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MICRO TEACHING SKILLS



Major Skills of Micro teaching and Components
Core teaching skills may vary based on the perspective of experts.  So here we have to discuss some important skills and its components which are essential for effective teaching of English.

1.     SKILL OF INTRODUCING A LESSON/ SKILL OF SET INDUCTION
It requires a skill on the part of the teacher to introduce a lesson or a unit in such a way that it motivates the students to know more about what they had heard or seen just before. A felt need must be created in the students. Pupils’ learning of the lesson depends on the way the lesson is introduced.
The skill of introducing a lesson involves establishing rapports with learners, promoting their attentions, and exposing them to essential contents.  If a teacher skillfully establishes an affective or emotional rapport with the pupils, they will be ready to receive new knowledge. Students will wait for his/her class. This proves that “well begun is half done”.
Components of the skill of introducing a lesson
I.                   Desirable Behaviours
i.                    Using previous knowledge
ii.                  Using appropriate devices
iii.                Arousing motivation
iv.                Link with topic
v.                  Use of simple language
II.                Undesirable Behaviours
i.                    Lacking in continuity
ii.                  Uttering irrelevant statements

I.                   Desirable Behaviours
i.                    Using previous knowledge
                    Previous knowledge refers to the knowledge already possessed by the pupils. Mind cannot receive any new knowledge unless there is continuity with relevant previous knowledge. When we give a new knowledge, it must be a continuation of their previous knowledge. Introducing a new lesson involves bringing the previous knowledge to the conscious level. Teachers must be aware of the previous knowledge that has to be possessed by the pupils, for the particular topic to be introduced. Teacher can ask questions or create a situation to expose the students’ previous knowledge.
ii.                  Using appropriate devices
                   In order to arouse interest or to link with the topic the teacher can use appropriate device or technique such as audio aids, video aids, audio visual aids, flash cards, flip cards, analogy, questioning, storytelling, narrating, illustrating, role playing, dramatization, demonstration, etc. every device varies in effectiveness. Their judicious use depends on the age, grade and maturity level of the pupil.
iii.                Arousing motivation
   In order to motivate the learners, the teacher should make use of appropriate device or technique such as audio aids, video aids, audio visual aids, flash cards, flip cards, analogy, questioning, storytelling, narrating, illustrating, role playing, dramatization, demonstration, etc.
iv.                Link with topic
                   After preliminary questions and introduction, the teacher should establish a link of the previous knowledge or introductory activity with present topic. The device or technique that a teacher uses while introducing a lesson could be relevant  only if they are related to the aims of the lesson/content.
II.                Undesirable behaviours
v.                  Lacking in continuity
                   Lacking in continuity refers to the inability of a teacher in presenting a new idea without linking it with the relevant previous knowledge, in  a sequential manner. Here the teacher’s statements or questions will not be related to proceeding question or statement.
vi.                Uttering irrelevant statements
                   The statements or the questions which a teacher utters while introducing a lesson must be related to the aims of the lesson. Sometimes there may be continuity, but the questions and the statements uttered may be irrelevant to the aim of the lesson. If one is familiar with the topic introduced, it is not difficult to identify irrelevant statements and questions. 

2.     SKILL OF PROBING QUESTIONS
 The term ‘probing’ implies going deep in to the matter in hand. It is defined as the art of response management comprising a set of behaviour or techniques for going deep into students responses with a view to elicit the desired responses.
When the teacher asks questions from the pupils in his class different situations arise. They are:
1.       The pupil may give no response,
2.       The pupil may give incorrect,
3.       The pupil may give partially correct response and
4.       The pupil may give correct response.
How to deal with all these situations effectively is the main theme of this skill. In case of no response or incorrect response the teacher goes deep into pupil's responses by asking many questions about what he already knows and to lead him to the correct response. When the response is correct the teacher may help the pupil to go deep into the content by asking questions of how, why and sometimes of what types also. The skill involves a series of questions to go deep into pupil’s responses.

If one wants to be an effective teacher, one must be able to lead the pupils to the correct responses without resorting to punishments. He must probe into the student responses by asking a number of questions about what they already know. These questions will be based on the response given to the first question. Probing question is a technique of dealing with pupils’ initial response to the teacher’s questions.

Components of the skill of probing questions
The five components of the skill of probing questions are:
i.                    Prompting
ii.                  Seeking further information
iii.                Refocusing
iv.                Redirecting
v.                  Increasing critical awareness

i.                          Prompting
This technique means to go deep into the pupil’s response when it is incorrect or no response. Here teacher helps the pupil to answer the question himself. He/She does not give answer or make the other students answer the question, but provide clues or hints and leading questions. He will not discourage the pupil for his/her wrong response, but a series of hints or prompts are given to pupil through step by step questioning in order to lead the pupil to the desired correct response. Let us take the following example:

Example:  
T:    What are the functions of adverbs?
P:      No response.
T:      What modifies a verb?
P:      Adverb.

ii.                  Seeking further information
 This technique is used when the response of pupil is incomplete or partially correct. The teacher helps the pupil to clarify or elaborate or explain his initial response by asking more small questions or creating situation in which the pupil is made to think and respond.
E.g.: what else can you say?
      How can you make it more clear?
      Give some examples
      Will you please elaborate our answer? Etc.
Example:
T:      What are the functions of adjectives?
P:      To modify a noun.
T:      What are the other functions?

iii.                Refocusing
It is used when the pupil’s response is correct. Here, the teacher relates the correct answer of a student with the topic already covered in the class. This involves comparing the phenomena in his response with other phenomena either for similarity/difference or relationship between the two situations. The teacher could use this opportunity to refocus on a related issue.
E.g. How one thing in point is different from the other thing?
  How the response of this pupil is related to any other point?
“How does john’s answer relate to…?
 How one thing is similar to another thing?
“If this is true, what are the implications for…?
 How it is applicable to real life? Such types of questions are put to the pupil.
iv.                Redirecting
The main purpose of this technique is to increase more and more pupil participation. When the situation is of no response or incorrect response prompting should be preferred to redirection. Then the teacher puts the same question to several students for eliciting desired response.
Example:
Teacher        :      How many verb forms are there?
Manu  :     No response
Teacher        :      How many verb forms are there? (to whole class or other students)
Shijin:     Five verb forms are there. (Redirection)



v.                  Increasing critical awareness
This technique is used when the pupil’s response is correct. The teacher puts higher order questions to stimulate the pupil to think beyond what the pupil knows. This involves the ‘how’ and ‘why’ and sometimes ‘what’ type of questions on the point under discussion.
How can you justify it?
How does it occur?
What may be the reason behind it? Etc. Such types of questions are put to the pupil.
Example:
a.       Why oxygen is necessary for living beings?
b.       How oxygen helps in burning? etc.

3.     SKILL OF STIMULUS VARIATION
Learning in the classroom depends, a large extent, on attention of the pupils on the learning task. It is therefore essential for a teacher to secure the attention of the pupils for making his/her teaching effective. How to secure and sustain the attention is main theme of this skill. It is known on the basis of psychological experiments that attention of the individual tends to shift from one stimulus to other very quickly. It is very difficult for an individual to attend to the same stimulus for more than a few seconds. Therefore, for securing and sustaining the attention of the pupils to the lesson it is necessary to make variations in the stimulus. This is because attention is the necessary pre-requisite for learning.

Components of the skill of stimulus variation
i.                    Movement
ii.                  Gestures
iii.                Focusing
iv.                Change in voice
v.                  Pausing
vi.                Change in interaction pattern
vii.              Physical pupil participation
viii.            Switching

i.                    Movement
Teacher movement is an important teacher behaviour in the classroom. The movement of the teacher helps pupils to change their postures which provides physical relaxation to them and also contributes to the alertness, enthusiasm and variety in the teaching behaviour.
 Any type of movement is not likely to be conducive. Here movement means making movements from one place to another with some purpose. (For writing on the black board; to conduct experiment; to explain the chart or model; to pay attention to the pupil who is responding to some question, to give guidance when pupils are doing the given assignment etc.). So teacher should avoid aimless wandering.

ii.                  Gestures
   Gestures are non-verbal cues to express feelings and emotions, to emphasis significant ideas, to indicate shape, size and movements of objects and mainly to arrest attention of the pupils.
   They are usually made with the help of the movement of the eye, hand, head, body, facial expressions, like extending the hands in a typical shape to indicate how big or small one object is. All these acts are performed to become more expressive.
iii.                Change in voice
Voice plays a vital role in communication in the classroom. The voice of the teacher has several dimensions, namely pitch, tone and speed. Constant use of the same level of pitch, tone and speed makes the class dull. In order to secure and maintain students’ attention, a skillful teacher varies his/her voice.  When the teacher wants to show emotions or to put emphasis on a particular point, sudden or radical changes in tone, volume or speed of the verbal presentation are brought out. The change in the speech pattern makes the pupils attentive and creates interest in the lesson.

iv.                Focusing
The teacher draws the attention of the pupils to the particular point in the lesson either by using verbal or gestural focusing. In verbal focusing the teacher makes statements like, “look here” “listen to me” “note it carefully”,” Try to be attentive”. In gestural focusing pointing towards some object with fingers or underlining the important words on the black board or pointing something on the B.B. or diagram using finger/pointer is gestural focusing. In verbal cum gestural focusing teacher uses both verbal and gestural statements

v.                  Pausing
This means “stop talking” or “a meaningful stop” by the teacher for a moment. When the teacher becomes silent during teaching, it at once draws the attention of the pupils with curiosity towards the teacher.  A short pause before saying something important is an effective way of attracting attention of the pupils.  The message given at this point is easily received by the pupils.
vi.                Change in interaction pattern
When two or more persons communicate their views with each other, they are said to be interacting. Teaching is an interactive process. This interaction is broadly of two types- verbal and nonverbal

     There can be three patterns or styles of interaction among teacher and pupils:

1.    Teacher class (Teacher talks to class and vice versa)
2.    Teacher Pupil (Teacher talks to pupil and vice versa)
3.    Pupil pupil (Pupil talks to pupil)
A teacher using only any one of these styles continuously for a long time fails to sustain pupils’ attention. So, all types of interaction should go side by side to secure and sustain pupils’ attention.

vii.              Switching
Constant use of one medium for imparting knowledge distracts pupils’ attention. So a teacher has to change his/her medium. The teacher gives information to the class verbally about something is called oral medium. The use of maps, charts and object without saying something is called visual medium. If the teacher gives information to the pupils through any one medium (oral, visual, oral visual) for a long time, may lose pupils’ attention to what the teacher is conveying to them. Therefore it is essential for the teacher to change medium rapidly in order to secure and sustain pupils’ attention to what he says. There are three types of  media:

1.       Oral visual :- when the teacher shows objects, maps, charts, globe etc. while speaking is switching from oral to visual.
2.       Visual Oral:-  when the teacher shows objects, maps, charts, globe etc. and speaks about it is switching from visual to oral.

3.       Visual oral – visual:- when the teacher demonstrates the experiment silently and then explains the phenomenon with the help of charts, maps, diagram etc. is visual-oral switching.
4.       Oral oral –visual :- when the teacher shows objects, charts and models while speaking and explains their various parts. It is switching from oral to oral-visual.

viii.            Physical pupil participation 

Pupils tend to prefer those lessons in which they get opportunity for physical participation. Physical participation can be in the form of handling apparatus or aid material, dramatization, writing on the chalk board etc.
4.     SKILL OF EXPLAINING
During the teaching-learning process of some concepts, principles and phenomena, mere description of theme does not make them understandable to the pupils. The teacher has to give proper explanation and reasons to bring clarity and proper understanding of what is being taught. Explaining is the most commonly used skill and is the essence of instruction. A teacher generally resorts to explanation, when he/she feels that his pupils have not understood the idea that he/she conveyed. While explaining, the teacher is describing ‘why’, ‘what’ and ‘how’ of something. It fills up the gap in someone’s understanding. The explanation serves two purposes: to introduce the subject by giving some background about its usefulness and application; and to describe the subject in a simple, complete, and tantalizing way.
Explanation is to explain or to give understanding to another person. It leads from the known to the unknown, it bridges the gap between a person’s knowledge or experience and new phenomena, and it may also aim to show the interdependence of phenomena in a general sable manner. It assists the learner to assimilate and accommodate new data or experience. In a classroom, an explanation is a set of interrelated statements made by the teacher related to a phenomenon, an idea, etc. in order to bring about or increase understanding in the pupils about it.
Categories of Explanation
1) INTERPRETIVE EXPLANATION-to make clear the meaning of terms, statements, situation, concepts etc. It answers the question ‘What?’.
  2) DESCRIPTIVE EXPLANATION- descriptions of objects, phenomena, structures, processes.  It answers the question ‘How?’. 
3) REASON GIVING EXPLANATION- principles and generalizations and causes. It answers the question ‘Why?’.
Components of the Skill of Explaining
I.                   Desirable Behaviours

i.         Beginning statement
ii.       Explaining links
iii.     Concluding statement
iv.     Questions to test pupils' understanding
v.      Covering essential points
vi.    Relevant and interesting examples
vii.  Use of visual technique


II.                Undesirable Behaviours
i.       Irrelevant statement
ii.     Lacking in continuity
iii.  Vague words and phrase.
iv.  Inappropriate vocabulary
v.     Lacking in fluency



I.                   Desirable Behaviours


i.                   Beginning statement
The beginning statements create mental readiness in pupils, to listen to what is going to be explained. It is the introductory statement to begin explanation.
Example: What is an earth quake?
               An earth quake is the sudden and violent shaking of earth’s surface. (Beginning statement)
Or        what is an adverb?
            Adverb is a word or phrase that modifies the meaning of an adjective, verb, or another adverb, expressing    manner, place, time, or degree (e.g. gently, here, now, very ). (Beginning statement)
ii.                  Explaining Links  
The explaining links make one’s explanation more effective. These are words and phrases which are mostly conjunctions and prepositions and are generally used by the teachers to make his explanation effective. Some of them are:
the result of, the cause of, such that, the consequence of, the function of, hereafter, due to, so that, as a result of, this is how, therefore, before, in order to, hence, after, since, but, thus, because, the purpose of, next,
ExampleThe result of his agony was beautiful poems.
iii.              Concluding statement
            This is the statement made at the end of the explanation. It includes the summary of all the main results of the explanation.
For example: We have discussed two types of verbs. They are:
·         First one is Transitive verb  that is used with an object or it is an action verb that takes an object.                                        
·        Second one is Intransitive verb that does not take an object to complete its meaning.  (Concluding statement)
iv.              Questions to test pupils' understanding
These are short questions put to the pupils to test their understanding of the concept after the explanation. The main purpose is simply to judge whether the pupils have understood or not. Two or three questions based on the key points are enough.
v.                 Covering essential points
While explaining, the teacher should ensure that he/she covered the essential points.
vi.              Relevant and interesting examples
Teacher should give relevant and interesting examples from daily life in simple language.
vii.            Use of visual technique
“One picture is worth ten thousand words”, so the teacher may accompany his/her explanation with appropriate and interesting visual techniques such as blackboard, chart, pictures, models, etc.

II.                 Undesirable Behaviours
i.                    Irrelevant statement
These are statements sometimes made by the teacher during explanation which have nothing to do with the present concept. These statements do not contribute to understanding rather create confusion in the minds of the students.
ii.                  Lacking in continuity
It happens when the sentences remain incomplete or are reformulated in the middle of the statement and there are other causes also like:
·         a statement is not logically related to the previous statement.
·         when a topic of previously taught content is referred without showing the relationship to what is being explained.
·         when there is no sequence of space or place.
·         use of inappropriate vocabulary of technical terms which are quite unknown to pupils.
·         use of vague words and phrases
iii.                Vague words and phrase.

Use of vague words and phrases causes to lose the continuity. So its occurrence  should be avoided maximum.
Some of these words and phrases are:
Some, much, seems, Many, something, somewhat, Things, probably, the rest, a little, perhaps, almost, might, may, types of, few, in fact, actually etc.

In addition to these words there are words and phrases like “you see”, “Okay”, “correct” etc. which are parts of teachers' mannerism.
iv.                Inappropriate vocabulary
  Use of inappropriate vocabulary of technical terms which are quite unknown to pupils also causes to lose continuity. And also all the terms should be defined well, otherwise explanation becomes a difficult one. So, it is likely to use simple and known vocabulary to explain something effectively.
v.            Lacking in fluency
A teacher should be fluent while explaining. Then only students can easily understand what is explained without getting boredom.


5.     SKILL OF USING BLACKBOARD
Blackboard or Chalkboard is real asset in class teaching as it serves to make direct appeal to child's senses and strengthens the retention. B.B. is the most widely used visual aid by the teacher. Through clear visual presentation on B.B. the teacher can bring about clarity in understanding a concept. It reinforces the verbally conveyed idea. A holistic picture of the idea is created through a skillfully used blackboard work.
  Components of the Skill of Using Blackboard
i.         Legibility of Handwriting  
ii.       Neatness of Black Board Work
iii.    Organization of Black board Work
iv.     Appropriateness of Black Board Work


i.                    Legibility of Handwriting  
According to Gandhiji “Fair and legible handwriting makes a man perfect in all walks of life.” Legible handwriting on the blackboard draws the attention of the learners.
  1. Each letter should be distinct :  There should be no confusion in the shape of the letters such as
a.       c-e, l-I, u-v etc.
  1. Adequate spacing between two letters and two words.
  2. The slantness of each letter should be nearly vertical.
  3. Size of the letters should be such that they are legible from the end of the class or it should be large enough to be read even from the last bench.
  4. The size of small letters should be same and size of the capital letters should also be same.
  5. The size of the capital letters should be slightly greater than that of the small letters.
  6. Thickness of the lines should be of same width.
  7. Words and sentences should be parallel to the base of the B.B.
  8. Main points should be highlighted by underlining.


ii.                  Neatness of Black Board Work

a.     Straightness of lines:  The neatness of the black board increases if you write in straight lines parallel to the base of the black board.
b.      Adequate Spacing between the Lines:  
·         The words/sentences should be written in straight lines parallel to the base of the black board.
·         There should be adequate spacing between the lines.
c.       Avoidance of Overwriting:  In order to keep the black board work neat and clean there should be no over writing.
d.      Focusing the Relevant Matter:  In order to keep the black board neat and clean :
·         Erase the unrelated and irrelevant work and work not required.
  • Retain the relevant matter.
iii.                Organization of Black board Work
For the proper utilization of space only important words or statements should be retained till the time of application. Organization of B.B. involves:
§  systematic planning of space.
§  spacing to exhibit the sequence of the items being presented.
§  adjustment of space for presenting related items in totality.

iv.                Appropriateness of Black Board Work
The appropriateness of black board work includes the following points:
a.       Continuity in points:  The points of the lesson should be logically arranged one after the other in a sequence.
b.       Brevity and simplicity:  Write only the salient points in a simple and clear language.
c.        Drawing attention and Focusing:  Underline the important points or use coloured chalk for drawing the pupils’ attention.
d.       Illustrations and Diagrams:  Illustrations and diagrams should be simple, large and clear to convey the idea easily and conveniently. As this skill needs long practice to achieve the goal and so no micro-lesson plan is given.
e.        Black board summary: in order to make teaching meaningfull to the lerrners, the teacher should develop the black board summary at the end of the lesson. This should be so brief that the words can recollect the whole lesson at a glance.
Additional points to remember
·         Check whether or not the BB is clear at the start of the lesson.
·         Position of the teacher/Stance: the most convenient place to stand is towards the left side of the chalkboard. Stand one side and do not come in between the pupils and BB
·         Avoid squeaking noise of the chalk while writing.
·         Avoid committing mistakes in the content written on the BB.
·         Holding chalk: impressive BB work depends upon the style of holding the chalk or writing instrument.    For good BB work always take half stick of the chalk and hold between the thumb and forefinger so that an inch or less project.


6.     SKILL OF REINFORCEMENT
The term reinforcement means strengthening the inbuilt force to respond. Every responding pupil of the class needs social approval of his behaviour. To satisfy his/her need, he/she is always eager to answer each question known to him/her. If the teacher is encouraging the pupils by statements like, “good”; that is very good and certain non-verbal expressions, as smiling, nodding the head; and paying attention to the responding pupil, the pupil participation in the class is maximised. A student is an individual and may be different in his/her perception of the reinforcement; so, different reinforcement may be needed for different students. The main theme of the skill is that encouraging remarks of the teacher increases and discouraging remarks decreases the pupil-participation in the development of the learning process. The stimuli that provide or contribute to the pleasant experience are called positive reinforcement or desirable behaviours. While the stimuli providing unpleasant experience can be termed as negative reinforces. Thus in the class room teaching positive reinforces are used for strengthening the desirable responses of learners and negative reinforces for weakening or eliminating the undesirable responses or behaviours. Try to avoid negative verbal and non-verbal reinforcements as it is often painful to the students. So the kill of reinforcement involves the use of positive reinforcers more and more and decreasing the use of negative reinforcers so that the pupils participate to the maximum.
There are two types of reinforcement:
A.    Positive reinforcement
B.     Negative reinforcement
A.    Positive reinforcement
Positive reinforcement is used by the teacher for strengthening the desirable response or behaviour.
B.     Negative reinforcement
Negative reinforcement is used by the teacher for weakening or eliminating the undesirable responses or behaviour.
 Components of the Skill of Reinforcement

I.                   Desirable Behaviours

i.                    Positive Verbal Reinforcement.
ii.                  Positive Non-Verbal Reinforcement.
iii.                Extra verbal Reinforcement.
iv.                Negative Verbal Reinforcement.
v.                  Negative Non-Verbal Reinforcement.

II.                Undesirable Behaviours

i.                    Wrong Use of Reinforcement.
ii.                  Inappropriate Use of Reinforcement.

I.                   Desirable Behaviours
i.                    Positive Verbal Reinforcement.
These are the positive comments given by the teacher on the correct response of the pupil. They are:

a.       Using words and phrases like, “good”, “very good” and excellent, right, correct etc.
b.      Repeating and rephrasing pupil’s response.
c.       Using pupils’ idea in the development of the lesson.
d.      Using prompts like carry on, think again etc. to help the pupil give correct response.
ii.                  Positive Non-Verbal Reinforcement.
The teacher gives comments to pupils on their correct response without using words: This he does by: nodding the head, smiling, patting, looking attentively at the responding pupil, teacher’s friendly movement towards the pupil, writing pupil’s answer on the black boards etc. The teacher encourages the pupils to participate maximally in the development of the lesson.
iii.                Extra verbal Reinforcement.

                   Extra verbal reinforcers fall between positive verbal and non-verbal reinforcers. It is the use of extra-verbal cues, like “um”, “wow”, “aha” etc. to encourage pupils.
iv.                Negative Verbal Reinforcement.
                        The teacher gives comments on the incorrect or partially incorrect response by telling that the pupil’s response is incorrect or words like wrong, incorrect, no, stop it or making sarcastic remarks like “idiots”, “stupid” etc. Such behaviour of the teacher discourages pupil-participation and should be avoided maximum.
v.                  Negative Non-Verbal Reinforcement.

                     The teacher shows his disapproval without using words. This involves, frowning, staring, and looking angrily at the responding pupil, when he gives wrong response. This type of behaviour of the teacher creates fear in the minds of the pupil and decreases pupil-participation.
II.                Undesirable Behaviours
i.                    Wrong Use of Reinforcement.
Certain teachers do not attempt reinforcement in situations that warrant it. This is likely to discourage pupils. Such teachers are really losing an opportunity to inspire pupils for active participation in the learning process. It is also termed as denial of reinforcement. And some teachers use the reinforcers when it is not needed. It is only the proper and right use of the possible reinforcers that brings encouraging results. The following use of reinforcers should be avoided by the teacher.
·         Using reinforcers when not needed.
·         Not using reinforcers when needed.
·         Using the reinforcing the less and excess amount than needed.
·         Encouraging or reinforcing only a few responding pupils.

ii.                  Inappropriate Use of Reinforcement.
            Reinforces should be wisely selected by teachers. It should suit the nature of the response. Inappropriate use will lesser its effect.   This is the situation when the teacher does not encourage the pupil with respect to quality of his response. The teacher uses same type of comment for every response.

7.     SKILL OF FLUENCY IN QUESTIONING
A good teacher can make the students think and learn themselves through meaningful questions. Questioning is a very important technique which every teacher should know thoroughly. Questions are used to help students to recall facts, exercise their reasoning ability. It is a logical procedure of problem solving. The teacher can encourage the learners to seek more than one answer for a question. The teacher uses questioning to achieve learning objectives and to assess students’ understanding.  It’s a critical skill that can be used in any subject and any grade.  
Meaningful questioning:
·         helps the students display/test their knowledge  
·         elicits desired information from students
·         develops subject matter in the class
·         enables students to analyze problems related to the topic being taught
·         enables students to apply their knowledge to a specific new situation
·         helps the students to evaluate for themselves their understanding of the concepts
·         motivates students to participate in the teaching learning process
Fluency in questioning means the rate of meaningful questions put per unit time. Those questions are meaningful which have proper (i) structure, (ii) process and (iii) Product.
      Components of the Skill of fluency in questioning

i.     Structure
                 A technique of formulation of questions the content and language used is important. Content means subject matter and language part refers to -
a.       Grammatically correct: use grammar correct, unambiguous and simple language.
b.      Relevancy: Questions which are not related to content being taught is irrelevant. So it should be related to the topic being discussed and suitable to the mental level of student.
c.       Specificity: Specific to content and should call for single answer. It should not be general in nature.
d.      Clarity:  in terms of content and language. It increases fluency.
e.       Conciseness: refers to the minimal but essential length of question should be direct and straight forward.
f.       Variety:   Low order questions: Recall or recognition type questions
            Example: what is the past participle form of ‘write’? List the names……. Define………. State the ………..
              High order questions: stimulate higher levels of thinking.
            Require the use of higher intellectual skills
Example: How or Why type questions.
(Asking ‘What colours make up a rainbow?' is an observational question, asking ‘Why are rainbows important?' is a higher question.)

ii.   Process
Process of formulating and asking question has more than one aspect-
a.  Speed: a teacher should not be too slow or too fast while asking questions to the pupils.  
b. Voice: voice is God’s gift. A clear and pleasing voice of a teacher sustains students’ interest in the class. A teacher must put the questions in a pleasant tone, in a friendly manner and in clear loud voice. It should be audible and clear to the entire class.
e. Pause: defined as the time or the period of silence given by the teacher just after delivery of question.   A teacher should give a short pause after the question, so that the pupils can understand it. Students will get sufficient time to think and answer.
f. Reinforcement: a teacher has to encourage correct responses and discourage in correct responses.
iii.Product
The term ‘Product’ refers to pupils’ response. Sometimes the students do not give any response. Some of the reasons for this are:
·         Higher order questions  or not intelligent to understand the question
·         Inattentiveness due to the lack of interest
·         Lack of previous knowledge
·         Lack of rapport between pupils and teacher
                 Some hints to develop well-structured questions are,
                 The teacher maximum try not to repeat his/her questions unnecessarily. Questions repeated in different ways confuse the pupils. They are likely to develop a habit of waiting for the teacher to repeat the questions second or third time. This hinders the pupils thinking ability and they may not give correct response.
                 As far as possible:
·         Avoid Yes/No type question
Though it develops fluency, it encourages guess work and do not stimulate deep thinking.
·         Avoid echo questions or suggestive questions
These questions are based on concepts or facts just taught or reproduce the facts just taught. They do not have useful purpose to encourage thinking. Example: Teacher: India is a big democratic nation. It has many states. Delhi is the capital of India. Now tell me what is the capital of India? Pupil: Delhi is the capital of India. Pupil is asked to repeat the fact immediately after it is told.
·         Avoid rhetorical questions
These are statements with interrogative phrases. Usually a teacher puts this type of questions to give emphasize over a particular point.  

8.                 SKILL OF ACHIEVING CLOSURE
                   Achieving closure is very much similar to the stage known as recapitulation in Herbartian steps. It is a stage where new knowledge is associated with the old knowledge and the new knowledge acquired is applied in various situations. This skill is complementary to set induction. It is attained when major purposes, principles and constructs of a lesson or a portion of the lesson are judged to have been learnt and the pupils are able to relate new knowledge with the best. It is more than quick summary of the portions covered. Teacher can use closure by drawing attention to the major points accomplished up to that point.
                   By this a teacher gets an opportunity to evaluate the extent of realization of the objectives and the effectiveness of learning experience provided by the teacher. If the main points covered during the lesson are not synthesised into a meaningful whole, it will be difficult for the teacher to introduce a new unit.
                   From the pupils’ point of view they will not be able to structure a meaningful cognitive whole of their learning without a closure. They won’t be able to apply the knowledge to new situations. They will be in confusion in the absence of closure of each unit. They will not be aware of the end of an important teaching point.
Components of the Skill of Achieving Closure

i.           Consolidation of major points: consolidation of major points may be done either by the teacher or the students. Here teacher can ask questions to make students consolidate the major points.
This may be done several times based on the points that have been discussed during the class.
ii.         Application of the new knowledge: teacher provides opportunity for the pupils to apply the new knowledge to various present situations or new situations.
iii.       Linking past knowledge with the present:  here students get an opportunity to link their new knowledge with their previous knowledge.
iv.       Linking the present knowledge with the future: here students link their new knowledge with their future learning.

9.     SKILL OF ILLUSTRATING WITH EXAMPLES
Teachers may feel that some abstract ideas or concepts are very difficult to teach. In spite of their best efforts of explaining the concepts, the teachers are unable to convey the true sense and meaning of the concepts. This difficulty of the teacher can be solved easily if they are able to master the skill of illustrating with examples.
Components of Skill of Illustrating with Examples

i.         Formulating Simple Example.
  1. Formulating Relevant Example.
  2. Formulating Interesting Example.
  3. Using Appropriate Media for Example.
  4. Using Examples by Inductive-Deductive Approach.



i.                    Formulating Simple Example   
A simple example is one which is related to the previous knowledge of pupils. It should be according to the age level, grade level and the background of pupils.
ii.                  Formulating Relevant Example   
An example is said to be relevant to the concept, when the concept or the rule can be applied to it. This means to say that the rule is explained by the example. It should help to understand the concept well.
iii.                Formulating Interesting Example  
An example is interesting if it can arouse curiosity and interest of pupils. This can be judged by the attending behaviour of students. If the pupils keenly attend to the example, it is really interesting.
iv.                Using Appropriate Media for Examples
Examples are conveyed to the pupils through some particular media. The decision about the nature of media whether it is verbal or non-verbal depends on the nature of concept. Storytelling, analogy, concrete objects, maps, pictures, models, experimental demonstration etc. are some examples of media that a teacher can use to illustrate examples. Appropriateness of media refers to its suitability to age level, grade level, maturity and to the unit taught.
v.                  Using Examples by Inductive-Deductive Approach
This involves the teacher giving examples relating to the concept or rule to clarify it. The pupils on the basis of the examples given formulate the rule. After this the teacher asks the pupils to give examples to test whether the pupils have rightly understood the concept or not. It involves
·         understanding the concept
·         applying the understood concept
If you touch Harmonium when it is being played? What do you feel?(Inductive Approach)
Can you give another example to show that vibrating bodies produce sound? (Deductive Approach)



10.                         SKILL OF CLASS ROOM MANAGEMENT
Teachers must be aware that learning is effective if the children actively participate in the learning activities of the class. The main purpose of the skill is to achieve the maximum participation of pupils in the development of the lesson.
Components of Skill of Classroom Management
i.         Calling pupils by their names.
  1. Making Norms of classroom behaviours.
  2. Giving clear Directions.
  3. Ensuring sufficient work for each child.
  4. Keeping pupils in Eye Span.
  5. Shifting from one Activity to another Activity smoothly.
  6. Recognizing and Reinforcing Attending Behaviour of Pupils.
viii.Checking Inappropriate Behaviour of Pupils.

i.                    Calling by Pupils by Their Names
Pupils are attentive when they are called by their names by the teacher. Though this seems to be simple but has great significance in obtaining pupil participation. Good pupil participation controls the learning activities.
ii.                  Making Norms of Class Room Behaviour
This includes the pinpointed instruction of the teacher to the pupils:
a.       Stand up and answer when you are asked question.
b.      Raise hands if you know answer to the question.
c.       Never give group response.
d.      Listen to the teacher attentively when the teacher is teaching.
iii.                Giving Clear Directions
Here the teacher givers clear directions to the pupils to follow the norms of the class room behaviour. They should not be engaged in any other activity when the teacher is teaching. The directions provide good classroom management.
iv.                Ensuring Sufficient Work for Each Child
The teacher should allot work to each child keeping in view the individual differences. This act of the teacher will prepare each child for active pupil-participation.
v.                  Keeping Pupils in Eye Span
After teaching the concept the teacher should check the effects of his teaching. We may assign some activity like drawing the diagram and leveling its parts. The teacher should go to each pupil to check his/her work. If it is needed he/she should give instruction for further improvement.

vi.                Shifting from one Teaching Activity to the other Smoothly
When teaching some concept in the class the teacher is engaged in many academic activities such as explaining, illustrating, questioning, he/she should smoothly change from one activity to another, when teaching to draw the circle, he/she should ask his pupils to draw circle in their note books. This change in the teacher’s behaviour is the shift one activity to other. Before shifting activity the teacher must ensure himself that the concept under study has been followed by the pupils.
vii.              Recognizing and Reinforcing Attending Behaviour
In order to ensure attending behaviour of pupils the teacher should use verbal and non-verbal smiling nodding head for the correct response of the pupil. This type of the behaviour of the teacher is very effective to stimulate classroom learning environment.
viii.            Checking Inappropriate Behaviour Immediately
This involves that if the pupil is not behaving properly in the learning situation or may not be attentive mentally, he/she should be immediately checked. He/she should be directed to behave properly to the needs of situation. This will increase the attending behaviour of the pupil leading him/her to better managem

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