What are the best methods of teaching?

A teacher is like a candle that lights a path for others to follow and a good teacher should effect eternity and should never tell where his or her influence stops, if teaching and learning are both taking place at the same time.

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

A teacher is like a candle that lights a path for others to follow and a good teacher should effect eternity and should never tell where his or her influence stops, if teaching and learning are both taking place at the same time.For a teacher to make an impact on the students he is teaching, he should follow the below VART procedures:VISUALThere are the students in your class who understand by seeing rather than listening. This means even if you explain to them 1001 times which drawing a graphical representation of what you are talking about they will not understand and for a teacher to effect this approach for example, if s/he is teaching about rocks e.g metamorphic rock’s/he can carry the rocks to the class and show them to the students also teaching by using posters, videos, diagrams, posters, charts, graphs and power point presentations,AUDITORY In this approach the students will use more of their ears than any other part of their body meaning they understand by hearing. It is the method used by almost all the teachers in the world where a teacher explains a point and expects the whole classroom to understand and formulate ideas and solutions out of it. The teacher can reach more students by making recordings available to students, describing any visual aids you are using like diagrams, charts and drawings.READING Here you will find students just reading and they understand by reading their books and notes that they have summarized in their own ways and this also calls for extensive reading and the teacher can only be used to give directions and guidance. The Rwandan government is trying to improve it by making more libraries and encouraging people of all ages and walks of life to visit the libraries and read. The teacher can approach and most do by giving notes to the students and they summarize and read them and the teacher should also provide written alternatives to any visual (graphs, posters, charts e.t.c).KINAESTHETICThis is a where a student I allowed to touch, feel and experience the material in the hand. If a teacher is teaching about mountains in geography, for some of the students to get a clear picture of what the crust, mantle and the lava. You (teacher) can use color pencil to draw and explain, the student will feel it, you can also take the students for a field trip where they will be able to gauge and have firsthand experience of what you have been teaching them. A teacher can be able to identify this particular student because they cannot stay in one place for long, have poor handwriting, perform well in sporting activities and drama, they are able to remember something perfectly after doing it, they keep themselves busy by doing some activities like taping their pen on the table.In conclusion teaching is all about inspiring, engaging and empowering our children and young people to make a difference or better our tomorrow for generations to come and if we take and use the above methods clearly we shall be able to the 100 % of your classes according to their understanding capability.Writer is a teacher at Riviera High School