PERSONAL INFORMATION
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Name
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MR.MICHALE JOHN
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Age
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57 YEARS
OLD
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Date
Of Birth
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10 NOVEMBER 1967
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Origin
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BUKIT MERAH INDUSTRIAL AREA
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Wife’s
Name
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PN. LAVENDRA KUTTY
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Number
Of Children
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3 ( 2 GirlS 1 Boy )
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EDUCATIONAL
BACKGROUND :
1.
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Primary
education in SK La Salle Ipoh.
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2.
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Secondary
education ACS Ipoh.
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3.
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Teachers
Training College in 1985 (Makatab Perguruan Lembah Pantai KL).
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4.
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Graduated
with a Degree in TESL From UPM in 2001.
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SERVICES:
1.
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1988
– 2002 in SK SUNGKAI (Primary School)
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2.
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2002
– Until now in SMK BERCHAM (Secondary school)
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SWEET EXPERIENCE:
1.
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Awarded the Most Popular
Teacher in (2009) and many students get A in UPSR Exam in English (38)
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2.
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SPM students also achieved
excellent results in the SPM examination consecutive 5 years.
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BITTER EXPERIENCE:
Unsatisfactory achievement
SPM result in 2014.
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WHY CHOOSE TEACHING
PROFESSION
He
chose this profession because he was very interested to teach children. Not
only that, he is also very fond of this child because his sister is very
spoiled children, cute, naughty, have various, neglected and very funny
character and so on. Children are like jewels bestowed by God on this earth. In
addition, Mr.Michale says he chose this field because college kids are like
white cloth.
People
who will shape them into black, red or colourful is that teachers, their
parents should, if we become creative and intelligent teacher we can shaping them. With this in mind
it is natural that we as leaders and educators focusing more weight to the way
we provide non-formal education in early childhood again. We as teachers
educate these children will become responsible leaders and others in the
future. Being a teacher is a noble work because we provide knowledge and
educate them be a useful. He said that the task of being a teacher
is not just teaching the curriculum but are responsible for guiding students
with values that should not be overlooked in the classroom or outside the classroom.
Produce
individuals who have a positive value in life, in line with the objectives of
the National Education Philosophy. Teachers should also be a motivator and
mentor to a child's learning. Teachers should prepare the child to achieve the
goals and objectives required and the development of children in the preschool
years. Impetus and encouragement should be commensurate with the ability of a
child. Teachers must find an approach that can help children develop the
potential of a child. The activities planned by the teacher should enable
children to achieve success according to their level of ability or capability.
EXPERIENCE
TO BE A TEACHER
Experience
he went through while being a teacher is very challenging because these
children have various whims, caprice and very different character. This is
because we are as a teacher should be patient with various attitudes. Everything
that they heard and experienced will be
stored in memory. So, for giving them the best possible knowledge, at this
stage that children should be provided with all the new experiences to built.
Teaching
and learning in an informal will leave a deep impression in their memory. At
this stage the children undergo a process of slow physical development but on
this stage the learning process are very fast. Experiences that will be able to give a good impression. Positive
encouragement and stimulus is necessary to help them to achieve the desired
growth. He told me that not only impart knowledge delivery follow a whim but
involves the mastery of certain techniques which can ensure the science
presented it can be understood and appreciated by the children.
THE
CHALLENGES TO BE A TEACHER
The
main challenge is to carry out the duties of a teacher with dedication in the
classroom. This includes timely in accordance with the timetable and carry out
teaching and learning methods and techniques. The challenges faced by him during
his tenure as a teacher is to discover neglected children of various ethnic
groups.
Not
only that, parents or guardians also have various whims and chatty, there are
also a member of cooperation that does not bother with all this. He said,
according to tradition, is the responsibility of parents raising children,
while school is where they learn. This opinion is no longer appropriate because
of the role of teachers especially primary school teachers has changed a lot.
Teaching and education should emphasize the perception of parents and their
sensitivity to the education and growth in children. Teachers must equally
learn how to work together with parents to raise and teach them.
In
addition, the challenges faced by him were teachers must understand the effects
of family life and family structure that will occur when parents get involved
in the school community. Not many parents are unaware of the fact that we can
engage in a program. This is because parents are too busy with their careers so
they are forget to spend time with their
children.
Relations
between home and school, teachers should interact with parents to get the
latest information. Primary school students learning does not involve books and
teachers, but also parents at home. Learning is combined and support
socialization at home and then at school. Establish continuity or continuity
between the two educators, namely at home and in school.
He
said again, parents as the primary educators and first played a critical role
in promoting mental and emotional growth of children. Teachers' knowledge about
children's growth can influence its development with her friends and communication
with parents. Teachers need to communicate clearly the characteristics of the
child to enhance the knowledge of parents about their children. In addition, to
broaden their experience and knowledge, primary school teachers need to expose himself to the
opinions or views contained new and obtained from various sources.
Teachers
must give love as given by their parents while fostering appreciation and
respect. Teachers also need to carry out basic tasks such as parents determine
their convenience to go to the toilet, preparing food and drinks and a relaxing
time. The atmosphere in the classroom that can meet the emotional and physical
needs of children should be created. Mr.Michale said teachers should always indicate the nature
of love, the behaviour of a gentle, cheerful and active, sweet face and using
appropriate tone of voice when talk.
Not
only that, the teacher should be a model for children to have good qualities
and deeds are considered reasonable. Children need adult individuals to serve
as examples. Teachers need to use a good chance that found to show good example
for applying a positive attitude in children. Children learn through
observation and imitation. As a model teacher should always be cautious in
speech, behaviour and attitude so negative elements not emulated by children.
Children are observers; each performed by a teacher absorbs quickly and will be
adopted by the child. Teachers should establish good relationships with the
families of children, understand their problems and interests as well as acting
as an intermediary between students with society. Teachers play an important
role towards the development of a child. Teachers need the cooperation, support
and good relationships with members of the community, particularly to inform
them of pre-school education. Teachers should actively participate in the
activities organized by the society.
Teachers
need to express sympathy, respect and consideration for parents to know and
understand the children under his care, not only as individuals within a family
but also in the community. Teachers must know how to adapt as a member of the
community in the places of work and produce thoughtful and honest attitude
towards others. A teacher is a counsellor who is as important as parents.
Teachers play an important role in educating children to shape the development
and aspirations towards the expected.
HOW
TO BE AN EXCELLENT TEACHER
According
to Mr.Michale that to become an
outstanding teacher should read a lot of
books on the psychology of these children because children have a variety of
different attitudes. In addition, an educator must have an open mind as an
educator will be faced with various attitudes of parents of these children.
Open-minded educators will enhance the academic performance of students as
they idol student choice.
In
addition, open-minded teachers who are always ready to receive any weakness and
deficiencies which are owned by their students. Any difficulties and hardships
can be handled well because of this openness. Humility and realize that there
is no perfect man will help every teacher to accept the views of others, even
those who give it a lower position or younger age.
Such
awareness will always help teachers to give space to each student in to
comment. High confidence is closely related to the confidence and the courage
of a educator in chanelling information to student .Must be confident, have a
high commitment to the profession. High confidence also helps teachers deliver
lessons more effectively.
Teachers
should always behave and think positively. Teachers need to recite words that
optimism. Without self-confidence, Teachers will easily usual nervousness,
panic, pale, nervous, and panic and feel depressed. Operating without confidence
is like carrying water in a container leaks. In addition, the design of
teaching is provided in a systematic manner guided by a teacher with the
prescribed syllabus. Careful planning will ensure the best possible teaching
time used for the purpose of imparting knowledge to children. In addition, a
teacher or educator will be of a lesson plan so that children do not feel bored
or distracted while in class. In addition, teachers should provide two-way
communication while in the classroom.
In
addition, we can also ask more experienced teachers in school. People who are
excellent when given a task, then he did
with enthusiasm and responsibility. Teachers are responsible for educators who
carry out all the tasks entrusted with dedication and will make every effort to
ensure that the goals and objectives achieved his duties with distinction. To
become an outstanding educator, a person needs to take responsibility for the
child while in the classroom until they return home.
He
said again, attractive appearance is the most important key to a teacher
to win the hearts of students. Failure
of teachers to showcase attractive appearance causes children to lose interest
and abstain from it. The most important aspect in an attractive appearance in the
physical condition of the containers. A teacher or educator must look
attractive so that these children seem happy. A teacher must have the creative
nature because nature will lead to a
natural creative new ventures through the broadest sense. High creative power
refers to the nature of the find an abnormality in carrying out their duties
and roles as a teacher.
Imaginative
also be the main basis for a creative teacher. Such a situation will turn on
teaching and learning environment without the bothersome children. While
teachers run their daily activities, teachers should be interesting ways to
attract creative children to learn in a more meaningful and effective. Teachers
who excel not only serve as a presenter of knowledge but also as mentors to
children. To become a good guide, teachers need to stimulate, persuade, and pay
full attention to the needs of children who are dealing with English.
As
a profession towards the formation of children who are knowledgeable,
responsible, capable, and competitiveness, educators or teachers should be
sensitive to the demands of the changes that occur either outside or in the
child's environment. With realized how big the responsibility to guide children
to achieve full progress, teachers must be willing to enhance the profession to
be more sensitive and open to the formation of an excellent citizen.
ADVICE
TO PROSPECTIVE TEACHERS
Advice given by him is never to give
up and continue to work hard, do not easily give up and believe in ourselves we
can do well. Being a loving, has a strong position, according to current
developments, attractive appearance, has a noble heart, a strong religious
faith, a cheerful, friendly, always give its opinion on the future course, can
become their idol, always concerned the situation of children and wise handling
everything, always smile, member equal attention to the child, always have an
interesting character, teach with confidence and there is a little funny so
children do not feel bored.
Always take the opportunity to
attend the motivation course to improve morale. Always look for opportunities
to improve in their careers, have the strength and high self-esteem. Therefore,
every teacher must be wisely integrating the values of faith and science to
develop moral character in advancing the nation's identity. In such
circumstances, future teachers should play an active role as agent and
facilitator to reach every ideals enshrined in the country's educational
aspirations.
He told again, effective teachers
will use the strategies, techniques, and materials that can stimulate their
students to take advantage of existing experience and use it to speed up the
learning process. In line with expectations and this role, prospective teachers
must always passion and commitment at all times, especially in this day and
carrying out the responsibility entrusted with more efficient. Every teacher
should be open-minded and farsighted in doing our job. When the teacher’s
responsibilities entrusted to uphold the ideals of the community to develop the
country in order to excellence, glory and distinction must be disclosed.
.
THE
PRINCIPLES AND VALUES AS A “GURU PAKAR”
IN TEACHING
According
to Mr.Michale there are six principal and values as
a “Guru Pakar” in teaching. That, a great teacher was someone who
provided classroom entertainment and gave very little homework. His perspective
has changed. His current position as a teacher in higher education gives him
the opportunity to share what he have learned with current and future school
leaders, and allows for some lively discussions among his graduate students in
terms of what it means to be a great teacher.
Teaching is hard work and some teachers never grow to be anything better
than mediocre. They do the bare minimum required and very little more. The
great teachers, however, work tirelessly to create a challenging, nurturing
environment for their students. Great teaching seems to have less to do with
our knowledge and skills than with our attitude toward our students, our
subject, and our work. Although this list is certainly not all-inclusive, I
have narrowed down the many characteristics of a great teacher to those I have
found to be the most essential, regardless of the age of the learner:
1. A great teacher respects students. In a great teacher’s classroom, each person’s ideas and opinions
are valued. Students feel safe to express their feelings and learn to respect
and listen to others. This teacher creates a welcoming learning environment for
all students.
2. A great teacher creates a sense of
community and belonging in the classroom. The mutual
respect in this teacher’s classroom provides a supportive, collaborative
environment. In this small community, there are rules to follow and jobs to be
done and each student is aware that he or she is an important, integral part of
the group. A great teacher lets students know that they can depend not only on
her, but also on the entire class.
3. A great teacher is warm,
accessible, enthusiastic and caring. This person is approachable,
not only to students, but to everyone on campus. This is the teacher to whom
students know they can go with any problems or concerns or even to share a
funny story. Great teachers possess good listening skills and take time out of
their way-too-busy schedules for anyone who needs them. If this teacher is
having a bad day, no one ever knows the teacher leaves personal baggage outside
the school doors.
4. A great teacher sets high
expectations for all students. This teacher realizes that the
expectations she has for her students greatly affect their achievement; she
knows that students generally give to teachers as much or as little as is
expected of them.
5. A great teacher has his own love
of learning and inspires students with his
passion for education and for the course material. He constantly renews himself
as a professional on his quest to provide students with the highest quality of
education possible. This teacher has no fear of learning new teaching
strategies or incorporating new technologies into lessons, and always seems to
be the one who is willing to share what he’s learned with colleagues.
6. A great teacher is a skilled
leader. Different from administrative leaders,
effective teachers focus on shared decision-making and teamwork, as well as on
community building. This great teacher conveys this sense of leadership to
students by providing opportunities for each of them to assume leadership
roles.
7. A great teacher can “shift-gears” and is flexible when a lesson isn’t working. This teacher assesses
his teaching throughout the lessons and finds new ways to present material to
make sure that every student understands the key concepts.
8. A great teacher collaborates with
colleagues on an on-going basis. Rather than thinking of herself
as weak because she asks for suggestions or help, this teacher views
collaboration as a way to learn from a fellow professional. A great teacher
uses constructive criticism and advice as an opportunity to grow as an
educator.
9. A great teacher maintains
professionalism in all areas from personal appearance to
organizational skills and preparedness for each day. Her communication skills
are exemplary, whether she is speaking with an administrator, one of her
students or a colleague. The respect that the great teacher receives because of
her professional manner is obvious to those around her.
While teaching is a gift that seems
to come quite naturally for some, others have to work overtime to achieve great
teacher status. Yet the payoff is enormous for both you and your students.
Imagine students thinking of you when they remember that great teacher they had
in college.
EFFECTIVE PEDAGOGICAL SKILLS AND
TECHNIQUES IN TEACHING
I propose the following five key
principles of good pedagogy:
- motivation
- exposition
- direction of activity
- criticism
- inviting imitation
These principles may of course
overlap and/or be sub-divided into sub-principles.
1.
Motivation
Motivation is what J Bruner was talking about when he says that
“teaching is the canny art of intellectual temptation”. All of the other
principles, if applied, will also contribute to motivation by delivering an
effective and engaging instructional process but there is a sense in which
motivation needs to be prior to the “delivery” of instruction. Motivation is
likely to be dependent on the personality of the teacher and his or her ability
to develop a good relationship with the student, understanding the student’s
current world view, interests and experience, and framing the learning to be
achieved in a way that makes sense to the student.
This is what people mean when they talk about teaching being “relevant” although
this formulation is not satisfactory because the purpose of teaching is to move
the student beyond the limited outlook of ignorant childhood,
raising expectations and revealing the much
greater possibilities offered by the world outside their existing
experience. Relevance to the student’s existing experience is a good starting
point but not a good outcome of education.
The dependence of inspiration on the
relationship with the teacher means that computers have only a supportive role
to play in this field.
2.
Exposition
Exposition (“chalk and talk”) gets a bad rap. It is trans missive, casts
the student in a passive role, and can often be dull. On the other hand, it is
relatively cheap and easy to provide, if well done it can be motivating, it
gives the teacher an opportunity to establish his or her presence and
personality, it can summarise and articulate the key facts, principles and
learning objectives. If well done and done at the right time and the right way,
it can be an important ingredient in a wider mix and for all the criticism that
is made of it, it is still used heavily by all instructional processes.
Good exposition requires an ability at public performance combined with
good subject knowledge, good preparation and often good supporting props.
Exposition is easy to do badly: hard to do well. It is not essential that
exposition is managed solely by the classroom teacher: online video delivered
by e.g. the Khan Academy may provide a useful supplement to classroom
exposition, especially as online video can be accessed anytime, anywhere and is
likely to be of much higher quality than classroom exposition. That at least is
the vision of the flipped classroom.
3.
Direction of activity
As “we learn by doing”, so good instruction must rely heavily on
activity. Pete Bell dislikes the term “direction”, considering it too “command
and control” so let me break this down into its constituent parts so we can at
least agree what it is we are talking about.
3.1
Learning activity design
The design of activities that deliver particular learning objectives in
an engaging way is a skilled business, particularly when the medium through
which learning activities are delivered becomes digital (the production of
serious games, simulations and creative tools is no trivial matter). At the
moment, this process is largely performed (normally not very well) by front
line classroom teachers. It is a central argument of Education’s coming revolution that this process needs to be systematised and
centralised: digital learning activities produced by specialist designers need
to become a commodity that can be bought or shared and automatically integrated
with learning management software.
3.2
Learning activity delivery
Once a learning activity has been designed, the activity needs to be
delivered. In the non-digital, physical world, the delivery of learning
activity can be summarised by the term “facilitation”. In the digital world,
delivery can largely be automated. In practice, a good instructional process
will represent a blending of both types of activity.
Learning activity selection and sequencing The selection of learning
activities is a critical role of the teacher and needs to be directed by
several further sub-principles. The selection of activities (or “progression
management” as I have called it in the beginning was the conversation) is highly suitable for automation by dedicated software
systems.
3.3
Analysing the structure of the
learning objectives
Clearly, learning activities should be relevant to the current learning
objectives, which ultimately are not set by the teacher. What
the teaching process does require, however, is the disaggregation of those
top-level objectives into smaller prerequisite steps, that will guide the
student through the learning in a logical sequence. If you want to teach long
division, you need to ensure that the student is proficient at addition and
subtraction first.
It is often said that you do not really understand a topic until you
have to teach it. This is at least partly because to teach something well, you
need to analyse the essential structure of the knowledge being taught.
This analysis is required for course
design can be done by a course designer, who does not in turn need to be the
same person who designed the constituent learning activities or the same person
as the classroom teacher.
3.4
Responding to the conceptual state of
the student
This may often go under the catch-phrase of adaptive learning. Not only
does the teacher need at the beginning of the course to select learning
activities that are appropriate to his or her students, but the teacher also
needs constantly to monitor the extent of learning achieved by students at each
stage of the course, selecting activities that respond to the learning and
maybe misconceptions picked up at previous stages of the course. As argued
(with reference to Dylan Wiliam) in In the beginning was the conversation, progression management is often a better response to
student misconception that negative feedback.
3.5
Repetition and review
Memory (both knowing that and knowing how)
tends to degrade. Learning activities therefore need to be repeated regularly
at first in order to ensure that the learning is laid down in long-term and not
just short-term memory. The intervals of review can becoming increasingly
infrequent as the learning is mastered.
3.6
Variation
Much learning in formal systems consists of the mastery of abstract
principles. An abstract principle that is studied only in abstract terms is
never really understood at all, as the essence of the abstract is the ability
to apply it to a range of different concrete contexts.
Similarly, if an abstract principle is only studied in a single context,
it is likely that the student will learn only about the context in which the
principle is learnt and not about the abstract principle. It is therefore
important that the teacher selects activities that illustrate the same
principle in a range of different contexts, so the student can practice the
ability to recognise and apply the abstract principle in unfamiliar contexts.
4.
Criticism
Some will be uncomfortable with this word—but it is the right one.
Criticism should be constructive of course and there are times when criticism
may be withheld, to be replaced by progression management or an expectation
that the student will work it out for themselves.
Ultimately, however, criticism is an essential part of the conversational loop,
It is a key part of the teacher’s tool-set and students should learning to
accept criticism in the constructive sense that it ought to be offered.
Component parts of criticism are:
- evaluation;
- correction;
- contextual repetition of exposition;
- target setting.
At higher levels, the expert evaluation required will be beyond the
capacity of computers and will therefore be a primary function of the
subject expert. At lower levels (e.g. routine marking of simple problems),
offering instantaneous assessment and feedback are functions to which computer
systems are well adapted.
5.
Inviting imitation
Humans are mimics. Children and teenagers are naturally programmed to
find role models and copy them. Ideally, a child will choose to admire a
teacher and seek to imitate them. Children will also imitate each other and the
degree to which this sort of imitation will be beneficial will depend on the
extent to which the peer culture is constructive.
The criterion on which a teacher is likely to be selected as a role
model will in large part be dependent on personality—and this is a tough call
for teachers who may be expert at their subject and diligent in marking work,
if they are not at the same time seen to be quite as cool as the latest
celebrity on big brother.
Teachers can support each other in this respect. The willingness of
children to look favourably on their teachers as role models may be influenced
by the general culture of the school. Where learning is not respected, it may
be almost impossible for a teacher to be a potential role model as well as
being passionate about their subject. I suggest the following sub-principles
which can help promote beneficial imitation:
- fostering a peer culture in which learning is
valued;
- the appointment of charismatic teachers in
senior position (e.g. Head Teacher, Leading Subject Teachers);
- the fostering of team-teaching whereby senior
teachers can support junior teachers, and junior teachers can, by working
alongside senior teachers, learn the tricks of the trade;
- developing good relationships with students;
- teacher acting as collaborator (or “guide on
the side”), illustrating for the benefit of students ways in which
problems can be addressed, which the student can then imitate;
- good discipline, where rival, negative peer
role models are challenged early;
- personalisation of learning and effective use
of praise.
As the last of these points illustrate, there is a relationship between
effective motivational strategies and selection of role models: a highly
motivational teacher is also likely to be adopted as a role model.
As much of this is a matter of
personality, it may be argued that technology has little part of play. However,
technology can help in a number of ways, including the management of
personalisation and the reporting of learning outcomes to encourage the teacher
in giving timely praise.
Such leading teachers would need to be supported by junior
teachers and machine instruction, capable of addressing the
bread-and-butter management of learning, reporting and aggregating learning
outcome data in forms that are available to the whole teaching team.
Conclusion
Understanding the nature of pedagogy is a necessary prerequisite to
understanding what role technology will have in supporting education and also
to the selection of terms that we should use to describe and classify the
business of teaching.
TEACHING TECHNIQUES
Teaching Techniques Education, like almost every other area of our
society, has evolved in leaps and bounds in recent years. Traditional teaching
techniques, based mainly on a teacher explaining a topic and students taking
notes, may still be useful on occasion, but education today revolves more
around encouraging the student to awaken their curiosity and desire to learn.
A number of different teaching techniques have emerged due to this
change in education. Many of these teaching techniques are not actually new
however, The use of technology in the classroom has simply given education a
new lease of life allowing us to approach old ideas in new ways.
Outlined below are some popular teaching techniques that have arisen
from the integration of technology in education. There are 6 Teaching Techniques we should know.
1. Flipped Classroom (Inverting your
class):
The Flipped Classroom Model basically involves encouraging students to
prepare for the lesson before class. Thus, the class becomes a dynamic
environment in which students elaborate on what they have already studied.
Students prepare a topic at home so that the class the next day can be devoted
to answering any questions they have about the topic. This allows students to
go beyond their normal boundaries and explore their natural curiosity.
Exam Time’s free online learning
tools can be integrated into the Flipped Classroom teaching model. Using Exam Time,
you can easily share resources with a group, in this case a class, allowing
students to study these resources from home and prepare for the next class.
2. Design Thinking (Case Method):
This technique is based on resolving real-life cases through group
analysis, brainstorming, innovation and creative ideas. Although “Design
Thinking” is a structured method, in practice it can be quite messy as some
cases may have no possible solution. However, the Case Method prepares students
for the real world and arouses their curiosity, analytical skills and
creativity. This technique is often used in popular MBA or Masters classes to analyse
real cases experienced by companies in
the past.
Ewan McIntosh, an advocate of Design Thinking, created The Design
Thinking School as part of his “No Tosh” consulting group. No Tosh harnesses
the creative practices of some of the best media and tech companies in the
world to coach educators methods to implement the concept. Design Thinking for
Educators also provides teachers with an online toolkit with instructions to
explore Design Thinking in any classroom. Click here to download the free
toolkit now.
3. Self-learning:
Curiosity is the main driver of learning. As a basic principle of learning,
it makes little sense to force students to memorize large reams of text that
they will either begrudgingly recall or instantly forget. The key is to let
students focus on exploring an area which interests them and learn about it for
themselves.
A common technique for exploring self-learning is the use of Mind Maps.
Teachers can create a central node on a Mind Map and allow students the freedom
to expand and develop ideas. For example, if the focus is the Human Body, some
students may create Mind Maps on the organs, Bones or Diseases that affect the
human body. Later the students would be evaluated according to the Mind Maps
they have created and could collaborate with each other to improve each other’s
Mind Maps and come to a more comprehensive understanding of the Human Body.
4. Gamification:
Teaching Techniques Learning through the use of games is a method that
has already been explored by some teachers, especially in elementary and
preschool education. By using games, students learn without even realizing.
Therefore, learning through play or ‘Gamification‘ is a learning technique that
can be very effective at any age. It is also a very useful technique to keep
students motivated.
The teacher should design projects that are appropriate for their students,
taking into account their age and knowledge, while making them attractive
enough to provide extra motivation. One idea may be to encourage students to
create quizzes online on a certain topic. Students can challenge their peers to
test themselves and see who gets a higher score. In this way, students can
enjoy the competition with peers while also having fun and learning.
5. Social Media:
A variant of the previous section
is to utilize social media in the classroom. Students today are always connected
to their social network and so will need little motivation to get them engaged
with social media in the classroom. The ways you can use this method of
teaching are quite varied as there are hundreds of social networks and
possibilities.
A good example is the initiative carried out by the Brazilian Academy of
Languages ”Red Balloon“, which encouraged students to review the tweets of
their favorite artists and correct grammatical errors that they committed in an
effort to improve their English language skills.
6. Free Online Learning Tools:
There is an array of free online learning tools available which teachers
can use to encourage engagement, participation and a sense of fun into the
classroom. Teachers can create an interactive and dynamic classroom environment
using, for example, online quizzes to test student’s knowledge.
If you haven’t used Exam Time’s free
online learning tools yet, sign up now to create Mind Maps, Flashcards, Quizzes
& Notes. Encourage your students to sign up to Exam Time too so you can
create a Group and invite each of your students to become a member. This means
you can share study resources directly with each student online and even apply
the Flipped Classroom Model to your method of teaching.
TESTING AND EVALUATION FROM THE
PERSPECTIVE AS A ‘GURU PAKAR’
Testing and evaluation of language skills and competencies are very
important components of language teaching. Testing becomes an integral part of
teaching because it provides significant information or inputs about the growth
and achievement of learner’s difficulties, styles of learning, anxiety levels.
Effective teaching and effective testing are two sides of the same coin. A
curriculum is what constitutes a total teaching learning programme composed of
overall aims, syllabuses, materials, methods and testing in short. It provides
a framework of knowledge and capabilities, selected to be appropriate to a
particular level. Test evaluates not only the progress and achievement of
learners but also the effectiveness of the teaching materials and methods used.
Standards in Testing and Evaluation
Depending on the topic of interest, there are professional groups which
look to the quality and rigor of the evaluation process. The Joint Committee on
Standards for Educational Evaluation has developed standards for program, personnel,
and student evaluation. The Joint Committee standards are broken into four
sections: Utility, Feasibility, Propriety, and Accuracy. Various European
institutions have also prepared their own standards, more or less related to
those produced by the Joint Committee. They provide guidelines about basing
value judgments on systematic inquiry, evaluator competence and integrity,
respect for people, and regard for the general and public welfare.
The Purposes of Tests
They are school-based tests, constructed and designed by the teachers of
the school. The teachers always follow the instructions and the marking scheme
of the General Directorate of Education in designing their tests .The reader
may notice here, that there are two sources of guidance on test construction,
which raises the question whether there is any mismatch between the two or not.
Next, the nature and purpose of the achievement tests will be considered.
An Achievement Test
An achievement test is concerned with measuring a student s competence
with regard to what has been taught or what is in the syllabus. This type of
test is usually given at the end of a period of instruction and as a result,
its content is a sample of what has been included in the syllabus. This test is
normally school-based and typically provides control over previous learning. However,
it should be borne in mind that the purpose of achievement tests should be to
indicate how successful the learning experiences have been for the learner, rather
than to show in what respects they were insufficient, and the tests themselves should
also be firmly established in preceding classroom experiences in terms of activities
practised, language used, and criteria of evaluation adopted.
Criteria For A Good Test
In this section, a brief survey of each of the criteria to be used for
evaluating the test under study will be presented.
VALIDITY
Validity is generally described as the degree to which a test measures
what it is designed to measure. The principle of validity is to make sure that the
measurements and assessments we obtain reflect what we want them to reflect. It
represents the extent to which confident decisions can be made on the basis of
test results. The overall concept of validity can be broken down into a number
of aspects: content validity, construct validity, concurrent validity,
predictive validity, and face validity.
Content Validity
Content validity refers to the extent to which the test provides both a
satisfactory sample of the syllabus and
information about the students ability
in the aspects we are interested in.
Construct Validity
This is based on the degree to which the items in a test reflect the
aspects of the theory on which the test is based.
Concurrent Validity
This refers to how well scores on a new test correspond to the scores
obtained in other previously validated measures of the same skills.
Predictive Validity
This refers to the correlation between scores obtained on a measure such
as a proficiency test and the language performance of the students when they
use the language in the real world.
Face Validity
This refers to the extent to which the test looks valid to the examinees
who take it, the administrative personnel who decide on its use, and others concerned
with it.
RELIABILITY
A fundamental concern in the development and use of language tests is
their reliability, that is, the stability of the test as a measure. Reliability
refers to the consistency of the examination scores. Also, it refers to the
extent to which the test produces consistent results if different markers mark
it.
WASHBACK (BACKWASH)
Wash back is the effect a test has on
what and how students choose to study and on teaching procedures. The wash back
effect on teaching occurs both before the test and after, depending on the type
of test used. This impact, which the test has on
teaching and on students as well, may
be a positive or a negative one.
CONCLUSION
Designing a good language test
requires us to pay attention to all the above criteria. Nevertheless, we may
find that sometimes these criteria conflict with each other. For example, a
test that is not reliable cannot actually be valid. As a result ,caution should
be exercised when considering all these criteria, especially if they are being applied
to one single test.
PROMINENT ACHIVEMENTS AND EXCEPTIONAL
EXPERIENCES IN TEACHING
