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University of South Africa (SPE1505)
University of South Africa
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LEARNING UNIT 4: Putting it all together: Designing your own instructional event, and re ecting on your design 45 4 Introduction 45 4 Designing a learning event 45 4 Re ecting on and improving your design 47 4 Conclusion 48
REFERENCES 49
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INTRODUCTION
True teaching is not accumulation of knowledge; it is an awakening of consciousness – African proverb
Dear Students
Welcome to the Instructional Studies in Context module. This module will take you through
general teaching and learning principles and various styles and models of instruction
that will equip you to be a good designer of teaching events or lessons. Knowing what
lesson preparation entails puts you in a much stronger position to make the necessary
decisions when designing instruction in a classroom. Lessons need to be meaningful and
relevant to your learners, and in order to plan, prepare and present successful lessons, as
an instructional designer you will need certain knowledge and skills, and a good dose of
creativity. Instructional studies also entails understanding the interrelationship between
the three main components of a lesson: the teacher, the learners, and the content, so
in this module you will also learn about a number of theories and concepts associated
with instruction.
The purpose of this module is to provide a foundation and additional scaffolding for
understanding teaching methodologies. It will also help to establish links and bridge
gaps between curriculum, assessment and practical teaching. We will talk about both
general theories relating to designing instruction and speci c instruction strategies that
you will be able to apply to all subjects and teaching and learning situations.
Synonyms for instruction are educating, training, coaching, teaching, facilitating and
tutoring, and together we will be exploring multiple methods of instruction to educate
learners of differing ages, backgrounds and ability levels. We will be considering African
perspectives on pedagogy, and investigating various instructional approaches, strategies
and models that can be applied practically in a classroom. The module will culminate in
your own design of and re ection on instruction for a learning event.
As you work through the study material, use a notebook for making your own notes and
completing the various activities in the study guide. This will assist you when it comes to
preparing for the assignments and non-venue examination for this module. Your textbook
was selected as a guide to support you throughout your degree, and you will continue
to nd it useful once you have quali ed and are working as a teacher.
Look out for the following icons, as you work through the study guide:
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Learning unit Main content
4: Putting it all together: designing your own instruc- tional event, and re ecting on your design
- Designing a learning event
- Re ecting on and improving the design
- Re ecting as a teacher
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Did you notice that different people have different interpretations of the concept “teaching”?
Please share your own de nitions by participating in the myUnisa discussion for this module. Did you notice that some de nitions relate to teaching as knowledge, teaching as a skill, or even teaching as an art form? All of these would be correct. Teaching is a very complex endeavour.
In the next section, I would like you to form an overview of the concept of teaching.
The information in the text box below is taken from an OER by Bak, Behardien, Morrow and Pendleberry (2010).
Teaching as an activity You already know quite a lot about teaching. You would not be here, reading this mod- ule, if you did not. You have been a student for many years in school, and perhaps also in college, and you have probably also done some teaching. Let’s nd some examples of teaching to help us to think about teaching as an activity. For a start, recall three examples of teaching from your own experience.
Activity 1.
(1) In your workbook, brie y describe three examples of teaching that you have experienced. Try to think of three examples that are as different as possible from each other. Identify each example with a few words, or a sentence or two. Label your examples (a), (b), and (c) to make it easier to refer to them later. (2) Think about your three examples by answering the following eight questions: (a) Are all three of your examples cases of teaching taking place in schools? (b) Are all the ‘teachers’ in your examples people employed as teachers in schools? (c) Are you the ‘teacher’ in any of your examples? (d) Are any of your examples cases in which more than one teacher was involved? (e) Are any of your examples cases of teaching in which the ‘teacher’ was younger than the ‘learners’? (f) Are any of your examples cases in which the learners were not school or col- lege students? (g) Are any of your examples cases in which only one learner was involved? (h) Are any of your examples cases of teaching that took place over a long time (more than the length of a school lesson)? The point of the questions in activity 1 is to try to break the hold of the common idea that teaching takes place only in classrooms in schools and colleges and other formal
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institutions of learning. Your three examples, (a), (b), and (c), are probably examples of this specialized kind of teaching.
The common picture of teaching is too narrow
From your own experience, you know that teaching is found not only in classrooms in formal institutions of learning. You know that in everyday life mothers teach their children how to eat their food properly, grandfathers teach their grandchildren how to grow vegetables, older brothers and sisters teach their younger brothers and sisters how to dress themselves or clean their teeth, and school-going children might teach an older relative how to speak English, or to read. When we think carefully about teaching we are reminded that teaching is an activity, which is constantly present in the everyday lives of normal human communities. In fact, most teaching takes place outside of the walls and timetables of schools and colleges, and most teaching is done by anyone who knows something that someone else does not and not only by people called ‘teachers’ or ‘lecturers’.
The common picture of teaching is too narrow. It covers only a restricted range of examples of teaching, and this is why it is misleading if we are trying to nd out what is distinctive of the activity of teaching in order to think clearly about the appropriate shaping of its internal time and space. In introducing Activity 1 one of the things we suggested is that you already know a lot about teaching because ‘you have been a student for many years in school’. We can now see that this might have taken you off on too narrow a path. To say that you have been a ‘student’ for many years is different from saying that you have been a ‘learner’ for many years. You have been a learner for many more years than you have been a student and many of the things you have learnt you learnt outside of schools and colleges. And a lot of what you have learnt you were taught by people who were not o cially teachers. In the rst ve or six years of your life, before you ever went to school, you learnt some of the most important things you will ever learn, such as how to speak a language and be a human being. Throughout your life, many different people with whom you have come into contact have taught you many different things.
In addition, in introducing Activity 1, we suggested that you ‘have probably done some teaching’. Perhaps you took this to mean that you have probably already taught in a school, or some other formal institution of learning. However, thinking in terms of the general activity of teaching, it is extremely unlikely that you have done no teach- ing at all. Think of examples such as mothers teaching children how to use a spoon to eat their food, uncles teaching their nephews how to restart a car which has stopped, sisters or brothers, teaching each other or their friends, how to dress fashionably or how to play some game, or of a grandmother teaching a grandchild how to thread a needle. As a normal member of a human community, you must be able to think of many examples of teaching that you have done, although they might not have come to mind when you were thinking of examples for Activity 1.
Think, also, of how teaching some kinds of things can take extended periods, perhaps even years. Think, for example of the time it takes to teach a person how to read or write, and the time it takes to teach a person how to speak another language uently. These examples also help us think about another way in which the common picture of teaching can be very misleading. That picture suggests that in all cases of teaching only a single teacher is involved. However, we know that we were taught how to read or write by a series of teachers, over a number of years. We can also think of other examples in which a number of teachers are involved – a novice motorcar mechanic might be taught his skills by the half a dozen experienced mechanics already working in the garage.
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teaching, all have histories during which particular traditions have developed of how to participate in the practice, and of what counts as good or excellent participation. To become a participant in a practice involves critically appropriating its history and traditions, and anyone who imagines themselves as having invented a practice without having taken account of its history and traditions is simply naïve or ignorant.
- Practices are exible in relation to changing conditions
The traditions that are embedded in a practice, and that serve, partly, to de ne it, are not rigid or static. Practices can be thought of as open and ongoing projects that stop changing only when they cease to have vitality and signi cance in our communal lives. Over time practices change, sometimes gradually, but sometimes quite rapidly. What brings such changes about is changes in our knowledge of the practice and how its de nitive goals can be better served, changes in relevant technologies, and circumstances, and creative innovations from some of its participants. In these ways, practices remain open to revision and improvement.
- A practice can change, but only within the boundaries of our understanding of what makes it a distinctive practice
Although practices are open to revision, those revisions and improvements remain within the broad boundaries that mark out the scope of the practice. There is an impor- tant difference between improving a practice and either abandoning the practice or substituting a different practice for it. Over time a practice like playing cricket changes, although the question of whether such changes count as improvements is always a matter of controversy. The practice of playing cricket doesn’t change by everyone simply ceasing to play cricket, or by substituting another game, such as baseball, for cricket. There is something essential to the practice of playing cricket, and changes take place within, as we might put it, the framework of that essence – otherwise the changes in question are not changes in the practice of cricket at all.
If we think back to what we have discovered in the formal purpose of the activity of teaching we can see how this might work. That formal purpose, now being seen as a formal purpose of the practice of teaching, makes a conceptual and practical boundary to what we are prepared to accept as an example of teaching. The formal purpose of teaching is to bring it about that someone tries to learn something. How this might be done is not speci ed for this purpose, and we know that there are many ways of doing this. Improvements in the practice of teaching might arise from changes in relevant technology, changes in our knowledge of the conditions for learning, or even from a practitioner discovering a way of accomplishing this purpose that had previously not been thought of.
- Practices have their own internal standards of success and excellence
A very important fth characteristic of practices is that they have internal standards of success and excellence. Someone can participate well or poorly in the practice of, for example, cooking. Some participants are much more successful than others are and some even achieve excellence in this practice. The criteria for success or excellence are internal to the practice – one cannot judge the excellence of choir singing in terms of the criteria appropriate for judging the excellence of participating in the practice of gymnastics – and such judgments are not subjective or personal opinion. We can add here that when the standards of success and excellence of one practice are used in judging success or excellence in another practice, that practice can be corrupted or distorted.
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Reading 1.
Activity 1.
Write up some notes under each of the ve headings about practices related to teach- ing as a practice. Can you think of practical examples from your own experience? How does teaching manifest itself as a social, exible, historically rich, changing-within- boundaries and standards-based practice?
Are you beginning to see that teaching and instruction is a very complex endeavour, and that even after a number of years’ studying to be a teacher, as a teacher you will be involved in ‘life-long learning’?
There are many forms of teaching, and teaching is often de ned in different ways. Let’s look as some de nitions of this concept.
1 SOME DEFINITIONS AND TERMS
Fraser, Loubser and Van Rooy (1990:3) state that “teaching is an activity which aims at presenting certain (learning) content to somebody else in such a way that that person learns something from it”. They add that teaching is “intentional, dynamic, systematic and well founded”: teaching is intentional because it has an educational aim, it is dynamic because it should yield learning results, it is systematic because it is deliberately planned and it is well founded because it is based on de nite guidelines (e. a curriculum document) and it is evaluated continuously.
Orlich, Harder, Callahan, Trevisan and Brown (2010) explain that teaching is both a science and an art: an art because it requires a teacher to make decisions, and a science because it requires knowledge of techniques.
You will notice that it is very di cult to separate “teaching” from “learning”. The science of teaching is called didactics, while the word “pedagogy” refers to a more holistic study of the educational process involving not-yet-adult learners.
Are there other words that are similar in meaning to “teaching”? How many similar words can you nd?
Please share your list by participating in the myUnisa discussion for this module.
Activity 1.
Words similar to “teaching”: instructing, educating ... ......................................................................................................................................................................
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contribute to learning and be of educational value to learners. The term “instruc- tion” can include various forms such as training, teaching, facilitating, mentoring and tutoring. Smith and Ragan (1999:3) consider instruction to be the delivery of a focused educational experience. Training: Smith and Ragan (1999) describe training as a form of instruction where very speci c job-related skills are taught. Often the skills will be used almost immediately. Training is also used in terms of sporting activities or military exercises, so repetition is involved. Mentoring: English Oxford Living Dictionaries de nes a mentor as an experienced person in a company or educational institution who trains and counsels new employees or students (en/de nition/mentor). Mentoring can involve two adults, one of whom advises and trains the other. Lancer, Clutterbuck and Megginson (2016:6) state that “the mentor has wisdom and experience, but uses them to help the mentee become courageous and develop their own wisdom rather than to impart knowledge.” Brecht (2010) explains that cognitive mentorship is about bringing thinking to the surface. The thinking of both the mentor and the mentee is made clear to the other person. Facilitating: A facilitator normally works with a group. The role of a facilitator is to make things easier for the group, but not to tell them what to do or give them the solution. The group normally has a problem to solve, and the facilitator enables them to reach their solution collectively. The facilitator also assists with group dynamics. Hogan (2002) explains that facilitators may direct learning by making planning decisions for the group. The facilitator may act as negotiator by helping learners share ideas, or may delegate roles to group members so that they can become more independent. Tutoring: English Oxford Living Dictionaries tells us that this word stems from the Latin meaning to guard or to watch (en/de nition/tutor). Tutoring entails one person assisting an individual or small group. A tutor is in many instances a personal teacher who assists a learner with a particular subject. Sometimes tutors have less experience or quali cation than a professional teacher or lecturer. Gagne (1987:319) states that cross-age and peer tutoring can take place. The tutor also adapts instruction to the learner. Learners/pupils/students : These terms are sometimes used synonymously (in other words, to mean the same thing). Generally, any person who is learning can be con- sidered a learner. In the South African school context we often use the term “pupil”, and in South Africa we refer to post-school learners as “students”. Internationally, the term “students” is also used to refer to learners of school-going age. Learning : This is the goal of teaching and instruction. Broadly, it refers to the acquisition of knowledge and skills. It also refers to an understanding of concepts that could not be understood or an ability to do something that could not be done before the teaching or instruction took place.
Teaching methods are those speci c teacher and learner activities that you plan and execute during a lesson. The methods depend on your learners, the content and the aims of your lesson. A teacher needs to consider how to optimise learning through the choice of teaching methods. Westwood (2008:v) tells us:
A teaching method is characterised by a set of principles, procedures or strategies to be implemented by teachers to achieve desired learning in students (Liu & Shi, 2007).
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These principles and procedures are determined partly by the nature of the subject matter to be taught, and partly by our beliefs or theories about how students learn
So, de ning a teaching method is not as simple as one might rst think. Carl (2015:95) explains that there is a “close connection between learning experiences, learning opportunities and teaching methods.” He further describes the connection as arising from the fact that the teacher’s actions and the learner’s actions result in a learning opportunity where the learner could be actively involved and a meaningful experience could result from this involvement. Carl de nes a teaching method as the “ways or means, which will acquaint the learners with the content in a manner that will lead to learning.”
Activity 1.
- How many synonyms (words with the same meaning) can you nd for the word “teaching”? Create a list here: ............................................................................................................................................................ ............................................................................................................................................................
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Can the synonyms in your list all be used in the school context? ............................................................................................................................................................ ............................................................................................................................................................ ............................................................................................................................................................ ............................................................................................................................................................
How many teaching methods do you know? Identify as many others as you can by consulting books and the internet. ............................................................................................................................................................ ............................................................................................................................................................ ............................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................ 3. In some circles learning to become a teacher is called teacher training, while others call it initial teacher education. What are your thoughts about the difference between the two? Is learning to teach about acquiring a set of skills, or is learning to teach a deeper, life-long process? Is training part of learning to teach? ............................................................................................................................................................
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General aims of the South African curriculum
(1)(a) The National Curriculum Statement Grades R–12 gives expression to the knowledge, skills and values worth learning in South African schools. This curriculum aims to ensure that children acquire and apply knowledge and skills in ways that are meaningful to their own lives. In this regard, the curriculum promotes knowledge in local contexts, while being sensitive to global imperatives. (2)(b) The National Curriculum Statement Grades R–12 serves the purposes of:
- equipping learners, irrespective of their socio-economic background, race, gender, physical ability or intellectual ability, with the knowledge, skills and values necessary for self-ful lment and meaningful participation in society as citizens of a free country;
- providing access to higher education;
- facilitating the transition of learners from education institutions to the workplace; and
- providing employers with a su cient pro le of a learner’s competences.
(3)(c) The National Curriculum Statement Grades R–12 is based on the following principles:
- Social transformation: ensuring that the educational imbalances of the past are redressed, and that equal educational opportunities are provided for all sections of the population;
- Active and critical learning: encouraging an active and critical approach to learning, rather than rote and uncritical learning of given truths;
- High knowledge and high skills: the minimum standards of knowledge and skills to be achieved at each grade are speci ed and set high, achievable standards in all subjects;
- Progression: content and context of each grade shows progression from simple to complex;
- Human rights, inclusivity, environmental and social justice: infusing the principles and practices of social and environmental justice and human rights as de ned in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. The National Curriculum Statement Grades R–12 is sensitive to issues of diversity such as poverty, inequality, race, gender, language, age, disability and other factors;
- Valuing indigenous knowledge systems: acknowledging the rich history and heritage of this country as important contributors to nurturing the values contained in the Constitution; and
- Credibility, quality and e ciency: providing an education that is comparable in quality, breadth and depth to that of other countries.
(4)(d) The National Curriculum Statement Grades R–12 aims to produce learners that are able to: - identify and solve problems and make decisions using critical and creative thinking; - work effectively as individuals and with others as members of a team; - organise and manage themselves and their activities responsibly and effectively; - collect, analyse, organise and critically evaluate information;
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- communicate effectively using visual, symbolic and/or language skills in various modes;
- use science and technology effectively and critically, showing responsibility towards the environment and the health of others; and
- demonstrate an understanding of the world as a set of related systems by recognising that problem-solving contexts do not exist in isolation.
(5)(e) Inclusivity should become a central part of the organisation, planning and teaching at each school. This can only happen if all teachers have a sound understanding of how to recognise and address barriers to learning, and how to plan for diversity.
The key to managing inclusivity is ensuring that barriers are identi ed and addressed by all the relevant support structures within the school community, including teachers, district-based support teams, institutional-level support teams, parents and special schools as resource centres. To address barriers in the classroom, teachers should use various curriculum differentiation strategies such as those included in the Department of Basic Education’s Guidelines for Inclusive Teaching and Learning (2010).
Reading 1.
Source: Department of Basic Education (2011:4–5).
You should always have the greater aims of the curriculum in mind, even if you are not following the CAPS curriculum, as this will assist you in making some of the other decisions you need to make when planning instruction. In terms of instruction, your other roles and responsibilities include:
- Analysing the learning needs. This means that you design lessons that cater for the needs of the learners in your classroom by adapting, re ning and redesigning learning activities so as to optimise the learning for your speci c learners. - Articulating your learning intentions. You write out your lesson planning to ensure that you have considered the detail of how your lesson will proceed. You have clear learning goals and outcomes. These aims and outcomes allow you to make a good selection of content, material and teaching methods. When you are doing lesson planning, these are usually the rst things that you formulate. - Selecting content to enable you to achieve your teaching aims and learning outcomes / objectives. You do this by considering your curriculum. - Selecting the relevant teaching and learning material. Learning material is often referred to as teaching resources, or LTSM (learner-teacher-support material). Analysing your learning needs carefully and writing out your aims/goals/outcomes/objectives will guide you in your choice of learning material. - Selecting appropriate teaching methods to achieve your teaching aims and learning outcomes/objectives. This will be the driving force of your lesson. How will the teaching and learning take place? Who will do what? - Planning for both the formal and informal formative assessment as well as the summative assessment. Formative assessment guides your actions as a teacher in terms of how learners are progressing towards meeting the lesson aims and outcomes.
001 2020 4 b (3) - files...
Course: University of South Africa (SPE1505)
University: University of South Africa
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