Final Thoughts When learners “think about their thinking” they are more capable of self- improvement. Metacognitive strategies can be learned, practiced and made into habits in order to improve learning, studying and thinking skills into the future.