Tuesday, 16 September 2014

MICRO TEACHING SKILLS

Teaching skill is a set of related overt behaviours of the teacher (verbal and non-verbal) which are observable, definable, measurable, demonstrable and refinable through practice.
   According to B.K. Passi (1976), Teaching skills are a group of teaching acts or behaviours intended to facilitate pupil’s learning directly or indirectly.
Some of the teaching skills are extensively used in routine teaching by all teachers. These skills are known as Core teaching skills.Many experts in this field have listed the following skills as Core teaching skills.
·        Skill of introducing a lesson.
·        Skill of Stimulus Variation.
·        Skill of Explaining.
·        Skill of Illustrating with Examples.
·        Skill of using Blackboard.
·        Skill of Probing questions.
·        Skill of Questioning.
·        Skill of Reinforcement.
  SKILL OF INTRODUCING A LESSON
When a teacher introduces a lesson, he gives a brief introduction about the lesson inorder to pre-dispose the pupil’s minds to it.
This has to serve two main functions, namely refreshing and ensuring the pre requisites and motivating the pupils to learn the new lesson.
COMPONENTS OF THE SKILL
Desirable behaviours
a)     Use of previous knowledge/pre-requisites- To satisfy the maxim of teaching from known to unknown, the teacher has to judiciously decide upon the pre-requisites that will be essential for properly presenting the new learning material.
b)    Use of Appropriate devices- Many devises such as lecturing, describing, narrating, illustrating, storytelling, role playing analogy, demonstration, audio-visual materials, experimentation/demonstrations, etc.are used for motivating pupils and to gradually lead them to the new learning material.
Undesirable behaviour
a)     Lack of continuity.
b)    Uttering irrelevant statements and questions.
2. SKILL OF STIMULUS VARIATION
It involves deliberate change of stimuli presented by the teacher for the purpose of drawing, stimulating and maintaining the attention of the learners throughout the class.
COMPONENTS OF THE SKILL
•      Teacher movements- Meaningful, purposeful movements with pedagogical function.
•      Teacher gestures- Gestures are movements of the parts of the body, used for expressing emotions, size, shape, direction etc. and also for directing attention.
•      Change in Speech pattern- Change in volume, tone or speed of verbal communication for attracting attention.
•      Change in interaction style- Teacher-class interaction, teacher-pupil interaction and pupil-pupil interaction should be there.
•      Focussing- Drawing attention to specific aspects to be stressed, by verbal or gestural focusing,
•       Pausing- Deliberate use of silence during talk.
•      Oral-Visual Switching.- Change of sensory channel from verbal to visual and vice versa.
3. SKILL OF EXPLAINING
Explaining is the skill by which teacher can clearly bring out the exact meaning of a concept or an idea and also can arrive at relationships among various concepts.
COMPONENTS OF THE SKILL
Desirable behaviours
·        Use of beginning statements- For drawing and maintaining attention and making the students mentally ready for learning give them some clues of explanation.
·        Use of Explaining links- Words and phrases which increase the effectiveness of explanation should be used. Foreg. As a result of, Therefore, In order to, Because, Due to etc.
·        Use of mediators- Presentation of various mediators in the form of examples, diagrams etc. should be used to make explanation lucid and meaningful to the pupils.
·        Use of concluding statements- The purpose of it is to present a consolidated pricture of what has been explained.
·        Questions to test pupil’s understanding- In the course of explanation, frequently questions should be asked which will help the teacher get immediate feedback from the pupils.
Undesirable behaviour
·        Use of irrelevant statements.
·        Lack of continuity.
·        Lack of fluency.
·        Using inappropriate vocabulary.
·        Use of vague words and phrases
·        Deviating from the main points.
 SKILL OF ILLUSTRATING WITH EXAMPLES
This is the skill for timely use of examples for the purpose of making an idea , concept or principle lucid.
COMPONENTS OF THE SKILL
•      Formulating simple examples.
•      Formulating relevant examples.
•      Formulating Interesting examples.
•      Use of appropriate media for examples.
•      Use of Inductive-deductive approach for examples.
5.     SKILL OF USING BLACKBOARD
Blackboard is the most widely used of all visual aids.It is one of the quickest and easiest means of illustrating an important point.
COMPONENTS OF THE SKILL
Legibility of handwriting
Maximum ease in reading what is written on the blackboard even for the students sitting on the back bench should be ensured.
·        Distinct difference between letters.
·        Adequate spacing between letters.
·        Adequate spacing between words.
·        Slant of letters nearly vertical.
·        All small letters of the same size.
·        All capital letters of the same size.
·        Size of the letters large enough to be read.
·        Thickness of the line uniform.

Neatness in blackboard work.
·        Adequate spacing between lines.
·        Lines parallel to the base of the board.
·        No overwriting.
·        Focussing the relevant matter.
Organisation of blackboard work.
·        Systematic planning of the space.
·        Spacing to exhibit the sequence of the items being presented.
·        Adjustment of the space for presenting related items in totality.
Appropriateness of blackboard work.
·        Continuity in points.
·        Points brief(Brevity).
·        Appropriate presentation of illustrations and diagrams.
·        Proper use of colour chalk.
·        Underlining the important points to be stressed.

6. SKILL OF FLUENCY IN QUESTIONING
 


  Successful teaching is highly dependent on questioning. The rate of meaningful questions put per unit time by the teacher is called fluency of questioning.
COMPONENTS OF THE SKILL
a)            Structure
 Structure of the question is the technique of formulation of questions. The following aspects have to be taken care of while framing questions.
·        Grammmatical correctness
·        Conciseness
·        Relevance
·        Specificity
b)            Process
The process of asking questions involves more than one aspect
  Speed
  Voice
  Pause
  Style
c)Product – Product is the answer expected of the question
7.  SKILL OF PROBING QUESTIONS
This is the skill required in applying the technique of effectively dealingwith student responses for going deep into their knowledge.
COMPONENTS OF THE SKILL
•      Prompting- When there is no response or incorrect response teacher gives hints or clues for leading the pupil to the desired correct response.
•      Seeking further information- teacher should ask subsidiary questions in  order to seek further information.
•      Refocusing- When the pupil give correct response, the teacher relates their responses with something already taught.
•      Increasing critical awareness- Teacher asks why and how of a correct response for increasing critical awareness in pupils.
•      Re-direction – Asking the same question to another pupil for increasing pupil participation.
8.     SKILL OF REINFORCING
Reinforcement is the major condition for effective learning.Hence the teacher has to master the skill for adopting appropriate strategies for reinforcing the learners.

COMPONENTS OF THE SKILL
Positive verbal reinforcement- Students can be motivated through verbal expressions like Good, Right, Fine, Well done, Excellent, Carry on, Go ahead etc
•      Positive Non-verbal reinforcement- Nodding the head, Smiling, Patting, friendly look etc.
•      Negative verbal reinforcement- Words like wrong, incorrect, No etc.

RTENOTITLE•      Negative non-verbal reinforcement- Staring, looking angrily, shaking the head etc.

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