Micro Teaching - outline

CONCEPT OF MICRO-TEACHING 

Micro-teaching is a teacher training technique which helps the teacher trainee to master the teaching skills. It requires the teacher trainee

1. to teach a single concept of content

1. using a specified teaching skill

1. for a short time

1. to a very small member of pupils

1. Knowledge Acquisition Phase.

1. Skill Acquisition Phase.

1. Transfer Phase of Micro-teaching.

In this way the teacher trainee practises the teaching skill in terms of definable, observable, measurable and controlable form with repeated cycles till he attains mastery in the use of skill.

ASSUMPTIONS OF MICRO-TEACHING

From the foregoing discussion about the concept of micro-teaching you might have thought of the assumption on which it is based. Let us pinpoint them :

Teaching is a complex process but can be analysed into simple skills.

Teaching skills can be practiced one by one upto mastery level under specific and simplified situation.

Appropriate feed back if systematically given proves very significant for obtaining mastery level in each skill.

When all skills have been mastered taken one by one, they can be integrated for real classroom teaching.

The skill training can be conveniently transferred from simulated teaching situation to actual classroom teaching situation.

Steps of Micro-teaching 

The Micro-teaching programme involves the following steps :

Step I Particular skill to be practised is explained to the teacher trainees in terms of the purpose and components of the skill with suitable examples.

Step II The teacher trainer gives the demonstration of the skill in Micro-teaching in simulated conditions to the teacher trainees.

Step III The teacher trainee plans a short lesson plan on the basis of the demonstrated skill for his/her practice.

Step IV The teacher trainee teaches the lesson to a small group of pupils. His lesson is supervised by the supervisor and peers.

Step V On the basis of the observation of a lesson, the supervisor gives feedback to the teacher trainee. The supervisor reinforces the instances of effective use of the skill and draws attention of the teacher trainee to the points where he could not do well.

Step VI In the light of the feed-back given by the supervisor, the teacher trainee replans the lesson plan in order to use the skill in more effective manner in the second trial.

Step VII The revised lesson is taught to another comparable group of pupils.

Step VIII The supervisor observes the re-teach lesson and gives re-feed back to the teacher trainee with convincing arguments and reasons.

Step IX The ‘teach – re-teach’ cycle may be repeated several times till adequate mastery level is achieved.

Micro-teaching Cycle

The six steps generally involved in micro-teaching cycle are

Plan : This involves the selection of the topic and related content of such a nature in which the use of components of the skill under practice may be made easily and conveniently. The topic is analysed into different activities of the teacher and the pupils. The activities are planned in such a logical sequence where maximum application of the components of a skill are possible.

Teach : This  involves the attempts of the teacher trainee to use the components of the skill in suitable situations coming up in the process of teaching-learning as per his/her planning of activities. If the situation is different and not as visualised in the planing of the activities, the  teacher should modify his/her behaviour as per the demand of the situation in the class. He should have the courage and confidence to handle the situation arising in the class effectively.

Feedback : This term refers to giving information to the teacher trainee about his performance. The information includes the points of strength as well as weakness relating to his/her performance. This helps the teacher trainee to improve upon his/her performance in the desired direction.

Re-plan : The teacher trainee replans his lesson incorporating the points of strength and removing the points not skillfully handled during teaching in the previous attempt either on the same topic or on another topic suiting to the teacher trainee for improvement.

Re-teach : This involves teaching to the same group of pupils if the topic is changed or to a different group of pupils if the topic is the same. This is done to remove boredom or monotony of the pupil. The teacher trainee teaches the class with renewed courage and confidence to perform better than the previous attempt.

Re-feedback : This is the most important component of Micro-teaching for behaviour modifiction of teacher trainee in the desired direction in each and every skill practice.

Phases of Micro-teaching

There are three phases of the Micro-teaching procedure which you have studied in the previous section of this Unit. They are :

Let us discuss these phases one by one.

Knowledge Acquisition Phase :  In this phase the teacher trainee learns about the skill and its components through discussion, illustrations and demonstration of the skill given by the expert. He learns about the purpose of the skill and the condition under which it proves useful in the teaching-learning process. His/Her analysis of the skill into components leading to various types of behaviours which is to be practised. The teacher trainee tries to gain a lot about the skill from the demonstration given by the expert . He discusses and clarifies each and every aspect of the skill.

Skill Acquisition Phase :   On the basis of the demonstration presented by the expert, the teacher trainee plans a micro-lesson, lesson for practising the demonstrated skill. He practices the teaching skill through the Micro-teaching cycle and continues his efforts till he attains mastery level. The feed-back component of micro-teaching contributes significantly towards the mastery level acquisition of the skill. On the basis of the performance of teacher trainee in teaching, the feed back is provided for the purpose of change in behaviour of the teacher trainee in the desired direction.

Transfer Phase of Micro-teaching :  After attaining mastery level and command over each of the skills, the teacher trainee integrates all these skills and transfer to actual classroom teaching is done during this transfer phase.

TEACHING IS ..........

Teaching is 

Teaching means many different things, that teaching act varies from person to person and from situation to situation. (Bar, 1961)

The behaviour or activities of persons as they go about doing whatever is required of teachers, particularly those activities which are concerned with the guidance or direction of learning of others.

(Ryan, 1965)

Teaching is the arrangement of contingencies of reinforcement under which students learn. They learn without teaching in their natural environment, but teachers arrange special contingencies which expedite learning and hastening the appearance of behaviour which would otherwise be acquired slowly or making scene of the appearance of behaviour which might otherwise never occur.

(B.F. Skinner. 1968)

Teaching as an act of interpersonal influence aimed at changing the ways in which other persons can or will behave.

(N.L. Gage, 1963)

The minimum requirement of any training programme is that it should enable the trainee to acquire the basis skills and competencies of a good teacher.

(Challenge of Education, A Policy Perspective 1986,

 National Commission on Teachers)

Teachers’ performance is most critical in-put in the field of education ……….

(Challenge of Education, A Policy Perspective 1986,

  National Commission on Teachers)

The teacher training too is not planned and organised to develop the spirit of inquiry, initiative, scientific temper, manual-dexterity, conceptual clarity and linguistic skills for effective speaking and writing which teachers are expected to impart to their students. Adequate attention is also not given to develop communication skills which is critical to the function of the teachers …….

(Challenge of Education, A Policy Perspective 1986,  

National Commission on Teachers)

It may not be wrong to say that in such defective practical and theoretically overloaded teacher education programme, the trainee remains almost at the same level in his teaching competence even after training ……

(R.C. Das and associates, 1980, NCERT)

From the definitions of teaching given  it is evident that teaching is a very complex activity. However it can be roughly concluded that teaching activity :

• is imparting knowledge or skill.

• it involves doing all things that may lead to learning.

• it is a social act of influence. 

From all these components of teaching we can say that there is no specific and universally accepted definition of teaching and teacher effectiveness.

Communication as a process and it elements

Elements of Communication

COMMUNICATION- The process of human beings responding to the symbolic behavior of other persons.

-First Characteristic of Definition: Communication is a “Process.”  

Communication is “Process” several reasons:

1.We do not communicate to other people, we communicate with other people.  

To understand difference, we first need to talk about the components of communication: 

-Sender, Receiver… 

-Message Encoding, Message Decoding… 

-Psychological Noise, Physiological Noise

-Communication Channels, 

-AND Communication Environment.

Sender-The person or persons responsible for creating a message to be sent.

Ex. A teacher gives a lecture 

      

      A parent a child an instruction to follow 

      

     

…All these people are sending messages.

Receiver- The person or persons who are receiving the created messages.

Ex. An student  receives the teachers lecture 

      

      The students are  the recipient of the teacher  lecture…

      

      Communication Channel- The medium a receiver uses to send his or her message.  

**Channels may be verbal or nonverbal**

Ex. Speech is a channel… 

      

      Writing is a channel… 

       Non-verbal gestures are channels… 

       Voice Tones are channels…And so on.

Encoding- When a sender attempts to replicate his or her internal thoughts or feelings into some kind of external message medium for the sake of transmitting those thoughts or feelings to another person or persons.

   

It’s easy to tell if sender(teacher ) encodes message poorly because he or she say things like: 

“That’s not what I meant to say,” or… 

“That’s not what I mean,” or… 

“What I really wanted to say was…” and so forth. 

If teacher  is a skilled “encoder,” we call him or her “articulate,” “well spoken,” or even “eloquent.”  

And research has shown that good speakers are considered more trustworthy, intelligent, competent, and personable than poor speakers…

…even if speaker’s are saying exact same thing.

Obviously, there isn’t always a relationship between speaking well & intelligence & competency…

This phenomena -known as Halo Effect- refers to the fact that if people identify you as skilled in one area……They often will assume you are skilled in other areas as well.

Message Decoding- Occurs when the receiver attempts to ascertain the meaning of the sender’s message.

And figuring out what other people “mean” isn’t easy.

I’m sure all of us had times when we’ve had others become frustrated w/ us because we didn’t understand what they meant…

I’m sure we’ve all became frustrated w/ other people when they didn’t understand what we meant.

**There are several factors that prevent human beings from decoding other’s messages effectively…

Noise- Any force that interferes with effective communication.

Three types: External noise, physiological noise, psychological noise.

External Noise- Refers to any physical phenomenon that might impair a receiver’s ability to decode a message.  

Physiological Noise- Involves biological factors in the receiver or sender that interfere with accurate reception.

Psychological Noise- Involves mental forces within a receiver or sender that might inhibit his or her ability to either encode or decode a message correctly.

Ex. If a receiver suffers from low-self esteem, might interpret a sincere compliment as sarcastic or condescending even though it wasn’t.  

Environment- Fields of experience or cultural backgrounds that influence the way communicators encode and decode messages.

Now lets  defined components of communication…Let’s get back to our definition of communication as a “process”

Essentially, defining communication as process means communication does not work linearly but circularly instead.

Communication in Interpersonal situations involves sending and receiving messages at the same time.

Ex. While I’m lecturing, you’re giving me nonverbal feedback about your opinion of the lecture: 

Yawning, stretching, sleeping, nodding off, doodling in your notebook, etc.   

teachers both sending and receiving messages at the same time!

Sometimes we consciously plan our communication…sometimes we don’t.  

Misunderstandings occur when we assume all communication is planned.  

Ex. If one of you yawns or nods off, you might be intentionally acting rudely… 

…Or maybe you’re trying to be good listener, but are tired because you were up all night studying for another test.  

If I jump to a conclusion about the reason for your yawning, I may end up unjustly punishing you in participation points department.

Sometimes our own unconscious communication has negative consequences for ourselves and the person we’re communicating with.  

Ex. If your supervisor is instructing you and you fold your arms…

…He or she may interpret the arm folding as an act of defiance and become more stern in future when interacting with you…  

…So you weren’t trying to be defiant, but your unconscious communication  gave impression that you were.

The important lesson here is that most people assume messages are easily created and easily interpreted…but this is just not the case.  

When we’re decoding each other’s messages… 

…We have to remember that many factors are continually influencing our ability and intent when we’re encoding and decoding messages.

Miscommunication, resentment, anger and hostility often result in relationships when communicators unaware of influence factors have.

Bottom line: If you remember that communication is process… 

…You’ll communicate more effectively because you’ll be aware of many factors involved in any given communication event: 

You’ll be less likely to assume, less likely to rush judgment… 

…More likely tailor your message to your audience correctly, 

More likely to correctly encode and decode other’s messages. 

                                                                                                                            

Second aspect of our definition is that this class deals with HUMAN COMMUNICATION only.

                                                                                                                           

Third, COMMUNICATION is “Symbolic.”

Symbols- Are things used to stand for or represent something else.  

Symbols not limited to words; symbols include nonverbal displays or objects.

Ex. “Red light” symbolizes an order to “Stop.”

      

       Colors “red, white, and blue” symbolize patriotism.

       

       Wearing “Oakland Raiders Gear” symbolizes you can’t read and 

        probably abuse drugs…

*So symbols are anything that stands for something else.

Concept of Subject Approach, Interdisciplinary Approach and Multidisciplinary Approach

The Subject Approach:

 This approach is also known as the traditional disciplinary approach as each subject is separately taught by the teacher in the area of the particular subject in question. For instance, language was traditionally taught as a subject with different compartments of reading, grammar, writing, and literature as separate components of the language skills. The use of a single academic discipline to teach is what is referred to as subject approach. For example, language was taught as a separate subject from other subjects. English was taught as being different from, Environmental Science, Mathematics, History and so on. In this way, each subject has a well defined boundary from which there is no connection to the other. Disciplines here then, focus more on the content rather than the process.

 The Interdisciplinary Approach: 

As the name suggests, it is an approach of using two subjects in teaching a topic, concept or theme. In this case, the English language teacher may explore similar concepts in both Setswana and English to teach a topic, theme or concept to bring out the interrelationships between the two languages. Examples of other subjects in this category are Biology and Zoology taught in combination as Biology, and Biology and Chemistry taught as Biochemistry to illustrate the relationship between the two disciplines. 

The Multidisciplinary approach

 Multidisciplinary denotes the teaching of concepts across more than two subjects or disciplines. The instruction may be organized on fundamental issues common to the three academic disciplines instead of teaching the students in a disjointed and unconnected manner. Examples of the multidisciplinary approach can be illustrated by Integrated Social Studies (Geography, Political Science, Sociology, Psychology), and Integrated Science (Biology, Chemistry, and Physics) as reflected in the junior secondary curriculum in Botswana. The use of the multidisciplinary approach in instruction can equally be referred to as the integrated approach. Integration, in this sense means using relevant ideas from many other disciplines to, ‘do justice’ to the topic or problem at hand. Aina (1979) says of integration: Integration can be used within and across disciplines. Language, for instance, can be taught in itself (within) to integrate the four skills of listening, reading, writing, and speaking, as well as across to integrate concepts, themes and ideas from the different subject spectrums. This is an approach favoured by several authors based on the premise that practical experiences of life suggest that solutions to problems of living are not found in the study of separate school subjects (Aina, 1979).

multidisciplinary approach permits the teacher to combine a variety of methods, techniques and technological devices. In fact, it is believed that multidisciplinary teaching gets the whole school, teachers, parents and community involved. This is because it facilitates team and collaborative activities. Teachers share classroom activities, worksheets and resources with each other to facilitate their students’ learning. The parents also get involved as they work collaboratively with teachers to address students’ learning needs and issues. Students also learn collaboratively as they do group or pair projects and presentations. In fact, everyone benefits as the students see their curriculum come alive to address issues in the classrooms, across subject areas, in the school as a whole, as well as in the community. It is assumed that the greater the level of integration desired, the higher the level of collaboration required in multidisciplinary instruction

BLOOMS TAXONOMY OF WRITING INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES

BLOOMS TAXONOMY OF WRITING INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES



In 1956 Benjamin Bloom headed a group of educational psychologists who developed classification levels of intellectual behavior important in learning. Bloom found that most of the questions used in the instructional setting required the students to use the lowest possible level which is the recall of information.

Benjamin Bloom identified six levels from the simple recall at the lowest level to the highest level, which is evaluation. The following is a listing of the levels and verb examples that goes with each one.

Knowledge is defined as the remembering of previously learned material. This may involve the recall of a wide range of material, from specific facts to complete theories, but all that is required is the bringing to mind of the appropriate information. Knowledge represents the lowest level of learning outcomes in the cognitive domain.

Bloom’s verbs for knowledge - arrange, define, duplicate, label, list, memorize, name, order, recognize, relate, recall, repeat, reproduce state.

Comprehension is defined as the ability to grasp the meaning of material. This may be shown by translating material from one form to another (words to numbers), by interpreting material (explaining or summarizing), and by estimating future trends (predicting consequences or effects). These learning outcomes go one step beyond the simple remembering of material, and represent the lowest level of understanding.

 

Bloom’s verbs for comprehension - classify, describe, discuss, explain, express, identify, indicate, locate, recognize, report, restate, review, select, translate,

Application refers to the ability to use learned material in new and concrete situations. This may include the application of such things as rules, methods, concepts, principles, laws, and theories. Learning outcomes in this area require a higher level of understanding than those under comprehension.

Bloom’s verbs for application - apply, choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, illustrate, interpret, operate, practice, schedule, sketch, solve, use, write.

Analysis refers to the ability to break down material into its component parts so that its organizational structure may be understood. This may include the identification of parts, analysis of the relationship between parts, and recognition of the organizational principles involved. Learning outcomes here represent a higher intellectual level than comprehension and application because they require an understanding of both the content and the structural of the material.

Bloom’s verbs for analysis - analyze, appraise, calculate, categorize, compare, contrast, criticize, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, examine, experiment, question, test.

Synthesis refers to the ability to put parts together to form a new whole. This may involve the production of a unique communication, a plan of operations (research proposal), or a set of abstract relations (scheme for classifying information). Learning outcomes in this area stress creative behaviors, with major emphasis on the formulation of new patterns or structure.

Bloom’s verbs for synthesis - arrange, assemble, collect, compose, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, manage, organize, plan, prepare, propose, set up, write.

Evaluation is concerned with the ability to judge the value of material for a given purpose. The judgments are to be based on definite criteria. These may be internal criteria (organization) or external criteria (relevance to the purpose) and the student may determine the criteria or be given them. Learning outcomes in this area are highest in the cognitive hierarchy because they contain elements of all the other categories, plus conscious value judgments based on clearly defined criteria.

Bloom’s verbs for evaluation - appraise, argue, assess, attach, choose compare, defend estimate, judge, predict, rate, core, select, support, value, evaluate

How to Create a blank word document

How to create a word document

Meaning of Information technology

CONCEPT OF INFORMATION, COMMUNICATION AND EDUCATIONAL TECHONOLGY

OBJECTIVES

After reading this unit you will be able to :

• State the meaning of information communication and educational technology and instructional technology.
• Define the term EducationaTechonology 
• Explain the concept of Educational Technology 
• Justiy the need & Significance of ICT in Education
• Explain the historical perspective of Educational Technology. 
• State the emerging trends in Educational Technology. 

INTRODUCTION

Globalization and technological change processes that have accelerated in tandem over the past years have created a new global economy ―Powered by technology, fueled by information and driven by knowledge. The emergence of this new global economy has serious implications for the nature and purpose of educational institutions. As you know the half life of information continues to shrink and access to information continues to grow exponentially, schools can not remain mere venues for the transmission of a prescribed set of information from teacher to student over a fixed period of time. Rather Schools must promote ―Learning to Learn i.e. the acquisiton of knowledge and skills that make possible continous learning over the lifetime. 

In this connection, Information and communication technologies (ICTS) which include radio and television, and the Internet - have been touted as potentially and powerful enabling tools for educational change and reform. When used appropriately, different ICTS are said to help expand access to education, Strengthen the relevance of education to the increasingly digital workplace, and raise educational quality by, among others, helping make teaching and learning into an engaging, active process connected to reallife. However, the effective integration of ICTS into the educational system is a complex, on ultifaceted process.

CONCEPT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY :

Today‘s world is a world of information explosion. This information explosion is taking place in such a fast speed that even a literate person is feeling as if he or she is illiterate being not able to cope up with such an information explosion. Here the question arises how is one to cope up with it? The answer is, information technology (IT) that can help in coping with the information explosion. So, we can say that ―Information Technology is nothing but coping up with explosion of Information.

Information technology (IT) is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a micro-electronics - based combination of computing and telecommunication. The term in its modern sense first appeared in a 1958 article published in the Harvard Bussiness Review, in which authors Leavitt and whisler commented that ―the new technology does not yet have a single established name. we shall call it information technology

It spans a wide variety of areas that include but are not limited to things such as processes, computer software, computer hardware, Programming Languages and data constructs. In short, anything that renders data, information or perceived knowledge in any visual format whatsoever, via any multimedia distribution mechanism, is considered part of the domains space known as Information Technology.

Meaning of Information Techology (IT) :

Information Technology consists of two words Information and Technology. If you know the two words you can understand the word information technology together.

The term ―Information‖ refers to ―any communication or representation of knowledge such as facts, data or opinions in any medium or for, including textual, numerical, graphic Cartographic, narrative or audiovisual forms.‖

―Technology is the practical form of scientific knowledge or the science of application of knowledge to practical.‖

―Information Technology is any equipment or interconnected system or sub system of equipments that is used in the acquistion, storage manipulation, management transmission or reception of data or information.‖

Definition of Information Technology:

―Information Technology is a scientific, technological and engineerning discipline and management technique used in handing the information, it‘s application and association with social, economical and cultural matters.‖

- UNSECO

―Information technology is a systemic study of artifacts that can be used to give form to facts inorder to provide meaning for decision making, and artifacts that can be used for organization, processing, communication and application of information‖

- Darnton and Giacoletto

From the above discussion we can conclude that information technology refers to the information processing of the software application on operating systems or hardware applications that includes computers, videos, telephones and related equipments of telecommunications, tapes, CDs etc.

Characteristics of Information Technology :

Information Technology has the following Characteristics :

* Acquistion, Storage, manipulation, management, transmission or reception of data or information.

* Real time access to information.

 * Easy availability of updated data 

* Connecting Geographically dispersed regions 

* Wider range of communication media.

ICT