TEACHING STRATEGIES

TEACHING    STRATEGIES

While it may be difficult to identify the variety of learning styles in your class, some measures can be taken to facilitate and encourage all types of learners. Consideration of the variety of learning styles highlights the need for order, structure, creativity, group work, and practical exercises. In essence, the message for tutors is to incorporate as much variety as possible into courses. However, exercises/discussions, which are introduced, should have a purpose and serve to develop understanding and knowledge, rather than merely being included to add a different dimension.

	Pre-learning preparation: As adult students come from varied educational backgrounds, it is necessary to state clearly if there are any prerequisites for taking a course. Are students expected to have any particular skills or abilities? What prior knowledge is assumed? Outlining the necessary prerequisites eliminates the possibility of having to spend early sessions revising material which you might have assumed to be fundamental background knowledge.
	Learning outcomes: Learning outcomes, which have been negotiated and agreed by tutor and students, ensure that everybody is working towards the same goal. When learners agree a target with a tutor they feel more involved in the learning process. This helps focus attention and promotes a unified sense of purpose.
	Organisation of content: Learning is easier when content and procedures or skills to be learned are organised into meaningful sequences. Learners will understand and remember material longer when it is logically structured and carefully sequenced. Also, the rate of information to be presented should be determined in terms of the complexity and difficulty of content. Thus the learner can be helped to better synthesise and integrate the knowledge to be learned. You need to provide the signposts that will help learners to perceive the structure.
	Emotions: Learning that involves the emotions and personal feelings, as well as the intellect, is influential and lasting. Learners also have positive and negative emotional attitudes that can interfere with learning or can increase motivation. A moderate amount of anxiety or challenge activates most learners and increases learning; however, excessive anxiety interferes with learning. Exams cause great anxiety. Essay writing or project writing can also be very stressful. This is particularly so when students are unsure what is being asked of them, or if they feel they have no guidelines/criteria with which to work.
	Participation: In order for learning to take place, a person must internalise the information; merely seeing or hearing is not enough. Therefore learning requires activity. Active participation by the learner is preferable to lengthy periods of passive listening and viewing. Participation means engaging in mental or physical activity that will help the learner to understand and retain the information presented.
	Feedback: Learning is increased when individuals are periodically informed of progress in their learning. Knowledge of successful results, a good performance, or the need for certain improvement will contribute to continued motivation for learning. Doing and feedback contribute to successful learning.
	Reinforcement: It is important for learners to receive reinforcement. Learning motivated by success is rewarding; it builds confidence, and it will affect subsequent behaviour in positive ways.
	Association: Learners will learn and remember information better if they have many associations with it; the learning of isolated information is more difficult and less permanent than the learning of information that is related to prior knowledge.
	Practice and repetition: Rarely is anything new learned effectively with only one exposure. Provision should be made for frequent practice and repetition, often in different contexts, for long-term retention to be encouraged.
	Application: Complete understanding has taken place only when the learner is able to apply or transfer the learning to new problems or situations. First, the learner must have been helped to recognise or discover generalisations (concepts, principles, rules) relating to the topic or task. Then opportunities must be provided for the learner to apply the generalisations or procedures to a variety of new, realistic problems or tasks.
	Attention: 90:20:8 Rule Adults can listen with understanding for 90 minutes And with retention for 20 minutes So try and involve them every 8 minutes Brenda Smith

Learning Styles

All students have different intellectual abilities. They think and learn differently. Some learning patterns will have been developed as a result of the schooling experience where materials were largely presented in a way that benefited students with linguistic/numeric abilities. As a result innate learning styles may not have been developed and students may need to be encouraged to identify their own learning pattern.
There are various ways of classifying differences in learning styles. Many theories and models have been proposed. Some learning styles classifications include:

	left and right brain thinkers
	auditory, visual and kinaesthetic learners
	activists, reflectors, theorists and pragmatists

Each learner will have a preferred way in which to process information. In many instances, tutors will not have the time required to determine their students learning styles. Neither may the tutor have the expertise to analyse individual learning styles or conduct the tests that are available.
The key consideration for tutors is not to rely on one teaching strategy. It is important to remember that some students don't learn very well by just listening and taking notes. Some may have a more limited attention span than others and like activity in class. Understanding the many ways in which people learn is crucial when planning and delivering a course.

Suggestions for Reflection

What approaches do you use to involve the learners? How do you vary the learning activities? Which activities have you found to be the most effective and why?

Questions and Answers

Question and answer sessions create an opportunity for debate and further exploration of concepts. For the tutor, they provide a critical opportunity to give further examples and clear up confusion. For the student, they provide an opportunity to explore their own ideas and develop reasoning and questioning skills.
Students should feel comfortable to answer questions without fear of ridicule. Tutors should feel sufficiently confident to acknowledge when they don't know an answer; and agree to research the student's query.

Managing questions

	Create trust and encourage questions early
	Build in time for questions
	Questions must be guided by definite aims - what is the purpose of the question? What do you hope to achieve?
	Ask an easy question first
	Avoid questions with yes/no answers
	Phrase questions in clear concise language
	Define any terms that may cause confusion
	Questions should be reasonable for the level of the group
	Ask one question at a time - multiple part questions can lead to confusion
	Ask questions of clarification or recall to ensure students understand before proceeding to questions of analysis
	Ask questions which generate options for students
	Ask the question to the entire group rather than to an individual as this ensures everyone is thinking about their own response
	Avoid directing a question to one individual
	Write the questions on the board or Overhead Projector (OHP)
	Ask students to formulate questions in groups
	If you do not know the answer say so!

Managing Answers

	Give students time to think about their response
	You might wish to give students a few minutes to write down their immediate response or thoughts
	Encourage answers from a variety of participants rather than let one or two individuals monopolise the group
	Look at the students when they are talking - focus on what they are saying
	Concentrate on content and not on delivery
	Avoid distractions
	Don't interrupt
	Make sure all the group have heard the response offered
	If you don't understand the answer given, ask the student for clarification
	Ask students to answer in groups as this involves those students who may not have the confidence to offer an answer in front of the whole group
	Do not embarrass or put down students for their attempts at answering
	Do not disagree outright but suggest alternatives
	Ask for a show of hands from the group on straightforward points
	If an answer is incorrect, divert the question to another student or group
	If a student has a particular interest or agenda that is not of relevance to the whole group, ask to meet at the break or after class to discuss the point more fully
	Recognise the answer and build on the response by asking further questions
	Give specific examples to illustrate concepts

OEI 210 : TEACHING METHODS FOR ADULT LEARNERS

Teaching and Learning Methods for Adult Learners

Adult education takes on many forms, ranging from formal class-based learning to self-directed learning and e-learning. This article explores 4 key methods that can be used to teach adults. These include: Lectures and assignments, demonstration, group work and dialogue.

Lectures and assignments. Lectures that encourage class participation and questions from adult learners have been found to be among the best methods for teaching adult education, particularly if there are a number of real life examples included in the lectures. Lectures combined with assignments work good for adult learners. Problem solving assignments, for example, as well as papers or assignments that require additional research beyond the scope of the class can help to encourage additional learning and give adults the ability to apply concepts in different situations. In class situation, short-time assignments that can be discussed in a class set up is also a good approach. Discussion develops adult learner’s skills in analyzing situations and thinking critically. Their view points may even differ from those of their teachers.
Demonstrations. Demonstrations are done in order to provide a mental picture through visual learning tasks. A teacher may use experimentation to demonstrate ideas. A demonstration may be used in the circumstance of proving conclusively a fact. This could be through reasoning or showing evidence. Adults can at times be quite skeptical in teaching and learning process. Thus, teaching with evidence is a powerful tool. If the adults can not only hear but see what is being taught, it is more likely they will believe and fully grasp what is being taught.
Group work. One of the benefits of group work is increased social integration. Social integration has been shown to have a significant positive effect on retention. Small groups of adult’s learners at the same level of career maturity create a social environment that motivates them to persist in the learning process. Group work allows adults to share and to learn from their very experiences, skills and values. This is an internationally supported tenet of adult education.
Dialogue. This is a two way approach. It helps adult learners to interpret and incorporate facts into their experiences. In using this approach, it is also important to solicit opposing viewpoints and encourage participation among adult learners. Dialogue can be used in classroom situation or in an Internet forum.
Conclusion. Teaching adult learners can either be a quite rewarding experience or a very frustrating one depending on the method(s) one uses. Teachers are hoped to benefit from the brief overview of some of the key approaches to teaching adult learners. It is the duty of each to establish the approach that befits a particular group of adult learners. There are however other methods that can still be used to teach adult learners: Scaffolding which involves empowering learners with their own authority. Praxis involving the idea of doing while learning and constructivism approach in which learners gain deep understanding when they act on new information with their present knowledge and resolve any discrepancies which arise. Teaching adult learners should therefore be symbiotic, where both parties benefit from the learning experiences. A teacher in this case is simply an adjudicator in a choir of learners.

FUNNY   SEX    JOKES

Paddy was planning to get married and asked his doctor how he could tell if his bride is a virgin.
The doctor said, “Well, you need three things from a do it yourself shop. A can of red paint, a can of blue paint… and a shovel.”
Paddy asked, “And what do I do with these, doc?”
The doctor replied, “Before the wedding night, you paint one of your testicles red and the other one blue. If she says, ‘That’s the strangest pair of balls I ever saw.’, you hit her with the shovel.”
John woke up one morning immensely aroused so he turned over to his wife’s side of the bed. His wife, Heather, had already awakened though, and she was downstairs preparing breakfast in the kitchen.
Afraid that he might spoil things by getting up, John called his little boy into he room and asked him to take this note to your beautiful mommy. The note read:
The Tent Pole Is Up,
The Canvas Is Spread,
The Hell With Breakfast,
Come Back To Bed.
Heather, grinning, answered the note and then asked her son to take this to your silly daddy. Her note read:
Take The Tent Pole Down,
Put The Canvas Away,
The Monkey Had A Hemorrhage,
No Circus Today.
John read the note and quickly scribbled a reply. Then, he asked his son to take it back to the lady in the kitchen. His note read:
The Tent Pole’s Still Up,
And The Canvas Still Spread,
So Drop What You’re Doing,
And Come Give Me Some Head.
Laughing, Heather answered the note and then asked her son to take this to the poor dude upstairs. Her note read:
I’m Sure That Your Pole’s
The Best In The Land.
But I’m Busy Right Now,
So Do It By Hand.

A man calls 911 emergency: Come immediately, my little son has swallowed a condom!
After five minutes, the same man calls back: It is ok, I found another one.

A drunk guy walks into a bar and walks up to a guy and says, “I just had sex with your mom!” The guy walks away angrily.
A few minutes later the drunk guy comes up to the guy again and says, “I just had great sex with your mom!” The guy walks away angrily.
A few minutes later the drunk guy comes up to him again and says, “I just had the best sex ever with your mom!” The guy now says, “Shut up dad! You’re drunk again!”

Q: Why is 68 the maximum speed for blondes?
A: Because at 69 they blow a rod.

Johnny noticed that Jimmy was wearing a brand new, shiny watch. “Did you get that for your birthday?” – asked Johnny.
“Nope.” – replied Jimmy. “Well, did you get it for Christmas then?”
Again Jimmy said “Nope.” “You didn’t steal it, did you?” – asked Johnny.
“No,” said Jimmy. “I went into Mom and Dad’s bedroom the other night when they were ‘doing the nasty’. Dad gave me his watch to get rid of me.”
Johnny was extremely impressed with this idea, and extremely jealous of Jimmy’s new watch. He vowed to get one for himself. That night, he waited outside his parents’ bedroom until he heard the unmistakable noises of lovemaking.
Just then, he swung the door wide open and boldly strode into the bedroom. His father, caught in mid stroke, turned and said angrily. “What do you want now?” “I wanna watch,” Johnny replied.
Without missing a stroke, his father said, “Fine. Stand in the corner and watch, but keep quiet.”

Johnny’s girlfriend was in labor with they first child. She was shouting out, “Get this out of me? Give me the drugs.”
She looked at him and said, “You did this to me you *******!”
He casually replied, “If you would care to remember, I wanted to stick it up your *** but you said, ‘it’ll be too painful!’.”

An out-of-breath 7 year-old girl ran up to her grandfather, who was tinkering in his workshop, and confronted him with the universally dreaded (by adults) question, “What is sex…?”
He was surprised she’d ask such a question at her age, but thought if she’s old enough to ask, she’s old enough to get a straight answer. He wouldn’t shirk his responsibility.
Steeling himself to leave nothing out, he proceeded to describe for her all the variations of human sexuality he could conjure, careful to impress upon her the joys and responsibilities of intercourse and procreation.
When finally Grandpa was done pontificating, the little girl stood frozen, as though nailed to the spot, and looked at him with her mouth open, eyes wide in amazement.
Seeing she was overwhelmed, he asked what caused her sudden curiosity. His granddaughter shook off her reverie and replied, “Grandma says dinner will be ready in a couple of secs.”

REALLY  FUNNY   JOKES

A three-year old walks over to a pregnant lady while waiting with his mother in a doctor’s surgery.
“Why is your stomach so big?” – he asks.
“I´m having a baby.” – she replies.
“Is the baby in your stomach?” – he asks, with his big eyes.
“Yes, it is.” – she says.
“Is it a good baby?” – he asks, with a puzzled look.
“Oh, yes. A really good baby.” – the lady replies.
Shocked and surprised, he asks: “Then why did you eat him?”

A woman runs into a doctor’s office and says “DOCTOR! DOCTOR! You have to help me! Everywhere I touch on my body it hurts!”
The doctor replied, “Show me.”
So the woman poked her ankle and screamed of pain. Then she poked her knee and yelled OW. She poked her forehead and screamed again.
She was about to continue when the doctor said, “That’s enough, let me think this over.” He thought for about a minute and said “I think I know what your problem is. You broke your finger.”

A man was in his front yard mowing grass when his attractive blonde female neighbor came out of the house and went straight to the mail box.
She opened it, slammed it shut, and stormed back in the house.
A little later she came out of her house and again went to the mail box and again opened it, then slammed it shut again. Angrily, back into the house she went.
As the man was getting ready to edge the lawn, here she came out again, marched to the mail box, opened it and then slammed it closed harder than ever.
Puzzled by her actions the man asked her, “Is something wrong?”
To which she replied, “There certainly is! My stupid computer keeps giving me a message saying, “YOU’VE GOT MAIL!”

A doctor wanted to get off work and go hunting, so he approached his assistant.
“Seamus, I am going hunting tomorrow. I don’t want to close the clinic. I want you to take care of the clinic and take care of my patients.”
“Yes, sir!” – answers Seamus.
The doctor goes hunting and returns the following day and asks: “So, Seamus, how was your day?”
Seamus told him that he took care of three patients.
“The first one had a headache so I gave him Tylenol.”
“Bravo, and the second one?” – asks the doctor.
“The second one had stomach burning and I gave him Malox, sir.” – says Seamus.
“Bravo, bravo! You’re good at this and what about the third one?” – asks the doctor.
“Sir, I was sitting here and suddenly the door opened and a woman entered. Like a flame, she undressed herself, taking off everything including her bra, her panties and lied down on the table. She spread her legs and shouted: “HELP ME! For five years I have not seen any man!”
“Thunderin’ Lard Jayzus, Seamus, what did ye do?” – asks the doctor.
“I put drops in her eyes.” !!!!!

Customer: Waiter, this soup tastes funny.
Waiter: Funny? But then why aren’t you laughing?

Customer: Waiter, there’s a fly swimming in my soup.
Waiter: So what do you expect me to do, call a lifeguard?

Customer: Waiter, there’s a fly in my soup.
Waiter: That’s all right sir, he won’t drink much.

Customer: Waiter, there’s a dead beetle in my soup.
Waiter: Yes sir, they are not very good swimmers.

Lady: Is this my train?
Station Master: No, it belongs to the Railway Company.
Lady: Don’t try to be funny. I mean to ask if I can take this train to New Delhi.
Station Master: No Madam, I’m afraid it’s too heavy.

EDUCATION JOKES

EDUCATION  JOKES

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Physics Teacher: “Isaac Newton was sitting under a tree when an apple fell on his head and he discovered gravity. Isn’t that wonderful?”
Student: “Yes sir, if he had been sitting in class looking at books like us, he wouldn’t have discovered anything.”
Two factory workers talking:
Woman: “I can make the boss give me the day off.”
Man: “And how would you do that?”
Woman: “Just wait and see.” She then hangs upside-down from the ceiling.
Boss comes in: “What are you doing?”
Woman: “I’m a light bulb.”
Boss: “You’ve been working so much that you’ve gone crazy. I think you need to take the day off.”
The man starts to follow her and the boss says: “Where are you going?”
The man says: “I’m going home, too. I can’t work in the dark.”
A man talking to God:
The man: “God, how long is a million years?”
God: “To me, it’s about a minute.”
The man: “God, how much is a million dollars?”
God: “To me it’s a penny.”
The man: “God, may I have a penny?”
God: “Wait a minute.”
A little girl came home from school and said to her mother, “Mommy, today in school I was punished for something that I didn’t do.”
The mother exclaimed, “But that’s terrible! I’m going to have a talk with your teacher about this … by the way, what was it that you didn’t do?”
The little girl replied, “My homework.”
The students were lined up in the cafeteria for lunch. At the head of the table was a large pile of apples. The nun made a note, and posted on the apple tray: “Take only ONE. God is watching.”
Moving further along the lunch line, at the other end of the table was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies. A child had written a note, “Take all you want. God is watching the apples.”
Teacher: “Why are you late, Joseph?”
Joseph: “Because of a sign down the road.”
Teacher: “What does a sign have to do with you being late?”
Joseph: “The sign said, ‘School Ahead, Go Slow!’”
The teacher of the earth science class was lecturing on map reading.
After explaining about latitude, longitude, degrees and minutes the teacher asked, “Suppose I asked you to meet me for lunch at 23 degrees, 4 minutes north latitude and 45 degrees, 15 minutes east longitude…?”
After a confused silence, a voice volunteered, “I guess you’d be eating alone.”
“Isn’t the principal a dummy!” – said a boy to a girl.
“Well, do you know who I am?” – asked the girl.
“No.” – replied the boy.
“I’m the principal’s daughter.” – said the girl.
“And do you know who I am?” – asked the boy.
“No.” – she replied.
“Thank goodness!” – said the boy with a sign of relief.
Teacher asked George: “How can you prove the earth is round?”
George replied: “I can’t. Besides, I never said it was.”
Teacher: “Here is a math problem. If your dad earned $300 dollars a week and he gave your mother half, what should he have?”
Student: “A heart attack.”
Teacher: “This essay on your dog is, word for word, the same as your brother’s.”
Student: Yes, sir, it is the same dog.”
Teacher: “If you had one dollar and you asked your father for another, how many dollars would you have?”
Vincent: “One dollar.”
Teacher: “You don’t know your arithmetic.”
Vincent: “You don’t know my father.”
Sylvia: “Dad, can you write in the dark?”
Dad: “I think so. What do you want me to write?”
Sylvia: “Your name on this report card.”
Mother: “Why did you get such a low mark on that test?”
Junior: “Because of absence.”
Mother: “You mean you were absent on the day of the test?”
Junior: “No, but the kid who sits next to me was.”
Teacher: “John, why are you doing your math multiplication on the floor?”
John: “You told me to do it without using tables.”
Teacher: “Winnie, name one important thing we have today that we didn’t have ten years ago.”
Winnie: “Me.”
Teacher: “George Washington not only chopped down his father’s cherry tree, but also admitted it. Now, Louie, do you know why his father didn’t punish him?”
Louie: “Because George still had the axe in his hand.”