MICRO-SKILLS OF TEACHING M. NAZMUL HAQ INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION AND RESEARCH UNIVERSITY OF DHAKA

DEFINING TEACHING SKILLS Teaching skills is defined as a set of teacher behaviour that are effective in bringing changes in students. The activities and behaviours that facilitate learning in students are called teaching skills. Micro-skills are particularly important for classroom Instruction.

COMPONENTS OF MICRO-SKILLS Skills is a set of strictly overt behaviours (verbal and non-verbal) that can be observed, measured and modified. Its 3 components - PERCEPTION: The skill has a perceptual component for observing and receiving feedback COGNITION: It refers to experience, knowledge, thinking and or problem solving to some extent ACTION: It demands every teacher to actually practice or behave according to his/her perception and knowledge

CORE TEACHING SKILLS SKILL OF EXPLANATION SKILL OF STIMULUS VARIATION SKILL OF QUESTIONING SKILL OF RESPONSE MANAGEMENT SKILL OF ILLUSTRATION SKILL OF REINFORCEMENT CORE MICRO-SKILLS OF TEACHING

This involves establishing rapport and promoting students attention, and exposing them to essential content Learning a new lesson is influenced by the process in which the lesson is introduced. There are six components of lesson introduction: SKILL OF INTRODUCING A LESSON OR INDUCTION

COMPONENT-1 1) Maximum utilization of previous knowledge of the subject general awareness devices and techniques of exploring link between previous and new knowledge creating situations

COMPONENTS – 2 & 3 2) Using appropriate devices examples, questioning, lecturing, audio-visual aids, demonstration, role playing According to maturity level 3) Maintenance of continuity sequence of ideas Logical Related to students response

COMPONENT – 4 4) Relevancy of verbal or non-verbal behaviour - by Testing previous knowledge Utilizing past experiences Establishing rapport Pin point aim of lesson Need & importance of lesson

COMPONENTS – 5 & 6 5)Arousal of interest Introducing a surprise Telling a story Showing enthusiasm 6) Effectiveness of introduction Get the feedback (how many are enrolled) Review if necessary

Explaining is an activity which shows the relationships among various concepts, ideas, events or phenomenon Explaining is essentially a verbal skill and has two main aspects: selection of appropriate interrelated statements and use of the selected statements SKILL OF EXPLAINING

DESIRABLE BEHAVIOURS Introductory statementConcluding statementUse of explaining linksUse of visual techniquesInteresting to the studentsDefining technical wordsTesting students understanding UNDESIRABLE BEHAVIOURS Irrelevant statementLack of continuityLack of fluencyVague words & phrases COMPONENTS OF EXPLAINING SKILL

It involves deliberate change in attention drawing behaviour of the teacher in order to secure and sustain students’ attention Attention tends to shift from one stimulus to other stimulus very quickly Therefore a teacher should deliberately change his/her attention drawing behaviour in class These skills are very much personalized try to develop them SKILL OF STIMULUS VARIATION

FACTORS OF DRAWING ATTENTION 1) Intensity 2) Contrast 3) Movement 4) Size or extensity 5) Novelty 6) Change 7) Produce something unusual 8) Self activity 9) Things should be definite & systematic 10) Use audio-visual aids 11) Develop a personal style

It involves describing an idea, concept, principle or generalizations by using various types of examples This is an art of judicious selection and proper presentation of the suitable examples SKILL OF ILLUSTRATING WITH EXAMPLES

Use of simple illustrations Relevant illustrations Avoid use of too many illustrations Proper handling Interesting illustration Avoid technical language Well prepared illustrations Timely presentation SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHING THROUGH ILLUSTRATIONS

Questioning is an important technique which every teacher should know It is used to help students to recall facts, exercise their reasoning ability Questioning is a logical procedure of problem solving Teacher should encourage learners to seek more than one answer for a question The teacher uses questioning to achieve learning objectives To assess students understanding It’s a critical skill that can be used in any subject and in any grade STRUCTURING OF QUESTIONS

There are three types of questions 1) LOWER ORDER QUESTIONS – limited to memory level of thinking merely deal with mode of expression 2) MIDDLE ORDER QUESTIONS- involve interpretation of concepts by comparison or explanation, application type questions 3) HIGHER ORDER QUESTIONS- encourage students to think, to reason, to analyze, produce new ideas- analysis, synthesis & evaluation ORDER OF QUESTIONING

SKILL OF FLUENCY IN QUESTIONING RATE OF MEANINGFUL QUESTIONS PUT PER UNIT TIME BY THE TEACHER IS CALLED FLUENCY MEANINGFUL QUESTIONS ARE THOSE WHICH ARE RELEVANT TO THE CONCEPT BEING TAUGHT 3 components structureprocessproduct

STRUCTURE OF QUESTION Where the language and content are taken into consideration Structure has 5 aspects of questioning: a) Grammatical correctness: use of simple language with correct grammar and un-ambiguity b) Conciseness: question should be direct and straight forward with minimum length c) Relevancy: question should be relevant and taken from the content being taught d) Specificity: specific to content and should call for single answer e) Clarity: question should be clear enough in respect of content and language

PROCESS OF QUESTIONS PROCESS of formulating and asking question has four aspects: a) Speed of asking questions: should not be at low speed or in hurry b) Voice of the teacher: question should be in audible and clear c) Pause: it is the period of silence given after delivery of question d) Style: properly modulated and pleasant tone and friendly manner

PRODUCT OF QUESTIONS PRODUCT is the students answer, depends on various factors: a) Not intelligent to understand the question b) Language may be difficult c) Not taking interest d) Inattentive in class e) Lack of rapport f) Lack previous knowledge

Avoid yes or no type questions - they encourage guess work Echo or suggestive questions - are based on concepts or facts just taught. Not having useful purpose to encourage thinking Leading questions – supplies own answer Rhetorical questions – which emphasize over a particular point QUESTIONS THAT SHOLUD BE AVOIDED

GROUP WORK ON USE OF MICRO-SKILLS IN CLASS Identify one topic of your subject and teach that topic to the whole group following simulation. While teaching your topic demonstrate several micro-skills that are represented in the previous lecture. Please discuss it in your group and some one should take lead in the demonstration.