Continuing from last week, (teaching methods) I have listed another four different methods with positives, possible negatives and the best way in which to plan and deal with these situations. Like with all of my blogs on teaching tips, these are only summarised guidelines to help you, and hopefully, as teachers, you might be able to use some of the ideas or tips mentioned within your own teaching.
Method | Pros | Cons | How to plan |
Lecture with discussion | Following a lecture with a discussion gives the children a chance to air their views and give their answers.
This is a method where you can directly explain the focus and objectives of the lesson with your analysis of the pupils’ understanding coming in the discussion. This method is a clockwork one, meaning that each part of it, each slide of a PowerPoint show, the length that the children can discuss, is all on a specific time frame. The lesson will not ‘over run’. |
A lecture involves lots of talking and requires children to sit down and listen for long periods of time. Young children will not cope with that.
Children are not getting the chance to learn practically, and for music, the should be doing as much practical as possible! Discussions can have a tendency to go off course, and lose focus. |
Make sure you have an interesting topic that ALL of the children want to know about and learn. If you are going to be talking for a while, the children NEED to be inspired… that will line you up nicely for the discussion part of the lesson, where hopefully, there will be 30 children all with their hands up ready to answer questions.
Keep to the point in discussion time, it is a discussion NOT a seminar!! Pick children who do not have their hands up… 9/10 times they are shy and usually have great answers but cannot get a word in from the more confident children. Every Child Matters!!! |
Direct teaching | This is what every teacher uses daily. It is a direct approach, similar to lecturing, with the difference being that the children are allowed to ask questions and get involved more. You can get facts and lesson objectives across easily without being governed by time too much.
The method is also instructional and teachers can easily monitor a child’s understanding. |
A teacher may not be clear in explanations or have the correct knowledge to convey the objectives.
On the reverse, a teacher may have extensive knowledge and go ‘too far’ into an objective, making it very difficult for students to understand the concepts. The creativity of the lesson could be lost if there is too much talking, turning your direct teaching method into a lecture!! as the famous saying goes “nobody wants to be lectured!” |
A teacher has to be confident and KNOW exactly what it is they are teaching, with a clear and precise delivery.
Be prepared to answer all questions that students may have and to do not lose the focus of the main objectives. This is an everyday teaching method and relates to your classroom manner and your classroom management, so plan carefully. |
Role play | All the children get involved through active participation.
Actions to music can really help children when remembering what they have learned. The children get to show their work through a different form of expression.
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Some children may feel self-conscious or lack courage to perform.
The children might take the opportunity to have a chat if you are not completely on top of things. There could be a tendency to veer away from the topic if objectives and method are not clear. |
It is imperative that you have a clear lesson objective so that the role play doesn’t lose focus and if the method does lose focus, end it, or stop it and start again. A clear title to the role play helps.
There will be children that are less confident, so make sure your role play includes a part for them that doesn’t completely embarrass them… had that myself at school… it was awful!! Be on top of it! If confident children look like they are dominating shy children step in! Every child matters! ‘Health and safety’… make sure there is enough space and it is safe to do role play. |
Games, Quizzes, | All children want to join in and show enthusiasm through competitiveness
Great for building teams and giving feedback promptly The method has a nice quick pace to it and can be memorable for fun reasoning. |
Children may feel isolated if they do not get frequent turns if any
Children whom may be weaker at the game topic may feel disheartened or undermined. The focus and the objective of the game may be lost.
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Make sure the game that you are using covers the learning objective/s you are teaching.
Explain how the game works, with the game rules that should tie in with classroom rules… E.g. no calling out, no mocking other pupils, raise hands sensibly to get picked to answer etc… Make sure the game does not get out of hand. Stop the game until there is order and the pupils are ready to continue. If you are a judge of two or more sides, judge fairly without taking sides. |
Next Week part 3 of teaching methods.
(please feel free to leave comments)
Andy T