MoT 22
MoT 22
MoT 22
Overview
Presentations (lectures) and explanation by teachers comprise one-sixth to one-fourth of all classroom
time. In contrast to the opposition raised against this method, it has always been a popular model for
teachers and enables to deliver vast amount of information. The presentation model aims to describe
how to use it effectively.
The learning outcomes of the presentation model are to help students acquire, assimilate and retain new
information, expand their conceptual structures and develop particular habits of listening and for
thinking about the information.
Acquire and assimilate new information
Model
Develop habits of listening and thinking
Planning
1. Choose objectives and content to be delivered. Consider the time and select the most important
concepts.
2. Make a conceptual map by identifying the key ideas and arranging them in logical patterns.
3. Diagnose student’s prior knowledge that will serve as guidelines for presenting new information
4. Make best use of time and space by allocating sufficient time to each concept that matches the students’
aptitude and rearranging the seating arrangement so that they remain motivated throughout the lesson.
5. Make ready use of pictures and illustrations, to capture students’ attention.
Conducting Presentations
1. Explain Goals
Students need to know what is expected of them. Effective teachers outlines the steps or phases of a
particular lesson and share with their students. Sharing not only help students focus but it also help
them make connections to the knowledge they already acquired in previous grades.
2. Establishing set and providing cues
“Get Ready… Get Set...Go!”
The get set alert is also very important in the classroom, therefore interesting initiating activities not
only make them interested in the lesson but also get their minds off other things they have been
doing before.
3. Presenting the learning material
Organization of the knowledge simplest and clearest form is extremely important. Students learn
more when the teacher is clear and specific. Explain links with every new concept such as “because,
since, in order to...” and give appropriate examples to make the content meaningful to the students.
4. Monitoring and checking for understanding
Make sure to check their status of understanding by keeping handy questions and using them
effectively. This will not only assure learning but would also make them alert.
Conceptual Understanding
Classroom
Discussion Involvement and Engagement
Most discussions follow a similar pattern, but variations do exists, depending on the teacher’s goals for
particular lessons and the nature of the students involved. The learning environment and management
system surrounding discussion are very important and also demands a good use of space and time.
Planning
Two common misconceptions held by many teachers are that planning for a discussion requires less
effort than planning for other kinds of teaching and that discussions cannot really be planned at all
because they rely on spontaneous and unpredictable interactions among students. Both of these ideas
are wrong and planning for a discussion is extremely important and requires effort as well.
Consider Purpose:
Decide if the discussion is the most appropriate method of teaching the selected content. Discussion can
be used as a single method of instruction and it could also be a part of a lesson in which some other
method is used.
Consider Students
Knowing students’ prior knowledge is as important here as any other method of teaching. However, it
is also to be known that whether the students are ready for discussion or not, that depends on the
students communication skills. While planning discussion, it is important to devise ways to encourage
students to participate in the discussion.
Choose an approach
There are several approaches to conduct lesson based on discussion and it is selected on the basis of
objectives of the lesson and the nature of students involved. Three approaches are discussed here
1. Recitation approach: although recitation is often overused but cannot be ignored. Here, the
students are instructed to read an assignment or a topic from content. It is followed by teacher’s
questions about the content, this not only motivate students to complete reading assignment but
also encourage their communication skills.
2. Inquiry or problem based discussion: discussions are also used to engage learners in higher
order thinking skills. Normally, these discussions are part of problem based teaching. A lesson
Extracted from Arends, Richard – Learning to Teach (2014)
2
SNHasan, Department of Teacher Education, University of Karachi
of science or history could also be planned on discussion, where the learners are engaged by
probing questions to investigate the reasons of problem. Like changing shape of a solid while
heating or flooding as a result of global warming.
3. Sharing based discussion: It helps students sharing their personal experiences related to a topic
and deriving common meanings. Younger children could be asked to share what they have
observed in the zoo or a farm house. Older students could be asked to share what they learnt
from a science experiment. Through purposeful sharing of ideas and discussion, their
understanding is refined and expanded.
Make a plan
A lesson plan for a discussion based lesson consists of a set of objectives and a content outline. It
should have a well-conceived puzzling event and/or list of questions. The questions should be a
combination of open ended and close ended questions that allows students to engage in discussion as
per his level of communication skills. Discussion could be initiated with low order questions, gradually
moving to higher order analytical questions.
Use physical space appropriately
Another planning tasks involves making arrangements for appropriate use of physical space. Depending
upon the class size, U shaped or circle seating pattern could be used. These types of seating
arrangement facilitates communication flow among students, however it could hinder teacher’s
movement to the board.
Conducting
1. Clarify aims and establish set
First of all the teacher shares aims of the lesson and enable students to get ready for the lesson. A
brief outline of the plan could also be shared.
2. Focus the discussion
The teachers establish focus by describing ground rules, asking initial questions and presenting a
puzzling situation. Students’ prior knowledge could also be activated through questioning to help
them connect to the current discussion.
3. Hold the discussion
As the discussion proceeds, students’ do get off track and they can be brought back by the following
strategies.
Keep records: chalkboard or flip chart can be used to maintain a record of discussion.
Listen to students’ ideas: here it is important to acknowledge what the students are sharing
regardless of the quality in order to give them confidence to share and take active part in
discussion.
Use wait time: generally teachers are advised to wait for minimum three seconds after
posing a question. In case of higher order question it could be increase or rephrasing a
question can also help students understand better.
Dignify students’ response: For engaging in more verbal discourse in the classroom, it is
important to care for the self esteem of the students. Therefore, even if they have given
wrong answer, support them with prompts.
Expressing opinions: Although teachers should not dominate discussion by presenting her
ideas but using this opportunity selectively can help students understand that the teacher is a
part of learning community interested in sharing her ideas and discovering knowledge.
Understanding specific
concepts
Conducting
1. Clarify aims and establish set
At the beginning of the concept lesson, the teacher needs to clarify the aims of the lesson and how
the lesson will proceed. The teacher might go over the steps of the lesson and give reason why the
concepts are important. For establishing set, ask questions about the last lesson or share an
interesting anecdote that ties the forthcoming lesson into students’ prior knowledge.
2. Input examples and non-examples
The sequence of defining and labelling the concept will depend upon the approach used. In case of
deductive approach, first name the concepts with its attributes and then give appropriate examples
with help of simple images to help them understand better.
3. Test for attainment
Whatever the approach is used for teaching concepts, the checking for understanding is an
undoubtedly significant to ensure their understanding and building the concepts ahead. Oral
questioning followed by examples and non-examples can be used to check their understanding.
4. Analyze student thinking processes and integration of learning
The final step of using both approaches to teach concept is to help students analyze their own
thinking process. Teacher directed activities can help students to reflect on their thinking. To
accomplish this, the teacher asks students to think back what was going through their minds when
the concepts were introduced? How did they group item? What were the characteristics of the
examples share with them? How did they think about new examples?
Planning
PBL is characterized by students working in pairs or small groups to investigate puzzling, real life
situations. Since this is a highly interactive activity, therefore some people think that it does not require
planning. However, like all interactive methods of teaching, it requires detailed planning. It is actually
teacher’s thoughtful planning that makes it successful.
1. Deciding on goals and objectives
The goal a PBL lesson is inculcating inquiry skills, independent learning and understanding the role
of adults. A lesson could be aimed on any one or all three of them. Then, the objectives related to
the content need to be clearly communicated to the students.
2. Design appropriate problem solving situations
A good problem solving situation must meet at least five important criteria. First it should be
authentic, it should be based on real world experience. (How to deal with pollution at Sea View).
Second, it should pose a mystery and puzzlement, providing space for debate and discussion. Third,
problem should be meaningful and age appropriate to the learners. Fourth, Problem should be
sufficiently broad, in order to accomplish goals of PBL in terms of time, space and resources. Fifth,
a good problem should benefit from group work, not hindered by it.
3. Organize resources and plan Logistics
PBL encourages students to work with a variety of materials and tools; some are located in the
library or computer lab and others outside the school. Getting resources organized and planning the
logistics of students are major planning tasks for PBL lessons.
Conducting
1. Orient Students to the Problem
As with other lessons, aims and objectives of the lesson should be clearly communicated to the learners.
They should be exactly knowing what they would be doing. With the learners, who have not been
engaged in PBL before, the teacher needs to explain the process and procedure in some detail. An
example can help them understand better. The following points need to be shared with the learners:
4 3 2 1
Criterion 1
Criterion 2
Criterion 3
Criteria that describe the product Indicators for each performance level & criterion
https://wakelet.com/
https://jamboard.google.com/
https://new.edmodo.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BL-503UOaY