8601

General Methods of
Teaching

Submitted by: Ayesha Khalid

Assignment number 1
B.ED 1.5 year

Allama Iqbal Open University

8/7/2022
Q. 1 Specify the personal and professional characteristics of good teachers.

Personal qualities

Thompson, Greer, and Greer (n.d) says that “every teacher should possess twelve
characteristics such as displaying fairness, having a positive outlook, being prepared,
using a personal touch, possessing a sense of humor, possessing creativity, admitting
mistakes, being forgiving, respecting students, maintaining high expectations, showing
compassion, and developing a sense of belonging for students”. Let us read these
characteristics as given bellow:

1) Fairness: Fairness is one of the characteristics of the students’ favorite teachers.

All humans possess an inbuilt sense of fair play. Whenever a person violates,
the other person in this situation is prone to react negatively.
2) Positive Attitude: Another characteristic that students’ like most is the positive
attitude and approach of their teachers they use into the classroom. Scholars
suggest that effective teachers are those who use meaningful verbal praise to get
and keep students actively participating in the learning process.
3) Preparedness: Competence and knowledge of the content area being taught is
something that our college students have always mentioned about their favorite
teachers. In a research the students pointed out that in classrooms where teachers
were well prepared, behavior problems were less prevalent.
4) Personal Touch: Teachers who are connected personally with their students;
call them by name, smile often, ask about students’ feelings and opinions, and
accept students for who they are. As well as the teachers who tell stories of their
own lives events which relate to subject matter currently being taught, motivate
student’s interest and endorse bonding with the students. Teachers who show
interest in their students have interested students.
5) Sense of Humor: If a teacher has the ability to break the ice in difficult
situations with the use of humor, this is an extremely valuable asset for teaching.
According to McDermott & Rothenberg (2000) students enjoy teachers with a
sense of humor and remember those teachers who made learning a fun. Good
teachers enjoy a laugh with the class occasionally.
6) Creativity: Students always like the unusual things that their teachers do in
creative ways. Construction of models or things from wastage like plastic
bottles provides a field into which children could go and work by themselves
quietly on academics activities like puzzles and word-finds.
7) Willingness to Admit Mistakes: Like everybody, teachers may make mistakes.
Sometimes students may know when their teachers make mistakes.
Unfortunately, some teachers try to let the mistakes go unnoticed or cover over
them quickly. Teachers who recognize their mistakes in a very humble and
pleasant way and apologize them. This act of teacher provides an excellent
model for the students, and they may be remembered as a good teacher.
8) Forgiving: The effective teachers reflect a willingness to forgive students for
misbehavior. For example if a student repeatedly asks irrelevant questions and
detracts others from the lesson. The teacher can simply say the question is
irrelevant and direct the student for further study.
9) Respect: The teachers desire be respected by their students. The teachers who
give respect to their students are always respected by them. Effective teachers
can train their students be respectful by many ways such as, he can keep
individual grades on papers confidentially, or can speak to students privately
after misbehavior not in front of others. Good teachers show sensitivity for
feelings and consistently avoid situations that unnecessarily make students
uncomfortable.
10) High expectations: Teachers with positive attitudes also possess high
expectations for success. Teachers’ expectation levels affect the ways in which
teachers teach and interact with students. Generally, students either rise to their
teachers’ expectations or do not perform well when expectations are low or non-
 existent. The best teachers have the highest standards. They consistently
challenge their students to do their best.
11) Compassion: Hopefully, school is a place where children can learn and be
nurtured in an emotionally safe environment. Sometimes in youngsters
classrooms there may happens a significant amount of cruelty and hurt feelings.
In these situations a caring teacher tries to reduce the impact of hurt feelings on
learning.
12) Sense of Belonging: Teachers developed a sense of family in their classrooms.
A variety of strategies, such as random act of kindness awards, class picture
albums, and cooperative class goals build a sense of unity and belongings and
maintain an emotionally safe classroom.

Professional Qualities

The teacher’s professional characteristics are following:

Collaboration: The teacher works with others to achieve a common goal. Interacts
constructively with peers/colleagues, administrators, supervisors, staff, mentor teachers,
and parents
• Shows consideration and respect for thoughts and feelings of others
• Demonstrates effective verbal and non-verbal communication skills
• Demonstrates flexibility with others
• Solicits suggestions and feedback from others
• Maintains communication with colleagues, supervisors, and mentor teachers when
questions or concerns arise
• Recognizes a range of valid viewpoints

Honesty and Integrity: The teacher demonstrates truthfulness, professional behavior,

and trustworthiness. Displays honesty and integrity
• Maintains confidentiality
• Elicits trust and respect from both peers and supervisors
• In completing course and field experience assignments, produces original work and
credits sources when appropriate

Respect: The teacher honors, values, and demonstrates consideration and regard for
oneself and others. The teacher is respectful of cultural patterns and expectations within
a community context
• Presents self in a professional manner (e.g., dress, communication)
• Speaks and behaves in a manner that is sensitive to linguistic and cultural differences
and respects the dignity and worth of others
• Establishes good rapport with students and colleagues
• Seeks to address the varied learning needs of students in his/her classroom, including
lower-performing children and those with disabilities
• Recognizes and respects identities informed by a group’s historical context

Commitment to Learning: The teacher values learning for self and students.
Exhibits energy, drive, and determination to make one’s school and classroom the best
possible environment for teaching and learning
• Plans and delivers instruction that engages all students in his/her classroom and
addresses their learning needs
• Values ongoing assessment as essential to the instructional process

Emotional Maturity: The teacher demonstrates situation appropriate behavior.

i) Is self-confident and enthusiastic

ii) Is dependable, conscientious, and punctual
iii) Models social skills, character traits and dispositions desired in students.

Leadership and Responsibility: The teacher acts independently and demonstrates

accountability, reliability, and sound judgment.

i) Is aware of and acts according to school policies and practices

ii) Advises students in formal and informal settings
 iii) Meets work schedule demands
iv) Is aware of the importance of professional appearance and demeanor
v) Demonstrates initiative, in an acceptable manner, for introducing programs or
practices in a school or classroom

Q.2 Define effective teaching. Discuss the factors contributing towards effective
teaching.

The Definition

The concept of “Effective Teaching” is considered as a range of factors that collectively

work together and result in effective learning. Most of the people agree that the basic
purpose of teaching is to enable learning. An elaboration to this concept is required to
fulfill the needs of today’s youth in a knowledge-driven society where information
rapidly increases at great scale. Therefore the concept of teaching should move beyond
the lower order skills of acquisition and reproduction of knowledge and facts.

The students require equipping them with more recent and advanced body of
knowledge, and enabling them to apply, upgrade and create knowledge.

There are various aspects of effective teaching, such as;

1. Effectively managing a classroom,
2. Starting each class with a clear objective,
3. Engaging students with questioning strategies,
4. Consolidating the lesson at the end of a period, and
5. Diagnosing common student errors and correcting them that can be systematically
measured by observing classrooms and by asking students.

Bulger, S. M. and Mohr D. J. (2002) describe that teaching effectiveness is dependent

upon the interaction between the instructor's subject-matter knowledge and teaching
(pedagogical) ability.

There are two forms such interaction:

1. An individual may possess a substantial amount of subject-matter knowledge, yet be
unable to design and implement instructional methods to enhance student learning due
to a lack of pedagogical ability. On the other hand,
2. An individual may possess some generic pedagogical skills, yet have limited subject-
matter knowledge and again be prone to ineffective teaching.

The above forms indicate that it is impossible to be an effective teacher without being
competent in both subject-matter knowledge and pedagogical ability

Factors of Effective Teaching

Gurney, (2007) suggests five key factors that could contribute to an effective learning
and teaching environment.

KEY FACTOR 1: Teacher Knowledge, Enthusiasm and Responsibility for

Learning
Good classroom is one in which knowledge is shared among teacher and students.
Teacher not only gives instructions but takes ideas of students during the teaching
learning process and carry out discussions. In such an environment the knowledge is
shared; students and teachers all become learners and discover the world of the subject.
In such an environment, a teacher takes responsibility for the sharing and enjoyment of
the knowledge.

KEY FACTOR 2: Classroom Activities That Encourage Learning

In a classroom of opportunity and experience, the learners explore and do experiment.
In such a climate the process of learning become a measure of success and the students
feel that they are the masters of their own learning.

KEY FACTOR 3: Assessment Activities That Encourage Learning Through

Experience
The assessment contributes towards the creation of an effective learning process. If the
students know the value of assessment in the ongoing learning process, not at the end,
then they can work well and take part in the process and use it to gain better results.
The effective learning environment involves the processes of peer tutoring, co-
operative learning, questioning, clarifying and summarising. All of these processes are
used to empower the learners. For example if teacher asks the question: ‘What do you
do in the classroom?’

KEY FACTOR 4: Effective Feedback That Establishes the Learning Processes In

the Classroom
Appropriate learning related feedback is one of the important factors in effective
teaching. Different methods of feedback enable the teacher to engage the students with
learning. All explanations, questioning methods, instructions are part of feedback and
student input (Hattie, 1999, p.9). In an effective classroom the students actively seek
the feedback of their performance. Alton Lee (2003) highlights the value of feedback
but warns that too much can be harmful as too little. The feedback that a teacher gets
from the students is also essential to the creation of a learning environment. The more
feedback that a teacher can obtain from students, and the more the teacher can act on
that feedback, the better the learning environment will be that is created.

KEY FACTOR 5: Effective Interaction between the Teacher and the Students,
Creating an Environment That Respects, Encourages and Stimulates Learning
through Experience
Learning is an emotional exercise. Students like those things or actions that appeals to
them emotionally. The teacher who brings a sense of personal involvement to the
classroom, and who wants to share the knowledge with the class, who shows that he/she
is also a part of the learning cycle, is setting up a relationship with the learners. The
working environment generated by the interaction can remove the stigma of ‘working’
and turn the learning process into rewarding.

Q.3 Highlight the steps of planning "development of instruction".

A lesson plan is a road map of the instructions. It shows what will be taught and how it
will be done effectively during the class time. Teachers require a lesson plan to describe
their course of instruction for one class. The lesson plan is necessary to guide the
instruction. A lesson plan is required to describe the preferences of the, subject being
covered, activities being held in the class, and to ensure the progress of the students
about the lesson being taught to them.

STEPS IN LESSON PLANNING

The plans of class room activities to be happened each day make the teaching effective.
The teachers go through many steps for planning a lesson. Six steps are given below to
guide the teachers to create their first lesson plans. Each step is comprised by a set of
questions:

1. Outline learning objectives

The lesson objectives are usefully stated in terms of what students will achieve at the
end of the lesson. The first step is to determine as a teacher what you want students to
learn and be able to do at the end of class. To help you specify your objectives for
student learning, answer the following questions:
• What is the topic of the lesson?
• What do I want students to learn?
• What do I want them to understand and be able to do at the end of class?
• What do I want them to take away from this particular lesson?

2. Develop the introduction

After determining learning objectives and specifying them in order of their importance,
the teacher has to design the specific activities for the students. They may already be
familiar with the topic; therefore it is necessary to gather background information from
the students prior to lesson. You may start with a question or activity to assess students’
knowledge of the topic. For example you can ask a question or take a simple poll: “How
many of you have heard about this?

3. Plan the specific learning activities (the main body of the lesson)

Prepare several and different examples (ways) to explain the topic/concept (real life
examples, similarities, visuals, etc.) to catch the attention of all students. The following
questions would help you design the learning activities you will use in the class:
• What will I do to explain the topic?
• What will I do to illustrate the topic in a different way?
• How can I engage students in the topic?
• What are some relevant real-life examples, similarities, or situations that can help
students understand the topic?
• What will students need to do to help them understand the topic better?

4. Plan to check for understanding

Up till now the topic has been explained with different examples. At this stage you need
to check for student understanding. Therefore you are required to plan for how will you
know that students are learning? Think about specific questions you can ask students in
order to check for understanding, and write them down. Try to predict the answers to
your questions. Decide on whether you want students to respond orally or in writing.
Ask yourself the following questions:
• What questions will I ask students to check for understanding?
• How will students demonstrate that they are following?
• Going back to the list of learning objectives, what activity students can do to check
whether each of those has been completed?

5. Develop a conclusion and a preview

Repeat the material covered in class by summarizing the main points of the lesson. You
can do this in a number of ways: you can state the main points yourself (“Today we
talked about…”), you can ask a student to help you summarize them, or you can even
ask all students to write down on a piece of paper what they think were the main points
of the lesson. You can review the students’ answers to estimate their understanding of
the topic and then explain anything unclear the following class.

Q.4 a) Describe difference between instrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

Extrinsic Motivation

Motivation is concerned with the factors that stimulate or inhibit the desire to engage
in behavior. Teachers use extrinsic motivation to stimulate learning or encourage
students to perform in a particular way. It is one of the most powerful motivations. It is
operative when an individual is motivated by an outcome that is external or somehow
related to the activity in which she or he is engaged. In other words, “Extrinsic
motivation refers to rewards that are obtained not from the activity, but as a
consequence of the activity.”

This motivation arises from the use of external rewards or bribes such as food, praise,
free time, money or points toward an activity. These incentives are all external, in that
they are separate from the individual and the task.

Example: a child may does chores not because he enjoys them but because doing so
earns an allowance and students who are extrinsically motivated may study hard for a
test in order to obtain a good grade in the course.

Extrinsic motivation refers to motivation that comes from outside an individual. The
motivating factors are external, or outside, rewards such as money or grades. These
rewards provide satisfaction and pleasure that the task itself may not provide.

An extrinsically motivated person will work on a task even they have little interest in it
because of the anticipated satisfaction they will get from some reward. The rewards can
be something as minor as a smiley face to something major like fame or fortune. For
example, an extrinsically motivated person who dislikes math may work hard on a math
equation because he wants the reward for completing it. In the case of a student, the
reward would be a good grade on an assignment or in the class.

Extrinsic motivation does not mean, however, that a person will not get any pleasure
from working on or completing a task. It just means that the pleasure they anticipate
from some external reward will continue to be a motivator even when the task to be
done holds little or no interest. An extrinsically motivated student, may dislikes an
assignment, may finds it boring, or has no interest in the subject, but the possibility of
a good grade will be enough to keep the student motivated in order for him or her to
put forth the effort to do well on a task.

Intrinsic motivation

The motivation arises from internal factors such as a child’s natural feeling of curiosity,
exigent, confidence and satisfaction when performing a task. People who are involved
in a task because of intrinsic motivation appear to be engaged and even consumed, since
they are motivated by the activity itself and not some goal that is achieved at the end or
as a result of the activity. Intrinsic motivation is the ultimate goal in education at every
level.

Example: Children play game for no other reward than the fun they get from the game
itself or students who are intrinsically motivated may study hard for a test because he
or she enjoys the content of the course.

Intrinsic motivation refers to motivation that is driven by an interest or enjoyment in

the task itself, and exists within the individual rather than relying on any external
pressure. Intrinsic motivation has been studied by social and educational psychologists
since the early 1970s. Research has found that it is usually associated with high
educational achievement and enjoyment by students. Explanations of intrinsic
motivation has been given in the context of fritz Hieder’s attribution theory, Bandura’s
work on self-efficiency, and Deci and Ryan’s cognitive evaluation theory.
Students are likely to be intrinsically motivated if they:
• Attribute their educational results to internal factors that they can control (e.g. the
amount of effort they put in),
• Believe they can be effective agents in reaching desires goals (i.e. the results are not
determined by luck),
• Are interested in mastering a topic, rather than just rote-learning to achieve good
grades.

b) Define the term inquiry approach and enlist the methods that come under the
umbrella of this approach.

According to Kahn and O’Rourke, (2005) inquiry based learning is student centered
learning and is a paradigm shift from passive to active learning process. Therefore
inquiry based learning can be perceived as broader term that involves
• Range of teaching learning approaches
• Process of guidance by supportive inquiry
• Active involvement of the learner to foster critical thinking.

Inquiry" is defined as "a seeking for truth, information, or knowledge -- seeking

information by questioning." Individuals carry on the process of inquiry from the time
they are born until they die. This is true even though they might not reflect upon the
process. Infants begin to make sense of the world by inquiring.

Types of inquiry Method:

1. Inductive Method
2. Deductive Method
3. Scientifc Method

1) Inductive Method:

The inductive reasoning method moves from specific to general. These examples will
help us to understand the concept of inductive reasoning.

Examples: Consider this “Previous car accidents of this sort were caused by brakes
failure, and therefore, this accident was also caused by brakes failure.” Similarly while
doing exercises of mathematics children use induction method “as previous question
was solved by adding the numbers, therefore, this question may also be solved by same
method”, and most of the time it comes true.

Important Aspects: Some important aspects of the inductive teaching method are
given as below.
1. It gives new knowledge as student are supposed to involve in the process of
knowledge construction.
2. It is a method of discovery, where students discover the fact by their own involvement.
3. It is a method of teaching; teachers used this by starting from the known facts and
using different inquiry techniques to discover the hidden ones.
4. Child acquires firsthand knowledge and information by actual observation.
5. It is a slow process, as all the steps are interlinked and the students cannot move
forward without the mastery of the previous one.
6. It trains the mind and gives self confidence and initiative to the students after being
exposed to inductive method the students has more positive attitude towards taking
initiatives in their studies.
7. It is full of activity, many activities lead towards the generation of new knowledge.
8. It is an upward process of thought and leads to principles, the students understand
the philosophy behind that principle.

2) Deductive Method

In deductive reasoning we argue from the general to a specific instance. The basic idea
is that if something is true of a sample of things/objects in general, this truth applies to
all things/objects of that group. The important point to be considered, then, is to be able
to properly identify things/objects of the sample. Improper selection may result in
invalid conclusions. Application of deductive reasoning may help the teachers in the
classroom and saves time also.

Examples: For example, we often say that “Be careful of that wasp: it might sting.” is
based on the logic that wasps have stings; therefore each individual wasp will have a
sting. So, it can be concluded that, we should not examine each and every wasp.
Because of the validity of deductive reasoning, we may make an assumption that is both
useful and efficient.

Let’s have another example of deductive reasoning. Every day, I leave my home for
office at, at eight o’clock. Every day, the journey takes 30 minutes, and I arrive at work
on time. If I leave my home at eight o’clock today, I will be on time and not late.

Important Aspects: At the end some important aspects of deductive method are as
under:
1. It does not give any new knowledge, but helps to explore the existing knowledge.
2. This method is to verify the existing theories and laws and is called a method of
verification.
3. This method helps to impart instructions to the students and considered as valid
method of instruction.
4. During the process of deductive method of instruction students get ready made
information and make use of it.
5. It is quick and time saving process and truth of the conclusion depends upon the
sample selection.
6. It encourages dependence on other sources therefore the accuracy of the sources used
makes the conclusions valid and reliable.
7. There is less scope of activity in it, teachers used the already planned lesson and not
deviate from the plan.
8. It is a downward process of thought and leads to useful results, which are embedded
in the specific environment

3) Inductive and Deductive Methods of Teaching

According to Marwaha (2009) there are two major parts of the process of learning of a
topic: establishment of formula or principles and application of that formula or those
principles. The former is the work of induction and the latter is the work of deduction.
Therefore, people, “always understand inductively and apply deductively” and a good
and effective teacher is he who understands this slight balance between the two.

Thus: “his teaching should begin with induction and end in deduction.” It may be
concluded that inductive method is an ancestor of deductive method. Deduction is a
process particularly suitable for a final statement and induction is most suitable for
exploration of new fields. Probability in induction is raised to certainty in deduction.
The suitable combination of the two is most appropriate and desirable.

4) Scientific Method
According to Keyes (2010) definitions of the scientific method can be found in
textbooks in both the social and natural sciences and, while some variations exist, all
have certain common features. Students collected a number of definitions of scientific
method from textbooks in the natural (“hard”) sciences and then were asked to compare
these to the one provided in their sociology textbook.

Steps involved: The following are the compulsory steps involved in the scientific
method. The elaboration of these steps as:
1. Realizing the problem
2. Defining the problem
3. Analyzing the problem
4. Collecting data / information
5. Analyzing the information
6. Framing hypothesis
7. Verifying the hypothesis
8. Finding the solution
9. Applying the solutions in the life situations.

Q.5 What is an activity? Discuss the importance of activity method. Name the
different types of activities you would use in English.

What is Activity Method?

Before explaining the activity method, it seems better to answer this question, what is
an activity? Anything which is carried out with a purpose in a social environment
involving physical and mental action. Such activities help in the establishment of
stimulating environment for creative expression.

Importance of Activity Method:

Practical and productive work can help in the better understanding of almost every
subject. In geography, it may take the form of drawing maps, making models,
illustrations, organizing excursions, keeping weather records, constructing in
appropriate materials scenes from the life of different region is of the world etc. In
history, in addition to the preparation of suitable illustrations, they may prepare and
stage historical plays making the costumes, the stage effects, fixing the lights etc,
themselves or co-operatively study local history or set up a small history museum and
in fact, take up any projects that will bring history to life, in connection with the study
of languages – particularly the mother tongue – they may undertake to write small
booklets on subjects of special interest to them. The collection of material from relevant
sources, its writing, editing, the binding of the booklets attractively will all form parts
of a joyous project. Illustrated charts about great writers may be prepared-containing
their pictures, short notes on their lives and works and brief appropriate question in
prose or poetry from their writings or they may possibly attempt translations of some
easy books and articles in English with the object of providing rich reading material for
their fellow students in the library. Taking in view these three types of activities, some
of the activities are suggested as under:
1. Local survey and excursions.
2. Debates, discussions, dialogues and symposiums.
3. Hobbies
4. Dramatization
5. Clubs and societies
6. Projects
7. Competitions
8. Re-creational and cultural programmes
9. Social Service squads
10. Students-self Government
11. Camping
12. Writing of community books in games etc.

In modern education, creative activities are occupying a prominent place in the school
programme. Creative experiences and social activities are breaking away from the other
approaches and exploring the new avenues of learning. This emerging pattern for
teaching requires that teachers play a more vital role. The creation of a stimulating
atmosphere for the learner, both in the learning laboratory and in the community is
essential for an experience approach to function. Education for children should be rich
enough to meet all needs in a way that will contribute to society.

Types of Activities:

Activities can be of three types:

1. Exploratory – Knowledge getting
2. Constructive – Experience getting
3. Expressional – Presentation

a) Knowledge – Getting Activities

(i) Here a group of pupils may be asked to make a study of the various sources of food
articles consumed at home by questioning parents, merchants etc; by consulting labels
on the foods. The data may be compiled and interpreted by the group.
(ii) A committee of pupils may undertake to find out in a rural area, how many families
have members who work also in the city or town for a part of the time. In a city, it may
be enquired how many people in the local community have come from rural areas and
why they have come. With the teachers help, rough estimate of probable experience can
be made.

b) Experience – Getting Activities

For selection of activities and giving firsthand knowledge to the students teacher may
arrange some field trips of any area such as industrial or agricultural. But for arranging
the visit of any area, the provision of the available local resources must be focused,
otherwise school will never allow for having this experience. Overall focused must be
laid on no cost field visits.

c) Presentation
A debate can be arranged on the topic “In the opinion of the house, mechanized
agriculture is the only way of economic uplift in the Punjab. Maps showing the
distribution of
(1) agriculture crops,
(2) major industries,
(3) outstanding and localized cottage industries in the Punjab can be drawn.
Charts showing
(a) The classification of industries on the basis of nature of goods produced,
(b) flow of raw materials, labour and power to few major industries can be made.
Graphs showing the member of industrial laborers in the Punjab from 1947 to 2010 etc
can be prepared.