Principles and Methods of Teaching

Module 1. Post Test

Submitted by: Edna D. Dahan
Date submitted: December 14, 2017

1. How do you find teaching as a profession?

At present I am employed in a public high school handling Senior High School students
and I realized that teaching as a profession is both a pleasure and a responsibility. I am
happy in what I am doing with all those lesson plans, paper works and additional
functions. I am so blessed every day to be with my students and teach them. At the
same time teaching as a profession is a responsibility, everything you do will affect the
lives of your students.

Teachers are the foundation of Kindergarten to Grade 12 education in the

Philippines. The primary role of the teacher is to support the goals and dreams of the
students. Excellent teachers ensure students achieve success and fulfillment, and reach
their full potential.

Teachers apply and adapt teaching practices to support the unique needs and
learning styles of each child. Next to parents and caregivers, teachers are the most
important relationship in a child's life. Teachers are also lifelong learners who commit to
continuous development throughout their careers, to ensure the best outcomes for
filipino students.

2. Cite some reasons for teaching.

A lot of people chose to teach because of the following reasons:

a. The growing demand for teachers.

b. The opportunity to greatly impact the lives of children.
c. The family-friendly work schedule.
d. The incentives for continued education.
e. The satisfaction of contributing to your community.
f. An outlet for your creativity.
g. A work environment that is fun and challenging.
h. A job that keeps you young.
i. The chance to change the future.

3. Explain the relationship between teaching and learning.

Teaching and learning cannot be separated. Teacher and learner both bring knowledge
of their learning experiences and interactions together and through their shared learning
experiences, understandings are created. Educational research supports this powerful
concept, showing that when teachers facilitate reciprocal teaching and learning roles
within their classrooms, then students’ achievement improves (Alton-Lee, 2003).
4. Is the teacher the only responsible person for the superiority of student’s learning?
Explain.

And the only way we can answer that question is through shared responsibility, shared
accountability.

Accountability means holding everyone with responsibilities to high standards of

performance.

We look to school divisions and districts to invest in classroom resources and support
teachers — set clear expectations, help teachers develop their craft, provide meaningful
support that is tailored to the teacher’s needs, and then provide a fair, multi-faceted
review of how well teachers are serving the educational needs of our students. We also
look to districts and states to drive improvements in schools that fall short year after
year.

We look to principals to establish a safe, welcoming and rigorous school culture with a
coherent and compelling vision for learning and growth. We look to principals to foster
excellence by recognizing top teachers, providing support to help struggling teachers
improve, and replacing those who aren’t showing improvement.

We look to teachers to help every student learn — not just those students who are self-
motivated learners. We look to teachers to model that love of learning — learn new ways
to engage students, master their subject matter, seek advice and accept critical
feedback, and get better at their craft every year.

We look to parents to partner in their child’s education — make learning a priority at

home, advocate for their child, and understand how they can help make things better in
their children’s classrooms and schools.

5. How can one enhance learning?

 Make an effort to know the learners, and help learners to know each other.
 State objectives clearly. Learners should know what to expect - one way to help
them is to provide an agenda for the session.
 Encourage learners to take responsibility for their own Learning by giving them
choices whenever possible. For example, ask what they want to learn, how they
want to learn it, and let them decide when they have met their goals and are
ready to move on to something else.
 Respect and use learners' experiences. Ask about their experiences, and
integrate this into the Learning activity as much as possible.
 Select activities and materials that are relevant to the learners' goals. Many
learners will want the content to be immediately applicable to their life and work.
 Try to use a variety of teaching/presentation techniques to reach a variety of
learning styles. For example, some people learn best by speaking, others by
listening or writing.
 If you plan on using visual materials, make them clear and simple. To
emphasize important points, use more than one medium (e.g., saying and
writing; overhead and handout).
  Be supportive, positive, and reassuring with all learners. In a new situation, some
usually confident learners may feel unsure of themselves, and may resist
Learning.
 Respect learners' values, attitudes, and beliefs. Be patient in allowing them to
express and consider their own values. If you are hoping for change, accept that
change comes slowly, and allow learners to take the time they need.
 Consider providing a brief written summary of your presentation, especially
useful if you have presented a large amount of information.

6. In what way the quality of teaching can be improved?

IMPROVING TEACHING QUALITY IN AN INDIVIDUAL CLASS

We may define good teaching as instruction that leads to effective learning, which in turn
means thorough and lasting acquisition of the knowledge, skills, and values the instructor or the
institution has set out to impart. The education literature presents a variety of good teaching
strategies and research studies that validate them (Campbell and Smith 1997; Johnson et al.
1998; McKeachie 1999). In the sections that follow, we describe several strategies known to be
particularly effective.

Write instructional objectives

Instructional objectives are statements of specific observable actions that students should be
able to perform if they have mastered the content and skills the instructor has attempted to
teach (Gronlund 1991; Brent and Felder 1997). An instructional objective has one of the
following stems:

 At the end of this [course, chapter, week, lecture], the student should be able to ***
 To do well on the next exam, the student should be able to ***

where *** is a phrase that begins with an action verb (e.g., list, calculate, solve, estimate,
describe, explain, paraphrase, interpret, predict, model, design, optimize,…). The outcome of
the specified action must be directly observable by the instructor: words like "learn," "know,"
"understand," and "appreciate," while important, do not qualify.

Use active learning in class

Most students cannot stay focused throughout a lecture. After about 10 minutes their attention
begins to drift, first for brief moments and then for longer intervals, and by the end of the lecture
they are taking in very little and retaining less. A classroom research study showed that
immediately after a lecture students recalled 70% of the information presented in the first ten
minutes and only 20% of that from the last ten minutes (McKeachie 1999).

Students’ attention can be maintained throughout a class session by periodically giving them
something to do. Many different activities can serve this purpose (Bonwell and Eison 1991;
Brent and Felder 1992; Felder 1994a; Johnson et al. 1998; Meyers and Jones 1993), of which
the most common is the small-group exercise. At some point during a class period, the
instructor tells the students to get into groups of two or three and arbitrarily designates a
recorder (the second student from the left, the student born closest to the university, any student
who has not yet been a recorder that week). When the groups are in place, the instructor asks a
question or poses a short problem and instructs the groups to come up with a response, telling
them that only the recorder is allowed to write but any team member may be called on to give
the response. After a suitable period has elapsed (which may be as short as 30 seconds or as
long as 5 minutes—shorter is generally better), the instructor randomly calls on one or more
students or teams to present their solutions. Calling on students rather than asking for
volunteers is essential. If the students know that someone else will eventually supply the
answer, many will not even bother to think about the question.

Use cooperative learning

Cooperative learning (CL) is instruction that involves students working in teams to accomplish
an assigned task and produce a final product (e.g., a problem solution, critical analysis,
laboratory report, or process or product design), under conditions that include the following
elements (Johnson et al. 1998):

1. Positive interdependence. Team members are obliged to rely on one another to

achieve the goal. If any team members fail to do their part, everyone on the team suffers
consequences.

2. Individual accountability. All team members are held accountable both for doing their
share of the work and for understanding everything in the final product (not just the parts
for which they were primarily responsible).

3. Face-to-face promotive interaction. Although some of the group work may be done
individually, some must be done interactively, with team members providing mutual
feedback and guidance, challenging one another, and working toward consensus.

4. Appropriate use of teamwork skills. Students are encouraged and helped to develop
and exercise leadership, communication, conflict management, and decision-making
skills.

5. Regular self-assessment of team functioning. Team members set goals, periodically

assess how well they are working together, and identify changes they will make to
function more effectively in the future.

References:

http://ddi.cs.uni-potsdam.de/Lehre/WissArbeitenHinweise/teachingassistant/hand/enhance.html
http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Papers/TQM.htm
http://educationpost.org/conversation/blog/accountability/