Phases and Variables of Teaching
Introduction-
Teaching is an important part of
the process of education. Its special function is to impart knowledge, develop
understanding and skills. Teaching is associated with 7 R’s. teaching is an
integral part of the process of education. It is a system of actions intended
to induce learning. In teaching, an interaction occurs between the teachers and
the students, by which the students are diverted towards their goal.
Teaching can be considered as the
art of assisting another to learn by providing the information and appropriate
situations, conditions or activities. It is a process by which one person helps
other in the achievement of knowledge, skill and aptitudes.
Anatomy/Structure/Variables of Teaching-
Teaching consists of three
variables, which operate in the phases of teaching and determines the nature
and format of learning conditions or situations. They are: –
i. Independent variables (The Teacher)
ii. Intervening variables (Learning experience)
iii. Dependent Variables (The Student)
Teacher as an Independent Variable-
The teacher plays the role of
independent variables. Students are dependent on him in the teaching process.
The teacher does the planning, organizing, leading and controlling of teaching
for bringing about behavioral change in the students. He is free to perform
various activities for providing learning experience to students.
Content and methodology of presentation as intervening variables: -
The intervening variables lead to
interaction between the teacher and the students. The content determines the
mode of presentation- telling, showing and doing etc.
Students as Dependent Variable
The students are required to act
according to the planning and organization of the teacher. Teaching activities
of the teacher influence the learning of the students.
Phases of Teaching
Teaching is a complex task. For
performing this task, a systematic planning is needed. Teaching is to be
considered in terms of various steps and the different steps constituting the process
are called the phases of teaching. If we want to obtain a complete description
of the teaching activities, we must consider what the teacher does before,
during and after his regular teaching in the class.
We can divide the teaching act
into three phases as shown below: –
a. Pre-active
Phase or the Planning Phase
b. Inter-active
Phase or the Implementation Phase
c. Post-active
Phase or Evaluation Phase.
Pre-active Phase of Teaching
In the pre-active phase of
teaching, the planning of teaching is carried over. This phase includes all
those activities which a teacher performs before classroom teaching or before
entering into the classroom.
Pre-active consists essentially
of the planning of a lesson. The planning of lesson needs to be seen in broader
terms, not merely the designing of a lesson plan. Planning includes identifying
the objectives to be achieved in terms of students learning, the strategies and
methods to be adopted, use of teaching learning aids and so on.
Planning is done for taking
decision about the following aspects: –
i. Selection of the content to be taught.
ii. Organization of the content.
iii. Justification of the principles and maxims of
teaching to be used.
iv. Selection of the appropriate methods of
teaching.
v. Decision about the preparation and usage of
evaluation tools.
Suggested activities in the Pre-active Phase:-
a. Determining
goals or objectives: – First of all, the teacher determines the teaching
objectives which are then defined in terms of expected behavioral change. Thus,
he ascertains the teaching objectives and what changes he expects in the
students by achieving these objectives. These objectives are determined
according to the psychology of the pupils and needs of the school and society.
b. Selection
of the content to be taught: – After fixing the teaching objectives, the
teacher makes decision about that content which is to be presented before the
pupils and as a result he wants to bring the changes in their behavior. This
decision is taken by the teacher by considering the following points: –
i. Level, needs and importance of the curriculum
proposed by the teacher for the students.
ii. The expected terminal behavior of the students.
iii. Level and mode of motivation be used for the
students.
iv. Selection of appropriate instrument and methods
the teacher should use to evaluate the knowledge related to the content.
c. Sequencing
the elements of content for presentation: – After making selections
regarding the contents to be presented to the students, the teacher arranges
the elements of content in a logical and psychological manner, so that these
arrangements of content may assist in transfer of learning.
d. Selection
about the instructional methodology:- After sequencing the contents, the
teacher makes decision regarding the proper methods and strategies by keeping
in view the contents, entering behavior and the level of the students.
e. How
and when of teaching strategies:- Decision making regarding the teaching
methods and strategies for presenting the sequenced contents to the students is
not sufficient. So the teacher should also decide how and when he will make use
of the previously selected method and strategy during the classroom teaching.
Interactive Phase of Teaching
The second phase includes the
execution of the plan, where learning experiences are provided to students
through suitable modes.
An instruction is a complex
process by which learners are provided with a deliberately designed environment
to interact with, keeping in focus pre-specified objectives of bringing about
specific desirable changes whether instruction goes in a classroom, laboratory,
outdoors or library, this environment is specially designed by a teacher so
that students interact with certain specific environmental stimuli, like
natural components (outdoor), information from books, certain equipment
(laboratory) etc. Learning is directed in pre-determined directions to achieve
certain pre-specific goals. This does not, however, mean that, in the
pre-determined environment no learning other than what a teacher ha decided
upon as instructional objectives does not take place. The variety of
experiences that students go through with a teacher, among themselves provide
learning opportunities.
All those activities which are
performed by a teacher after entering in a class are clubbed under inter-active
phase of teaching. Generally, these activities are concerned with the
presentation and activities are concerned with the presentation and delivery of
the content in a class. The teacher provides pupil verbal stimulation of
various kinds, makes explanations, ask questions, listen to the student’s
response and provide guidance.
The following are the activities
suggested for the inclusion in the inter-active phase:-
i. Sizing-up the class: – As the
teacher enters the classroom, first of all he/she perceives the size of the
class. He/she throws his/her eyes on all the pupils of the class in a few
moments. He comes to know the pupils who can help him/her in his/her teaching
and the pupil who can create a problem for him as a result of this perception.
In the same
way, the students can feel the personality of the teacher. Hence, at this stage
the teacher should look like a teacher. He/she should exhibit of course in a
veiled manner. In a nutshell, the teacher should appear as an efficient and
impressive personality.
ii. Knowledge of learners: – After
having a feeling of class-size, the teacher makes efforts to know how much the
new comers or pupils have previous knowledge. The teacher tries to know the
abilities, interests and attitudes and academic background of learners.
The teacher starts teaching activities after
diagnosing, by questioning regarding action and reaction. Two types of
activities are involved here in the teaching –
a. Initiation
b. Response
Both these
activities are known as verbal interaction. Both these activities occur between
the teacher and the students. In other words, when a teacher performs some
activities, the student reacts or when students perform some activities, the
teacher reacts. This way the inter-action in the teaching take place.
The teacher
performs the following activities in order to analyze the nature of verbal and
non-verbal inter-action of teaching activities:-
i. Selection and presentation of stimuli
ii. Feedback and reinforcement
iii. Deployment of strategies.
Selection and presentation
of stimuli
The teacher should select the
appropriate stimulus as soon as the situation arises and an effect should be
made to control the undesired activities to create the situation and for
desired activities.
Feedback and reinforcement
Feedback or reinforcement is that
condition which increases the possibility for accepting a particular response
in future. These conditions may be of two types: –
a. Positive
reinforcement
b. Negative
Reinforcement
Reinforcement is used for three
purposes. These are: –
a. For
strengthening the response
b. For
changing the response
c. For
modifying or correcting the response.
Development of strategies
The teaching activities are directly related to the learning conditions. Therefore, at the time of
interaction, the teacher produces such activities and conditions by the reinforcement strategies which effect the activities of the pupil.
Major operations of inter-active phase are –
a. Perception
b. Diagnosis
c. Response
Perception: – Interaction process demands an appropriate perception on the part of teacher as well as the students. When a teacher enters the class, his first activity is concerned with a perception of the classroom climate. He tries to weigh himself, his abilities for teaching against the class group. Similarly, students also try to have perception of the abilities, behavior and personality characteristics of the teacher.
Diagnosis: – A teacher tries to access the achievement level of his students with regards to their abilities, interest and aptitude. The teacher can ask several questions to know how far students know about the topic.
Reaction/Response:- Under this stage, teacher observes the students that how they respond to the teacher’s question. The student has to learn the proper way of reacting and responding to the various stimuli and teaching techniques presented to it. This phase is responsible for establishing appropriate verbal and non-verbal classroom interaction between teacher and pupils.
Post-active Phase of Teaching-
Post-active phase is the one that
involves teacher’s activities such as analyzing evaluation results to determine
student’s learning, especially their problems in understanding specific areas,
to reflect on the teaching by self, and to decide on the necessary change to be
brought into the system in the next instructional period.
The post-active phase concerns
with the evaluation activities. This can be done in number of ways including
tests or quizzes or by observing student’s reaction of question, comments,
structures and instructed situations.
In this phase, as the teaching task
sums up, the teacher asks questions to the pupils, verbally or in written form,
to measure the behavior of the pupils so that their achievements may be
evaluated correctly.
The following activities are
suggested in the post-active phase of teaching—
a. Defining
the exact dimensions of the changes caused by teaching.
b. Selecting
appropriate testing devices and techniques.
c. Changing
the strategies in terms of evidences gathered.
Defining the exact dimensions of
the changes caused by teaching: –
Defining the exact dimensions
of the changes caused by teaching: –
At the end of teaching, the
teacher defines the exact dimensions of changes in the behavior as a result of
teaching. This is termed as criterion behavior. For this, the teacher compares
the actual behavioral changes in the students with their expected behavioral
changes. If he observes the desired behavioral changes in the maximum numbers
of pupils, he concludes that his teaching strategies and tactics worked effectively
with the help of which teaching objectives have been achieved.
Selecting appropriate testing
devices and techniques: –
The teacher selects those testing
devices and techniques to compare the actual behavioral change with the desired
behavioral change which are reliable and valid and which can evaluate the
cognitive and non-cognitive aspects of the pupils. Therefore, criterion tests
are more preferred than the performed tests.
Changing the strategies in
terms of evidences gathered: –
While by using the reliable and
valid testing devices, the teacher gets the knowledge regarding the
performances of pupils and attainment of objectives on one hand, and on the
other hand, he also gets clarity regarding his instruction, teaching strategies
and tactics. He also comes to know about the required modification in the
teaching strategies and situation along with the drawbacks of his teaching in
order to achieve the teaching objectives. In this way, through evaluation, the
teaching activities are diagnosed and this can be made effective by necessary
modification and change in them.
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