LB#13 Teaching with Visual Symbols

     What we see everything around us were visual symbols with certain different meanings. If you were ask to present a certain complicated process, then what method are you going to take? In this situation, visual symbols is the best solution. Making visual representation is a must skill to individuals especially to us as teachers someday. How could we give learning  to the students if we can't even make a simple presentation of our own experiences, ideas and knowledge. This symbols express more than a thousand words can give. 

     This teaching method also requires basic skills like drawing, sketching, and making diagrams. Through this we could enhance more our creativity and some analytic skills. As a teacher someday it would be one of my priority teaching strategies, the art of visual presentations.

LB#12 The Power of Film, Video and TV in the classroom

    Most of us can remember getting excited about videos in the classroom as they offered a break from regular ordinary routine schoolwork. This common approach of teaching might lead as to no teaching at all. But, times have changed and school videos have become an important part of school curriculum. It was proven viewing images during the lesson improves student retention. In other words, when the teacher uses the school video as a visual tool in the lesson, the learning process is enhanced. Also, if the video is especially interesting, students are much more apt to be engaged in the subject. If used effectively, it can show abstract ideas or far-away places not otherwise accessible to students, can be motivating and exciting for students, tapping into emotions and senses, can be engaging and provides enrichment for visual and auditory learners.

     Just like field trips it also excites and motivates me a lot. It serves as great medium for conveying information or concepts that are hard to grasp with mere words. It creates in me a sense that the I was actually there, inviting me to experience the story or information first-hand whether it is a travel through time or demonstrating specific skills or processes. They can also be used to demonstrate desired behavior, deliver a message and promote learning in those students with high visual orientation.

LB# 11Making the Most of Community Resources and Field Trips

     Field trips are a critical component of standards-based instruction in the classroom, not a separate activity, but a direct extension of classroom instruction. It is a bridge to the outside world. It is the connections to the students’ community and natural environment, developing an awareness, concern and commitment to their place. There are instructional opportunities and contents that are unavailable in the classroom,  including real artifacts that can be observed, touched and experienced that students must witness in person. It gives motivation for students, igniting a passion for learning by opening their eyes to the real world connections and uses of the content and skills they are developing in the classroom. Like for example, Museums and science centers offer rotating displays that present up-to-date information and experiences that were not known or available when textbooks were published that offers the latest information on biotechnology and ethics. 

    I think no one would disagree in the class for a plan to have a field trip. Even me as a student it gives me a lot of excitement every time a field trip will be announce. For me, it is one of the best gifts the school can give to the students.     

     

LB#10 Demonstration in Teaching

     Demonstration involves showing by reason or proof, explaining or making clear by use of examples or experiments. Put simply, demonstration means to clearly show. In teaching through demonstration, students are set up to potentially conceptualize class material more effectively. Based on my experiences discussing only a material without demonstration is quite very difficult to understand. As a student with limited knowledge on a certain matter, I strongly needs proper demonstration of it in order to fully apprehend the whole process. 

    As teacher someday, I'm not only demonstrating specific learning concepts within the classroom, I can also participate demonstration classrooms to help improve my teaching strategies, which may or may not be demonstrative in nature.

LB#9 Teaching With Dramatized Experience

     "The more active they are [students] in determining and absorbing their own learning, the more they learn."

One dimension of this active learning approach to teaching and learning is dramatization namely games, role-play, simulation and mime. Collectively these provide students with some form of imaginary or real world within which to act out a given situation. In this manner the students' knowledge on the character is increased in situation, issue or crisis. As what we know about learning as an interactive process, the students in this experience would have a full interaction to the subject or matter being delivered that is ought to be learned. We can't deny that all of us had undergone this experience even in our earlier life in school, and I'm very thankful enough that through this dramatized method of teaching i was able to enhanced my oral, written and even my visual language.

LB#8 Contrived Experience

      In the case of contrived experience, acquiring of real object or situations are far possible There are cases that are so impossible to bring it into actual presentations. This things are complicated enough due to its size, availability, maybe obscured or confused. In such circumstances, the limitation is preferred for better and easier understanding. Creating an edited model of reality is the best solution a teacher must initiate in order for the students to easily understand the real things.
      Lets take the case in performing emergency drills in school, specifically a fire drill. Actual fire is not really happening, here we can create a case highly similar to the real situation. The students were able to learn what must be done in actual  situation. In contrived experience, limitations were overcome to achieved better and long term learning.

LB#7 Direct Purposeful Experience

     Direct purposeful experience deals with reality. What we see, tasted, felt and smelt gained us experiences that are direct but also purposeful. Experience is the best teacher ever. And these experience can be achieved bymeans of real representation of the object involved. Actual object to be examined and studied gives us clear perceptions and visualization that can be easily retain into our memory .

     Direct experience is very vital in students learning. A student who doesn't have a chance to examine or manipulate actual object of the discussion can't obtain the real experience he/she must have to acquire in order to thoroughly understand what is actually he must have to learn.
     We learn by using our senses that send signals to our brains. As a teacher to be, I highly recommend to use actual object for teaching to help the students gain enough experience they needed for better and effective learning.