Understanding

Teaching
Chapter 1
What is teaching?
 Teaching is more than just memorizing facts & knowing correct answer,
it lies in making learners truly understand the concepts under study.
Teaching also require effective delivery of the course contents, thus the
need for available varied strategies anchored on educational theories
relative to the “how” of teaching.
A teacher has become a facilitator , a far cry from what use to be
teacher-centered instruction. He simply guides & provide learners
opportunity to develop creativity & come up with their own discoveries .
 A teacher’s responsibility includes connecting students’ learning
according to what they know of value, thus he must know his student’s
interests, learning styles & background.
 The Teaching Profession
 It is a noble profession and is one which can be rewarding and
fulfilling no matter what the odds are especially for people who
regard it as a calling, more than commitment.
It has been accentuated by the need for meeting the challenges of
the times, which can be addressed through quality teaching.
 Demand for professional teacher who will stick with the profession
despite the constraints has been persistent.
As a profession it produces something significant and moving when
the right ideas and beliefs are implemented.
The Teaching Profession

Love for teaching has served as a motivating factor to

teachers who have not left behind much-touted idealism.
The teaching profession demands a total commitment to total
transformation of the learning, a continuous dev’t of his
potential for totally satisfying life as a person and as a
member of the community.
 The teacher need support system from the parents and the
community.
Teacher plays a crucial role in the continuous dev’t of the
society as they try to meet the challenges of the time.
 What is teaching?
 It is an organized, purposeful and deliberate efforts designed to bring
about certain desirable ends in an individual.
According to our authors it can be understood from different contexts as:
 Teaching is an occupation- refers to teaching as one does for living.
 Teaching may also mean the myriad of activities associated to teaching
(i.e. explains, asks, reviews, demonstrate, advises students, etc)
Teaching is an act itself which involves common activities in classroom &
the teaching strategies & techniques, but focuses to make it work to the
full advantage of the learner.
Teaching is a process or set of actions to induce learning & eventually to
succeed in learning. This stresses planning for teaching, the process of
teaching & achievement aspects. It is deliberate & does not just happens.
What is Teaching for understanding (TfU) Framework?
>>Blythe & associates (1989) made a framework linked to what David
Perkins called four cornerstone pedagogy consisting of four elements of
planning & instruction:
What is Teaching for understanding (TfU)
Framework?

 It is a set of general guidelines, in which teacher is leading

students toward being able to do a variety of thought-
provoking things with a topic, such as explaining, finding
evidence in examples, generalizing, applying, making
analogies, and representing the topic in new ways.
 TfU framework serves as guide to focus educational practices
on the development of student understanding. The core
dimensions of the framework reflect good teaching from
perspective of educators. The guidelines are applicable to
teaching in all grade levels and even in higher education.

Generative Topics

 One of the most challenging task a teacher faces is

determining, reviewing & deciding on course materials to
use for optimal learning.
Generative topics are issues, themes, concepts and ideas
that provide adequate depth, significance, connections and
variety of perspectives to nurture students’ development in
terms of powerful understanding or discernment.
Generative Topics…

Guide when selecting the best possible teaching

topics:
 Central to one or more domains of disciplines.

 Interesting to students

Interesting to teachers

Accessible

Offer opportunities for multiple connections

Generative Topics…

Steps for Planning Generative Topics :

 Brainstorming

 Create idea webs around ideas generated

Choose from idea web

Consult with other teachers and peers or with community

members.
 Generative Topics…

Questions to ask when refining web of ideas :

 Does the topic represent fundamental concepts or themes in your
domain?

 Do you think it will appeal to students and to you?

 Does it provide opportunities for students to connect learning

possibilities to other classes as well as life experience outside school?

Does it have related resources materials to make topic accessible to

students?
Do you think you can present the topic to your students in engaging
way?
Understanding Goals

 Teachers can developed nested understanding goals – unit

sized goals embedded with year-long overarching goals or
throughlines. Throughlines are compounded goals of short
topics for the duration of a school year.
These describe the most important understanding that
learners should develop during the entire course.
Understanding Goals
Identifying Throughlines
 At the beginning of the semester, the teacher might write down the
most important things his students may learn out of the class. He also
plans to revisit & modify the list as lessons progresses during the year.
After trying several units, he looks for related goals that appear more
than once or stands out from the rest. Unlike unit understanding goals,
throughlines need to encompass the essence of the whole course.
 Throughlines are often rooted in deeply held but rarely articulated
beliefs and values about both subject matter and teaching & learning
process, thus they often take longer to cultivate & polished. Unit long
goals can sometimes take several years to be considered accomplished
& finetuned.
 Understanding Goals

Planning Throughlines
In developing the teacher’s overarching understanding goals, he
usually asks himself, “ What are the most important things I
want my students to keep when they leave my class?” To
develop goals, following steps may be tried:
 Review several units that have been planned (either using the
framework or in other ways). What common these emerge? What
understanding, skills or concepts resurface time & again as you plan &
teach?
 Ask the students what they hear being focused on. As them what they
think are supposed to get from the class.
 As with unit long understanding goals, try stating overarching goads as
both statement & question.
Performance of Understanding

During the year the student should be involved in activities

that develop, express, and supplement their current
understanding.
 Initial performance are initially simple like discussing
certain topic as a group.
Eventually performance elevates from simple to complex.
Teachers as well progress from offering high instructional
support to lower levels as students begin to acquire
understanding of the key concepts independently.
Performance of Understanding

Eventually students might be able to contribute in

culminating performance of understanding via activities
such as presentation or exhibition.
Their learning opportunities are even more enriched by
different kinds of life experiences. Even with knowledge
acquire from books & lectures, but without opportunity to
apply knowledge in various situation with guidance from
expert facilitator, they are not likely to develop
understanding & have better appreciation of what they
have learned.
Performance of Understanding

Planning performance of Understanding

Teacher may begin planning by brainstorming ideas for
possible performance of understanding.
 After goals are identified, he looks at the list of possibilities
for performance of understanding he generated & identifies
ones that best seem to support these goals. If he has not
identified goals yet, he tries other possibilities & ask “Why
do I want my students to do this? This will help articulating
the understanding of goals.
 Performance of Understanding
The performance of understanding generated are sequence so
they occur throughout the unit, from start to end, which are:
 Introductory performances.

 Guided-inquiry performances

 Culminating performances.
 Ongoing Assessment

 It is the process of providing students with clear responses to

their performance of understanding in a way that will help
improve their next performances. It provides an actual gauge on
their kind of performance.
 Teachers should provide feedback, learning criteria &
opportunities for reflection throughout the instruction, and not be
at the end of unit.
When understanding is the purpose of instruction, the process of
assessment is than just an evaluation making it a substantive
contribution to leaning. The process needs to be able to validate &
to enlighten students & teachers about what students currently
understand & how to continue with subsequent teaching &
learning.
Ongoing Assessment
Key Factors of ongoing assessment
 Criteria established for each performance of understanding
need to be a) clear; b) relevant; and c) public
 Feedbacks need to:
 occur frequently from beginning to end of the unit.
 offer students information not only about how they perform
but how to improve it further.
 inform them about intended subsequent classes & activities
 come from variety of perspective (student, classmates &
teacher)
Ongoing Assessment

Planning Ongoing assessment

 The teacher uses his understanding goals to establish the criteria
by which to assess student’s performance. The test of
understanding is the most crucial.
 The teacher provides opportunities at the beginning and
throughout a unit for assessing how well the students developed
their understanding. Assessment should be ongoing process.
 Balance of both formal & informal feedback is important &
teacher should make room for multi-perspective assessment
(self, peer and teacher).