| PRED 356 | Methods
of Science and Mathematics Teaching
Chapter 1: Introduction to Course and Effective Teacher |
1.3.2 Teachers' Level of Subject Matter
Helping behaviors need to be employed, for being effective, in the context of the first level of subject matter . Some important helping behaviors are the following:
Using Student Ideas and Contributions
Using student ideas and contributions is a behavior that includes acknowledging, modifying, applying, comparing, and summarizing student responses to promote the goals of the lesson and to encourage student participation.
- Acknowledging: Using the student’s idea by repeating the nouns and logical connectives expressed by him or her (to increase lesson clarity).
- Modifying: Using the student’s idea by rephrasing it or conceptualizing it in your words or another student’s words (to create instructional variety).
- Applying: Using the student’s idea to teach an inference or take the next step in a logical analysis of a problem (to increase success rate).
- Comparing: Taking student’s idea and drawing a relationship between ideas expressed earlier by the students (to encourage engagement in the learning process).
- Summarizing: Using what was said by an individual student or a group of students as a review of concepts taught (to enhance task orientation).
Teacher comments that are made for the purpose of organizing what is to come, or summarizing what has gone before, are called structuring.
Used before an instructional activity or question, structuring serves as instructional scaffolding that assists learners in bridging the gap between what they are capable of doing on their own and what they are capable of doing with help from the teacher, thereby aiding their understanding and use of the material to be taught.
Used at the conclusion of an instructional activity or question, structuring reinforces learned content and places it in proper relation to other content already taught. Both forms of structuring are related to student achievement and are effective catalyst for performing the five key subject matter knowledge.There are many ways that the teacher can use structuring;
One way is to signal that a shift in direction or content is about to occur. A clear signal alerts students to the impending change. Without such a signal, students may confuse new content with old, missing the differences. Signals such as “Now that we have studied how the pipefish change their color and movements...we will learn...” help students switch gears and provide a perspective that makes new content more meaningful.
Another type of structuring uses emphasis. Can you find a point of emphasis in the previous dialogue? By using the phrase “most important,” the teacher alerts students to the knowledge and understanding expected at the conclusion of this activity. This provide students with an organizer for what is to follow, called an advance organizer.
In addition the verbal markers and advance organizers, the effective teacher organizes a lesson into an activity structure. An activity structure is a set of related tasks that differ in cognitive complexity and that to some degree may be placed under the control of the learner.
Activity structures can be build in many ways (e.g., cooperatively, competitively, independently) to give tempo and momentum to a lesson. For an effective teacher, they are an important means for engaging students in the learning process and moving them from simple recall of facts to the higher response levels that require reasoning, critical thinking, and problem-solving behavior.
Questioning is another important helping behavior. There are mainly two types of questions such as,
The teacher can use these questions in the different context and for a different aim.
- Convergent (Closed or direct) questions (requires no interpretation or alternative meanings)
- Divergent (Open or indirect) questions (has various possible interpretation and alternative meanings).
Probing refers to teacher statements that encourage students to elaborate on an answer, either their own or another the student's.
Probing may take the form of a general question orProbing often is used to shift a discussion to some higher thought level.
- can include other expressions that elicit clarification of an answer,
- solicit additional information about a response, or
- redirect a student's response in a more fruitful direction.
Students are good perceivers of the emotions underlying a teacher's actions, and they often respond accordingly. A teacher who is excited about the subject being taught and shows it by facial expression, voice inflection, gesture, and general movement is more likely to hold the attention of students than one who does not exhibit these behaviors. This is true whether or not teachers consciously perceive these behaviors in themselves. Students take their cues from such behavioral signs and lower or heighten their engagement with the lesson accordingly.
Enthusiasm is an important aspect of a teacher's affect. Enthusiasm is the teacher's vigor, power, involvement, excitement, and interest during a classroom presentation.
Enthusiasm is conveyed to students in many ways, the most common being is vocal inflection, gesture, eye contact, and animation (movement). A proper level of enthusiasm involves a delicate balance of them.
A proper level of enthusiasm involves a delicate balance of vocal inflection, gesturing, eye contact, and movement.
- A teacher's enthusiasm is related to student achievement.
- It also is believed to be important in promoting student engagement in the learning process.
These are not all of what the effective teacher is or does, but they are an important basis-perhaps the most valid basis-for beginning to understand the effective teacher. They will form the backbone and skeleton of an effective teacher.