Teaching with Flair

Teaching With Flair.

Abdullah Sujee

Deputy Principal

Roshnee Islamic School

P.O.Box 21313, Roshnee, 1936.

15 Babas Salaam St. Dadaville.

Tel. No. (016) 556-1146. Fax. No.: (016) 556-1177.

Email: . OR

NEW TECHNOLOGIES WILL NOT INVALIDATE EXISTING REASONS FOR LEARNING TO READ AND WRITE.

Reading gives access to knowledge, literary heritage, culture, individual expression and argument.

Writing enables groups and individuals to articulate and reform knowledge express themselves and develop arguments.

Literacy is necessary for effective functioning at work and in society.

Both reading and writing give pleasure and personal fulfilment.

Reading is informed by understanding where texts come from and who has written them, how they are made and why they are made. Writing their own texts helps learners to develop that understanding.

NEW TECHNOLOGIES FOR READING AND WRITING HAVE EXTENDED THE CURRICULUM FOR ENGLISH.

Students now need opportunities to understand:

how the use of word processors, spell checkers and thesauruses affects the processes involved in the different stages of composition and presentation of text;

how the research opportunities offered by CD-ROM and Internet-based services can be used to support the literature and language;

how the use of electronic sources of information can enhance the processes of comparison and synthesis of information drawn from different texts;

how the use of the Internet extends and changes possibilities for communication with, and publishing for, real audiences across the world.

ENGLISH FOR TOMORROW, SALLY TWEEDLE ET AL.

Preamble:

Given that Education on a global scale is moving to support the move of ‘fast capitalism’ i.e. where minority groups control the means of production in varying degrees of monopoly control thus, creating a mass employment market for skilled professionals and unskilled apprentices, it becomes necessary that we train people to become independent such that they themselves become the ‘movers’ of fast capitalism. In effect, the monopoly of control is then spread across a more broader band of people educated enough to invent new opportunities to satisfy the physiological needs of the masses such that more and more reach self-actualisation thus, prospering theirown life through a culture of self-reliance.

–Abdullah Sujee.

MACRO PLANS FOR THE YEAR 2007 AND BEYOND

The year 2007 will see to the broad development of the communicative competence ability that is manifested in the global economic market. This means that the entire curriculum as suggested in the interim core-syllabus i.e. NATED 550 (GRADE 9 -12) and with OBE must be used to establish an identity in the learner with the world outside the classroom that manifests itself broadly on economic strength. In effect, the learners will be exposed to all facets of the socio-economic development that establishes itself out of the prevailing economic climate. To this, every Educator of the English subject must see to the holistic development of the learner by enhancing innate potentials to the betterment of the of the entire community the learner is part of and the wider world in which he/she will become part of as a result of socio-economic interaction.

The above will be maintained through a review of the current English Subject Policy and the teaching of the interim core syllabus. To this effect, the current implementation of the Out-Comes Based Education (OBE) will be administered as per department regulation/s and it will be progressed to higher grades. In effect, the FET phase will serve to enhance the aforesaid aspects detailed in the OBE system characterized by the GETC at the end of grade 9. The English Educator will and must use the OBE ideas to effect a change in teaching styles and therefore, change the ethos of the entire idea of schooling for the learner. Teachers will therefore, pursue all types of extra-mural activities that will enhance this idea, examples of which relate to Youth Forums – consult with local newspaper companies, Youth Leadership Courses, Debating, Speeches etc that are managed on professional bases.

When the learner is to be assessed, the Educator will follow the guidelines the Education Department sets out for example, continuous assessment, cluster marking, peer evaluation and the likes. This will enable the Educator and Learner to explore the dimensions of self-esteem and esteem of other more holistically. In effect the self-actualization process of the both the Educator and Learner is probed if not reached in varying degrees. In this fashion of interaction we agree with Robert Jeffcoate in his book STARTING ENGLISH TEACHING when he cites John Dixon as correct when he said. ‘ It was an elementary mistake to demand a list of skills, proficiencies and knowledge as the basis of and English curriculum’[1]. Thus we move to the view of Jeffcoate when he says, ‘ An English Department needs to begin, in my view, by trying to establish which kinds of writing are already catered for already in the curriculum’[2]. In effect the Educator and Leaner will not necessarily develop a new curriculum in grades 9 -12 to meet the demands of the newly implemented OBE curriculum but will use the current NATED 550 in an innovative way to realise the objects of OBE and the establishment of the FET (Further Education and training Bill) and its objects.

The above will mean that the English Educator will undergo the IQMS i.e. ‘Integrated Quality Management System’ set out by the Education Department and will follow it through in all respects for the purpose of self-development. In effect, the Educator will make use of the INSET (In-service Training) that will be established and provided by the Education Department through the local district offices or, the NGOs the Government allows. This will lead therefore, to the implementation and progress of Quality Assurance that the School will do to improve the School to become a credible service provider of Education rated with a band of criteria set by the Education Department. Thus, Educator development will be an ongoing process. In the private/independent schools these aspects can be tailor-made for the same desired effect.

Therefore, the context of English will mean ‘Our Challenge…will be to exploit the rapidly evolving hardware to present new and improved types of software… to provide with the information they want and need, at the proper time, in the proper form, wherever they need it. The creation and dissemination of the printed word will continue to be part art, part engineering. If we pursue it diligently and intelligently, we will improve the engineering and extend it into areas as yet barely touched on, and we will do so without losing the art. We may even advance it’[3]

Points to Ponder

“Electronic communications create new opportunities for the readers and writers; multimedia brings together word, moving image and sound. Together they provide new means for the representation and communication of meaning. It seems improbable that electronic texts will ever threaten the primacy of the printed word but it is already evident that the balance between the two is changing. How the English curriculum can reflect this changing situation will be a key question for the next century.” The English classroom therefore, must be dynamic and not static, ‘always on the move’, it should be progressive and in touch with the technological advances that is and will be eventually part of Education. To illustrate the point, ponder on the vignette below keeping in mind the following question: “Is my classroom a springboard to the world outside the world of the classroom?”

Our Aim: Prepare children for the future… ‘Back to the future’ is your classroom, so consider the scenario below…

CONSIDER THIS SCENARIO BELOW KEEPING IN MIND THAT ‘BACK TO THE FUTURE’ Is YOUR CLASSROOM.

Time: The Future

Place: A Classroom

Clare handed over the slip of paper reluctantly. It consisted of one line only and read: “http//high.csv.city.ac.uk/WWW/Eng/Hamlet/sjt.html”.

“Its not quite finished, Miss. Can’t I give it in tomorrow?”

“No,” her English teacher replied, glancing at it as she added to her pile.

“You know as well as I do that it’ll never be finished. Today is the deadline and you’ll have to be satisfied with it as it is.” She turned her attention to the rest of the class. “Any more course work pieces?”

Some handed in paper – two to three thousand word essays by the look of them – others disks – multi-media presentations. They had been working on the Hamlet assignment for three weeks now. “Is Shakespeare multi-cultural?” was the broad question they had started with. But each learner refined it to generate his or her own particular focus.

The difference between Clare’s piece and the disk – and paper – base presentations of her classmates was that she could not guarantee that the teacher would be reading the same text she had been working on at home the previous night. Hers was presented on the World-wide Web and, within it; Clare had created links with other texts from around the world. She had incorporated images of costume designs, critiques of productions, brief clips from the movie Hamlet from Russia and Japan and online discussion. And she knew that these were liable to be changed at anytime by their originators. What difference, she wondered, might those changes make to her final grade?[4]

FOCUS: USING Technology.

In the PowerPoint Presentation the word “Media” was used extensively to reinforce the concept of technology therefore, in the paper presentation below, the comprehensive word “Technology” is used only that it seems the more apt jargon.

“New technologies will not invalidate existing reasons for learning to read and write…

New technologies do extend what there is to learn…

New technologies for reading and writing have extended the curriculum for English.”[5] (If not all languages)

The aim of this paper is to establish within each teacher the spirit of innovation, creativity and quality of presenting lessons using the availability of technology. Therefore, it is felt that no suggestions offered are prescriptive. Let us now delve into this notion of: TEACHING WITH FLAIR.

Teaching with flair essentially would mean a way of making lessons memorable, exciting, worthy and contextual. In order for this to become a reality, the teacher needs to conduct the following introspection:

• Just how well prepared am I to change my (conventional) teaching style/s by introducing media/using media/involving media?
• How do I use Active Boards or Smart Boards in my teaching.

• Can I work to prepare a PowerPoint Presentation (PPP) a worksheet for every lesson or, can I prepare to plan a worksheet/PPP for when ever the situation demands and see the work outlined on the worksheet done/followed up/developed?

• In the situation of a multilingual/cultural classroom do I still teach literature for example as I did in a monolingual/cultural classroom?

• DO I JUST WANT A CHANGE OF FOCUS! ?

The above are all possible questions that have or is going through your mind as you are caught in this web of trying to CHANGE your teaching with OUTCOMES BASED EDUCATION & with the FET phase.

The following ideas will hopefully change your FOCUS.

OUR FOCUS: LITERATURE

How many times you feel that your teaching of literature novels, plays and drama (Shakespearean as well) is/ just gone stale?

The examples I am going to use will illustrate a point of teaching literature using a whole language approach. The whole language approach essentially means welding all aspects of language into the teaching of the novel, play etc. It is to approach the teaching from a holistic perspective such that the potential of textual meaning is brought alive.

The workbook approach:

Current trends in OBE and the FET shows that learning must phase in all learning areas and the ACs and SOs are all interlinked. Therefore, in the teaching of a language we extend the same thinking. This means in a the workbook approach, all learning areas in English for example – language, poetry, writing etc are all combined in extracting the best lessons for a literature study. That is to say in the teaching of Macbeth for example, all lessons must extend from the text such that all the work is then filed in one file under the various areas i.e. language, literature study, writing etc. Literature study remains classically what it is.

The issue of PORTFOLIOS – I’ll just say this – the work you do with the workbook extends the portfolio work to even better levels of good work.

In the study of Alan Paton’s Cry, The Beloved Country, pupils did the workbook and then went one step further. They produced a 5-10 minute audio production i.e. a main news bulletin that is preceded with a sound clip, an advertisement, a letter to the editor and a secondary newsflash article. They were given four weeks to complete the task. They were made to call in to radio stations requesting assistance and the likes. All in all they were made to listen radio broadcasts and watch with more keen interest the news on various TV channels.

Their transcripts formed part of their workbook i.e. writing aspect whilst their own enhanced learning made them rewrite part of their literature notes on the study.

The results were amazing. Pupils did the most remarkable audio presentations on audio cassettes, cds and MP3 players and when they had to assess it – the learning was a life long lesson because they began to be more critical of the news they read, heard and what they surfed on the net.

Below is an example of the task sheet and the assessment rubric – study it and try to implement it.

Furthermore, I made pupils act out Macbeth in way that it must be recorded on video. The results were amazing. Pupils did act out their plays and learnt about the cinema industry in ways that formal lessons could not teach. What became more exposed is the hidden curriculum. Pupils became more aware of what the world of Hollywood and the likes have to offer i.e. as far as those Muslims were concerned, that it is a world where too many if not all your morals are defiled.

The above showed how the world of the classroom made pupils understand the world outside it. Therefore, the view that one experiences the real world outside the classroom is a fallacy. The classroom is in fact the reality of the world and the pupils must see it- the problem is: we keep on telling them that the REAL WORLD is outside!

The lessons you present then must match with many of their experiences. Lets illustrate the point in this way. Pupils are all computer junkies if not Game Boy junkies or TV junkies therefore, if your teaching is devoid of these experiences you are considered out of touch. If you use PowerPoint Presentations and media in the classroom what messages are you sending out to learners? You are showing them responsible use of technology and you are showing them that you are just as compatible with the world of their experiences.

WHAT ARE YOU SPENDING TIME AND MONEY ON?

Assessment and marking take far too much time and it eats away at family time. Therefore, look at the time and money you spend on the educational needs of others and ask yourself this question: “How has my life improved?” Just like how the microwave made cooking faster, if you invest in a projector and a laptop all your teaching aids become packed in just one parcel ready for use. The problem is – do you want to? Remember, you can use the projector to screen movies at home. The point made here is the time and money we spend trying to relax on a holiday after a school’s term is lost immediately when the term begins because we have to weigh the paper chase. The paper chase is not going to end therefore, work smart.

Consider the all of the above in light of the following:

At this point it becomes necessary to illustrate the pedagogy behind such an approach. Fraida Dubin and Elite Olshtain in their book,

COURSE DESIGN: Developing Programs and Materials for Language learning (p48-48) mention

“In the cognitive-code practices, learners are expected to internalize linguistic rules which in turn help them use the language on their own. Learners are given choices regarding types of activities, amount of practice, and the language skill or the medium in which the activity is carried out.

Drawing on humanistic-affective educational philosophies, communicative goals have further increased the learners’ role by encouraging them to share responsibility for various outcomes. Since communicative aspects of interaction in the target language are emphasized, students must learn to function effectively in pairs and small groups, sometimes teaching each other, at other times discovering answers to problems together.

The type of activities or tasks students carry out is a natural outcome of the degree of control maintained by both the teacher and the textbook, as well as the level of student involvement. Approaches which favor considerable control on the part of the teacher and the textbook result in an abundance of mechanical and predictable tasks which leave very little error for the learners’ initiative. Approaches which favor a communicative-humanistic view usually present learners with ample opportunities for unpredictable and negotiable outcomes to activities.”