CHAPTER 01: UNDERSTANDING
o
TEACHING
WHAT IS TEACHING?
o Teaching is more than just memorizing
facts & knowing correct answer, it lies in
making learners truly understand the
concepts under study.
o Teaching also require effective delivery
of the course contents, thus the need for
available varied strategies anchored on
educational theories relative to the “how”
of teaching.
o A teacher has become a facilitator , a
far cry from what use to be teacher-
centered instruction. He simply guides &
provide learners opportunity to develop
creativity & come up with their own
discoveries .
o A teacher’s responsibility includes
connecting students’ learning according
to what they know of value, thus he must
know his student’s interests, learning
styles & background. THE TEACHING
PROFESSION o It is a noble profession
and is one which can be rewarding and
fulfilling no matter what the odds are
especially for people who regard it as a
calling, more than commitment. o It has
been accentuated by the need for
meeting the challenges of the times,
which can be addressed through quality
teaching.
o Demand for professional teacher who
will stick with the profession despite the
constraints has been persistent. o As a
profession it produces something
significant and moving when the right
ideas and beliefs are implemented. o
Love for teaching has served as a
motivating factor to teachers who have
not left behind much-touted idealism.
The teaching profession demands a total
commitment to total transformation of the
learning, a continuous development of
his potential for totally satisfying life as a
person and as a member of the
community. o The teacher need support
system from the parents and the
community. o Teacher plays a crucial
role in the continuous development of the
society as they try to meet the challenges
of the time. WHAT IS TEACHING? o It is
an organized, purposeful, and deliberate
efforts designed to bring about certain
desirable ends in an individual. o
According to our authors it can be
understood from different contexts as: o
Teaching is an occupation- refers to
teaching as one does for living. o
Teaching may also mean the myriad of
activities associated to teaching (i.e.,
explains, asks, reviews, demonstrate,
advises students, etc) o Teaching is an
act itself which involves common
activities in classroom & the teaching
strategies & techniques but focuses to
make it work to the full advantage of the
learner. o Teaching is a process or set of
actions to induce learning & eventually to
succeed in learning. These stresses
planning for teaching, the process of
teaching & achievement aspects. It is
deliberate & does not just happens.
WHAT IS TEACHING FOR
UNDERSTANDING (TFU)
FRAMEWORK? >>Blythe & associates
(1989) made a framework linked to what
David Perkins called four cornerstone
pedagogy consisting of four elements of
planning & instruction: FOUR CENTRAL
QUESTIONS ABOUT TEACHING TfU
ELEMENTS ADDRESSING EACH
QUESTIONS 1. What shall we teach?
Generative Topics 2. What is worth
understanding? Understanding Goals 3.
How shall we teach for understanding?
Understanding Performances 4. How can
students and teachers know what
students understand and how students
can develop deeper understanding?
Ongoing Assessment WHAT IS
TEACHING FOR UNDERSTANDING
(TFU) FRAMEWORK? o It is a set of
general guidelines, in which teacher is
leading students toward being able to do
a variety of thought provoking things
with a topic, such as explaining, finding
evidence in examples, generalizing,
applying, making analogies, and
representing the topic in new ways. o TfU
framework serves as guide to focus
educational practices on the
development of student understanding.
The core dimensions of the framework
reflect good teaching from perspective of
educators. The guidelines are applicable
to teaching in all grade levels and even in
higher education. GENERATIVE
TOPICS o One of the most challenging
task a teacher faces is determining,
reviewing & deciding on course materials
to use for optimal learning. o Generative
topics are issues, themes, concepts and
ideas that provide adequate depth,
significance, connections and variety of
perspectives to nurture students’
development in terms of powerful
understanding or discernment. GUIDE
WHEN SELECTING THE BEST
POSSIBLE TEACHING TOPICS: o
Central to one or more domains of
disciplines. o Interesting to students o
Interesting to teachers o Accessible o
Offer opportunities for multiple
connections STEPS FOR PLANNING
GENERATIVE TOPICS: o Brainstorming
o Create idea webs around ideas
generated o Choose from idea web o
Consult with other teachers and peers or
with community members. QUESTIONS
TO ASK WHEN REFINING WEB OF
IDEAS: o Does the topic represent
fundamental concepts or themes in your
domain? o Do you think it will appeal to
students and to you? o Does it provide
opportunities for students to connect
learning possibilities to other classes as
well as life experience outside school? o
Does it have related resources materials
to make topic accessible to students? o
Do you think you can present the topic to
your students in engaging way?
UNDERSTANDING GOALS o Teachers
can develop nested understanding goals
– unit sized goals embedded with year-
long overarching goals or throughlines.
Throughlines are compounded goals of
short topics for the duration of a school
year. o These describe the most
important understanding that learners
should develop during the entire course.
IDENTIFYING THROUGHLINES o At the
beginning of the semester, the teacher
might write down the most important
things his students may learn out of the
class. He also plans to revisit & modify
the list as lessons progresses during the
year. o After trying several units, he looks
for related goals that appear more than
once or stands out from the rest. Unlike
unit understanding goals, throughlines
need to encompass the essence of the
whole course. o Throughlines are often
rooted in deeply held but rarely
articulated beliefs and values about both
subject matter and teaching & learning
process, thus they often take longer to
cultivate & polished. Unit long goals can
sometimes take several years to be
considered accomplished & finetuned.
PLANNING THROUGHLINES In
developing the teacher’s overarching
understanding goals, he usually asks
himself, “What are the most important
things I want my students to keep when
they leave my class?” To develop goals,
following steps may be tried: o Review
several units that have been planned
(either using the framework or in other
ways). What common these emerge?
What understanding, skills or concepts
resurface time & again as you plan &
teach? o Ask the students what they hear
being focused on. As them what they
think are supposed to get from the class.
o As with unit long understanding goals,
try stating overarching goads as both
statement & question. PERFORMANCE
OF UNDERSTANDING o During the year
the student should be involved in
activities that develop, express, and
supplement their current understanding.
o Initial performance are initially simple
like discussing certain topic as a group. o
Eventually performance elevates from
simple to complex. Teachers as well
progress from offering high instructional
support to lower levels as students begin
to acquire understanding of the key
concepts independently. o Eventually
students might be able to contribute in
culminating performance of
understanding via activities such as
presentation or exhibition. o Their
learning opportunities are even more
enriched by different kinds of life
experiences. Even with knowledge
acquire from books & lectures, but
without opportunity to apply knowledge in
various situation with guidance from
expert facilitator, they are not likely to
develop understanding & have better
appreciation of what they have learned.
PLANNING PERFORMANCE OF
UNDERSTANDING o Teacher may
begin planning by brainstorming ideas for
possible performance of understanding.
o After goals are identified, he looks at
the list of possibilities for performance of
understanding he generated & identifies
ones that best seem to support these
goals. If he has not identified goals yet,
he tries other possibilities & ask “Why do
I want my students to do this? This will
help articulating the understanding of
goals. The performance of understanding
generated are sequence so they occur
throughout the unit, from start to end,
which are: o Introductory performances.
o Guided-inquiry performances o
Culminating performances. ONGOING
ASSESSMENT o It is the process of
providing students with clear responses
to their performance of understanding in
a way that will help improve their next
performances. It provides an actual
gauge on their kind of performance. o
Teachers should provide feedback,
learning criteria & opportunities for
reflection throughout the instruction, and
not be at the end of unit. o When
understanding is the purpose of
instruction, the process of assessment is
than just an evaluation making it a
substantive contribution to leaning. The
process needs to be able to validate & to
enlighten students & teachers about what
students currently understand & how to
continue with subsequent teaching &
learning. KEY FACTORS OF ONGOING
ASSESSMENT o Criteria established for
each performance of understanding need
to be a) clear; b) relevant; and c) public o
Feedbacks need to: o occur frequently
from beginning to end of the unit. o offer
students information not only about how
they perform but how to improve it
further. o inform them about intended
subsequent classes & activities o come
from variety of perspective (student,
classmates & teacher) Planning Ongoing
assessment o The teacher uses his
understanding goals to establish the
criteria by which to assess student’s
performance. The test of understanding
is the most crucial. o The teacher
provides opportunities at the beginning
and throughout a unit for assessing how
well the students developed their
understanding. Assessment should be
ongoing process. o Balance of both
formal & informal feedback is important &
teacher should make room for multi-
perspective assessment (self, peer, and
teacher)