Phases of teaching

Sample Question: Define teaching what are different phases of teaching?

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Different phases of teaching:-

Teaching is a complex task. We need systematic planning to perform this task. Teaching has to be done in steps. The different steps constituting the process are called the phases of teaching. Each phase has some operations of teaching which create the situation for learning. Teaching process can be divided into three phases/stages.

1. Pre-active phase – refers to planning
2. Interactive phase – refers to the conduct and management
3. Post-active phase – refers to the follow-up and consolidation

Different phases involve different operations of teaching.

The pre-active phase of teaching:-

• It is the phase of planning for teaching.
• Good planning makes the task of teacher smooth, functional and successful.
• There one two major steps involved in this phase.
  1. Establishment of some kind of goals or objectives.
  2. Discovering ways and means to active these objectives.

Operation of teaching at pre-active phase:-

Before classroom teaching, a teacher has to perform many tasks. This phase includes all these activities which a teacher performs before entering the classroom. This stage involves the following activities.

(1) The formulation or fixing up of goal:-

• The teacher formulates in detail the instructional objectives in behavioral terms by using the taxonomy of educational objectives.
• Objectives one determined according to student’s psychology and needs of the society and the school.
• Objectives are determined according to what changes teacher expects in students by achieving these objectives.

(2) Selection of content or subject matter to be taught:-

• After fixation of teaching objectives teacher decides about the content to be presented before learners.
• For content selection following points should be kept in mind.
  1. The demand of syllabus/curriculum.
  2. The entry behavior of the accepted learners.
  3. Level of the motivation of learners.
  4. Teacher’s preference for assessment related to the content.

(3) The arrangement of ideas and style of teaching:-

After selecting the presentable content, the teacher arranges the elements of the content in a logical and psychological sequence. Sequencing should be able to assist in the transfer of learning.

(4) Selecting Intuitional Methodology:-

The teacher has to select appropriate strategies and tactics of teaching, keeping in view, of the content and objectives of teaching. This operation is very important in teacher-education programme.

(5) Development of teaching strategies:-

The teacher should decide beforehand about strategies and tricks, which he has to use during the course of his classroom teaching. He should decide about

• When and what device of teaching should be used.
• When the teaching aids will be used.
• When recapitulation or evaluation etc. will be done.

(6) Deciding the duration, place, and management of classroom teaching.

(7) A decision about evaluation tools and techniques.

So, this stage is about working out the details of the teaching or activities a teacher want to perform in the class. Here teacher hypothesizes about the possible outcome of his action.

The interactive phase of teaching:-

This phase refers to the execution of the plan made during the pre-active phase. This is actual classroom teaching. In this phase, the teacher gives students the learning experiences through some suitable modes.

In this phase, teachers give learners a pre-determined environment. The teacher interacts with students so that desired changes can be brought in the learner.

So learning is directed in pre-determined directions to achieve pre-determined goals. In this process, the teacher provides learners with verbal stimulation.
This stimulation can be of various kinds. Few examples are:-

• asking questions
• listening to student’s response
• providing guidance
• making explanations etc.

Operations of teaching at interactive phase:-

This phase of teaching

• includes all those activities which a teacher uses after entering the classroom.
• includes actual teaching done in the classroom.

In this face to face encounter with learners. Here the teacher uses some of the techniques, aids, and material planned in the first phase. This helps the teacher in achieving the relevant objectives that were already set. Here the following operations are undertaken by the teacher.

(1) Setting up the class:-

It refers to the activity of perceiving the due size of the class, getting the feel of the mood of learners. here teacher should be aware of

• how many in the group are looking attentive
• how many are negligent and disinterested
• who are sharper ones
• who are troublemakers etc.

(2) Knowing the learners:-

Knowing the learners means to know about the previous knowledge of the new learners. It is done after preserving the class size. For this teacher can start by knowing the abilities, interests, attitudes and academic backgrounds of the new learners.

(3) Starting teaching:-

At this stage, the teacher starts teaching. This is done after diagnosing by questioning. Here, two types of activities are involved.

1. Initiation
2. Response

The initiation and response are known as ‘verbal interaction’

The interactive phase of teaching is the classroom interaction between teacher and students. The interaction may be verbal or non-verbal. Interaction is the most important at this stage. This is the interchange between teacher and student by initiation or response operations.

In this phase, all the activities performed by a teacher when he enters the classroom are combined together. These activities one concerned with the presentation of content in the class.

The post-active phase of teaching

It is the evaluation phase of teaching. It arises when the teacher has left the class and tries to have a look back into what happened in the class. This phase is concerned with the following activities.

(a) Evaluation Activities : –

These activities are performed in various ways, e.g.,

• tests or quizzes
• by observing student’s reactions to questions,
• instructional situations and comments etc.

(b) Summing up teaching tasks:-

To sum up, the teacher asks the questions from the learners, verbally or in written form. The behaviors of the students are also measured in order to evaluate their achievements.

In absence of all these evaluative activities, the entire learning process could be incomplete.

Activities/operations at the post-active phase

(1) Determining the exact dimensions of behavior changes:-

Here the teacher compares the actual behavioral changes in students with their expected behavioral changes. If desired behavioral changes are observed in maximum students then it means that teaching strategies are very effective.

(2) Selection of testing devices and techniques:-

For comparing desired and actual behavior changes, the teacher has to select appropriate, testing devices which are valid and reliable. For this criterion, tests are more preferred than the performance tests.

(3) Changing strategies of testing:-

The student’s testing result is also used for evaluating the effectiveness of instructions and teaching strategies. It should provide a base for improving the teaching and changing strategies of teaching.

Importance of operations in different phases of teaching:-

1. It focuses on bringing desired behavior changes in the students.
2. It provides the scientific basis for developing effective instructions of the teaching.
3. The classroom teaching and interaction can be made effective with this background.
4. Teaching operations ultimately create the appropriate conditions of learning for achieving the desired goals.
5. Teaching can be organized effectively at different levels by employing appropriate teaching activity.

So we can say that the process of teaching starts even before the teacher enters the classroom. It continues even after classroom. It continues even after classroom interaction in the form of evaluation, feedback, and other activities. All three teaching phases are interrelated each one helps to modify the other in order to make teaching more meaningful and significant.

Further reference
Very good pdf resource on teaching and learning for extra reference
download learning and teaching document
Learning And Teaching by Suresh Bhatnagar…
teaching and learning B.Ed. books
LEARNING AND TEACHING by S.k.MANGAL