This is an Educational blog maintained by SABARISH P, (MSc Physics, MEd, NET), Assistant Professor in Physical Science Education. Contact : pklsabarish@gmail.com

Monday 31 March 2014

What Every Teacher Should Know About Learning

Fundamentals of What Every Teacher Should Know About Learning

What makes a teacher successful?

Having an expertise in reading, writing, math or science is necessary, but the ability to transfer that knowledge into another person is what makes an excellent instructor stand out. What good is it if a teacher has all the facts, but cannot communicate them in a way that others can comprehend?
Aside from comprehending the curriculum content, teachers should have a basic understanding of how people acquire and absorb knowledge. The following list highlights 20 principles of learning every teacher should know.

1. Students Learn Differently

It may seem obnoxiously obvious, but how many classrooms are currently designed with one learning style in mind?
Worksheets and flashcards work well for students who absorb knowledge visually, but for a child who needs to hear the information in order to grasp it, traditional methods of teaching force him or her to use a physical sense that is not as well-developed.
The visual learner doesn’t have the same opportunity to stretch his or her other senses. If a teacher comes to the classroom with the basic knowledge that students learn differently, they will be better equipped to arrange the lessons in such a way that all senses are activated.

2. Use It Or Lose It

Using information is how it becomes knowledge.
Revising knowledge over a lifetime is how it becomes wisdom.
Learning can’t be about coverage, and is not “set it and forget it.”

3. Consider Kinesthetic Learning

Of the different learning styles, the kinesthetic learning is the hardest bunch to teach in a traditional setting. This learning is about movement–touching, feeling, and moving through knowledge, which requires space and opportunity that many traditional classrooms do not allow for.
Kinesthetic learning benefits from students trying something, watching it fail, and taking that knowledge forward. While this can be difficult logistically with a large class, implementing kinesthetic strategies will not just help a few kids, but your own approach to how students learn.

4. There Are Seven Learning Styles

How exactly “learning styles” should be used depends on who you speak to. It is true that learning styles are among the most misunderstood facets of modern education. It isn’t true that there are “kinesthetic learners,” but is is true that there is “kinesthetic learning.” Key difference.
Visual: Using sight
Auditory: Using songs or rhythms
Verbal: Speaking out loud the information
Kinesthetic: Using touch and taste to explore the information
Logical: A more mathematical approach to concepts
Interpersonal: Learning in groups
Intrapersonal: Learning alone

5. Make It Relevant

Information is only stored permanently when it relates to day-to-day living. For example, math concepts must be reinforced in real life examples or the student will have no reason to absorb the information beyond the exam.
History is one of the more difficult subjects to bring into the present, since it mainly deals with past events, dates, and people. Finding strategies to bring it to life will help with learning.
As much as possible, history should be experienced through first-hand accounts, museums, field trips and other enrichment activities.

6. Failure Is a Fabulous Teacher!

People learn from failure. In fact, ask any major successful person what helped them and usually it will involve a story that harkens back to a big “mess-up”. Failure teaches even better than a perfect score on a test.
Classic grading systems don’t help with this theory, as grades have become inflated, feared, and used as judge and jury about who learned what. Contrary to popular belief, learning from failure is anything but easy. It’s not just about “reflecting” upon what you did.
If you’d like to read about failure and learning, check out this Harvard Business Review article – the article is mainly about organizations but its lesson apply as much to classrooms.

7. Integrate The Curriculum

Rather than keeping each subject separate, curriculums that use thematic units work well to blend knowledge together in a way that is useful and memorable.
For example, a unit on Egyptian history could incorporate history lessons, a unit on linguistics and language (with the hieroglyphics), a science unit (physics and the building of the pyramids), a writing unit (a report on a child’s favorite Egyptian monument), and reading a book about the ancient culture.

8. Define “Learning”

The word “learn” has various definitions. In the classroom, it can be the ability to spout back facts and information on a test. While this is one form of learning, there are other forms of learning that are just as important. Taken from Route Ledge Education:
Memorization
Acquiring facts or procedures
Understanding reality
Making sense of the world

9. Care For Introverts

When Susan Cain released her book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, earlier this year, it drew a lot of attention onto an important topic: introversion vs extraversion. The debate, of course, reached the classroom and according to an Edweek article, teachers might be against their introverted students.
Are you?
It’s easy to assume that “group work” is always the best approach. That students who raise their hands are attentive. And that students who prefer to work alone are loners. All of which, are not necessarily true.

10. Create Space

This is a psychological and logistical suggestion. Creativity is the birthplace of true learning, where a student can initiate thoughts, ideas, problems, and make connections between concepts.
Creativity requires the activation of the right side of the brain. Space allows the opportunity for creativity to ignite. Logistically, give students a place to stretch out, move away from a desk, or gaze at the sky outside. In the context of a lesson, allow for brainstorming sessions. Leave gaps in the order so students can create their own projects using the facts and theories in the lesson.
A teacher enables a student to learn when he or she becomes a quiet mentor on the sidelines, rather than the dictator of every move or step.

11. Brief And Organized “Bites”

When a person wants to memorize a phone number, they divide the digits into easy to remember patterns.
This is because the brain struggles to hold onto a long list of numbers, but can do so when they are organized meaningfully. The same principle applies to lectures. A 30-minute lecture that is not structured with categories, or organized into easy-to-recall bullets, will not be as effective.
Using another example, the media produces the news in sound bytes because they know they only have a small window of time in which to grab a person’s attention; teachers would do well to study the marketing techniques of media in order to assemble information that is retainable.

12. Use Several Different Angles

(Hi, Taken from the Mohanlal’s film “Life is beautiful”!!!!!)
For example, if a science teacher is lecturing on photosynthesis, the students will benefit from hitting the same concept at different angles.
First, the teacher explains the overarching concept. This provides framework and context. Second, he explores each part of the process in greater detail. Third, he explains the whole process again, this time encouraging students to ask questions. Fourth, he asks the students to explain it back to him.
Finally, he takes the process and inserts it into a relevant everyday situation that stretches the students to apply the information in a real life example. As he reinforces the concept with different angles, the brain is better able to organize the information. Trying to hit all of the points in one explanation will overwhelm most students.

13. Proper Method For The Material

In the quest for “deeper” learning, some professors might dismiss the concept of shallow learning; the simple recall of theories, facts, and rules. However there is some validity to rote memorization and the ability to regurgitate rules and facts, depending on the information.
For example, to learn the multiplication tables from 0-12, shallow learning is helpful (flash cards, timed quizzes, etc.). However, implementing this technique for a history lesson will not serve the subject matter.
A student may know all the dates of important world wars, but without understanding the social themes and lessons learned from these atrocities, have they really absorbed the importance of studying history?

14. Use Technology

Never before in human history has there been such unparalleled access to knowledge and information. With the tap of a tablet or smartphone, a student can get instant answers to questions that used to mean a trip to the library’s dusty encyclopedia section.
This means that memorization is no longer as necessary as it once was 100 years ago. Oral traditions and the passing along of information verbally are nearly extinct. Rather than resist the advance of technology, teachers can take the opportunity to go deeper with students, since they do not have to waste time trying to drill facts that are a fingertip away.
Rather, explore themes, study deeper sociological issues, teach the art of invention and creativity, discover the philosophy of critical thinking, and encourage innovation.

15. Let Them Teach

One of the most effective methods for absorbing knowledge is to teach the knowledge back to another. Provide students with ample opportunity to give lectures, presentations, and develop lesson plans of their own.
Teachers can instruct students to create a lesson plan for a much younger child, even if the concept is difficult. This forces students to simplify the theory, find relatable stories and real life examples, and deconstruct the concepts into bite size pieces.

16. Create Hunger And Curiosity

When students are interested in a subject, their ability to learn greatly increases. They have more focus, tenacity, initiative, engagement, and investment in the material. Teachers can give students the freedom to choose their own topics, which enhances a class that may be stuck in a rut or lacking motivation.
Learning how to whet a student’s appetite for information sets them up to go after the answer with a sense of hunger.

17. Brainstorming Not Always Effective

The age old saying, “Two heads are better than one,” is very true. Brainstorming is thought to be the birthplace of profound ideas.
But new studies suggest that that may not be true. Brainstorming introduces groupthink – a psychological phenomenon where the group forms its own beliefs – and when it doesn’t, the most charismatic individual tend to take over.
In fact, Jeremy Dean of Psyblog wrote about the subject,
“… Why not just send people off individually to generate ideas if this is more efficient? The answer is because of its ability to build consensus by giving participants the feeling of involvement in the process. People who have participated in the creative stage are likely to be more motivated to carry out the group’s decision.”
In other words, groups are not where ideas are born. Groups are where ideas are evaluated.

18. Forming Habits

Psychologists agree that it takes approximately 30 days for a new habit to form. Parents who are teaching children a new routine (like brushing their own teeth) have to help their child for at least 30 consecutive days before the brain turns to “auto-pilot”.
This is the point at which it becomes a regular habit.
In learning, the same concept applies. Teachers can explain to students the importance of daily study rather than cramming information the night before. The small, incremental, and daily rehearsing of information paves a path in the brain that remains permanently.
Study habits can become regular with guided encouragement to keep going while the brain catches up to the new norm.

19. Learning Feedback Matters

In the same way that failure stretches a person, learning feedback is crucial to how students learn. When they can understand their strengths and weaknesses, accept and receive constructive criticism, and be redirected to the areas that need assistance, the overall process of learning is enhanced.
That much you probably already know.
But studies have shown that when you give feedback matters just as much as what feedback you give. Imagine taking a pill now and being able to see its effect in 5 years vs in 24 hours.

20. Teach How To Learn

“Learning” is an abstract concept to many. By helping students understand the art of learning, the techniques of learning, as well as the different learning styles, they will be empowered by the process. It can be discouraging when a new topic or theory is evasive or difficult.
Students who understand how to learn will have more patience with themselves and others as they grasp new material.


Teaching Tips, Secrets, and Ideas for Student Teachers (Teacher trainees)

Teaching Tips, Secrets, and Ideas for Student Teachers (Teacher trainees)


The title is self-explanatory and the context is fairly clear, so let’s dispense with the introduction and just get to the list, shall we?

1)  If the students aren’t responding, do something different.
2) Resist generalizations, e.g., “they’re just not getting it,” or “they’re doing great.” There is no “they”—they are 25 unique students and unique levels of performance.
3) Do not focus on standards. Focus on the tone of curious learning.
4)Students will remember little of what you taught them, but will never forget the way you make them feel.
5) Curiosity and questioning are the roots of all learning.
6) You are a professional. Strive to project that image at all times.
7) Be reachable to students after they leave your classroom. (Start an educational blog.)
8)Pursue uncovering what students actually understand through unique assessment forms, rather than focusing on their performance on “the” assessment.
9) Worry less about what other teachers are saying, and more about when and where you can collaborate meaningfully.Which brings us to the idea of collaboration—shy away from collaboration that’s topical and focused on process rather than creating, innovating, or producing.
10) Worry less about teacher actions, more about learner actions.
11) Help your students publish.
12)Differentiation is not about learning styles, but about different learning experiences entirely.
13) Don’t get dragged into the jargon of education and arguments of minutiae—blending vs flipping, assessment vs exams. These things matter, but can take up more time than they’re worth.
14)  Smile because of what you do, not how your day is going.
15)  There is a degree of showmanship to teaching.
16)  Chat with students, and sit (or stand) with them at rallies.
17)  Strive for diversity in everything. Instructional strategies, digital platforms, media forms, grouping strategies, etc.
18)  Don’t try to change too many things at one time. Instead, choose one important change per semester.
19)  No matter their appearance, actions, or behavior, talk to parents as equitable partners in the learning of their children.Have catch-phrases. (Or maybe don’t.)
20) In all but the most obvious situations, resist trying to change a department of school culture. Lead by example, not words or directly challenging.
21)Learn to listen to others—really listen instead of thinking of whether or not you agree, or waiting for your turn to talk.
22) Thank others constantly. Someone somewhere would do anything for your job.
23)  Be humble and gracious.
24) You’re never as good as you think you are; you’re never as bad as you think you are either.
25) Value team-building activities.
26)  Don’t stereotype 21st century learners. They’re nothing as a group, only revealing themselves as individuals.
27) Know your biases.
28) Help students see their own potential.
29) Realize that students are growing up in a world decidedly different from the one you were educated in.
30) Visualize the way a lesson or activity will go before teaching it.
31)  Always wait for quiet before you begin speaking.
32)  Have a simple, polite and consistent method of gathering students’ attention before speaking—something other than counting backwards from 5.
33) If you’re planning formal learning sequences, use backwards planning.
34) If you’re planning formal learning sequences, become fluent in curriculum mapping, scope-and-sequencing, etc.
35) Learn your students’ names as quickly as possible, and then make sure you’re calling them what they want to be called.
36) Don’t take behavior problems personally no matter their appearance. They never are.
37)  It’s not about you. Don’t force your way.
38)  You are not there to teach, you are there to help students learn. This is an important paradigm shift, but doesn’t mean you’re not accountable when they’re not learning.
39)  Don’t be afraid to switch content areas, grade levels, schools, or districts.
40)  Teach a content area that you don’t consider yourself an expert in.
41)  Focus on reading and writing no matter what you teach.
42)  Be early to meetings. Everyone is as busy as you are.
43)  Learn how to compliment without sounding patronizing.
44)  What students go through at home is light years more important to them than today’s lesson. And that’s okay.
45)  Teach tolerance.
46)  Be aware about your own thoughts and deeds (Metacognitively aware)
47)  Focus as much on learning spaces as you do on processes.
48)Know the difference between declarative and procedural knowledge.
49)  Use Bloom’s Taxonomy, 6 Facets of Understanding, or our own Simple Understanding Taxonomy  to measure understanding.
50)  Each day you have a finite amount of emotional energy. Use it wisely.
51) Never raise your voice.
52)  Everyone is charismatic somehow. Know how you are and use it.
53)  Use “wait time” creatively.
54)  If you use sarcasm, be careful.
55) Don’t compete with other teachers.
56) Actively participate in staff meetings no matter your mood or personal feelings.
57)  Try blended learning, but start small.
58)  Use analogies—or better yet, have students create analogies.
59)  Concept maps are your friends—for assessment, struggling writers, pre-writing, tracking narrative structures, or simple navigating complex ideas.
60)  Use technology to make the classroom walls transparent.
61)  Use a wide variety of physical and digital media.
62)  Believe in yourself and your students equally.
63)  Perception is reality.
64)  Have a great classroom library—especially in math, science, social studies, etc.
65)  Teach in the moment. When you leave school each day, that day is gone. Don’t constantly teach for some nebulous future or foreboding exam. Live and learn in the now.
66)  Create reference sheets of commonly-used practices, formulas, graphic organizers, terms, etc., and have students keep those in their binders.
67)  Use write-arounds across all content areas to allow students to quietly build on one another’s thinking.
68)  Assume the best.
69)  Do all that you can to not take work home. (It’s possible.)
70)  Be aware of how you look to others—students, staff, parents, etc.
71)  Don’t print or electronically save what you’re not going to read that day.
72)  Focus on learning habits and Habits of Mind.
73)  Become a master at asking questions. Then help your students become even better.
74)  Focus on macro thinking patterns—cause-effect, compare-contrast, analogous situations, patterns, systems, etc.
75)  Use riddles, puzzles, paradoxes, and startling images.
76)  Move around the room freely.
77)  Use the walls of your classroom to reach out to students with words and images that resonate, and then change it more than once a year. It’s their learning space, not yours.
78)  Have multiple, go-to methods of grouping students based on different needs—reading level, readiness, interest, etc.
79)  Make sure your students are working harder than you do. If they aren’t, change that immediately.
80)  Change lessons and units annually.
81)  Allow the students to know you as a person.
82)  If you teach the same content to multiple classes, what/how you teach should change from class to class.
83)  Use twitter, blogging, or some other persistent method of staying in touch with teachers outside your building.
84)  Take chances in professional development.
85)  Publish outside of your field.
86)  Reach students emotionally before you do intellectually.
87)  Model making mistakes.
88)  Play video games. (Trust me.)
89)  Get learner’s attention early—early in the year, in a lesson, in a unit.
90)  Use positive presuppositions without patronizing.
91)  Prove to students that you believe in them.
92)  The most basic teaching pattern of all is show me, help me, let me. Consider using it.
93)  Have students curate their own digital portfolios.
94)  Anticipate misunderstandings.
95)  Have multiple, easy-to-access data sources from inside and beyond your classroom.
96)  Don’t grade everything.
97)  If you’re not using some form of project-based learning, have a good reason.
98)  Be happy with teaching
99)  Proud to be a teacher.



QUESTIONING TECHNIQUE,Thumb rules of effective questioning-B.Ed Teaching Notes

IMPORTANCE OF QUESTIONING TECHNIQUE
B.Ed. Teaching Notes

Prepared by
SABARISH-P
M.Sc., M.Ed., JRF & NET
Lecturer in Physical Science, Arafa Institute for Teacher Education
Attur, Thrissur.

"Good learning starts with questions, not answers"

Questioning consumes a considerable proportion of time in classrooms. Interest in questioning as an instructional tool can be traced back to the fourth century as evidenced in the Socratic dialogues recorded by Plato.
In the 21st century, teachers use questions to manage student behavior and classroom activities, to promote students' inquiry and thinking, and to assess students' knowledge or understanding. Questioning enables teachers to check learners' understanding. It also benefits learners as it encourages engagement and focuses their thinking on key concepts and ideas. Questioning actively encourages the development of thinking and dialogue skills.
Questioning can serve at least 5 distinct purposes in effective classrooms.
1.       To guide students toward understanding when introducing material. 
2.       To guide students to do a greater share of the thinking.
3.       To remediate an error.
4.       To stretch or motivating students.
5.       To check for understanding (Evaluation purpose).

In questioning technique teachers uses questions as a tool to promote inquiry, thinking, and ultimately learning.

An effective question must involve the following techniques

1)    Redirection: This involves the framing of a single question for which there are many possible responses from the students. Redirection is possible only in the case of high order, divergent questions.
Example: At the end of this unit Halogens, which do you think is the most useful one? ………….Why?
2)    Prompting: This technique involves the use of hints or clues which are used to aid the student in responding correctly. This is required when a student is asked a question and he fails to reply or response correctly.
3)    Probing: This technique is used when the students reply is correct but insufficient because it lacks depth. This helps to process information.

Thumb rules of effective questioning

A few general rules of thumb for designing effective questions are:
1)    One at a Time: Have only one question in the question.
2)    Simple to Complex: Ask questions that progress from simple to complex.
3)    Clear and Concise: The questions should be clear and Concise
4)    Start with a question word.  (who, when, what, where, why, how)
5)    Ask an actual question.
6)    Assume the answer.  (Ask, “Who can tell me…,” not, “Can anyone tell me…”
7)    Stock Questions: Ask one sequence of questions in a row.  Ask versions of the same question.

8)    Break it down: Break complex questions to simple, one after the other.