teaching

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Teaching Strategy

I like Teaching Strategy.

Field Trip Learning

Introduced in 1827 by George Shillibeer

Field trip is defined as a course-related activity that serves educational purposes and occurs outside of the classroom at a location other than on the campus at which the course is regularly taught. A field trip is a visit to a place outside the regular classroom.

Normally if we take in the consideration of field trip learning, it can be applied to any form of valuable learning  taking place beyond the class room setting. For instance, learning of poetry in an English classroom will enhance students’ approach in hands to eyes coordination for useful retention of knowledge. Because poetry teaching is a very vivid justification of reality for students to learn so field trip learning is one such base for keen learning.

Features of field trip

Since field trip is an excitement factor for the students to learn and explore outside the classroom setting it:

•       Facilitate the learning of abstract concepts.

•       Motivate students through increased interest and curiosity.

•       Increases student-student and student-teacher social interaction

•       Develops social awareness.

Types of Field learning

•       Instructional learning

-          designed to allow the students to achieve specific course objectives

•       School contests or festivals

-          Extra campus activity, which provides an opportunity for students to demonstrate knowledge and skills developed through subject area instruction. Contests, competitions, festivals, or evaluations may involve teams of students outside the classroom.

•       Motivational learning trips

-          Extra-campus activity, which is not a part of a scheduled class. It provides a motivational incentive for the school, club, group, or class and is related to improving the school climate.

Purpose

•       Hand on experiences

•       cooperative learning

•       explore new environment

•       building back ground knowledge

•       anticipation

•       facing the real world

•       Enriches the lives and experiences of the students by taking class rote learning in to the real world.

Principles

•       An atmosphere of intellectual excitement

•       Intensive research and knowledge transfer culture permeating all teaching and learning activities.

•       A vibrant and embracing social context

•       An interactive and culturally diverse learning environment.

•       Explicit concern and supports for individual development.

•       Learning cycles of experimentation, feedback and assessment.

•       Structuring and integrating

•       Freedom for experiment with knowledge without the educational process in its entirety.

Procedure

1. Identify objectives and plans of evaluation for field learning.

2. Logistics planning.

3. Field trip preparation/per-trip discussion.

4. During the trip (Dos and don’ts are the most valid components)

5. after the trip

6. Evaluating field trip

Advantage

•       better grade and understanding

•       exposure to new thing

•       new learning environment

•       real life experience hands on learning

•       team building

•       it enhance the culture exchange

Disadvantage

•       Planning

•       organization

•       Behavior rules and structure

Role of a teacher

•       to select the site

•       act as facilitator

•       make necessary arrangements

•       transportation issues

•       budget and food

•       necessary medication

Role of the students

•       active participation

•       have to be a good listener

•       should be corporative

•       behave properly

Role play Teaching Strategy

-Founded by Physician Jacob L. Moreno (1889-1974) in Vienna.

-Role play is a form of approach to learn from character play each participant without rehearsal and preparation. Students are exposed to this form of speaking activity putting themselves into the shoes of real characters. A kind of dramatization but within a very short time frame unlike real stage play where the performer tend get ample of time to organize and synchronize their work of drama and present it to the audience.

This strategy is very applicable to English story telling/narration or poems whereby students get to enact and accordingly foresee what is the particular story/poem really about? Students can makeover easily that each character they portray is with utmost feel and emotions and to that resemblance students would take the grip over their work of dramatization and hence learning is also imparted.

Principles of role play:

• Students must accept the duties and responsibility of their roles and function.
• Students assume a particular personality of a different person such as a historical character.

Role of a teacher:

1. Act as an instructor.
2. Provides accessories for play.
3. Spectator.
4. Feedback provider.
5. Let the student play the role, where the child is comfortable.
6. Facilitator.
7. Participant.

Role of a student:

1. Active listener.
2. Seek guidance from adviser.
3. Assume responsibility for our own learning.
4. Develop effective interaction with teacher.
5. Evaluate and judge our own performance.
6. Spectator and provides feedback.

Purposes:

• Decision making.
• Exchange of knowledge.
• Enhances active participation.
• Long term retention.
• For cognition learning method and teaches many lesson.
• Understand the feeling of others.
• Challenge students to question their talent or aptitude.

Procedural steps:

1. Warm up group
2. select participation
3. set the stage
4. prepare the observer
5. Enact
6. Discuss and Evaluate
7. Re-enact
8. Share experiences and generalize

Advantages:

• Interest of an students when the topic is raised.
• Active participation.
• Long term retention.
• It enhances communication and interpersonal skills.
• It can be used with individuals or in a group situation.
• It helps to respect others feelings.
• Develops confidence and self-efficacy.
• Helps to share and giving feedback.
• It develops competence.
• Helps in interviewing, counseling skills, interpersonal relationship and team working.
• Requires both physical and mental strength.
• Reduce discipline problems in the classroom.

Disadvantages:

• It can be time consuming.
• Can be unpredictable incase of outcome.
• Can lack focus unless well planned and monitored.
• Embarrassment for some students.
• Less effective in large numbers of group.
• May awaken previously subdued or suppressed emotions.

Instructional Simulation

Simulation is the presenting of an artificial problem, event, situation, or object that duplicates reality, but removes the possibility of inquiry or risk to the individuals involved in the activity. Simulation provides a model of what exists or might exist in a set of complex physical or social interactions. Simulation is a representation of a manageable real event in which the learner is an active participant engaged in learning a behavior or in applying previously acquired skills or knowledge.

Instructional simulations involve the learner in various functions. Provide information to the participants; create situations in which the learner demonstrates some skill or knowledge, since the simulation elicits a response; and assess the performance of the participant by measuring it against an already established standard.

Simulations promote the use of critical and evaluative thinking.

It takes number of forms; elements a game, a role play and activity.

Purpose of using Instructional Simulation:

For instance, if you want to teach students a particular grammar aspect, it is not necessary that you always relent your teaching within the bound of traditional lecturing which is sometimes suffocating for students to capture, rather you could intervene the teaching tactics to another approach that is making them construct the linage for self discovery and self exploration. You can design grammar games whereby students are more motivated to learn. With the basic instructions on what is it all about? How to go about? The goal would not be to win but to acquire knowledge and understanding.

A simple grammar content can be taught in the simplest way promoting concept attainment through experiential practice with all the enthusiastic means of making students back pace with these purposes.

•       It is motivating and realistic.

•       It is learner-centered.

•       It enhances cooperation among peers.

•       It develops higher-cognitive skills of all types.

•       It develops interpersonal and social skills.

•       It promotes psychomotor skills.

•       It promotes multi-faceted skills related to real life.

•       It enhances the development of values and attitudes in children

•       Simulation promotes concept attainment through experiential practice.

Principles of Instructional Simulation:

In Simulation, we become immersed in the activities almost immediately. Games and simulations are great icebreakers for diverse groups of students.

•       Ensure that students understand the procedures before beginning.

•       Try to anticipate questions before they are asked.

•       Know what you wish to accomplish.

Procedural-steps of Instructional Simulation:

Stage1: Establish your objective.

Stage2: Deciding what type of exercise is to be used.

Stage3: Choosing a specific exercise.

Advantages of Instructional Simulation:

A basic reason for using simulations is that mistakes are both inevitable and desirable. It is experiential learning, not a rehearsed event. Participants learn from their mistakes and want the opportunity to improve in the next simulation. The greater the disaster, the greater the learning. The interest is built so immensely that the participants get fully enrolled in learning. Therefore, students are involved efficiently.

•       Enjoyable, motivating activity

•       Element of reality is compatible with principles of constructivism

•       Enhances appreciation of the more subtle aspects of a concept/principle

•       Promotes critical thinking

•       Engages students effectively

•       Reach

Disadvantages of Instructional Simulation:

•       Loss of control in the classroom.

•       You cannot teach using technology unless you know technology.

•       Costing and preparedness in our context.

Instructional simulation is a very clear-cut aspect in the approach of teaching and learning mainly for the participants who wants to learn beyond the learning, what is taught. They create space for their manipulative thinking and accordingly work upon a particular context again and again until they are fully aware of its applicability. And the part of a teacher is to enhance and make students engrossed in the field of learning as a mere guide, facilitator or a mentor. In the teaching backup, simulation is a great guide for the teachers since it reverses the way of teaching from traditional lecturing to a new form of constructing knowledge for the students. And in other hand students are able to learn and discover new form of learning approach which is reliable wholesomely through self exploration, making every lesson motivating, interesting, valuable, etc.

Reflection On Activity Based Strategy

Activity Based Teaching Strategy

Activity Based Teaching Strategy is the resolved kind of teaching and learning method for both students as a keen learner actively enrolled in a particular task assigned and implicating on new creations. And as the part of teacher, they engage students in a zeal periodic forum whereby the students’ focus is more dynamically retention of knowledge with hands on practice/ learning by doing.

It is a method in which the child is actively involved both mentally and physically.

 The Founder of activity based teaching strategy is David Horsburg.

Principles of ABTLM:

 

1.  Activity based teaching is a learner centered approach.    

In the traditional form of teaching approach, teachers were supreme because they conducted the whole process of teaching with lectures and students were the stems of learning only to the extent of listening. The students work individually on assignments, and cooperation is discouraged. Activity based teaching shifts the focus of students becoming just a mere listeners to active participants to a controlled way of Student centered approach. These methods include active learning, in which students solve problems, answer questions, formulate questions of their own, discuss, explain, debate, or brainstorm during class.

2.  Emphasis on experience learning

Experience learning is the process of making meaning from direct experience, i.e., "learning from experience".

•      The learner must be willing to be actively involved in the experience;

•      The learner must be able to reflect on the experience;

•      The learner must possess and use analytical skills to conceptualize the experience; and

•      The learner must possess decision making and problem solving skills in order to use the new ideas gained from the experience.

3.  Opportunities for learner to work cooperatively and collaboratively

Students are provided with opportunities in which they work in teams on problems and projects under conditions that assure both positive interdependence and individual accountability. Therefore, they work cooperatively and collaboratively.

4.  Activity based teaching encourages the union of work and play

When there is activity in a group, it becomes necessary for the students to unite as one group to come up with effective outcome.

5.  Uses child friendly educational aids to foster self learning

The key feature of the ABL strategies is that it uses child-friendly educational aids to foster self-learning and allows a child to study according to his or her aptitude and skill. They use materialistic form of equipments (computers, TLM, etc…) to self discover.

 Kinds of learning Activities:

The three kinds of learning activity are:-

1. Exploratory   

Exploratory learning is done through observation and searching information where learner just needs to absorb on what teacher is teaching.

2. Constructive  

Constructive learning is basically done through experiment where it mainly focuses on hands on learning.

3. Expressional  

Expressional learning is done through sharing information and articulating with each other in form of role play, presentation etc.

Advantages:-

1.     Can be used in all the subjects

2.    Promotes better understanding of a lesson as it is learning by doing 

3.    Ethics are usually formed when using activity based 

4.    Enhance Self efficacy in child 

5.    Opportunities to work independently and in groups.

6.    It inspires the students to apply their creative ideas, knowledge and minds in solving problems.

Disadvantages of ABTLM:-

1. Low efficiency students cannot take active participation. 

2. Learner would lose interest and become inactive in the discussion. 

3. Lengthy procedure and requires (flawless) perfect planning. 

4. focusing on activity to make learning fun can actually hamper those students

Criteria for organizing activity:

• What activity to do?
• Why or what for you want for them to do that activity?
• How do you want to go about doing the activity and what do you want them to avoid?
• Where do you want them to do the activity?
• How long the activity should last?
• How should the students work individual, in pairs, or in a group?
• What you want them to do with finished work?

Purpose of activity based learning.

ü  An activity is said to be the language of the child

Since, the main flow of activity is to inculcate better understanding and prior to that is, it gives longer retention of what the students learn by doing. Therefore, a child in his basic learning learns a particular subject by doing (processing activity) which in term becomes the language of a child.

ü  Improve social skills

Activity is mainly learned within a bound of a group or in class as a whole, therefore a decorum is created which is conducive for every individual child to explore, impart and intake view points and buildup social interaction hence, improving their social skills.

ü  Encourage self learning

The method encourages students to do self exploration, discovery with keen focus to bring in independency and adequacy.

ü  Make the learner do more than just listening and studying

In the activity based teaching strategy learners are with held by the teachers to do things beyond doing (at the most but more). Learners are kept engaged actively in the class not left out only to listen and study but to do, explore, expand, extent, discover etc…

ü  Greater knowledge retention and high level performance.

With the benefit of “I HEAR AND I FORGET, I SEE AND I REMEMBER, I DO AND I UNDERSTAND” -Confucius it is clear that the retention of any knowledge can be accessed through doing because as you do, you understand and understanding a subject matter helps learner to achieve quick remembrance and a high level performance in terms of experimenting knowledge.

ü  Active problem solving by students

The activity based strategy is focused on clear cut overview of problem solving with the balance of mentality and physicality aspect of performance in experimentation of problems by students.

ü  It enhances creative aspect of experience

The method involves the learners to do self discovery, exploration by them and grabbing the experience with enhancement of creativeness by individual learners on account of activities held, developed and viewpoints they engross.  

ü  Provides varied experiences to the students to facilitate the acquisition of knowledge, experience, skills and values.

The experience is the most significant phase of an activity because as they learn they are more familiar with what they do on particular aspect/situations. Students are therefore indebted with knowledge, imparting skills and values.

ü  Builds the students’ self-confidence and develops understanding through works.

Since activity based is manipulative way of students’ self discovery, they tend to take the stepping stones to frame self confidence and develop understanding skills through hands on experiences.

Steps for Activity-based learning:-

•   Planning

Teacher needs to plan before hand, what activity is going to be given to his his/her students and how to group them. While planning an activity to students we have to think of what? When? How? Where? Why?

•   Instruction

Ensure you give clear information before each activity. For each activity ensure you follow the principles of what? How? With whom? Where? How long? What after?

•   Check the understanding of the instruction

Let any of them to repeat what you have instructed them to do.

•   Organizes/ Monitoring

Go around the class, involve the children in the learning process and guide them if necessary.

•   Follow up

Let your student to present their points/views to the class

•   Evaluation

Evaluate the students’ work and pass the judgment according to their needs.

ROLE OF A TEACHER IN ACTIVITY BASED TEACHING AND LEARNING METHOD (ABTLM)

•   Planner

Planning is thinking ahead. As a part of a teacher, he/she should be a critical thinker. He/she has to plan in a systematic manner whereby they possess effective instruction mode for the students to learn. As a teacher, concentrate on planning-deciding what and how you want your students to learn. Teacher must show traits of well organized in their planning should communicate with students effectively and expect high probability of learning from students.

•   Decision maker

For every good planning, an appropriate and adequate need of decision is always regarded. Teacher’s ability to make good decision regarding the content, the experiences and activities to be used, the organization of classroom, etc. is crucial in any teaching learning situation.

•  Facilitator

Teacher as keen advisor/mentor should ensure that every student is engaged in learning. Help students to explore and experience further more with proper approach of questioning and answering. Teacher must have the respect for a child’s worth and competence with full fledged encouragement for instance, members of the group to contribute to the discussions and accordingly maintain non-threatening atmosphere that permits students to feel able to comment freely.

•   Knowledge imparter

Teacher must understand that the children can acquire different kinds of knowledge. Need to know concepts and certain manner and appropriate teaching strategies must be adopted. At the beginning of the school year, teacher plans activities, which he/she believes will be of interest to children and enable them to acquire new knowledge, skills and activities.

Resources are organized to support planned experiences and learning is evaluated to determine whether what was planned was accomplished.

•  Organizer/Evaluator

Teacher as an evaluator with the basic is the role to help determine strengths and weakness of students so that that evaluative form of process enhances school experience in learning and also to judge or calculate the quality of work done by the students. When, how and how the teacher will help learning to occur involves organization.

•  Disciplinarian:-As a role of disciplinarian, teacher should maintain the class decorum perfect to keep control of pupil during the class lesson or any activity. Before any lesson or activity teacher must gain attention of the students so they can get ready for the lesson. During the activity teacher must ensure that all the students are engaged in particular work without making noise or doing unnecessary work.

Role of the student:-

•   Active participation

Students become the active participants while doing the activity. They tend to get deeply engrossed in the activity as they feel to hands on practice.

                  

•  More interaction in collaboration with others

The maximum approach to teaching and learning method really relents upon interaction being taken place while conducting an activity because of its preference upon sharing of viewpoints and creativity enrollment.

•  Discussion (discourse) and research

 Students and teachers are effectively engrossed as a part of teaching and learning activity. Students seek help from teachers as well as do research for exploration of further information.

•   Confident and well prepared

Due to the flow of doing and understanding, students get self confident and well prepared to whatever they perform because they get experienced by then. It is the manipulative form of self discovery and exploration.

•   Involved in the program flow

Students get carried away by the practical ways of enhancing knowledge in the new outlook.

Therefore, they become engrossed and enroll themselves to various ways to approach learning.