UNIT 4- LANGUAGE ACROSS THE CURRICULUM-Creating Language for Classroom Interaction - Part 2-BEd notes
Prepared by
Sabarish P
Contents
1) Media for curricular transaction-discussions, seminars, debates- language of explanation, questioning, reinforcing, illustrating and other pedagogic communications
Media for curricular transaction-discussions, seminars, debates-language of explanation
Apart from curricular development, major emphasis should also be given on effective transaction of curriculum in any educational program.
The main responsibility of the curriculum transaction lies on the teachers and trainers who may use different types of pedagogies to create a nice academic environment in the institution and students can be benefited in gaining knowledge and developing skills as per industry demand.
Curriculum is implemented by teachers, and depends moreover on the quality of teaching and learning strategies, learning materials and assessment.
Quality education should not be regarded as a process of consumption, but as a process of interaction between teachers and students.
A wide range of teaching techniques is used in institutions. The set of teaching techniques strongly depends on the instructional form of education.
Apart from the ubiquitous lecture, the additional consultation teaching elements may be
Seminar (small group teaching),
Tutorials,
Research seminar,
Exercise classes or courses,
Workshops (classroom based practical classes),
Problem-solving sessions,
Laboratory teaching,
Demonstration classes,
Placement (internship/traineeship),
Work based practice,
Fieldwork,
Online / Distance or e-learning.
Use of teaching elements depends on the focus of the teaching and the intended learning outcomes for the students.
To complete the cycle of learning one must also look at how students’ achievement of learning outcomes is assessed.
Good assessment information provides accurate estimates of student performance and enables teachers or other decision makers to make appropriate decisions.
Effective assessment of learning requires that teachers provide a rationale for undertaking a particular assessment of learning at a particular point in time, clear descriptions of the intended learning, processes that make it possible for students to demonstrate their competence and skill, a range of alternative mechanisms for assessing the same outcomes, transparent approaches to interpretation, descriptions of the assessment process.
In assessment of learning, the methods chosen need to address the intended curriculum outcomes and the continuum of learning that is required to reach the outcomes.
The methods must allow all students to show their understanding and produce sufficient information to support credible and defensible statements about the nature and quality of their learning.
Assessment of learning methods include not only tests and examinations, but also a rich variety of products and demonstrations of learning—portfolios, exhibitions, performances, presentations, simulations, multimedia projects, and a variety of other written, oral, and visual methods.
Questioning, Reinforcing, Illustrating and other pedagogic communications
Pedagogic communication can be defined as a transactional process in which educators and students create a joint communication climate which changes from moment to moment as the conversation unfolds and the thoughts, attitudes and behaviors of both the teachers and students influence each other in some way.
A good teacher is more than a lecturer teaching a balancing act between knowledge and performance.
Some brilliant people are unable to impart the knowledge that they have onto other people because they lack effective communication skills.
The concept of a good teacher includes the ability to connect with students, to encourage inquiry and to project a caring attitude while maintaining discipline.
If teachers and students can't communicate well with each other, it's likely that the learning objectives aren't being met.
Simple strategies must be encouraged to make the students understand the content.
There are many way a teacher can communicate with the students. Some of the effective communication skills are:
Emotional Communication
Non-verbal Language
Humour
Reflective Communication
Technological Communication
Emotional Communication: By establishing an emotional connection with a student, a teacher can identify what motivates the particular student and create a collaborative learning environment.
Non-verbal Language: An encouraging smile can motivate a student as much as the phrase "you can do it".
Nonverbal language such as eye contact, facial expressions, posture and tone help to establish a relationship with students and to produce a positive learning environment.
Humour: Humour relaxes the distance between teacher and students and creates a collaborative feeling. Students will not fear their teacher and will be more willing to approach her and ask for guidance or help.
Reflective Communication: A successful teacher must be able to discern how he should behave in a specific classroom.
If a teacher is in a classroom where students are having particular difficulties with a topic, he/she must be able to reflect on the situation and develop a new method for dealing with the topic.
Technological Communication: Today's tech-savvy generation is often bored by traditional classroom methods.
Therefore, a successful teacher must be able to incorporate technology into his teaching. Teachers should be up-to-date .
Ineffective communication in the classroom One-way communication process Communication is a two-way street. Understanding that communication is interactive by its very nature is an essential first step in becoming an effective communicator.
Verbal communication in education is when the educator uses words to explain and teach. Lecturing is the most common form of verbal communication in education.
Non-verbal communication, which is any time a message is sent without the use of words. This is commonly seen in the use of visual aids, dramatic presentations or body language.
Student-teacher relationship can have a healthy future when both individuals respect the role they agreed to play.
The use of different types of questions is an effective tool to teach thinking skills among our students.
Questions can be categorised into divergent questions, convergent questions, Low-Level Questions, and High-Level Questions or High Order Thinking Level Questions.
Skill of reinforcement is used when the teacher reinforces good behaviour with a smile, when he/she praises good answer, encourage a slow learner or writes “Well done” on a piece of work.
This can help to increase pupil attention and maintaining motivation. It also helps in promoting self-concept and consequently help to give confidence to the students.
Components of reinforcement skills are:
Positive verbal reinforcement- use of such words as “ good”, “yes”, “That’s right”.
Positive non-verbal reinforcement - smile, nodding of head, clapping hands.
Proximity - moving nearer or standing next to, sitting near the pupils, etc.
Contact - patting the pupil’s head, shaking hands.
Negative verbal reinforcement - “No”, “wrong”, “Nonsense”.
Negative non-verbal reinforcement - shaking head, frown, etc.
The skill of explaining and illustrating with examples deals with the using of relevant and interesting examples to illustrate a point and also whatever teaching aids may be appropriate.
It also deals with suitable organization of content; recapitulation at appropriate stages; stressing of important points by repetition; use of voice; gesture, obtaining pupil participation and feedback.
Demonstrations can be used to illustrate points or procedures efficiently, stimulate interest in a particular topic, provide a model for teaching skills, and provide a change of pace.
To carry out effective demonstrations, teachers should carefully plan the demonstration, practice the demonstration, develop outline to guide the demonstration, make sure everyone can see the demonstration, introduce the demonstration to focus attention, ask and encourage questions, and plan a follow-up to the demonstration.
Prepared by
Sabarish P
(MSc Physics, MEd, NET)Contact: pklsabarish@gmail.com
