10. TEACHERS DO INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN WORK MORE CAREFULLY

TEACHERS DO INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN WORK MORE CAREFULLY

In the virtual book (pg. 76-79) we can find th importance of lesson planning; it is a vital component of the teaching-learning process. Proper classroom planning will keep teachers organized and on track while teachings, thus allowing them to teach more, help students reach objectives more easily and manage less. The better prepared the teacher is, the more likely she/he will be able to handle whatever unexpectedly happens in the lesson.

First of all, a planned lesson is just better. Not all planned lessons are fabulous and not all unplanned lessons are a disaster, but even a bad lesson will be less bad planned, and even a great lesson can be greater with a plan. If you are good at teaching unplanned lessons, you will be even better at teaching with a plan.

Although lesson plans constitute a major part of being a teacher, they are dreaded and sometimes their importance underestimated by some teachers. Some teachers even advance the unpredictability of some events in the classroom to discredit any attempt to provide any strict planning of what occurs in the classroom. Although this might be true, it should be noted that a lesson plan is a project of a lesson. It’s not (and cannot) be a description of what will exactly happen during lesson delivery. It provides, however, a guide for managing the classroom environment and the learning process.

In this case a popular and well known procedure to develop a lesson plan is ESA - Engage - Study – Activate. When thinking about an English lesson it is useful therefore to keep the following three elements in mind. Engage, it means getting the students interested in the class. Engaging students is important for the learning process. Study, every lesson usually needs to have some kind of language focus. The study element of a lesson could be a focus on any aspect of the language, such as grammar or vocabulary and pronunciation. A study stage could also cover revision and extension of previously taught material. Activate, it is useful because teachers can tell students about the language is not really enough to help them learn it. For students to develop their use of English they need to have a chance to produce it. In an activate stage the students are given tasks which require them to use not only the language they are studying that day, but also other language that they have learnt.

REFERENCES FOR ADITTIONAL INFORMATION:

• YouTube,. (2015) Lesson Plan With Examples. Retrieved 30 April 2015, from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdFXmQS6sBU

• Kieran Egan,. (1985)Teaching as Story‐telling: A Non‐mechanistic Approach to Planning Teaching . Retrieved 30 April 2015, from:http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0022027850170405?journalCode=tcus20
• Georgia,. (2012) The Importance of lesson Planning.  Retrieved 30 April 2015, from:https://teachandlearnwithgeorgia.wordpress.com/2012/07/26/the-importance-of-lesson-planning/

9.- OBSERVATION IN CLASSROOM INTERACTION

OBSERVATION IN CLASSROOM INTERACTION

Creating opportunities for students to socially interact is important in developing strong social skills. Most children learn develop appropriate social skills by observing how others act in different environments, situations and with different types of people. When a teacher provides opportunities for students to work in pairs and small groups and use multiple modes of communication (e.g., discussions, making presentations, brainstorming) they can acquire knowledge. Also, is very important to encourage students to work together as a class to contribute to a comprehensive answer. But, it is important to develop conversations among students (and between students and the teacher). Interaction should be objective in order to several students can explain their ideas to the whole class.

Furthermore, when teachers work with kids, interaction should be useful because during the early childhood years children gain knowledge and skills that provide the foundation for later learning. Young children learn many of these skills through the interactions they have with their teachers.

The role of the teacher during these sessions is passive but very crucial. It is the responsibility of the teacher to create a learning atmosphere inside the classroom. It is through these interactive sessions that the teacher can extract responses from learners and motivate them to come out with new ideas related to the topic. The teacher is an observer who helps the learners to construct an innovative learning product through group discussions, debates and many more. Teachers will define themselves as planners who design the best of the modules of interaction that would be effective to invite the learners in classroom interaction.

However, an important part is classroom observation; it is another form of ongoing assessment. Most teachers can "read" their students; observing when they are bored, frustrated, excited, motivated, etc. As a teacher picks up these cues, she or he can adjust the instruction accordingly.  It is also beneficial for teachers to make observational notes. These notes serve to document and describe student learning relative to concept development, reading, social interaction, and communication skills. Teacher can use it in order to improve his or her class.

REFERENCES FOR ADITTIONAL INFORMATION:

• YouTube,. (2015). Classroom observation Part 1. Retrieved 30 April 2015, from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAz7TD02ytU
• Heather Smith,. (2006). Opening classroom interaction: the importance of feedback.  Retrieved 30 April 2015, from:http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03057640601048357
• Gosh Amarita,. (2010). Classroom Interaction -Part 1 (Definition, Objectives, Types, Teacher's Role and Merits). Retrieved 30 April 2015, from:http://www.examiner.com/article/classroom-interaction-part-1-definition-objectives-types-teacher-s-role-and-merits

UNIT 8 SPEAKING

In this unit we learnt about Speaking. It is a productive skill that involves different features such as: speech to communicate. When we speak, we communicate our thoughts, it could be through use intonation, ask for clarification, pronounce words, answering questions,  or an explanation.  When we talk, we use a level of formality, but it depends how we keeping a conversation, for example a conversation with a friend can be degree of informality . When we learn English we can notice that making use of grammar, vocabulary and functions are a little complex. 

Also, making use of connects speech and body language can help us to develop our language in a better way. For example,a main concern for assessment is to consider how well the talk suits the kind of event in which learners are participating. Criteria are likely to be different, depending on whether they are talking in a group, making a presentation to the class, engaged in a drama-related activity, discussing ideas in citizenship, and so on. Helping any student improve their current competence requires some sort of assessment.

Talk is difficult to assess because it is context dependent, but good opportunities for assessment occur regularly, especially in 'talk-focused' classrooms where both teacher and student are aware of the importance of speaking and listening for learning.  It is important to help them see that by giving direct attention to the development of student's spoken language skills, they will help the process of teaching and learning become more effective if the teacher helps them. This is the situation students need to be able to both recognise and create because oral fluency covers different factors such as: normal speed, with hesitation, repletion or self-correction; the idea is to communicate information. 

As future teachers; if we notice the high importance of speaking skill has inside of classrooms, we try to find and use the best methods and strategies which help the learners master speaking skill. Even though, in our classes is presented controlled practice activities, activities with drills or just telling thing learnt by heart which means by memorizing. Teachers are responsible to encourage student to they have  confidence and motivation to participate and practice orally.

REFERENCES FOR ADITTIONAL INFORMATION

• YouTube,. (2015) How to improve your English speaking skills. Retrieved 30 April 2015, from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc4gh5gP1AE
• Dawes, L (2004) Talk and Learning in Classroom Science. Retrieved 30 April 2015, from: http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/research
• Dawes Lyn (2013)The Importance of Speaking and Listening.  Retrieved 30 April 2015, from:http://oer.educ.cam.ac.uk/wiki/The_Importance_of_Speaking_and_Listening