Section 4 TeachingWi - SAIDEGettingPractical

Section Four
Teaching with learning in mind

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Introduction
What have we learnt?
What will we learn?
4.1 How do young people learn?

What do we already know about learning?
What do the experts say about learning?
4.2 The importance of talk in learning

The problems with talk
Why is it important to have more talking in classrooms?
How do we create classrooms in which more talking takes place?
Towards a whole-language approach to teaching and learning
4.3 What does this mean for teaching?

Remodelling a lesson plan
Planning teaching that is learning centred
Using the revised Bloom’s taxonomy to sequence teaching
A process for planning a learning-centred lesson
Copyright 2012. Oxford University Press Southern Africa.
Introduction
What have we learnt?
In Section Two, we learnt how to use overall purposes, aims and assessment strategies to guide the way in which we planned
our teaching. In Section Three, we looked at assessment. You will remember that assessment is the part of a teaching process
through which we gather information about how successful our teaching has been. The two sections provide the basic ideas
teachers require to plan, teach and assess.
But, throughout these sections, reference was made to the importance of the learner and learning within this idea of teaching.
We frequently used terms such as child centred, learner centred and learning centred, and you will recall that we defined
teaching as the practice of organising systematic learning. Section Four concludes the focus on planning by exploring what we
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mean by learner and learning centredness. We will look at how we can plan so that we enable our learners to develop their
knowledge, skills and values.
What will we learn?

How do people learn? Do we all learn in similar ways? Why do learners behave in particular ways? What does this suggest for
the way in which we should teach? Does it mean that teacher-delivered lectures are no longer appropriate? Is group work
always the best way to implement a learner-centred classroom style? How do we plan learner-centred lessons that develop both
creativity and disciplined learning?
These are some of the questions we will tackle in this section. By the end of Section Four, you should have achieved all of the
learning outcomes described in the checklist that follows. At the end of each sub-section, come back to this page and check your
progress by putting a tick in the appropriate column in pencil. As you increase your understanding of teaching with learning in
mind and your competence in this, so your ticks should all move to the centre column.
Understood, Understood Don’t really
but not and understand
practised practised
Explain a number of characteristics of learning (Section 4.1)
Use these ideas to develop lessons that are more sensitive to the way in which young people
learn (Section 4.1)
Describe different types of learner and teacher talk (Section 4.2)
Explain how talk can be used to increase involvement in learning, increase learner motivation,
facilitate learning, and improve communication and social interaction (Section 4.2)
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Develop a teaching plan that uses talk and a whole-language approach to teaching and
learning (Section 4.3)
Understand the importance of sequencing in learning and in planning lessons (Section 4.3)
Use a taxonomy to develop teaching plans that take sequencing seriously (Section 4.3)
4.1 How do young people learn?

Think back to your reflection in Section 2.2. What assumptions about how children learn seem to underpin your own practice or
the practice of the teachers by whom you were taught?
We think that good planning means spending time getting to know the learners you teach. Using Foundation Phase practices
with senior learners might not make you very popular!
Learner-centred teaching obviously requires us to understand our learners. This will assist us in:
Making our initial diagnosis and placement of learners, and deciding where our journey starts
Designing learning at the correct level and using appropriate methods
Managing disciplinary problems.
Learners learn in many different ways. They learn differently depending on their ages, their family histories, their beliefs, their
home languages and so on. Learners will also choose to use a particular learning strategy to achieve a particular kind of
outcome. For instance, developing a practical skill such as bicycle riding requires very different kinds of teaching (and learning)
from the skills required to learn philosophy, design a bicycle, solve a problem or change attitudes towards an issue. These
differences provide us with a warning. Don’t stereotype learners. Teach in a way that allows you to recognise these individual
differences and cater for them.
But there is also a lot that all young people have in common when they learn. Understanding this allows us to plan most of
our teaching with better insight.
There is a lot of debate about how people learn. Different writers agree on certain issues, but differ on others. In this section,
we will offer you two explanations of how learners learn. These views explain learning in slightly different ways. Your job, as
teacher-learner, is to assess the value of both views critically and consider what their implications are for teaching.
But before you read the views of others, let’s begin by thinking through our own ideas about how people learn.
What do we already know about learning?

The activity that follows provides an opportunity for you to reflect on your own current assumptions about the nature of
learning.
Activity 1
1. You should spend about two hours on this activity. Spend time thinking about it and talking with fellow students.
2. Sit back and think about your own beliefs about how people learn. Write these down. If you find this difficult, begin by
describing how you teach. Then think about what this implies about your underlying beliefs about learning. Here is an example:
A Social Sciences teacher clearly explains how rain is formed. She then asks learners to write a paragraph describing the process.
Most cannot do this. The teacher says, ‘Oh, I wish I had a clever class ... these children are so slow!’
What does this suggest about this teacher’s understanding of learning? It signals a belief that learning is something that happens
to people, rather than something that learners actively construct. So, if a teacher explains clearly, learners should learn. It takes no
account of learning as an internal process.
3. Now read through Cynthia’s lesson plan and teaching experience in the case study starting below.
a. Look at Cynthia’s assessment criteria and then at her lesson. Do you think her teaching would have enabled learners to
develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes she wanted them to develop?
b. Cynthia lists some learner background knowledge. How did this affect her teaching? Could she have looked elsewhere to
judge learner background knowledge?
c. What do you think Cynthia’s assumptions are about how children learn? How does this affect the way she teaches?
CASE STUDY: Cynthia’s lesson
Subject: Life Skills (Grade 2)

Assessment criteria: Information about the environment and pollution (knowledge)
How to plan, negotiate, solve problems and give an oral report (skills)
Recognition of the importance of a clean environment and co-operation with others (values)
Learners’ background knowledge: Learners have been looking at issues involving pollution on land and in water and air
Activity or problem to solve: Learners are required to find a solution to the litter problem in the school environment
I spoke briefly about the theme – the problem of pollution and the importance of
the environment – and then asked learners whether there was a litter problem at
the school. After a short brainstorming session, the learners identified that the
problem was partly owing to the reduction in the number of cleaners in the
school and partly owing to the children littering. As a class it was resolved that
they would:
Investigate how severe the problem really was
Identify the reasons for the litter problem
Suggest ways to fix the problem
Prepare a class oral report for the school
Begin to fix the problem themselves.
The class was then divided up into six groups. Each group:
Investigated the litter problem in a different part of the school
Was given a supply of plastic bags labelled ‘Paper’, ‘Plastic’, ‘Foodstuff’,
‘Metal’ and ‘Glass’ (learners argued over who should have the packets, so I
had to arrange enough packets for one each).
The groups collected litter for one lesson and then met in the playground. I asked them to put their bags in rows so it
was clear which part of the school was the most littered and which type of litter was most common in each area. Each
group had to keep a record of:
Where they collected the litter
Which type of litter was most common in their area
Which part of the school had the most litter.
Once they had completed this, I asked them to begin preparing an oral report to be presented to the class. They had to
report back on the questions above. They also had to do some analysis. They had to say:
Why they thought the school was so full of litter
Why certain kinds of litter were more common than others
Why different kinds of litter were found in different places.
In order to assist them in this analysis, I asked the class to spend the next break-time interviewing other learners. They
researched the attitude of fellow learners to the problem of school litter. They asked the following questions:
Why do you think the school is so full of litter?
Is the pollution a problem? Why?
Have you dropped litter? Why?
What do you suggest should be done to help keep the school clean?
The groups offered a simple analysis of the problem and made some preliminary
suggestions as to how the school could address the problem.
I asked the principal whether my class could report back on their research. He
agreed and the class decided that two learners would present the findings to the
school. At a school assembly, the bags of litter were lined up so the whole school
could see how polluted the school was. The principal then invited the two
learners to present their findings and make a proposal about how the school could
reduce the litter problem.
What can we learn from this lesson?

Cynthia assumed that learners learn best when they are motivated, and when they are interested in what is being taught and in
what they have to learn. Her Grade 2 class wasn’t necessarily interested in the school’s litter problem; Cynthia had to interest
them in the problem. The problem was very visible to learners. It was more concrete and immediate than an abstract concept
like pollution. This meant that she could motivate learners by getting them to work on a meaningful problem. They considered
the questions ‘Why is our school so littered?’ and ‘How can we make it less polluted?’
Second, Cynthia realised that learners – especially young learners – learn best when they get physically involved in the
activity. She assumes that active participation by the learners encourages better learning. Research shows that learners learn
better when they are involved in actually doing things. The Grade 2 learners had a chance to run about and collect litter,
organise the bags and talk about the activity. They were very busy!
Third, Cynthia used teaching and learning strategies that respond to the learning needs of individuals and groups of learners.
Learners are encouraged and taught how to use effective learning strategies. In addition, she knows that different methods must
be used so that learners learn different kinds of knowledge. So, for instance, Cynthia used all sorts of teaching strategies that
suit a variety of different learners. She used questions and answers, oral feedback, organising skills, group work, public
presentation and physical activity.
Fourth, Cynthia realised that effective communication is necessary if learners are to learn successfully. A supportive, safe
learning environment also helps learners to learn. Cynthia made the project fun. There was no right or wrong solution. She gave
structured questions to help learners organise their thinking. She balanced independent and group work, and she monitored the
collection of litter.
Fifth, Cynthia chose activities based on the level of her learners. She scaled the difficulty of the tasks depending on the
development of her learners. Activities must not be too difficult, but should also not be too easy. If they are too easy, they often
become very boring. Cynthia chose something that was well within the capabilities of Grade 2 learners. Had she been working
with older learners, she could rather have asked them to complete an independent research project or a poster.
Sixth, Cynthia established a teaching and learning environment in which she was able to recognise when effective learning
was not occurring and when her practice or method needed to be changed. Cynthia monitored the whole activity. She could see
that the learners were busy and enjoying themselves. The answers to her questions assured her that they were learning. When
she saw that learners were not sharing packets for collection, she gave them more packets.
Finally, planning was an essential part of her success. We need to plan learning activities that build on the learners’ prior
knowledge and head directly for our desired outcomes or assessment criteria. Cynthia had planned a whole theme around
pollution. She made sure that she had enough plastic bags for collection. She knew how the activity would progress and she had
identified outcomes for the activity.
We are sure that you would have enjoyed being a learner in Cynthia’s class. Most of you reading this example will not have
been as fortunate as her learners. Cynthia contextualised the learning. In other words, she took a big problem (pollution) and
made it relevant to the learners’ real world (litter in our school). This is sometimes called situated learning. Situated learning is
learning that happens in real situations and is about real issues that affect real people. For example, a class can use its own city,
township, village or home as a learning context or a learning resource to solve real problems.
Cynthia also didn’t tell learners much. Instead, she allowed learners to construct their own
understandings. They found out things through what they did (or, more precisely, through the activities
Cynthia got them to do). This theory of learning is often called constructivism. You will recall from our Situated learning
happens in real
discussion in Section 2 that we can distinguish between cognitive and social constructivist approaches. situations and is
We will learn more about these approaches as we progress through this module. about real issues
Does this mean that we must always allow learners to do what interests them? Or that all learning must that affect real
involve physical activity? Clearly not. Cynthia, for instance, knew that she must teach the concept people.
pollution. She first decided what the learners needed to learn. She then thought about how best to teach it
and chose something that would interest learners. And although the physical activity was important, the
thinking and organising of information after the physical activity was when learning actually occurred. Teachers must always
move towards some thinking, talking, reading and writing, particularly as learners move up the school grades.
Activity 2
1. Part 2 of this activity should take you no less than an hour to do. Parts 3 and 4 will probably take another two hours to
complete. Concentrate on this activity, as the ideas in the readings are the unspoken assumptions that drive most of the
methods we suggest in Section Five and Section Six.
2. Reread Cynthia’s lesson, your analysis of this lesson and our analysis. Now use what you have learnt about teaching so that
learning occurs to design a lesson in your subject. Discuss your plan (and the ideas about learning that underlie it) with other
teachers.
3. Once you have completed this, read through the two views of how learning occurs that follow. Make notes as you read. Your
notes should answer this question: ‘How do these ideas about learning affect the way in which I should teach?’
4. Finally, use your notes to assess and adapt the lesson plan you designed in Part 1.
What do the experts say about learning?

The excerpt that follows was written by Leanne Long, but it is largely a summary of the work of an important psychologist,
R.M. Gagne. Gagne’s interest was in designing instructional materials that encouraged the most effective learning. However, he
has been criticised for being too scientific in his approach, and for not considering the widely differing social and cultural
contexts of learning.
Learning as a natural everyday activity

Most of us had our parents as our first teachers. Parents may not have had formal training, but they love to see their kids learn
and they often have good ideas about teaching. Take a look at how little Zanele and her mother get along in a learning and
teaching situation in the cartoon below.
This cartoon is a very simple example of how we learnt things as small children. Well-known educational theorist, Gagne,
breaks this learning process down into eight separate steps. To start off with, the learner (or child) has to be expecting to meet
something new. In our story, the mother says, ‘Look, Zanele!’ to Zanele, making her interested and curious. This motivates
(encourages) Zanele to notice the tractor and so begin learning something new.
But seeing the object doesn’t mean Zanele understands it. In fact, she thinks it is a bus (which she has obviously already
learnt about). Her mother – acting as teacher – explains the difference, showing her what to look for. The learner is taught to
pay attention – to focus – in order to really see it properly. This action by the mother assists Zanele in understanding that while
a tractor is similar to a bus – both have wheels, for instance – they aren’t the same thing.
Zanele now has some shaky new knowledge. In order for her learning to last longer than the moment on the street, certain
internal brain functions have to happen. Because these processes happen inside our heads, it is difficult for researchers to be
sure exactly what goes on. Gagne suggests that the process described below happens.
First, the learner has to name the new knowledge so that she can categorise it as being similar to a bus, but not the same thing.
She gives the new knowledge a label or code name (a bit like a file reference number) and then stores it away in her mind. This
process is a bit like filing. Zanele learns that this new vehicle she has seen is named ‘tractor’ and she files it in her brain near to,
but separate from, the file called ‘bus’. Gagne calls this the acquisition phase. It is the phase in which learners store their new
knowledge in their short-term memories.
If Zanele never saw a tractor again or if she didn’t use this new piece of knowledge for a very long time, she would probably
forget where she had filed the knowledge. In fact, she would forget what a tractor was. In order to prevent this, her mother – her
teacher – asks Zanele to use that new knowledge the same afternoon. Through this practice, if it is done well, new learning is
shifted from short-term to long-term memory during a phase Gagne calls the retention phase. (Cramming for exams doesn’t do
this, so facts learnt for exams are often forgotten within days!)
Clearly, part of the process of turning new learning into long-term learning is the fact that learners are forced to retrieve – to
fetch – the new ideas. Zanele’s mother, for instance, asks Zanele to retrieve knowledge of ‘tractor’ from her short-term memory
in order to recognise the toy tractor. Gagne says that this is the second internal learning step.
But simply retrieving this knowledge is a bit like memorising or rote learning. It is important, but
in order that Zanele really understands the concept of tractor and is able to use this knowledge later
in life, more learning has to occur. You may wonder how Zanele was able to match the big tractor
she saw in town with the tiny plastic one she plays with. We often don’t realise what a big step this The ideas in this excerpt
is. We think, ‘Obviously that little model is a tractor ... it looks like one’. But put yourself in the are taken from a very useful
shoes of a young learner. Size is an important criterion used to match objects. The difference in size book for teachers by
Cohen, L. and Manion, L.
between a real tractor and a model makes it difficult to match the two. (1989). A Guide to
So, part of the process of retention and retrieval involves getting learners to generalise. This Teaching Practice. (3rd
requires getting learners to apply their knowledge in different contexts. It is this that enables Zanele ed.). London: Routledge.
Gagne’s most famous book
to begin making the link between the real tractor and the toy tractor. She has to recognise that even is Gagne, R.M. (1974).
though the two differ in size, they are similar in important ways. For instance, both have two big Essentials of Learning for
wheels at the back and two small wheels in front, and both have one seat. When Zanele notices Instruction. Illinois:
University of Illinois.
these defining features of all tractors, she will begin building a generalised picture of tractors. This
will allow her to transfer the knowledge she learnt in one context (seeing a real tractor in the street) to another situation (playing
with a toy tractor).
But Zanele’s mother doesn’t just tell her this. She creates a process through which Zanele has to do and say something.
Zanele is asked to demonstrate her new knowledge by correctly identifying the toy as a tractor and saying the word ‘tractor’.
She has to perform. This is an important step: Zanele uses her knowledge. Obviously, the way in which the knowledge is used
may differ depending on the kind of outcome (or learning) teachers require. For instance, if you wanted a learner to be able to
ride a bicycle, asking the learner to say the word ‘bicycle’ would not be a useful demonstration of learning.
The application of knowledge begins with generalising from one example to many, transferring
this knowledge into new contexts and then doing something with the knowledge (demonstrating). Think back to Cynthia’s
It is crucial to good learning, particularly in an outcomes-based system. In the past, we often lesson. Can you remember
skipped these steps. moments in the lesson that
might have been influenced
But this part of the learning process is also important because it allows the teacher (in this case, by this view of learning?
Zanele’s mother) to provide feedback or a response, showing where Zanele is right or wrong.
This confirms for Zanele that her new knowledge is accurate. But it also allows the mother to sharpen Zanele’s understanding of
tractors by adding a little bit more information. As this is done, Zanele should revise her file on tractors. And she should
continue doing this throughout her life, as the learning cycle below shows.
The next excerpt is from an article by Neville Bennett and Elisabeth Dunne. It draws strongly on the ideas of the famous
Russian psychologist, Vygotsky, as well as the work of Piaget. You will recall from our discussion in Section Two that both of
these psychologists have been strong influences on constructivist ideas about learning.
Learning as an intentional, structured activity

What children learn in the classroom depends on what they already know. Irrespective of their age, children will have some
knowledge of what is to be taught. They will have acquired this knowledge from books, television, talking to parents and
friends, visits to places of interest, previous work in school and so on.
These schemata (as these understandings are called) are likely to be incomplete, hazy or even wrong. But they are the
children’s current ideas, which they use to make sense of everyday and new educational experiences. In other words, children
do not come to any lesson empty-headed; they come with practical schemata.
How do their schemata change in school? First, teachers offer knowledge in the form of telling, demonstrating and
explaining. Second, learners work in different kinds of tasks or activities designed to allow the practice, development or
generation of a wide range of knowledge and understanding. Third, children make sense of these inputs by constructing links
with their prior knowledge. It is assumed that the construction of links is an active intellectual process involving the generation,
checking and structuring of ideas in the light of those already held. Construction of meaning is a continuous process. This view
of learning is referred to as constructivist.
There is little argument among theorists that learning involves the construction of knowledge through experience. Arguments
occur in relation to the conditions under which such learning is optimised, for example, whether learning should be individual
or social. In recent years, we have begun to think again of the child as a social being who plays and talks with others, and learns
through interactions with parents and teachers.
Making sense of inputs is a social process. It is an activity that is always situated within a cultural and historical context. We
had fallen into the habit of thinking of the child as an active scientist, constructing hypotheses about the world, reflecting upon
experience, interacting with the physical environment and formulating increasingly complex structures of thought. But this
active, constructing child had been conceived as a rather isolated being, working alone at his or her problem solving.
Increasingly, we see now that given an appropriate, shared social context, the child seems more competent as an intelligent
social operator than he or she is as a lone scientist coping with a world of unknowns.
This support for the child as a social being rather than a lone scientist constitutes an attack on Piaget’s views of learning,
which assume that genuine intellectual competence is a manifestation of a child’s largely unassisted activities. Bruner, an
influential educationist, stresses the importance of the social setting in learning. This leads him to emphasise the role of
negotiating and sharing in children’s classroom learning, and in this he has been influenced by the work of Vygotsky. Vygotsky
assigned a much greater significance to the social environment than Piaget. For Vygotsky, a child’s potential for learning is
realised in interactions with more-knowledgeable others. These more-knowledgeable others can be anybody: peers, siblings, the
teacher, parents, grandparents and so on.
One of Vygotsky’s main contributions to our understanding of learning is his concept of the zone
of proximal development (ZPD). The ZDP refers to the gap between what an individual can do
alone and unaided, and what can be achieved with the help of more-knowledgeable others. For
Vygotsky, the foundation of learning and development is success achieved through co-operation, Further reading:
and the basis of that success is language and communication. Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in
Society . Boston: Harvard
University Press.
A constructivist view of learning perceives children as intellectually active learners already holding schemata that they use to
make sense of their everyday experiences. Learning in classrooms involves the extension, elaboration or modification of their
schemata. In this process, learners actively make sense of the world by constructing meanings. Learning is optimised in settings
where social interaction, particularly between a learner and more-knowledgeable others, is encouraged, and where success
achieved through co-operation is a major aim. The medium for this success is talk. Talk is now widely accepted as a means of
promoting learners’ understanding and of evaluating their progress.
Activity 3
1. Spend about an hour on this activity. Work with fellow teachers.
2. Read through these two views for a second time. As you read, answer the following questions:
a. What are the similarities and differences in the ways in which these writers understand learning?
b. What have these ideas about learning taught you about things you can do to improve their teaching?
c. What have these ideas about learning suggested you shouldn’t do in your teaching?
We will look at the implications these views of learning hold for teaching in Section 4.3.
4.2 The importance of talk in learning For a fuller discussion of

learning theory, you can
access and download the
In Section 4.1, we suggested that good learning occurred when learners were active and when they following OER textbook for
free from the teacher
were encouraged to construct their own understanding of issues. A key aspect of developing education space on
understanding was talk: among learners, with teachers and, silently, in the learner’s own head. But www.oerafrica.org:
we have also been told that teachers use talk too much. We have been encouraged to stop lecturing Moll, I, Bradbury, J,
Winkler, G., Tshule, M., van
at learners and to limit teacher talk.
Voore, M., Slonimsky, L.
In Section 4.2, we explore the relationship between talk and learning in more detail. The problem and Gultig, J. (Ed.).
we discuss is how we can create classrooms where plenty of talking takes place, since talking Learners and Learning .
Saide OER.
enables learning. Let’s begin by doing a little research.
Activity 4
1. This is an important activity. Spend at least two hours on it (of which an hour or so would be recording your lesson or having
your lesson observed).
2. Ask a colleague to observe you teaching and to record the talk that takes place in your classroom. If possible, video or
tape-record the lesson.
3. Record the amount of talk in your lesson and who does it. Complete the table that follows.
Type of talk Time spent talking (in Number of times
Length of lesson: _______________ minutes) observed
Learner talk
1. Answering teacher’s questions related to educational outcomes
2. Asking educational questions (questions directly related to what is being learnt)
3. Learners talking in pairs or in groups
4. Learners, in groups or individually, interacting with the teacher (Note: Only record this in one place; don’t fill in both learner talk
and teacher talk blocks)
5. Asking administrative questions (includes things such as permission to leave room and clarification about how to do tasks)
Teacher talk
1. Asking educational questions (in other words, as part of a teaching strategy)
2. Answering questions related to education (in other words, as part of a whole-class discussion)
3. Explaining ideas (maybe also as part of a demonstration)
4. Individual and small-group teacher-learner interactions
5. Giving instructions (about administrative or procedural matters)
6. Answering administrative questions (for example, ‘Yes, you can use a pencil’)
7. Disciplining talk (including the use of questions and sarcasm)
8. Praising
4. Once you have completed your observation, we want you to analyse the results. Convert these minutes of talk into
percentages to show the following:
a. What percentage of time did you, the teacher, talk?
b. What percentage of time is left for learners to talk?
c. On average, how much talk time does this give each learner per lesson?
d. How much of the talk of both teacher and learners relates to education (rather than to disciplinary or administrative
matters)? Note that 1 to 4 in learner talk and teacher talk in the table can be categorised as educational talk.
5. Finally, compare your findings with those of a colleague or fellow student. Is there a pattern in the way in which talk is used in
classrooms?
If you think about it, even if a teacher didn’t speak at all, learners in the average class wouldn’t get more than a minute each to
speak (Hodgins, 1978). This is one reason why small-group work in classrooms is so important.
The problems with talk
Although we have argued for classrooms in which there is more talking, there are some problems with the kind of talking that
sometimes happens.
Teachers dominate classroom task

Talk is the dominant teaching method in classrooms worldwide. It is a popular method with both teachers and learners.
Research has shown that at least one person is talking in classrooms for two-thirds of classroom time. The most common
teaching method involves whole-class questions and answers. Researchers saw learners talking in pairs only twice in all the
lessons observed in 30 American schools. They observed small-group discussions in only four cases. This left very little time
for other important learning activities, such as writing, reading or individual study, or for learners to practise discussion and try
out their arguments.
Second, teachers talk for at least two-thirds of that time. In other words, teachers talk too much! One researcher found that
even learner-centred teachers in the USA spoke for half the time in class. In teacher-centred classrooms, the percentage of time
used by teachers rose to 80%! So don’t be surprised if you found that you spent most of the time talking.
This leaves very little time for learners to talk. If the teacher takes 20 minutes of a 30-minute lesson and you have 40 learners in
your class, they’d have to share the remaining ten minutes. This leaves each learner with about 15 seconds to speak! The
paradox in teaching is that talk – by both learners and teachers – is vital to good teaching and learning. Yet, so often, it is badly
used and so actually undermines good learning.
Classroom talk isn’t very carefully thought-out

How much of the talk in your lesson was directly related to education? How much of it was aimed at getting learners to think at
higher levels? Or was most of the talk about administrative and/or behavioural issues, such as explaining how activities should
be done or disciplining learners? Both South African and international research suggests that:
A large amount of teacher talk is unrelated to educational matters. Instead, it focuses on management issues: either giving
or clarifying instructions or disciplining learners.
Much educational talk – by both teachers and learners – is at a low intellectual level. Explanation tends to focus on the
repetition of basic content. Questions mostly focus on the recall of basic information. Teachers seldom use higher-order
questioning; they seldom ask, ‘Why?’
Table 1 is a record of different types of learner talk observed during a lesson by a South African researcher. Is it similar to your
findings?
Table 1 Different types of learner talk observed during a lesson

Type of learner talk Time spent talking (in minutes) Number of times observed
Lesson: 35 minutes
Answering teacher’s questions 10 15
Asking petty questions (for example, requests to go to the toilet) 2 1
Asking meaningful questions (related to what is being learnt) 0 0
Talking in pairs 0 0
Talking in groups 0 0
Learner participation in talk is unevenly distributed

Research throughout the world shows how unequal learner participation in classroom talk is. It shows that:
Some learners – often academically strong learners – participate regularly in classroom talk
Most learners – often the weaker learners – seldom participate in classroom talk
The teacher’s attention is distributed unevenly across the classroom, depending on where learners sit.
Let’s explore the problem of teachers giving uneven attention to learners in classrooms.
Study the diagram and comments from the research report that follow.
Attention was concentrated most heavily in the centre front and in a line up the
centre of the room.
61% of all learner responses came from the centre line. Over half of these came
from the centre-front desks.
68% of the teacher’s questions were directed specifically (either by name or by
looking) at those sitting on the centre line and particularly the centre front.
Groups of non-involved learners were bored, unmotivated and more prone to
misbehaviour.
Activity 5
1. You should spend about three hours on this activity: two hours observing and being observed, and one hour writing up your
findings and discussing them with learners.
2. Explain how you would feel if you were part of the group sitting on the outside edges of the classroom.
3. Ask a fellow teacher-learner to allow you to do a similar study in his or her class and to do one in your class. Use the diagram.
Make a mark in the section of the classroom where the teacher directs questions or from where a volunteer answer comes.
Note the teacher’s gaze. Where does he or she look most of the time?
4. Discuss your findings with your learners. Ask them whether they have noticed this pattern. Ask those who sit at the back and in
corners why they do so.
Why is attention distributed in this way?
Teachers tend to focus on those learners who are keen and willing to answer questions in the way that they expect. It’s a lot
easier to work with these learners than to try to involve the quiet ones or those who we think are not clever. These learners will
often choose to sit in the teacher’s line of sight. Weaker learners tend to hide in places out of the teacher’s line of sight so as to
avoid being questioned.
One of the biggest barriers to involving more learners in classroom talk is that classroom talk is often too rapid. Research has
shown that some teachers ask nearly 100 questions in a single lesson, giving learners less than one second to respond to a
question before redirecting it to another learner or answering it themselves! In a high-speed discussion, only those who are
prepared to jump in without careful thought ever get a chance to say anything. This is particularly disempowering for:
Learners who are struggling with work. In order for good learning to occur, learners need time to struggle!
Second-language learners who require time to translate the question internally and work on a good answer
Girls in mixed classes. Research suggests that girls spend more time considering their answers, while boys blurt out
answers quickly, without much deep thought.
Why is it important to have more talking in classrooms?

We have argued for more appropriate talking in classrooms. Let us now explore some of the benefits of this approach.
Learners learn – they construct meaning – through talking

Talking is like thinking out aloud. It gives the learners opportunities to hear their own thinking and monitor their own thought
processes. By talking about what they have done and seen others do, and by arguing with peers about what something means,
learners make meaning of their world. They learn by organising their experiences, by observing other people’s experiences, and
by adapting and refining old understandings as they hear new information. In many ways, talk, or guided conversation, to be
more precise, is at the heart of good learner-centred teaching.
Good teacher talk is also important to learning. It is through talk that teachers provide a scaffold or a support for learners as
they try out their own arguments. Learners also model teachers’ use of language. For this reason, it is important that teachers
talk, but they should do so carefully and in moderation!
Learners develop their abilities to communicate by talking

One of the biggest problems in South African classrooms is that most learners are forced to
communicate and learn in a language that is not their home language. This can cause a lack of In Section Six, we show
confidence when they talk in class. Being forced to speak in a language they don’t understand can how small groups can be
cause their ideas to become blocked so that they cannot express them. used to increase the
amount of time learners
The problem is that in order to unblock these ideas, they have to begin speaking. While the have to practise their
difficulties of second-language users of English are far greater than those of first-language users, language skills.
this basic principle holds for all learners: we must hear and use language in order to improve both
our confidence and our language abilities.
Classrooms in which there is a lot of appropriate talking provide a model of language use as well as a space in which to
practise using English. Think about it. When a baby is learning to speak and says something like, ‘Bobo! Wah bobo’, we don’t
give a lecture on grammar or correct pronunciation, we simply say, ‘Bottle? You want your bottle?’ By having correct language
modelled, the child gradually improves.
While traditional classrooms, dominated as they were by didactic teacher talk, may have provided models of language use,
they didn’t encourage actual practice. Chorusing provided some practice, but it wasn’t particularly thoughtful. It was more like
bad copying than the conscious modelling of, and practice in, language use.
Constructive talk builds classroom co-operation

Shared conversation in a classroom helps develop a sense of class identity and community. This motivates the class and makes
it easier to do proper schoolwork. Talking about ideas and problems with others, and finding out what they think, helps clarify
ideas.
Good friends usually find it easy to talk to each other. They feel comfortable with each other, there is mutual trust and
respect, and they genuinely communicate. To encourage productive classroom talk, we need to structure a learning environment
in which this type of interaction can happen. A warm, encouraging classroom environment is important for effective learning.
But, in many cases, both teacher and learner talk tend to be aggressive and competitive. This is in direct contrast with many
studies that have revealed that successful teachers are likely to praise learners who participate in class conversations. A
classroom where there is no praise or encouragement is a cold and unfriendly place.
But learners are also not fooled by meaningless, overused phrases. Telling someone, ‘Good!’ or ‘Well done!’ if the effort
being made is not impressive can have a demotivating rather than a motivating effect. It can encourage laziness, a respect for
hypocrisy and, ultimately, poor communication and poor interpersonal relations. This is illustrated by the cartoon below.
Learner talk motivates learners

Six hours a day of listening to teachers, or even to a film or video, is difficult. It is particularly difficult for young children and
adolescents who have far shorter attention spans than adults. The reason for this difficulty is that much classroom learning
requires physical inactivity, but, at the same time, it contains important ideas that require concentration.
When we create the possibility for learners to be active in purposeful talk, levels of motivation rise. But even talk, if it is
aimless and goes on for too long, can be demotivating. This is why it is important for teachers to structure interesting and useful
discussions.
How do we create classrooms in which more talking takes

place?
We have already heard of certain things we can do to increase the amount of appropriate talking
in classrooms, such as: In Section Five, we provide
Minimising our talk and increasing learner participation more ideas about how to
Actively modelling good language use and logical argument when we do talk question thoughtfully and in
a way that encourages
Actively encouraging greater participation by learners on the margins of the class. learner response.
But how do we do this?
Allow time for thoughtful responses

A great deal of research suggests that learners don’t talk in class because they either know that teachers will answer their own
questions or will give them, on average, less than a second to answer a standard question. By simply waiting for a little longer –
at least three seconds – before expecting or accepting responses, teachers will get a great deal more talk in class.
But this doesn’t improve the quality of the talk. Teachers must move beyond asking questions that require one-word answers
and, instead, ask questions that require thought and extended, logically argued responses. This will result in a marked
improvement in the quality of classroom talk and interaction as well as increased participation by learners who are traditionally
marginalised.
Activity 6
1. This activity should take you about two hours: an hour and a bit in your lessons, and an hour writing up your findings and
discussing them with other teachers. Of course, the activity may be spread over two or three days.
2. Ask a colleague to come and sit in your class. Ask him or her to record how long you wait for learners to respond after asking a
question.
3. After the lesson, discuss your waiting time with your colleague. Was it sufficient? Did you make your learners nervous? Were
you affirming and encouraging your learners?
4. Then, in the following lesson, wait for at least three to five seconds after each of your questions before you let anyone talk or
you say anything. Let the silence fill the space. If the learners giggle, smile and tell them you really want to know what they
think. And you want everybody to have the opportunity to think before anybody else talks.
5. Write down your observations and discuss them with another teacher who has done the same activity.
Encourage talk in all aspects of teaching

Talk is often regarded as something for the Languages classrooms. ‘Let the English teacher sort that out!’ we say. Furthermore,
learner talk is often discouraged by learners’ fear of making a mistake. As teachers, we often create an atmosphere in class that
only rewards correctness and, implicitly, punishes those daring enough to risk making a mistake. Instead of this limited and
fearful approach to language teaching at schools, we need to encourage an atmosphere in which learners experiment with
language and do so in all subjects. This can be done by:
Focusing on what learners are doing well. Look for some aspect of their work that deserves praise. Tell them what you
think is good and why you think this. For example, say, ‘I like the way you’ve included this element here’ or, ‘Well done
for listening so carefully in class’. Maintain a real conversation and model correct language use when you reply. Don’t
emphasise language errors. Rather, deliberately respond to the meaning of what is said by using correct language
structures. Even pronunciation can be dealt with in this way without making a learner embarrassed. In this way, learners
can pick up and assimilate language skills informally and incidentally, even though the action of the teacher is conscious
and deliberate.
The teacher models correct language while encouraging talk, rather than focusing on errors.
Criticising work constructively. While it is important to praise a good performance, teachers mustn’t be scared to point out
errors. But rather than simply criticising and punishing (through poor marks), teachers should show learners why they
made their mistakes and how to correct the mistakes. Part of the job of a teacher is to point out to learners where they are
going wrong and how to correct themselves, not to make thoughtless criticisms that demotivate and sour relations in the
classroom. For example, don’t say, ‘Why aren’t you doing what I told you to do?’ and ‘That’s wrong … do it again!’ This
is not helpful, whereas, ‘Look at this sentence. What do you think is wrong with the form of the verb? Think back to what
we did yesterday…’ is far more helpful.
Focusing on what has been achieved, not only on what still has to be done. For example, saying, ‘That’s looking much
better’, ‘You have managed that part well’ or ‘You have improved so much!’ will help learners see that progress is being
made and may encourage them to work even harder!
Giving specific help to second-language learners. When second-language learners are preparing to report back in English,
give them special help. If they did most of their exploratory talk in their home language, it may be a struggle for them to
think of effective ways to express their ideas in the second language. They may need help with words and phrases in the
second language. You may need to show them conventional ways in which things are expressed in a particular subject
(layout for a formal letter, how to introduce an oral, conventional beginnings to an English fairytale and so on). Help them
to write down points for oral feedback to the whole class. You can also encourage better language use by allowing learners
to begin talking by reading their notes when they need them during oral feedback. Being able to read the written points will
give them confidence. Build from this to more spontaneous, unassisted talk.
Teaching language across the curriculum. All subjects require that learners understand and use the language of instruction.
A recent study, for instance, suggested that one of the major reasons why South African learners did poorly in an
international Mathematics test was because they were not able to read the questions correctly! Teachers should maximise
learner exposure to, and use of, talk. You should:
Be conscious of your own language use and realise that learners will model this use. Model different kinds of language
use (for example, argument, good questioning, storytelling and explanation). Be careful of accent and pronunciation.
Make learners conscious of the importance of listening carefully. You could, for instance, use resources such as
audiotapes, which develop listening abilities and model language use.
Encourage learners to talk. Allow learners to use any language in speaking about their ideas, but in more senior
classes, make it known that you will only speak in English and that they will, ultimately, have to write exams in
English.
Keep your language clear and simple, and support what you are saying using positive body language (gestures) and
whatever other resources you have available, such as pictures.
Towards a whole-language approach to teaching and
learning
Talking and listening go together in the same way as reading and writing. When we integrate the basic language skills (talking,
listening, reading and writing), learning is meaningful, interesting and productive. In a whole-language approach to learning,
talk is seen as an important part of the process of learning and developing the abilities to read and write. Talking is not a
separate skill from reading and writing. They are connected. Almost all babies learn to speak the language(s) of their homes in a
remarkably short time, and yet when these same children go to school, language learning is not such a successful experience.
Why is this?
Whole-language theorists argue that babies learn to speak in a connected way because they hear a whole language spoken
around them. They grow and develop in a community at home. They hear conversations and are included in conversations. They
may begin the process of learning to speak by babbling and repeating particular sounds. Within a short space of time, they begin
to use all the language skills that they hear around them. They try to communicate with other humans in their environment and
so learn how to communicate.
Supporters of a whole-language approach argue that if talk is integrated with the processes of reading and writing, then:
The proportion of learners likely to read and write will increase
Reading and writing will be seen as natural ways of communicating.
Making writing a conversation

While at school, learners do a lot of writing. They write for different reasons. Writing happens in every learning area or subject.
How we go about doing a piece of writing depends on why we want to write it.
One approach to classroom writing is called process writing. In many ways, process writing is a written conversation between
two people; it is a form of talk. Process writing is used to help learners develop the ability to write paragraphs and essays, not
only in the language classroom, but also in other subject areas. It encourages learners to write several drafts. Each draft is
improved through discussion with the teacher and peer group, until the learner is satisfied with his or her product.
If you want to implement this approach to writing in your classroom, use the conversational writing process summarised in
the diagram below.
Making writing a conversation
The number of drafts you would expect a learner to write depends on his or her age and level of education. Talk is a crucial
ingredient in process writing. Learners learn to accept criticism, to criticise their own work and to write for a wider audience
than their teacher. They behave like writers. They learn to add text, to edit and to move a paragraph from one place in the text to
another place. This is an ideal opportunity to integrate word-processing skills on a computer into the lesson.
Developing a community of readers

A British university in Brighton set up a project focused on developing a community of readers. The intention was to encourage
children to read and talk about what they had read with each other. Researchers asked a group of Foundation Phase children to
read a picture book. They read the book in a group, with their teacher’s guidance. The children talked about how they thought
the characters might feel at different points during the reading. They also guessed what might happen next. When they
discussed different aspects of the story, the children supported their ideas by referring to earlier events in the story and to the
illustrations.
In the same study, a group of older Intermediate Phase learners read a book together and were asked to write a journal about
their feelings towards it. The group met the researcher once a week to discuss their reading and writing experiences. This is an
example of how readers of any age can learn to read critically and thoughtfully.
Using talk to read the world
Reading happens on two basic levels. On one level, we decode words to get the meaning. For example, a reader can sound out
C-A-T and hear himself say, ‘Cat’. The reader then understands that he is reading about a small, furry, domestic animal.
However, reading is a process that involves far more than simply decoding written words. For example, in Natural Sciences,
when learners try to make sense of what they have seen or done, they have to interpret their observations or results. We can
think of this interpretation as a form of reading. In the words of a well-known educationalist, Paulo Freire, learners are ‘reading
the world around them’ as they try to make sense of and explain things.
Learners who are doing scientific investigations need to talk about what they are doing and seeing. This talk is an important
part of scientific literacy. Talking about their investigations helps learners construct an everyday interpretation of what they
have done and seen.
Second-language learners will feel most comfortable speaking in their home language. This encourages learners to argue and
thus understand concepts, rather than simply memorising them. Once learners are familiar with the idea in their home language,
you should move them towards using English, or the language in which they will be assessed.
Activity 7
1. This is a personal self-development exercise. You do not need to show it to anyone else.
2. Think back to your own school-going experiences. Also think about your experiences as a practising or student teacher.
Answer the questions that follow.
a. Describe the qualities of a teacher for whom you would personally find it easy to work and in whose classroom you would
enjoy being.
b. Write down three encouraging phrases that you think this teacher would use.
c. Suppose this teacher wanted to reprimand a learner. Write down two phrases that he or she might use.
d. Describe the expressions you imagine on this teacher’s face when he or she is communicating with learners.
3. Now think of a teacher you would find threatening or difficult to work for. Answer Part a to Part d again, but this time think of the
threatening teacher.
4. Work out a ‘Code of communication’ for yourself. Make a list of the communicative patterns you use now or that you hope to
use in the future. Also make a list of the communicative patterns you plan to avoid.
5. If you feel comfortable doing so, check that you are achieving what you are aiming for by asking a colleague you trust to sit in
on some of your lessons. Ask him or her to observe the communication that happens in your classroom. Afterwards, discuss
what he or she saw. Listen carefully and be self-critical. How positive and affirming is your communication? Discuss how you
can improve your practice.
4.3 What does this mean for teaching?

In the past, South African teachers didn’t always take learners or learning seriously. In teacher-centred pedagogies, the
important skill was designing and delivering information clearly. In other words, the focus was on the teacher and on inputs. We
knew that learners were wrong, but we seldom took the time (or had the skills) to find out why they were wrong.
Learner-centred pedagogies shift our attention to asking the question, ‘What sense do learners make of the information we
deliver?’ The focus is on the process of learning and on learner outcomes.
This is why the ideas in Section 4.1 and Section 4.2 are so important. If we are serious about basing our teaching on learner
interests and understandings, we need to be able to find out what these are. In other words, we must find out how our learners
think. And if we are committed to individualising learning and using assessment diagnostically, we need to be able to get inside
the heads of our learners and understand why they make mistakes.
Remodelling a lesson plan

Although the views of learning we presented differ in their understandings, they both suggest ways in which we can develop
learner-centred ways of teaching. What are some of the important ideas? Before we tell you what we think, we’d like you to
demonstrate your knowledge by helping out Sandile with a very practical problem. He has planned a lesson that his tutor says is
‘too skimpy’ and ‘requires more detail’. In particular, he has been told that it doesn’t make enough reference to the kind of
learning that will occur at different phases in the lesson.
Grade: 5
Topic: Pollution
Knowledge outcomes:
Learners will be able to explain:
Causes of pollution
Types of pollution
What we can do about it
Laws and punishments.
Body of lesson:
Ask learners: What is pollution?
Group work: Types of pollution: Water, air, rivers, soil, litter, noise, sewerage and so on.
Homework:
Write about different types of pollution.
Activity 8
1. Spend about two hours on this activity. Discuss your ideas with fellow teachers.
2. Look at Sandile’s rejected lesson plan. Imagine you were a substitute teacher taking this lesson when Sandile was absent.
Would you be able to implement it?
3. Write down three things that you’d suggest Sandile do to improve this plan.
4. Now write out a new plan from which any of your fellow teachers could teach the lesson.
What did we learn from this lesson?

Common sense tells us that lessons have a beginning, a middle and an end. After all, the bell rings and the lesson starts, and the
bell rings to signal the end of the lesson, and presumably something happens in between. For many teachers, the pattern of the
average lesson has become so much a habit that they would find it hard to explain why they do things in a certain order. It just
seems to be common sense.
But, of course, the two strengths of a learner- and learning-centred approach to education are that we are reminded, as
teachers, that all teaching should be:
Guided by a clear idea of what our learning aims and purposes are. In other words, we must know what we are teaching
and why we are doing so.
Developed with learners and their learning in mind. In other words, we must know that our planned teaching will evoke
learning and how it will do so.
This is particularly true for new teachers. For beginner teachers, the structure of an effective lesson is anything but common
sense. What they need is a sense of why certain things are a good thing to do, rather than just accepting that they are good.
Examples of questions that they should consider include:
Why is it a good idea to have a powerful introduction?
Why do we give learners worksheets and exercises to complete?
Have a look at this slip of paper. It show how one teacher at Cynthia’s school adapted the old
lesson plan structure of introduction, body and conclusion into something that is more detailed Reread Section 4.1 at this
and that focuses more on the kind of learning that must occur during particular phases of a lesson. point. Notice how this
teacher has adapted and
used some of the ideas
provided by Gagne to
Parts of a lesson
develop a more informative
An introductory stimulus lesson plan.
An opportunity for learners to interact with the knowledge and then to personalise the learning
An application phase where learners try out their knowledge
A response-and-evaluation phase that concludes the lesson.
Sandile used these ideas to revise his Grade 5 lesson on pollution. Have a look at Table 2. Be critical. We haven’t tested this
plan, so it may have real weaknesses. Can you notice any? How would you improve it?
Table 2 Planning for a series of three lessons on pollution

Grade 8 Pollution February 17
Resources used My input Learner activity Timing
Introductory stimulus
Show class picture on board 1. Questions (in class discussion) Likely learner response: 4
(of family at the beach). Have you ever been on a picnic? Yes … and yes they minutes
(Get this from Beach Safety At the beach or somewhere else? enjoyed it … work with
Council.) Was it enjoyable? Did you have fun? this feeling of pleasure.
Did you enjoy looking around you?
Open bag of litter (chip packet, 2. Questions (in class discussion) Likely learner response: 4
cooldrink can, cardboard Have you ever used things like this at the beach? Yes … minutes
take-away box and so on). ‘Well, let’s imagine you’ve finished with these things, and now you’re going But surely one chip
Give one item to each learner. to drop them.’ packet doesn’t matter?
(Remember to get Prestik.) Ask learners to stick litter on picture (demonstrate effect of accumulation) Learners stick litter on the 1 minute
picture; whole scene is
covered.
3. Questions (in class discussion) Likely learner response: 3

How do you think the family is feeling now? It makes everything look minutes
How would you feel? ugly ...
Does it bring any other problems? Health: Attracts flies, dogs
What do we call this? and so on.
Littering or pollution.
Interaction phase
Ask class to divide into groups of four 1 minute

(by every second row turning around to face those behind them).
Problem question on 4. Group work Group

chalkboard Write question on board while learners get into groups. work:
‘Imagine you are a city maximum
councilor. You have been told 8
that tourists are no longer minutes
coming to your city because of
the pollution. What could you
do?’
Interact with groups 3

Problematise discussion ... minutes
Ask learners to look for reasons why ...
Find causes and suggest responses linked to these …
Press report Present groups with press report Group discussion 4

Report says littering isn’t a (to get learners to think even more deeply and begin making links or Expected response laws minutes
problem, but that pollution from distinctions between littering and pollution). banning such behaviour
oil companies is the problem ... ‘Any suggestions why people do this? …
also says that even when New response – no
people know that littering and rubbish bins, bad people,
pollution are bad, they still do ignorance (don’t know
it. any better), don’t care,
too lazy and so on.
Some confusion, idea that
they may need to read
more before they make
decisions, discussion
about whether oil or litter
is more damaging and
why ...
Chalkboard 5. Plenary discussion: Write ideas on board 4

Main idea: Get learners to: minutes
Understand difference between littering and pollution
Understand why both occur
Realise they need to do more research before they develop strategies
for stopping it.
6. Teacher explanation 4
Types of pollution: ‘I’m going to tell you about all the things that I see on minutes
my way to school every day. I want you to make a note of everything I
mention that might be called pollution, and then we can add them to our
description.’ (Describe my journey to school: mention polluted river, factory
fumes in the air, noisy drill at roadworks, litter in streets, trees and shrubs
dying, brown foam on the waves in the sea and so on.)
Ask learners for the kinds of pollution they have experienced in and around
school. Make additions to the definition or description of pollution.
Handout with homework 7. Explain homework Homework 4

research questions (preparation for minutes
(Make sure I have this application phase)
duplicated!) Learners interview
parents and other
learners about:
Attitude to pollution
and littering
Why they litter
What would stop
them polluting and
littering.
End of Part 1 of lesson – begin tomorrow with quick review. 40

minutes
Application phase
7. Quick introductory review 4

Questions and answers in whole class. minutes
Ask learners to get in same groups as yesterday.
Chalkboard Assist groups 9. Small-group 10

(yesterday’s problem with discussion minutes
following addition) Share research findings in
‘How has our research helped each group.
us find solutions to our Ask, ‘What does this
problem?’ mean for our problem?’
After ten minutes, introduce new resource.
Another news article Teacher input Class listens … still in 8

If groups are getting stuck, Mediate discussion, make point that all problems have lots of possible groups. minutes
show them an article from solutions and are difficult.
Natal Witness where But urge to move towards an action plan.
industrialists were fined for
water pollution, also show
pictures of school kids with big
garbage bags.
Hand out format for action
plan.
11. Back to group work 3

Begin deciding on key minutes
points in action plan.
Plenary 15
Pull together main ideas and problems from group discussions. Explain minutes
that if action plan isn’t complete, then learners should complete it at home.
Explain that they will do their presentations tomorrow.
End of Part 2 of lesson 40

minutes
Feedback
Set up class as city council Before

chamber; have posters with lesson
coat of arms and so on.
Quick review Learner response 5

To stimulate interest, I’ll pretend that all plastic has been banned at Mounting dismay as they minutes
schools and ask that learners surrender up all they have. realise how much of their
Make point that plastics are made from petroleum products and are one of life is plastic!
the major polluters.
14. Prepare class for presentations Class listens. 5

Set up as for presentations to city council. minutes
Ask class to act as decision-makers (listen to reports, make notes, judge
quality).
Listen, make notes, make short comments at end of each idea, noting 15. Learners present 25
overlaps, interesting views and so on. minutes
16. Wrap-up Class listens 5

Pull together main points. minutes
Ask learners to think about points overnight and be prepared to vote
tomorrow.
Take in written action plans to read (comment, not mark).
End of Part 3 of lesson 40

minutes
What did we think of Sandile’s adaptation?

We all thought it was a big improvement. Not only was there a great deal more detail about what was to happen when, but it
was also more imaginative. We liked the way that Sandile linked research about pollution to a practical problem, but then
constantly directed groups to think in more complex ways by adding new information to their discussions.
We have already spoken about the need to ensure that learners:
Talk (in a directed way)
Read and research (and base decisions on this knowledge)
Develop a depth of understanding (rather than simply learning more).
We thought Sandile was, at least, thinking about these educational principles. Some of us felt that his lesson was a bit thin on
critical subject content and concepts. Maybe Sandile should have set some time aside for learners to read textbooks and
reference books on their own.
But the idea of developing depth, and doing so through clearly identified phases in a lesson (or unit of three lessons), was
exciting. Many years ago, an educationist called Bloom developed a useful classification of different levels of learning. We will
focus on this in the next sub-section. But first, let us identify some ways in which we can go about making our teaching more
learner and learning centred.
Planning teaching that is learning centred

Teaching that is learning centred does not just happen: it requires careful planning. This section explores some of the issues that
shape this planning.
Teaching that builds on learner interests and understandings

Part of good planning is spending time getting to know the learners we teach. This can be done by:
Analysing learners’ previous work
Analysing work in an ongoing manner
Observing learner behaviour and performance in class
Talking to learners
Talking to other teachers
Reading about learning, learning styles and psychological development.
We can then plan learning activities that build on the learners’ prior knowledge and on their interests. Because learners of the
same age are similar in so many ways, many activities can be aimed at all learners. But because learners also bring a range of
different ways of thinking (schemata) to class, teachers must plan for individual and group activities too, so that these different
strengths and weaknesses can be catered for. Effective teaching needs to respond to the learning needs of individuals and groups
of learners. Learners need to be encouraged and taught how to use effective learning strategies. In addition, we must plan so that
learners can use different methods and practise different skills. These different methods and skills enable progressively more
complex learning.
Teaching that encourages talking

If learners construct meaning and do so socially (in their contexts), then it is important to create the space for talk to occur. It is
through talk – thinking aloud, trying out ideas with other learners, listening to others – that learners learn. Classrooms, then,
should be places where the teacher uses language carefully (he or she must model good use, good questioning techniques and so
on), but also where peer tutoring and co-operative working between learners are encouraged.
Talk must be meaningful. We mustn’t move from aimless talk by teachers to aimless talk by learners!
But teachers must encourage talk that is rigorous: it mustn’t just be chatter. Learners should be taught to make connections
between what they already know, and new experiences and ideas. Once learners have developed new understandings, they will
need to reflect on and exchange ideas and views with other learners and the teacher in order to consolidate their learning. An
important benefit of such talk is that it provides teachers with an indication of learners’ understanding. It is an aid to diagnosis.
If we took the idea of talk further by using a whole-language approach and a process model, then we would increase learner
time for reading and writing.
In other words, learners would read individually or in groups, talk about their reading, write about the reading and other
learning, get feedback on this text and then rewrite it. The learners would mimic a conversation through writing.
Teaching that is communicative and supportive

Effective communication is necessary if learners are to learn successfully. But communication is not simply talking at learners.
It means building a supportive and safe learning environment. This includes encouraging talk, structuring questions, assisting
learners to organise their thinking and so on.
Part of a good support system is designing activities that are challenging, but not too difficult. Deciding on the appropriate
level for an activity is important but difficult. This is where Vygotsky’s idea of the zone of proximal development is useful. He
believed that optimal learning is learning that involves the acquisition of cognitive skills that are slightly beyond the child’s
independent grasp. Once teachers have an understanding of the level of learner competences or understandings, they can choose
appropriate content and activities. In whatever way this is done (for example, demonstration, discussion or experiment), clear
statements of purpose and information about how the task fits into work done previously and work to be tackled in the future
facilitate learners’ construction of meanings.
Teaching that stretches learner understanding

Writers like Piaget, Vygotsky, Bruner and Gagne suggest that learners learn best when they are interested in what is being
taught and can see how it can be used in their lives. In other words, learners learn best when they are most motivated. This can
lead to a dangerous pattern in education: that we teach only what learners are interested in or what they already find easy.
Both Gagne and Vygotsky show that learning is about change. In our context, this means moving learners from current
understandings to the kinds of competences spelt out in our curriculum outcomes. We can identify at least four ways in which
learning can change a person. For example, learning can change:
What learners know (for example, a learner may have new information about nutrition). These can be described as changes
in knowledge or as cognitive objectives.
How they do things (perhaps they start to pack different types of food to eat at lunch time). These can be described as
changes in skills or as psychomotor objectives.
What they think (a learner may have a strong opinion about preservatives in food). These could be described as changes in
values or as affective objectives.
How they behave (perhaps they will try to wake up early enough to have breakfast before walking to school). These could
be described as attitudinal changes or behavioural objectives.
Teaching conceptually: Develop relationships between different bits of work

An essential part of any good teaching (teaching that stretches learners) is to push learners to make links between bits of
information. In the past, much of our teaching involved learners memorising fragments of information and then regurgitating
them. For instance:
We’d ask learners to remember the names and dates of historical events, but didn’t get them to understand how these
events fitted together in the bigger concepts such as colonialism or revolution.
Learners would be able to describe, in detail, the characters in a particular novel, but they couldn’t discuss the concept of a
story or the function a character played in the development of a story.
Good teaching is about ensuring that learners learn conceptually. Rather than being able to name the factories in a city, for
example, learners should be able to say how and why the fact that there are so many factories in one city can be explained
through a concept such as industrialisation. Learners can’t think with facts. They apply their knowledge by understanding how
facts relate and combine to construct a concept or a way of explaining something.
Using the revised Bloom’s taxonomy to sequence teaching

One of the most important shifts brought about by our focus on teaching as the practice of organising systematic learning is that
we, as teachers, are asked to develop understanding of concepts rather than simply adding more content as learners move
through school. In the past, ‘difficulty’ was defined as ‘more content’. Now, as learners advance through schools, we want them
to demonstrate:
An improved ability to do things (in other words, more advanced skills)
A higher-level understanding of content knowledge (rather than knowing more content, but at the same low level of
understanding)
A more thoughtful and reflective attitude (in other words, an ability to make and defend value decisions).
How do we do this?
We need to spend less time teaching facts and content knowledge, and more time developing thinking and reflective abilities.
We must develop learners’ ability to use the knowledge that we teach in a more sophisticated way. For instance, junior soccer
players learn the same things as professional players. But as they move up through the ranks and develop a better understanding
of the game of soccer, professional soccer players become much better performers. They don’t learn more; they do the same
things, like dribbling, but they are required to do these things much more competently. And both junior and senior players will
have the same attitude to taking a penalty: they will be nervous. But professionals will probably score more often because they
are able to deal with their nervousness. Again, they have probably not learnt lots more content, but they have certainly learnt
something extra about psychology. The difference is that their attitude has developed to a much higher level.
When you develop lesson plans, it is important to vary the kinds of activities you set. We believe that the taxonomy of levels
of learning, which was developed by Bloom in 1956 and revised by Lorin Anderson and others in the 1990s, can help you
produce varied activities that require learners to do more with the information you give them. Bloom divides his list into six
levels of thinking ability. These are shown in Table 3.
Table 3 Bloom’s taxonomy of learning applied to language teaching (revised terms in brackets)
Level of Type of The kinds of action that will demonstrate that the required thinking has Thebeenfirst two columns of
achieved
thinking thinking Example: Different levels of reading competence Table 3 reflect Bloom’s
required thinking. The third column is
an example of how a
1. Learner simply Emerging thinking language teacher has used
Rememberingrecalls or Has an awareness of the new idea or recognises the new topic, but not yet able to use it. The basic
Bloom’s learner simply
idea to
(knowledge) recognises recalls or recognises information as it is learnt. organise and sequence the
information as increasing complexity she
it is learnt.
requires in reading
2. Learner is able Developing thinking competence. You will notice
Understandingto reorganise Understands the gist of the material. The learner can talk about and tell most of the mainthat not
ideasallorof events,
the levels fit
and interpret
(comprehension) although he or she may omit or be unclear about some parts. The learner may not recognise perfectly.some A different
of the
information. subtleties in the material, but can often sort them out when asked direct questions. The teacher
learner might have
is able to inserted
reorganise and interpret information. slightly different criteria into
the various levels.
3. Applying Learner uses Functional thinking
(application) information to Understands most of the explicit ideas and details in the text, but may not notice or clearly understand some of
solve a the implicit or between-the-lines information. The learner is able to recall and retell quite accurately, and is able to
problem. include some details, although he or she may not be able to explain relationships between ideas, characters or
events. For example, the learner may not distinguish between key concepts or events and elaboration of
supporting details. The learner uses information to solve a problem.
4. Analysing Learner is able Purposeful thinking

(analysis) to identify Understanding and recall of the material are generally accurate (consistent with the information provided in the
reasons and text). The learner can demonstrate understanding of the work as a whole, and of relationships among ideas,
make through activities such as retelling, summarising and making notes or charts. The learner often makes specific
inferences references to part of a text to support his or her inferences or interpretations. Where the learner is researching or
based on studying a particular topic, several different pieces of material may be involved. The learner is able to identify
several pieces reasons and make inferences based on several pieces of information.
of information.
5. Evaluating Learner creates Confident thinking

(synthesis) an original Understands the material on both a literal and an inferential level. The learner is able to fill in gaps and
plan, proposal, ambiguities in the text, to pull ideas from different parts of the text (or from multiple sources) and to recognise
story or design. relationships among ideas, events and/or characters. The learner notices details and subtleties, and uses them to
make generalisations about information, characters or themes.
6. Creating Learner offers Interpretive thinking

(evaluation) his or her own Understands both explicit and implicit ideas and information in complex, specialised and/or abstract materials.
opinion based The learner can deal with complex or ambiguous language, structures and ideas, and develop relevant and
on evidence plausible conclusions and interpretations. He or she may consider and explore different interpretations,
and judges the particularly in literary material.
merits of an
idea.
There have been criticisms of Bloom, but his taxonomy provides a useful checklist to ensure that we are developing lessons at
appropriate levels. Note that in the revised version, the terminology has moved from nouns to active verbs and the top two
levels of cognitive engagement are effectively swapped around. The key message here is that it is important to offer questions,
knowledge and activities that provide stimulation at the correct level with a progression of cognitive challenge in mind: we aim
to end a lesson at a higher level of understanding and complexity than that at which we started. Textbooks do this because they
are written with the education of a particular age of learner in mind.
In an interesting report on the potential of open schooling in Ghana, Du Vivier (2010) makes the point that similar
distinctions between superficial and deeper levels of learning are common in many theories of learning, and provides the useful
overview that follows (Du Vivier, 2010: 56–7).
A unified model of learning
Source: Du Vivier, E. (2010). A Sustainable Open Schooling System for GHANA. Report of a Short-Term Consultancy to devise strategies for the Centre for National Distance
Learning & Open Schooling (CENDLOS). Vancouver: Commonwealth of Learning. (OER downloadable from www.col.org/publications/Pages/detail.aspx
Sources:
1. Bloom, B.S. (1956/1972). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives – The classification of educational goals, Handbook I: Cognitive Domain. London, UK: Longman Group.
The position of the highest two categories in Bloom’s original taxonomy have been reveresed, in line with recommendations in Anderson, L.W., Sosniak, L.A. (1994).
Bloom’s Taxonomy: A forty-year retrospective .
2. Krathwohl, D.R., Bloom, B.S. & Masia, B.B. (1964/1971). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives – The classification of educational goals, Handbook II: Affective Domain .
London, UK: Longman Group.
3. Dave, R.H. (1975). Developing and Writing Behavioural Objectives. (Armstrong, R.J. [Ed.]). Educational Innovators Press.
4. Rogers, C. (1969). Freedom to Learn . Columbus, Ohio, USA: Charles Merill.
5. Bruner, J. (1966). Toward a Theory of Instruction. Cambridge, Mass., USA: Harvard University Press.
6. Jordan, A., Carlile, O. & Stack, A. (2008). Approaches to learning. McGraw Hill.
Activity 9
1. Spend about two hours on this activity. Discuss your work with other students.
2. Turn back to Section Two and Section Three. Look through some of the assessment grids. Do you think these planners have
used Bloom’s basic typology when preparing their assessment grids? How have they adapted his typology?
3. Take a concept from the subject you have to teach. Develop a table similar to Table 3 in which you sequence the learning of
this concept.
4. Look at the appropriate policy document in your subject (available on www.education.gov.za ). Do these guidelines reflect the
kinds of assumptions illustrated ?
A process for planning a learning-centred lesson

What does all of this mean for lesson planning and teaching? Well, it means that we need to structure our lessons so that these
learning steps are likely to happen. You can use the five steps given below as a guideline for planning learner-centred lessons.
Step 1: Motivate and focus learners by developing an interesting and stimulating

introduction
Some of our learners come to class excited and ready to learn, but many don’t. You need to do something right at the start of the
lesson to awaken learners’ interest and arouse their motivation to learn. Even interested learners need to be pointed in the right
direction so that they see what is important rather than other, less important details. So:
Prepare learners for the new ideas
Stimulate their interest and curiosity
Remind them of what they know already (link new knowledge to old)
Focus their attention by showing them the purpose of the lesson.
How can we do this?

Teachers have the following suggestions for a stimulating opening for a lesson:
The kids love it when we pass around a real object – like a frog – before we open
our books.’
‘Puzzles ... I ask a puzzling question like, “Which will hit the floor first, a kilo of
feathers or a kilo of metal?” That gets them thinking.’
‘After break, when learners are excited … that’s when I specially need a focusing
introduction to calm down their minds.’
‘Sometimes I do a fun quiz of yesterday’s work to remind them of the main issues
…’
‘I show the learners their homework task so they know where we’re heading …’
Learners have this advice for you to consider when thinking about how to start a lesson:
‘I hate it when the teacher writes the topic for the day on the board and underlines it. It’s so boring!’
‘My worst teacher used to start every lesson by saying, “Today we’re going to do blah blah blah; who knows anything
about blah blah blah?” – every time!’
‘Never, never start with, “What page were we on yesterday?”’
‘If the teacher can get me interested at the beginning, then I’m hooked for the rest of the lesson.’
‘Sometimes teachers come in and say things that I simply don’t understand. Maybe I understand the words, but I don’t
understand what they mean when they are put together.’
Remember that many different strategies – group work, pictures, discussion and demonstration – can be used here and at other
points of the lesson. There is no particular method that is compulsory for a particular phase of the lesson.
So now you have a motivated, focused class, ready and keen to learn. What do you do next?
Step 2: Develop understanding: Get learners to work with new knowledge

It is in this phase of the lesson that learners encounter something new (a new idea, a new skill, a new insight or a new word).
But learners need to work in some way with the new knowledge to understand it fully. As a learner said earlier, she often
understands the words teachers use, but she doesn’t really know what they mean. This is a common problem in South Africa
that leads to rote learning. Teachers must assist learners in using the new information. It is through this use that understanding
develops.
Although learners must do the work, it is vital that teachers mediate this learning. Learning without someone to guide us is
very difficult and we often give up. The task of the teacher here is to organise learners’ time spent with the new knowledge,
sequence the introduction of new knowledge and design the kinds of activities that will develop understanding.
The most important principle is that learners interact with the new knowledge actively, rather than sit passively and listen.
And, although teachers have a range of strategies they could use to enable this learning, they must remember that certain
methods are better for learning certain things. So, if the idea is to learn a skill, then reading or explanations are not appropriate.
How can we do this?

The most important thing to do is to design activities and present information that push
learners beyond what they already know. Learning is about change. Teaching is about
working with learners at a level that is not too difficult, but is also not too easy. Ways of
getting learners to work with new knowledge include the following:
Design a structured discussion around an interesting problem that leads into the new
knowledge
Ask learners to read through an extract from a book and then answer good questions
or do activities on a worksheet
Demonstrate an experiment or take the learners outside to observe a phenomenon
first-hand.
Step 3: Assist learners to internalise the knowledge

As teachers, we need to remember that we can’t do the actual learning for learners. We can only provide the right kinds of
events to enable learning to happen. We need to provide a suitable environment (such as a purposeful, non-distracting
classroom) for this to happen effectively. If our interaction and application phases are effective, then learners are more likely to
find that internalising the knowledge happens naturally.
How can we do this?

You could use a simple series of one-off questions (‘Who can remember the name of the town where the little girl lived?’)
or a complex worksheet that requires several lessons to complete.
Sometimes it’s enough to set, check and correct exercises where learners work through a number of examples to see if they
can get the correct answers.
At other times, we need something more elaborate, such as a group debate on issues discussed in the lesson.
Step 4: Apply the knowledge: Get learners to generalise, transfer, demonstrate or

perform
The problem with learning something is that our minds get flooded with so much new information every day. Some of it is
important for future use (like what we do in our lessons) and some of it is not (for example, the adverts we see alongside the
road). If we want learners to retain new knowledge, then we need to include an application phase where they get a chance to try
out the new knowledge. Learners will do this by:
Recalling it
Seeing if they can transfer it to another situation or a different example
Demonstrating in some way that they have control over the new knowledge.
How can we do this?

The learners have to be active in this phase of the lesson. You cannot do a teacher-talk presentation to test whether your learners
understand the new knowledge. Instead, we need to see the learners trying out new understandings. We will be able to see if
they are confused or where their skills need polishing. It’s important that this particular stage is not too difficult. Learners need
to try out their new knowledge a few times before being evaluated and graded.
Sometimes you may even wish to structure several
application activities that use different skills, such as
talking, reading and writing. (For example, you could set
a collaborative exercise where learners work in pairs
making notes on a topic. Each learner then checks his or
her understanding with his or her partner. This can be
extended by reading reference books in the library.)
It’s helpful for learners to get a chance to see if their
knowledge is transferable. In other words, can they
tackle a task that requires slightly different applications
of the knowledge? (For example, if learners have learnt
how to draw a bird’s-eye view of the classroom, can they
draw a bird’s-eye view of their lounge at home?)
Step 5: Feedback: Assess learning and teaching
Once learners have shown their understanding, we need to provide helpful feedback to them about the progress they have made.
Of course we need to do this all the way through the lesson, but particularly at the end of this process, when they have
performed in some way. Our response is important to help learners consolidate their new understanding. The quicker you can
offer corrective feedback, the better. This will save learners from wasting time learning the wrong things.
Of course, we also need to conclude the lesson in an orderly way. This gives learners a sense of closure of this part of their
learning and they feel ready to go onto the next challenge.
How can we do this?

Remember that feedback doesn’t always mean marking written work. Feedback can simply be a comment that you make as
you pass by a learner’s desk. (‘Jan, you’re forgetting to include ...’)
Or it can be whole-class verbal feedback. (‘Right, Susi, what’s your answer to number six?’)
Be very careful of the whole-class chorus response. You can’t hear the individual answers, so you don’t know who’s
confused. Also, avoid a general question such as, ‘Does everyone understand?’ No one will admit to being the only stupid
learner who doesn’t understand.
In Section Five and Section Six, we focus on two broad strategies for organising systematic learning: whole-class teaching and
small-group teaching. It should be apparent by now that we will have made decisions during the planning stage about what to
teach as well as how to teach it; so our learning purposes, outcomes and context determine the methods we will choose to
employ. In making these decisions, we are enacting our role of curriculum developer. In reflecting on this role, Carl (2009)
notes the following existing ‘principles’, which resonate with our discussion in this section, likely to influence our informed
decision-making:
Learning is an active process in which the learner must be involved.
Learning takes place more effectively if the learner is involved and understands what must be learnt.
Learning is strongly influenced by the individual’s objectives, values and motives.
Regular repetition is of cardinal importance in acquiring skills.
Immediate reinforcement promotes learning. Cognitive feedback is more effective if time-lapse is limited.
The greater the variety of learning experiences offered to the learner, the greater the chance that the latter will be able to
generalise and discriminate.
Learning is, to a large extent, determined by the learner’s observations and impressions.
Similar situations may bring out different reactions from different learners.
Agreements as well as differences between situations should be illustrated with a view to promoting comparison.
The learning result and the measure of satisfaction drawn from it are determined by the group atmosphere.
Individual differences influence learning.
All learning is multi-purpose by nature. Although the focus is placed on specific outcomes, other learning may take place
simultaneously (Carl 2009: 94).
A wide variety of teaching methods is possible within these broad guidelines, for example:
Lecturing or explaining, in which teachers make use of spoken explanations, often accompanied by visual aids, to explain
concepts (for example, demonstrations)
Collaborating or discussing, in which learners talk about the subject matter and listen to the opinions and contributions of
their classmates (for example, debates).
Experiential learning, in which learners find out what it is like to experience a particular situation (for example, role plays).
We will not have time and space to engage with all of these methods, but Section 5 will focus on the first two examples and
Section Six will consider the third example. You might like to undertake an Internet search to learn more about some of the
other options.
As part of your planning process, you will have looked at the concepts you are trying to teach and the learning you are trying
to nurture, and will have used that understanding, together with the realities of your context of practice, to identify whether
whole-class, small-group or individual-based strategies will be most appropriate to take the planned learning forward. Often you
will employ a variety of such strategies in a single lesson to achieve different planned aims and purposes.
In order to illustrate the connections between the ideas we have discussed to date more clearly, the final activity in this section
will involve you in analysing an example lesson plan from multiple perspectives.
On the pages that follow, we have outlined a lesson that was designed and taught in response to an actual event reported in a
newspaper article. The lesson makes use of educational drama strategies, but you do not need to be familiar with these to
respond to the suggested questions.
In considering this example, we suggest you record your observations in your workbook to inform a possible follow-up
discussion with peers and tutors. The lesson plan deliberately draws content from a number of different subject areas. The
questions and tasks are designed to help you see how the different parts of the above discussion and the ideas explored in earlier
sections are interrelated and inform one another. In this example, we see that the teacher again needs to play several different
roles in an integrated way: planner, mediator, assessor, manager, carer and subject specialist.
Activity 10
1. Skim through the lesson plan on the pages that follow. Does the plan address all the issues that you think it should? Are there
any issues that are addressed in your own lesson-planning template that should be added here?
2. Read through the first part of the lesson plan. Try to identify the prior learning assumed to be in place. Do you think this should
have been made more explicit? What would you have written?
3. Comment on the progression through the lesson. Do you have a sense of increasing challenge? Do you think there are any
points at which the lesson requires additional scaffolding? Does it take sufficient cognisance of the needs of different learners?
4. Look at the kinds of things that learners are asked to do. Can you find examples of individual-based, small-group and
whole-class teaching? Does the choice of method seem fit for its purpose in each case?
5. Finally, would you say this is a reasonably learning-centred lesson? Try to find examples in the lesson of different learner- and
learning-centred strategies, and link these to any learning theories you have read about in this module, in your own reading or
in any previous studies.
Learning programme outline
Phase: Intermediate
Grade: 6
Class size: 40
Duration: 90 minutes (three periods: one double period of 60 minutes and one single period of 30 minutes)
Subject: Life Orientation
Topic and context: Environment: Threatened closure of a factory employing many community members because of pollution
Learning outcomes:
By the end of the lesson, learners should be better able to:
For Life Orientation:
Use skills and display attitudes and values that improve relationships in family, group and community
Respect the rights of people to hold personal beliefs and values
Practise acquired life and decision-making skills.
Related outcomes:
For Social Sciences:
Address social and environmental issues in order to promote development and social justice.
For Languages:
Make and negotiate meaning
Use language for learning
Use appropriate communication strategies for specific purposes and situations.
Assessment strategy:
Learners offer a range of ideas, orally and in writing, relating to the implications and possible solutions to the problem during group
discussions (participation checklist).
Evaluation of verbal communication in pairs and groups by observation and teacher-in-role participation (observation tool):
Learners should participate actively.
Learners should encourage the participation of others.
Learners should respect different and dissenting viewpoints.
Learners should criticise arguments, not individuals.
Learners will also be assessed on their ability to initiate and sustain a role, use tableaux and prepare documentation that is appropriate
to the context (rubric).
Learners will also be assessed in terms of their ability to reflect on problems and possible solutions to these problems by way of
discussion and answering questions. This will include the ability to reflect critically upon the validity of their own suggestions.
Teacher’s role: Official from Department of Health
Learners’ roles: Parents, workers, managers and village leaders
Control device: Teacher clapping hands three times means learners should temporarily stop what they are doing and listen to the teacher
Period one: 30 minutes
Lesson steps Time,
resources and
strategies
1. Introduction Class
1.1 Learners offer suggested answers to the following questions: discussion out
What do you like most about living in this community? of role
If you could make one change in this community, what would it be? ± 5 minutes
What other problems faced by the community would you like to be able to solve?
1.2 The discussion arising from these questions is used to introduce the learners to a range of problems faced by the
community and to alert them to the fact that we will be exploring two of these problems over the next few periods:
pollution and unemployment.
2. Core lesson activities Small groups

2.1 Arrange learners in ten groups of four by counting off one to four. out of role
2.2 Groups are to elect a spokesperson to report back on their discussions of the questions on the worksheet provided. Worksheet
2.3 Feedback from group spokespersons. Invite a different group to respond to each of the questions. Ask the plenary if ± 10 minutes
they would like to comment on or add to what was said. Plenary
2.4 Teacher introduces scenario as a story. feedback out
2.5 Pair role play: One argues for closure of the factory; one argues against closure. of role
2.6 Reverse roles. ± 5 minutes
Storytelling
(scenario) ± 3
minutes
Pair role play
± 3 minutes
3. Concluding activity Reflection

3.1 Reflection questions: questions
In your role play, which role did you find easier to play?
Why do you think this was so?
3.2 Note that we will explore the issues further in the next period.
Period two: 30 minutes
Lesson steps Time, resources

and strategies
4. Introduction Teacher introduces

4.1 In the previous period, we began to explore some of the issues involved in closing down a factory because it scenario
causes pollution. In this period, we will explore these issues further. Recap story
4.2 For this period, we need four groups of ten. We will use ‘mill and grab’ to form the groups. ‘Mill and grab’ to
form groups
± 5 minutes
5. Core lesson activities Tableaux

Each group will form a tableau of one of the scenarios described below. The other groups will try to interpret the Preparation
tableau, and to explore the range of ideas and viewpoints presented. ± 10 minutes
Sick people in hospital as a result of pollution
Workers demonstrating against closure
Concerned parents campaigning for closure
A family in which the parents have both become unemployed.
6. Concluding activities Tapping-in

6.1 Learners reflect on the issues by tapping-in on the tableaux of other groups. ± 12 minutes
6.2 Reflection questions: Reflection
The tableau illustrated four different points of view on the issue. Can you think of any other stakeholders who ± 3 minutes
might have a viewpoint?
How could these different viewpoints be shared and a solution to the problem be found?
6.3 We will explore this further in the next period.
Period three: 30 minutes
Lesson steps Time,
resources and
strategies
7. Introduction
In this period, the community members are going to have a meeting to discuss the threatened closure of the factory as
a result of the pollution it causes. We need five groups of eight.
Learners should be able to share ideas with other people, so we will form new groups using ‘mill and grab’ as before. ‘Mill and grab’
The groups we need are as follows: Role grouping
Community leaders to organise the meeting and to decide on a way forward Preparation
Factory management representatives ± 5 minutes
Factory workers
Concerned parents
Concerned health workers
The teacher plays the role of a representative from the MEC for Health.
8. Core lesson activities Prepare roles

8.1 Learners discuss the roles they will play. Teacher
8.2 The teacher facilitates the discussion from group to group and adds the following additional instructions on facilitates
flashcards:
All groups need to elect a spokesperson.
The community leaders need to find a solution to the problem that will be in the interests of the community. They Paper or card
must control the meeting and steer it towards a consensus proposal. They need to invite the teacher as a and pens for
representative from the Department of Health to explain the problem, and then ask the various stakeholder documentation
representatives for their input before opening the floor to general discussion. They need to set ground rules, for
prepared by
example, time limits for speaking and acceptable behaviour, and to prepare posters advertising the meeting.
The factory management is opposed to the closure of the factory, but members of management also say that they learners
cannot afford to increase production costs by buying new machinery or relocating the factory. They should ± 7 minutes
prepare documentation to support their argument, for example, a graph of production costs/income. Learners in
The factory workers are opposed to any job losses. They should prepare placards demonstrating their opposition. role
The concerned parents support the closure because they think their health and the health of their children is more Teacher in role
important than factory profits. They should prepare placards demonstrating their support for closure Documentation
The concerned health workers support closure of the factory because they see the damage that is being done to the
health of the community as a result of the pollution. They should prepare placards demonstrating their viewpoint. prepared by
8.3 The meeting is held, chaired by a learner in role. teacher
The teacher in role as Health Inspector will outline the problem using the graph provided to explain why the Building belief
authorities have recommended closure. The teacher, in role, may introduce any of the following possible solutions as a ± 12 minutes
way of stimulating the discussion if learners are not making progress:
Freeze wage increases for a period and use the money saved to install anti-pollution equipment
Relocate the community and supply protective clothing to the workers
Relocate the factory and supply protective clothing to the workers.
9. Concluding activities ± 3 minutes

Reflection through the following questions:
Was the meeting able to come to a consensus agreement on the way forward?
Why do you think this was/was not so?
Could an alternative strategy be used to solve problems like this? Give examples.
10. Possible follow-up activities

10.1 Relocation of community could lead to work on town or building planning using maps and similar resources.
10.2 Learners could discuss how to use/invest retrenchment money wisely.
10.3 Learners could prepare CVs and write application letters for jobs elsewhere.
10.4 Learners could discuss possible small businesses that could be set up to relieve unemployment.
10.5 Learners could explore the issue of pollution in more detail …
Lesson resources
1. Scenario
2. Worksheet
3. Documentation: Graph
1. Scenario
Many people living in a small village are workers at a particular factory near the village. One day, a meeting is called to inform workers
that the factory will be closing down soon. An investigation has established that the factory is a health hazard to the community owing to
the pollution caused by its outdated equipment. The closure of the factory will lead to many of the villagers becoming unemployed.
2. Worksheet
Picture: A factory causing pollution.
1. Describe what you see in the picture.
2. Would you like to have this factory next to your house? Explain.
3. What, if anything, would you do about the factory?
Picture: A worried man or woman.
1. The person in the picture has heard that he or she may lose his or her job at the factory causing all the pollution. How do you think
the person feels?
2. What problems do you think this person and his or her family will have if the person loses his or her job?
3. What steps do you think this person should take now if the person knows that he or she will lose his or her current job in six months’
time?
Role-play in pairs
1. Split into pairs, A and B. A must convince B that the factory should be closed because the pollution is risking the health of the
community.
B does not want the factory to close because that will mean job losses.
2. Reverse roles.
3. Did A manage to convince B or the other way round? Which role is easier to play?
4. Why?
3. Documentation: Graph
Graph of pollution levels against months showing actual and extrapolated trends.
Legend makes it clear that at low levels of pollution, there are increased cases of stomach troubles; at moderate levels of pollution, there
are both breathing and stomach problems; if the trend continues, the very young and the very old will be at risk within six months; if the
trend continues, exposure can lead to death within twelve months.
What did we think?

The plan builds from an actual event. It shows how an everyday problem can be the stimulus for an intensive learning
engagement. Remembering our definition of teaching as the practice of organising systematic learning, note the progression of
activities within each period and across the three periods. In planning lessons and periods, it is useful to think in terms of three
questions:
How can I best introduce the learning?
How can I best develop the learning?
How can I best conclude and consolidate the learning?
A range of individual, pair, small-group and whole-group strategies is employed to achieve different educational purposes.
Obviously in this example, both the teacher and the learners must already be familiar with all the educational drama strategies
that are used. In the planning, the teacher needs to think about what he or she will be doing, what learners will be doing, what
resources will be needed, how the learning will be organised, and what time and other resources will be needed. Initially, such
planning will be very time consuming. However, as you gain experience and build a portfolio of taught lessons, the planning
becomes easier and quicker.
How does this lesson relate to the discussion to date?

Table 4 below, adapted from a Gauteng Department of Education text (GDE: 1999) offers a summary of some of the
learning-centred approaches integrated into this lesson plan (we met some of them in Section Two). Do you agree with the
points made? Could you analyse one of your own lessons in this way? Could you adopt or adapt these strategies for lessons in
your own subject?
Table 4 Lesson analysis

Value- and Related theories Evidence in lesson
learning-centred
feature
Active learners Experientialism All learners are actively engaged through individual reflection, pair, small-group and whole-class
Post-modernism activities.
Behaviourism
Multi-culturalism.
Learners are assessed Constructivism The teacher, both in and out of role, is continually engaged in reviewing learners’ progress. The
on an ongoing formative Multi-culturalism. reflection questions at the end of each period also contribute to this continuous assessment
basis process, as does the documentary evidence prepared by learners in Step 8.
Critical thinking, Cognitivism Learners are presented with questions and problems that they need to make their own decisions
reasoning, reflection, Experientialism about; there are no ready-made ‘right’ answers.
action Multi-culturalism
Marxism
Constructivism.
An integration of Experientialism The scenario outlined is a direct parallel with several real-life cases. Newspaper articles on these
knowledge and learning Constructivism cases could be displayed on the classroom walls during the lesson.
that is relevant and Multi-culturalism.
connected to real-life
situations
Learner centred, Constructivism The entire lesson is built on activities encouraging open interaction. The teacher provides leading
teacher as facilitator of Experientialism questions rather than ‘answers’.
learning, teacher Multi-culturalism
constantly using Post-modernism.
multiple strategies to
maximise learner
engagement
Learning programmes Constructivism. When educational drama methods are employed, the teacher can never be absolutely sure how
seen as guides that learners will interpret the activities and react. Questions and activities tend to be quite open ended.
allow teachers to be The teacher needs to think on his or her feet and adapt to whatever issues are raised by learners.
innovative and creative
in designing learning
experiences
Learners take Constructivism In most instances, the teacher provides only scaffolding for learner-driven activities. The initial
responsibility for their Post-modernism questions, the emphasis on listening to one another, the teacher as a co-learner in role and the
own learning, motivated Experientialism reflection questions are all affirmation of the value of the learners’ contributions.
by constant feedback Multi-culturalism.
and affirmation of their
worth
Emphasis on outcomes, Behaviourism. The lesson has been designed down from given outcomes. The assessment strategy and the
what the learner reflection questions point to more than just simple skills or knowledge acquisition. The scenario
becomes and requires learners to engage with moral- and value-laden issues.
understands
Flexible time frames Behaviourism The lesson can be taught as three separate periods or in a continuous sequence. Provided the
allow learners to work at Post-modernism teacher makes the necessary links, it is possible to see how the steps in the planned learning
their own pace Constructivism process might be carried over and the lesson extended into an additional period if more time is
Multi-culturalism. needed. Although there is a need for groups to work within agreed time frames in order to be
ready for whole-group feedback sessions, the assessment strategy implies a range of possible
levels of performance related to, among other things, how quickly particular learners work.
Stakeholders are Multi-culturalism. The open-ended nature of the activities allows learners, in part, to determine the direction of the
involved in curriculum lesson. It is conceivable that a parent-teacher assistant (also in role) could help with the facilitation
decisions of the lesson.
Spiral curriculum Structure of the Based on ideas by Bruner, the lesson returns to the same core scenario at increasing levels of
disciplines. complexity and engagement.
Teaching for Multi-culturalism Throughout the lesson, learners are encouraged to listen to other voices and viewpoints. In the
participation and Constructivism final role play, it is the learners who must make the final decision on what should be done.
democracy Experientialism.
Improving the fate of the Neo-Marxism The key activities promote the notion that all voices should be heard. The lesson also raises
poor Constructivism. questions about what it means to be poor: is a person with a job who is being slowly poisoned at
his or her workplace better or worse off than a person without work, but who is not being poisoned
in this way?
Creative thinking Constructivism The open-ended nature of the activities and questions hopefully promotes creative responses.
Post-modernism
Multi-culturalism.
Problem-solving Constructivism In the final role play, learners are presented with the need to make a decision about a complex
Post-modernism problem.
Multi-culturalism.
So, in short, if we accept that education is an intentional activity and teaching is concerned with the practice of organising
systematic learning, we need to plan carefully in advance to achieve the goals we have in mind. For some purposes and
contexts, a whole-class strategy will be appropriate and we can draw upon the ideas discussed in Section Five. For other
purposes and contexts, we might wish to make use of individual, pair and small-group work, and then we can draw upon the
ideas discussed in Section Six. Often we will use a mix of strategies in the same lesson, as in the previous example.
References
Bennett, N. & Dunne, E. (1994). How children learn: Implications for practice. In Moon, B. & Shelton Mayes, A. (Eds). Teaching and Learning in the Secondary School . London:
Routledge & Open University.
Carl, A.E. (2009). Teacher empowerment through curriculum development – Theory into practice . (3rd ed.). Lansdowne, Cape Town: Juta and Company Limited,
Du Vivier, E. (2010). A Sustainable Open Schooling System for GHANA. Report of a Short-Term Consultancy to devise strategies for the Centre for National Distance Learning &
Open Schooling (CENDLOS). Vancouver: Commonwealth of Learning.
Gauteng Department of Education (GDE). (1999). Theories of teaching and learning: participants’ manual . Johannesburg: GDE.
Hodgins, B. (1978). The Instructional Process . Chicago: Rand McNally.

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Section Four

Teaching with learning in mind

4.1 How do young people learn?

4.2 The importance of talk in learning

4.3 What does this mean for teaching?

What will we learn?

Explain a number of characteristics of learning (Section 4.1)

Describe different types of learner and teacher talk (Section 4.2)

4.1 How do young people learn?

What do we already know about learning?

CASE STUDY: Cynthia’s lesson

Subject: Life Skills (Grade 2)

What can we learn from this lesson?

What do the experts say about learning?

Learning as a natural everyday activity

Learning as an intentional, structured activity

4.2 The importance of talk in learning For a fuller discussion of

1. Answering teacher’s questions related to educational outcomes

2. Asking educational questions (questions directly related to what is being learnt)

3. Learners talking in pairs or in groups

1. Asking educational questions (in other words, as part of a teaching strategy)

3. Explaining ideas (maybe also as part of a demonstration)

4. Individual and small-group teacher-learner interactions

5. Giving instructions (about administrative or procedural matters)

7. Disciplining talk (including the use of questions and sarcasm)

Teachers dominate classroom task

Classroom talk isn’t very carefully thought-out

Table 1 Different types of learner talk observed during a lesson

Answering teacher’s questions 10 15

Asking petty questions (for example, requests to go to the toilet) 2 1

Asking meaningful questions (related to what is being learnt) 0 0

Learner participation in talk is unevenly distributed

Why is it important to have more talking in classrooms?

Learners learn – they construct meaning – through talking

Learners develop their abilities to communicate by talking

Constructive talk builds classroom co-operation

Learner talk motivates learners

How do we create classrooms in which more talking takes

But how do we do this?

Allow time for thoughtful responses

Encourage talk in all aspects of teaching

Making writing a conversation

Making writing a conversation

Developing a community of readers

4.3 What does this mean for teaching?

Remodelling a lesson plan

What did we learn from this lesson?

Table 2 Planning for a series of three lessons on pollution

Resources used My input Learner activity Timing

3. Questions (in class discussion) Likely learner response: 3

Ask class to divide into groups of four 1 minute

Problem question on 4. Group work Group

Interact with groups 3

Press report Present groups with press report Group discussion 4

Chalkboard 5. Plenary discussion: Write ideas on board 4

Handout with homework 7. Explain homework Homework 4

End of Part 1 of lesson – begin tomorrow with quick review. 40

7. Quick introductory review 4

Chalkboard Assist groups 9. Small-group 10

After ten minutes, introduce new resource.

Another news article Teacher input Class listens … still in 8

11. Back to group work 3

End of Part 2 of lesson 40