Teaching Notes

During the sessions, I was using MS One Note for note taking purpose. These notes along with the content covered in the training, are being organized under topics and shared for future reference.  

Digital Tools

Our online training sessions were designed very thoughtfully and creatively where we were continuosly kept engaged using variety of digital tools. Few of these are listed:

MS Teams

During our online sessions, MS Teams was our collaboration and communication platform. Features like meetings, assignments, grading, general chat, documents sharing were continuously being used by the participants. 

Google Class room

Google Classroom is an online classroom which is easy to connect and use. Students are added in their respective classes where they can check for updates and assignments. A complete subject module can be created in GCR. GCR does not support online meeting directly, google meet or zoom has to be used, while link can be posted in GCR to notify students. 

Flipgrid

This app is used for Video Discussions. Video recording and editing tools are also available in the app making it easier to record and post on the wall directly.

Padlet

The interactive wall where all participants can put their sticky notes and share in real time situation.

Canva

It is the most powerful graphic designing tool which offers thousands of attractive templates of website, documents, slides, resumes, cards etc.

One Note

It is Microsoft note taking app which allows user to insert file links, images, videos along with word processing tools.

Google Sites

This app allows users to create powerful websites through easy to use tools and templates. 

MS Word

It is a word processing software which allows users to type, edit and format text documents. In new Word 365, templates has made development of cards, fliers, newsletters, cvs etc much easier. It also provides real time collaboration of different users through sharable link. 

MS PowerPoint

It allows to prepare powerful and captivating slides where presentation points can be shown for viewers. Users can select any theme from thousand of available online templates. Design Ideas even provides various themes of placing content in a single slide. Very professional looking slides can be prepared within a short period of time. It also provide real time collaboration. 

Google Forms

This is the most widely used application in education and research field. Assigments, quizes and questionnaire forms can be easily created and shared throgh a sharable link. 

Occupation v/s Profession

Occupation refers to the regular activity performed by a person to earn his bread and butter while a profession is an occupation or vocation which requires a high degree of knowledge and expertise in the specific field.

Job Description of I.T Teachers

• Design and develop appropriate computer instructional material.

• Integrate available technological resources in lesson plans aligned with core academic curriculum.

• Use educational technology trends

• Teach students and learners to use computers.

• Organize, maintain and manage class systems in proper working condition

• Manage and monitor student behavior

• Provide a healthy and inclusive environment to students

• Manage and maintain computer lab

• Determine and troubleshoot technology services for staff.

• Maintain a record of lab equipment

• Coordinate and collaborate with Principal and instructional coaches.

• works in the best interest of school

Reflective Practice

Reflective practice is a personal matter which varies from person to person. However, there is no single way of defining reflective practice for personal and professional development. It is a method that helps teachers to reflect on their experiences and actions in order to engage in a process of continuous professional learning. It enables to recognize successes, gaps, and challenges that shape thinking and action. It is a personal inquiry which nurtures greater self-awareness, imagination and creativity.

Learning Journal

A learning journal is a collection of notes, observations, thoughts and other relevant materials built up over a period of time and recorded together.

Teachers use reflective journals and diaries to reflect on their personal and professional experiences for enhancing their personal and professional capacity. Reflective journal is also called a learning journal.

Reflective Cycle 

Gibb's Reflective Cycle gives a complete scenario of reflective practice. It starts with the description of what happened, what were my feelings, positives and negatives of the experience, why did it happen, what needed to be improved and what will you do in future. 

National Professional Standards of Teachers

Standard based development of teachers and other educators is part of a large international movement of quality assurance in education. In general, standards set the parameters for specific expectations. Standards state the knowledge, skill and competencies of teachers. Ten standards with knowledge, skill and disposition are being defined in official document, which are to be observed in teachers. 

1. Subject Matter Knowledge

2. Human growth and development

3. Knowledge of Islamic ethics and values/social life skills

4. Instructional Planning and strategies

5. Assessment

6. Learning environment

7. Effective communication and use of I.C.T

8. Collaboration and partnership

9. Continuous Professional development

10. Teaching of English as second language

21st Century Skills

21st century skills refer to the knowledge, life skills, career skills, habits, and traits that are critically important to student success in today’s world, particularly as students move on to college, the workforce, and adult life.

Learning Skills Literacy Skills Life Skills

Critical Thinking Information Literacy Flexibility

Creativity Media literacy Initiative

Collaborating Technology literacy Social skills

Communicating : Productivity

    Leadership

3M's is the Mode, Means and Method of teaching-learning. We usually focus on means and mode of content while actual emphasis and importance is to consider the METHOD by which content is to delivered.

Active Learning vs Passive Learning

Educational Technology

“Educational technology may be defined as the application of the laws as well as recent discoveries of science and technology to the process of education” –  S. S. Kulkarni.

Revolution and Development of Educational Technology

Erich Ashley (1967) has identified four revolutions in education. They are:

• First Revolution: Revolution of shifting the task of educating the young ones from parents to teacher and from home to schools.

• Second Revolution: Revolution of adoption of the written word as a tool of education.

• Third Revolution: Revolution as a result of invention of printing and availability of books and other teaching-learning material.

• Fourth Revolution: Revolution on account of development in electronic, chiefly involving radio, television, cassette recorder and computer, and development of systems concept.

Video Lessons

In recent years, and specially after Covid era, video lessons have gained immense importance in the field of education also. Producing videos professionally for teaching-learning is now not used only for distant or online learning, it is helpful in flipped classrooms and hybrid learning environments. 

Video production is the process of creating video content by capturing moving images and combining the parts of the video in editing. The video can be filmed with a camera crew or created by motion graphic designers and artists. The process usually consists of four main stages: pre-production, production, post-production, and distribution.  

Phases of Video Making

Pre-production

Pre-production is the stage where you plan the elements needed to produce the video, define the target audience, the essential resources, the timeframe of the production process and the script or theme on which video is to be produced.

Production

The production stage implies the actual filming of the video. The process involves ligthning, characters activities, and recording.

Post-production

Post-production is the third stage of the video production process. This phase implies adding music and visual effects, dubbing, cutting raw footage, and editing.

Curriculum

Curriculum is defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process.  It can also be termed as Set of basic competencies, objectives, contents, evaluation criteria and methodologies that structure the teaching-learning process of students at different educational levels. Curriculum can be Explicit, Implicit, Null or Co-curricular.

The curriculum planning is a nonstop process in which different members contribute at various levels helping to make decisions about the purpose of learning, how the purpose of learning is carried out through teaching- learning, and whether the reason identified for the curriculum design had some purpose and the method/way of curriculum planning are suitable and compelling. Curriculum Development in Pakistan, the first national curriculum in Pakistan was developed in 1975-1976 then it was revised in 1984-1985 and then again in 1994-1995, then next review took place in 2000-2002 and National curriculum 2006 developed for 25 core subjects from grade 1 to 12. There are certain curriculum models are followed such as Ralph Tyler model, Hilda Taba Model, Kerr Model, and Wheeler model.

Competency: 

Competencies or strands are the key learning area that student will accomplish and learn

Standard: 

The standard defines the competency by specifying broadly, the knowledge, skills and attitudes that students will acquire, should know and be able to do in a particular learning area during twelve year of schooling.

Benchmark:

The benchmark further elaborates the standards, indicating what the students will accomplish at the end of each developmental level in order to meet the standards.

Students' Learning Outcomes:

Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) are based on the knowledge, skills, abilities, and attitudes that students are intended to have achieved at the end of a unit. SLOs are measurable instructional goals established for a specific group of students over a set period of time. SLOs serve as one of the measures of student growth. These are built on the description of the benchmarks and describe what student will accomplish at the end of each grade. 

Scheme of Studies

Scheme of studies is a document by the departmental authorities and which has to be followed by all public institutions. SoS contains following information:

Subjects to be taught in each in a Grade
Number of marks for each subject
Number of periods for each subject
Subjects' combination in a grade
Medium of instruction for each subject
Theory and practical marks distribution
Co-curricular activities details
Academic year month-wise number of working days
School timing, number of periods, period duration, per subject number of periods
Term wise break up
Timetable

Teaching Portfolio

A teaching portfolio is a structured collection of documents that helps evaluate, reflect, and further improve teaching. Teaching portfolios capture evidence of one’s entire teaching career, in contrast to what are called course portfolios that capture evidence related to course.

Why develop portfolios

• To offer a record of your teaching effectiveness when applying for a faculty position, tenure, or promotion

• To reflect on your teaching and refine your methods

• To track your development as a teaching professional over time

• To create a public representation of you as a teacher that you can share with students and colleagues

Blooms Taxonomy 

Assesment

It is the process of documenting and collecting data-usually in measurable terms-about information, knowledge, skills, attitudes and beliefs. 

Evaluation

Evaluation is a process that critically examines a program. It involves collecting and analyzing information about a program's activities, characteristics, and outcomes. Its purpose is to make judgments about a program, to improve its effectiveness, and/or to inform programming decisions (Patton, 1987).

Types of Assessment

Formative: The ongoing assessment done during a lesson, unit or course, so as to provide feedback and to improve learning methods according to the learning needs.

Summative: Assessment done at the completion of a unit, lesson or course in order to assess the bench mark performance of students. (Final exam)

Diagnostic Test: Diagnostic assessments (also known as pre-assessments) provide teachers with information about student's prior knowledge and misconceptions before beginning a learning activity. It may be conducted at the beginning of a term or a unit. (Pre-Test & Post Test)

Performance Test: This assessment measures how well students apply their knowledge, skills, and abilities to authentic problems. The key feature is that it requires the student to produce something, such as a report, experiment, or performance, which is scored against specific criteria.

Tools of Assessment

• Observation

• Portfolio (ongoing - culmination)

• Test (Exam based on MCQ, CRQ, ERQ)

• Quetionnaire

Examples of Assesments

Teaching Methods

A teaching method comprises the principles and methods used by teachers to enable student learning. For a particular teaching method to be appropriate and efficient it has to take into account the learner, the nature of the subject matter, and the type of learning it is supposed to bring about.

The approaches for teaching can be broadly classified into teacher-centered and student-centered. It is the primary role of teachers to pass knowledge and information onto their students. Student learning is measured through objectively scored tests and assessments. In Student-Centered Approach to Learning, while teachers are the authority figure in this model, teachers and students play an equally active role in the learning process. Student learning is measured through both formal and informal forms of assessment, including group projects, student portfolios, and class participation. There are following teaching methods

Lecture method

Demonstration method

Discussion Method

Role Play

Debate

Project based learning (Inquiry based/Research based)

Gamification

Flip classroom

Lesson Plans

A lesson plan is a roadmap teachers create to structure daily activity in their classrooms. It outlines what students will learn during each class period, how the lesson will be taught and how student progress will be measured. A typical lesson plan has following key components:

• Lesson objectives: what students will learn or be able to do after the lesson

• Materials: the resources needed to support their learning

• Learning activities: the activities students participate in to achieve the lesson objective

• Time requirements: the amount of time set aside for each learning activity

• Assessment: how teachers will measure student learning

• Evaluation and reflection: a summary of what worked, what didn’t and why

Micro Teaching

Microteaching is a teacher training technique for learning teaching skills. It employs real teaching situation for developing skills and helps to get deeper knowledge regarding the art of teaching.

Skills of Micro teaching Techniques
- Introduction skills
- Probing questions
- Explanation
- Stimulus variation
- Black board writing
- Achieving closure

Phases/Stages of Micro Teaching

1. Plan/Brief

2. Present

3. Video viewing

4. Discussion group

5. Feedback

Life Skill Based Learning

Life skills-based education is a form of education that focuses on cultivating personal life skills such as self-reflection, critical thinking, problem solving and interpersonal skills.