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Thursday, May 31, 2012

Field trip

Field trip strategy
Field trip was introduced in 1827 by George Shilibees for a Quarter School at Abney Pared in Slode Newington, London, United Kingdom.
Definition-A field trip is a visit to a place outside the regular classroom designed to achieve certain objectives which cannot be achieve by using other means..
Features of field trip
  •   It facilitate the learning of abstract concepts.
  •   It motivates students through increased interest and curiosity.
  •   It increases student-student and student-teacher social interaction.
  •   Develops social awareness.
Purpose of field trip
  •   It enhance the curriculum.
  •   Renewal by saving from boredom and refreshing.
  •   Give students experiential learning experiences.
  •   Concrete skills such as note taking.
  •   Involvement in real world experience makes learning more meaningful and memorable.
  •   It helps students appreciate the relevance and importance of what they learn in the class.
Types of field trip
1.       Instructional trips- It is a visit by the class or group of classes to a location outside the regular classroom.
2.       School contest of festivals- It is to provide an opportunity for student s to demonstrate knowledge and skills developed through subject area instruction.
3.       Motivation trips- it is going out with our own interest and it provide a motivational initiative for the school, clubs, class and it is related to improving the school climate. 
Steps involved
Her e there are six steps involved which are as follows;
  •        Trip selection.
  •        Logistics planning.
  •        Field trip preparation or pre-trip discussion.
  •     The Field Trip.
  •        Post field trip.
  •        Evaluation of the trip.
And this strategy is having advantages and the disadvantages which are as follows;
Advantages
  •   Real world experience.
  •   Increase in quality of education.
  •   Improvement of the social relation.
Disadvantages
  •   Expensive.
  •   Time consuming.
  •   Lack of support from school administration fort he field trip.
  •   Poor student’s behavior and attitude.
  •   Shortage of resources and choice of venue.
  •   Medical risk

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Role Play




FOUNDER OF ROLE PLAY 
  •          Physician Jacob L. Moreno (1889-1974) in Vienna.
  •          The term "role" comes from the "rolled-up" script actors used to use over two thousand years ago in Ancient Greece.   
WHAT IS ROLE PLAY?
  •          Role-play is any speaking activity when you either put yourself into somebody else’s shoes, or when you stay in your own shoes but put yourself into an imaginary situation!  
 
WHY USE ROLE PLAY

  •         It’s fun and motivating 
  •         Quieter students get the chance to express themselves in a more forthright way 
  •         The world of the classroom is broadened to include the outside world 
  •         Teaching communication skills. 
  •         Identifying options and solutions.  
  •         Managing conflict. 
  •         Practicing newly acquired competencies. 
  •         Exploring attitudes toward reactions and situations.

VALUES OF ROLE PLAY
  •           Engage participants in better understanding of the motivation behind their behavior and emotions. 
  •           Enable participants to practice newly acquired competencies in a safe environment, such as communication skills, problem-solving or conflict management. 
  •           Provide analysis of learner's reactions and responses through direct and immediate feedback.
Principles of role-play
•Match the role play to the target concept
•Choose the technique with care.
–Pairs
–Small groups
–One group presenting and other observing
–Form groups of appropriate size.
•Take Your Students Where You Find Them
–issues that matters and interest them
–Meaningful problems are better teachers
•Ask Leading Questions and Let Them Talk
•Allow time for questions and discussion of the scenarios.
•Define the student’s roles
•End the role play as soon as the problem is resolved (don't let it drag on).
•Leave time for discussion afterwards.
•Be Mindful
Purpose of Role Play 

  •          To stimulate interest among the students because children have always enjoyed learning through mimicking and duplicating the actions of others including their parents and peers.
  •          For long term retention-Learning by acting. People enjoy playing, especially young people. If students are already motivated to play, learning through play would become even easier.
  •          For cognitive learning method-Role playing encourages the use of critical thinking because it involves analyzing and problem solving, therefore role play is a cognitive learning method. 
  •          Role-playing teaches many lessons; some of the most important lessons it teaches are lessons that are needed in society, competition, cooperation and empathy. 
  •          It enhances active participation and decision making-Participation in role-play allows students to make decisions, and through the feedback he or she receives, he sees the results of his actions, and can therefore learn how to adjust his words and actions to produce more likeable results. 
  •          For the exchange of knowledge-Role-play allows exchange of knowledge between students.The teacher is also able to see the various capabilities of students at the same time. 
  •          To develop communication skills and build confidence-Role-play allows interaction between classmates and peers. It also allows introverted students to speak out. It helps to break down ”cliques”

Procedure of the Role Play

 1.   Prepare class for role-play
  •         Present an artificial problem, situation or event that represents some aspect of reality.
  •         Define the problem, situation and roles clearly.
 2.   Give clear instructions
  •         Determine whether role-plays will be carried out using student volunteers in front of the class (the teacher may or may not play a role), in partnerships/small groups with every student playing a role, or in small groups with role-players and observers.
  •          Divide students into groups, if appropriate.Using Small Group Activities
  •          Model the skill with a scripted role-play.
 3.   Act out role-plays
  •          Students follow the procedure outlined by the teacher to act out role-plays.
  •          Unless the teacher is playing a role, it is helpful to walk around the room and observe how students are experiencing the role-play and offer coaching to students who are stuck.
Discussion (small group and whole class)
  •          Begin by allowing players to communicate feelings experienced during the role-play.
  •          Have students identify sexual health skills that were demonstrated during the role-play.
  •          Determine actions that strengthen or weaken these skills (i.e. body language).
  •          Discuss how this role-play is or isn’t similar to real life. 
  •          Identify ways of using identified sexual health skills in real life situations. 
ALTERNATIVES TO TRADITIONAL PROCEDURE
  •          Have students write role-plays as scripts.
  •          Have students write down responses and then role-play in front of the class.
  •          Have students generate a list of challenging “lines”, then have a student read the lines to the class and have each student give a response.
  •          Have students develop and act out plays. 
TIPS FOR USING ROLE-PLAY
  •         Begin with fairly easy situations and work up to more challenging ones.
  •         Be aware that some students may feel threatened or self-conscious. Using humor can help dispel embarrassment. Using role-plays that exaggerate weak responses might break the ice.
  •         Reduce the level of abstraction or complexity so that the students may become directly involved with underlying concepts.
  •          If students find it difficult to determine skills which model sexual health, they could observe successful role models or ask experts to suggest approaches. 
Merits and Demerits of Role Play Strategy.

Merits of Role-play Strategy
1.Student interest in the topic is raised.
2.Active Participation.
3.Long-term retention.
4.It enhances communication and interpersonal skills.
5.It can be used with individuals or in group situations.
6.It teaches empathy and understanding of different perspectives.
7.It help individuals to learn to accept both their own feelings and those of others.
8.It develops confidence and self-efficacy.
9.Provides teacher immediate feedback about the learner’s understanding and ability to apply concepts.
10. It develops competence. 
          11. It is useful for a range of topics, including interviewing, counseling skills, personal relationships, and team working.
12. They require mental and physical activity e.g. gesturing to put forward a point. 13. Reduces discipline problems which often arise from boredom and lack of motivation.

Demerits of Role-play Strategy
1.Role play may awaken previously subdued or suppressed emotions.
2.Less effective in large groups (Chaos).
3.Teacher must accept her new role where she/he does not dominate the class anymore.
4.Embarrassment for some students.
5.Can lack focus unless well planned and monitored.
6.Can be unpredictable in terms of outcomes. Can be time-consuming.

Friday, May 11, 2012

Activities Based Teaching Strategy


concept:
  • Is the form of teaching where the learner is actively engaged in a task.
  • Focus is on making the abstract concrete and on learning by doing
  • Can be teacher-driven - with direction from an instructor - or learner-driven with the learner having freedom to explore.
Principles 
  • Encourage contact between student and faculty.
  • Develops reciprocity and cooperation among students.
  • Practical uses active learning techniques.
  • Emphasizes time on task.
  • Communicates high expectations 
  • Respects diverse talents and ways of learning(respecting each other talents).
Types/Kinds

1. Absorb-type
  • Include presentations, demonstrations, stories, and field trips.
  • Informs the learner.

2. 
  Do-type
  • Include practice, discovery, and playing game.
  • Allows the learner to practice what they’ve learned.
  • learner is able to actively seek, select, and create knowledge.
3.  Connect-type
  • Provide a way to link learning to life, work and future learning.
  • Lets the learner put what they’ve learned to use.
Criteria for organizing activities

1. Should be relevant.
 
2.   Time bound.
3.  Should contain meaning .
4.  Involves real world experiences.
5. Involves skills (listening, speaking, writing, etc.
6. Engage cognitive progress. (selecting, classifying, ordering and reasoning).
7. Have particular out come.
 
Procedural steps
      1. Planning.
      2. Instructions.
      3. Monitoring.
      4. Evaluating.
Role of the teacher
  1. Plan and prepare in advance.
  2. Giving instruction. 
  3.  Facilitating.
  4. Debriefing.
  5. Clarifying learners' doubts.
  6. Set up routines and expectations for learning.
  7. Monitor the results using appropriate assessment strategies and recording devices, e.g., checklists, rubrics etc.
  8. Choose activities that are relevant and stimulating for students.
  9. Provide opportunities for students to present to an appropriate audience. 
  10. Observe group dynamics and co-operation.
  11. Support and encourage students.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Demonstration Strategy

Definition of demonstration:

  • An act of showing something by giving proof or evidence.
  • An instance of somebody showing and explaining how something works.
 Demonstration strategy
  • ¨Demonstration method is a visual approach to examining information, ideas and processes
  • It is a teaching method that allows students to see the teacher actively engaged as a learner and a model rather than merely telling them what they need to know
Some of the silent features.
  • learning by seeing (visibility)
  • take them by step by step (instruction)
  • if students already know the concept then ask question like 'what would be the next step?'. (gaining of attention) 
Purpose
Teacher-allows learner to view a real/life like.Example of skill or a procedure to learn.
Students- allows to demonstrate mastery.
Why to demonstration?
  1. To stimulate interest in a particular topic: attracts students attentions and create interest  that the written  or spoken word cannot.
  2. To illustrate points efficiently: it is useful when time or explanation alone is not sufficient.
  3. To provide a change of pace:giving a students a break from other modes of instruction(verbal ones). it also avoids the boredom.
  4. lack of equipment: demonstration is more effective when the shortage of resources.
  5. Time constraint.
  6. Risky experiment: All teacher are aware that all the experiment are not safe especially for small children (chance of hurting and burning or causing accidents). Hence teachers need to perform the experiments by themselves.
Steps/procedural involved
  1. Carefully plan the demonstration
  2. Practice the demonstration
  3. develop on outline to guide the demonstration
  4. make sure everybody can see the demonstration
  5. introduce the demonstration to focus attentions
  6. ask and encourage questioning
  7.  plan a follow up to the demonstration
Merits
  • seeing before doing
  • task guidance: can be guided step by step
  • Economy of supplies:Less supplies needed because not everyone needs to handle materials
  • Safety: Allows teacher to control potentially dangerous materials  or machinery instead of students.
Demerits
  • Not hand on: not direct hand on experience for students unless being lead to step by step
  • limited view: students may not have an equal view of demonstration, so some ways miss an aspect of the demonstration
  • Pacing issue: Not all the students ca follow the steps.

Monday, April 16, 2012

PROJECT TEACHING STRATEGY TEACHING


Definition 
A project is any activity, individual or group, involving the investigation and solution of problems, planned and carried out to conclusion under the guidance of the teacher.”
-Callahan & Clark.

Features:  
  •        It extends beyond classroom teaching.
  •       The method is carried out in natural setting or real life situations.
  •      This method involves investigation and solution to practical problems.
  •      It demands and ensures active participation from the students. 
  •       Involves effective interaction between the student and the social environment.
  •       Creates an opportunity to acquire or practice social skills.
  •       Enables the students to study functional aspects of the subjects learnt.
  •       The teacher acts as a facilitator or a guide and thus promotes independent learning.

Principles of Project Strategy/method
  1. Principle of Utility: the learned knowledge gained from the project is useful to learner.
  2. Principle of Readiness: Learners choose the interested topic, so builds willingness and readiness to do the project.
  3. Principle of Learning by Doing: Learners acquire knowledge by doing research by themselves, so learning becomes more realistic and memorable.   
  4. Principle of Freedom at Work: The teacher acts only as a guide and facilitator in using this method of teaching. The students enjoy a high degree of freedom and it facilitates the emotional and intellectual development process in the learners. The learners learn to be accountable and responsible of their own obligations and develop a sense of belongingness to the work assigned.
  5.  Principle of Socialization: Learner have direct contact with the social environment, they acquires   social skills necessary to adjust and live in a society. 
Types of Project Work.
  •  Projects involving construction or production of a useful article/object to “embody some or      plan in external form”—Produce Type.
  •  Projects providing opportunities for appreciation of some aesthetic experience—Consumer Type.
  •  Projects involving study and investigation of practical situations/problems-Investigation Type.
  •   Projects providing opportunities for mastery of certain skills—Drill Type
The Investigation Type of Project Work – Stages (Diana & L. Booth)
  Stage I: Classroom Planning

Step 1: Providing a set of tasks/problems for study
Step 2: Selecting a task/problem for study
Step 3: Formulation of hypothesis (for problems undertaken)
Step4: Planning/designing methods to investigate

Stage II: Execution

Step 1: Collection of data
Step 2: Organizing and interpreting data
Step 3: Review

Step III: Conclusion

Step 1: reporting and incorporating additions/deletions
Step 2: Evaluation

How to plan a project work?
A.   How to select topics?
       While selecting the topics for project work the following points should be considered:

  •              The topic should be related to the syllabus content.
  •             The topic should be appropriate to the class level.
  •            The information on the topic should be available in the school and the community.
  •          Students should be given a range of specific topics to choose from. 
  •          The topic should enhance the application of the concept learnt in the classroom.

B.   What is the format for the project work write up?
The format for project work write up should include the following parts.

i.                    Title
ii.                  Table of contents
iii.                Introduction (what is the topic about? Why is it chosen?)
iv.                Method      -How is the information collected?
                              -How is the information sorted out?
                              -How is the information analyzed? 
     
v.                  Conclusion. 
  The conclusion should reflect the following:
a.       Summary of the findings
b.      Students’ experiences and opinion regarding the project work such as how he/she found the project    work (difficult, challenging), how it has been beneficial to his/her learning. 

vi.    Acknowledgement
  • .       Recognition of the help received

vii.               References 
a.       List of the sources of information.

C. How to collect information?
i.                    know what information to collect
ii.                  identify possible sources of information (persons, places, books, etc.)
iii.                develop some questions to collect the information
iv.                plan field visits if any
v.                  keep notes of observations, interviews, readings
vi.                collect samples
vii.              make sketches, tables, graphs and diagrams related to the topic.

D.   How to compile information for presentation?
The students might collect lot of information. All the information may not be required and he/she should be able to sift and screen the information that is appropriate and relevant to the project topic. They should:
i.                    sort out and select the important information
ii.                  put the information order
iii.                use the information for writing the project work
The students should prepare the first draft and show it to the teacher. The students should incorporate the changes and comments recommended by the teacher. Then students should rewrite and present the final project work.

E.   Some Dos and DON’Ts
The students should follow the following instructions.
DOs
  •  The project work should be written on a fullscap paper in the students’ own handwriting.
  • Necessary illustrations should be drawn or sketched with pencil.
  • The students can use simple colours.
  • The project work should be written in students’ own words and not copied directly from the books except for quotes.
i.                 
DON’T
  •             Use of pictures cut from books and magazines available in schools and photocopying should not be allowed.
  •                        Students should not do unnecessary decorations of their project work using sketch and marker pens.
  •                        Students should not decorate the cover page using glossy and colour paper.
  •                        Students should not use folders and folders to enclose the project work.

F.   Lengths of the project work
      
       Class VI               -           150      to         300 words
       Class VII              -           250      to         400 words
       Class VIII             -           350      to         600 words
       Class IX                -           700      to         1000 words
       Class X                 -           1000    to         1500 words

How do you assess a project work?
A. Content (70 marks)
While assessing the content of the project work look at the following criteria.
  1.          Is the information presented in the PW relevant to the topic? 
  2.          Is the information presented in the PW accurate?
  3.          Are the ideas presented in a logical order?
  4.          Are the illustrations appropriate?
  5.         Is the language used appropriate to the class level?
  6.         Is the project written in student’s own handwriting? 
  7.          Are there grammatical errors?
  8.         Has the required information been included?
  9.        Has the summing up or conclusion been done correctly?

B.   Presentation (10 marks)
  • Is the PW presented neatly?
  • Is the layout according to the given format?
  • Is the writing legible?
  • Is the PW written within the prescribed word limit?
C.        Process (20 marks)
  • Is there a proper planning done for the PW?
  • Is the PW carried out as per the plan?
  • Are the sources of information authentic?
  • Is the PW handed on time?

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Questioning Strategy.

PURPOSES OF QUESTIONING.
  • Enhance understanding of students.
  • Make classroom interactive.
  • More participation. 
CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD QUESTION.
  • Up to students level, clear and simple.
  • Logically sequenced.
  • Background of the content taught
CLASSIFICATION OF QUESTIONING
  1. The literal level: Mostly used in the classroom, right there on the paper.
  2.  The inferential level: (think and search) Answer
  3. The applied level(‘on your own’): answers relies mainly own the readers background knowledge.
  4. Thinking time/wait time: consciously waiting for students thinking an answers.
  5. No hands questioning: students are aware that teachers will select the students to give an answer.
  6. Basketball questioning: move questions and discussions between students. 
  7. Conscripts and volunteers: teacher selects answers from those who volunteers and also equally from those who do not. 
  8. Phone a friend: those who are not able to answer are allowed to nominate a another students to suggest an answer on their behalf but still they have to provide their own answer.
  9. Hot seating: a student is placed in the ‘hot seat’ to take several question from the class and teacher.
  10. Preview: questions are shared/display before being asked or the start of the lesson. 
  11. Pair rehearsal: pair of students are able to discuss and agree responses to questions together. 
  12. Eavesdropping: listen to the group discussion and target specific questions to groups and individuals
  13. Big questions: the setting of substantial and through provoking questions. 
  14. Fat questions: seeking a minimum answers. 
  15. Skinny questions: a traditional approaches to question and answer asking everyday, questions with a fixed or specific answer. 
  16. Seek a partial answer: provide only a partly formal answer, to promote collective engagement. 
 THREE TYPES OF QUESTIONING STRATEGY.

Socratic Questioning: Teaching somebody through questioning. Teacher should ask the question back if the students come with doubt,and the answer should come from students themselves.

  Under this there are six type of questioning: 

1.Conceptual Clarification Questions: Get them to think more about what exactly they are asking or thinking about.
Examples:
  •  Why are you saying that?
  • What exactly does this mean?
2. Probing Assumptions: Probing of assumption makes them think about the presupposition and unquestioned beliefs on which they are finding their arguments.
Examples:
  •  what else could we assume? 
  • Do you agree or dis agree with....?
3. Probing rationale, reasons, and evidence: When they give a rationale for their arguments, dig into that reasoning rather than assuming it is a given.
Examples:
  •  Why is that happening?
  • Are these reasons good enough? 
4. Questioning viewpoints and Perspectives: Most arguments are given from a particular position. So attack the position. Show that there are other equally valid view points.
Examples:
  •  Why is it better than?
5. Probe Implications and Consequences: The argument that they give may have logical implications that can be forecast. Do these make sense? Are they desirable?
 Examples:
  •  What is the best? Why?
6. Questions about the Questions: You can also get reflexive about the whole thing , turning the question in on itself. Use their attack against themselves. Bounce the ball back into their court. Example:
  •  What was the point of asking that question? 


 Bloom’s Taxonomy: Provide a ways to organizing thinking skills in to six level of thinking.It was developed by Benjamin Bloom in 1950’s.
There are six levels:
1.Remembering: The learner is able to recall, restate and remember learned information.
2.Understanding: The learner grasps the meaning of information by interpreting and translating what has been learned.
3.Applying: The learner makes use of information in a context different from the one in which it was learned. Ex: Calculate.
4. Analysing: The learner breaks learned information into its parts to best understand that information. Example: compare, contrast, examine,etc..
5. Evaluating: The learner makes decisions based on in-depth reflection, criticism and assessment.
Example: judge, evaluate and justify.
6. Creating: The learner creates new ideas and information using what has been previously learned.

Example: construct and imagine.

 Kipling Questions: 5W and H (what, why, when, where, who and how) There are five wives and one husband.
1.“what?”: often asks for noun responses, seeking things that are or will be. They may also seek verbs when they seek actions.
Example: what are you doing?
2.“Why?”: Asking “why” seeks cause and effect. If you know the reason why people have done something, then you gain deeper understanding of them.
Example: Why do you do that?
3.“When?”:It seeks location in time and imply two different types of time.
Example: when will you give me the money.
4. “Who?”:‘Who’ brings people into the frame, connecting them with actions and things.
Example: Who will benefit most from what you purpose?
5. “Where?”: seeks to locate an action or event in three dimensional space, such as on, above, under, below.
Example: Where will you put it?
6. “How?”: seeks verbs of process. They thus are good for probing into deeper detail of what has happened or what will happen.
Example: How shall we get there?


Role of the Teacher: (Socratic questioning)

1. During Socratic questioning, the teacher is a model of critical thinking who respects students' viewpoints, probes their understanding, and shows genuine interest in their thinking.

2. The teacher poses questions that are more meaningful than those a novice of a given topic might develop on his or her own.

Role of students
  1. Participate when called upon.
  2. Answer questions as carefully and clearly as possible.
  3. Address the whole class so that everyone can hear their answers.
  4. Be as succinct as possible in the interest of maximizing classroom time and effectiveness.

Merits and demerits of Questioning Strategy.

Merits
•Request that students think and do rather than just remember.
•Handling incorrect responses/no responses.
•Prompting.
•-be positive.
•-rephrase the question.
•-use neutral prompting.

Demerits
•Time consuming.
•Minimum coverage of the context.
•Challenging for different kinds of learners.
•Calling students randomly maximizes incorrect response that discourages the std.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

REVISING THE PREVIOUS LESSON

 We did revision on the previous topic and after that we are been given assignment, to prepare a lesson plan on any topic from IT or English subject, considering inductive teaching/learning approach.......

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

In today class, we learned about the topic deductive teaching strategy.
Deductive teaching strategy: In this strategy there is present of both principle and generalization which should be followed by application or testing of this principle.It also lead students from unknown to known, abstract to concrete or complex to simple.
Purposes of Deductive teaching strategy.
  • Teacher centered approach where students are taken as blank slates,where by more dependency on teacher,limit student thinking ability. This strategy is mainly focused in helping low ability students to enhance their learning.
Phases of Deductive teaching strategy.

  1. Presentation of abstruction.
  2. The teacher Illustration with example.
  3. Students give examples of concept and apply them in new situation.
  4. Students restates the concepts or definition that they have learned.
Advantages of Deductive teaching strategy
  1. less time consuming
  2. It is different from rote learning as it is the strategy ,where logical interlinking of element is encourage.
  3. Most of the school material/curriculum can be easily taught following deductive strategy.
  4. This method involve all level of questions.
Dis-advantages of Deductive teaching strategy
  1.  Students are not actively involve in the beginning of the lesson.
  2. Since it is a teacher centered approach ,it may be challenging for higher students.
Role Of Teacher
  1. Teacher need to plan and prepared detail information about the content.
  2. Present principles and generalizations.
  3. Provides guidance as scaffolding.