OER4Schools/Introductory workshop

Title: 7.2 - An outline for an introductory workshop
Number: 7.2

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7.2 - An outline for an introductory workshop >>>

Facilitator's version, Participants' version

Introduction

This is a rough outline for a one-day workshop, aimed at facilitators.

Educator note

If you are facilitating this workshop, ideally you would be familiar with the present programme (ideally through practice). Also refer back to OER4Schools/How to use this resource.

The structure of a workshop session

Observing, thinking, reflecting (15 min) on the structure of a session Go through the structure of a workshop session:

• Review of follow up activities. At the beginning of each session, you should review the previous session (if you are running more than one session).
• Session activitiy 1: e.g. Brainstorm on interactive teaching (new topic)
• Session activity 2: Brainstorming in the classroom (new topic)
• Session activity 3: ICT-based activity
• Session activity 4: Planning
• Discussion of LfL or MSC
• Connecting with overarching goals of the programme
• Agreement of Follow-up activities

An example session (2 hours)

Various activities (120 min) on reviewing a workshop session Go through session 1.1, paying attention to

• the facilitator notes,
• the general structure of the session (see above),
• modelling,
• and using the activity listing at the end (helping with keeping time).

Exemplary activities

After lunch do a range of exemplary activities, that illustrate how the workshop progresses.

Workshop participants take turns in facilitating the activity, and after each activity there's a reflection on how this went.

Examples of interactive teaching in Zambia

Many African teachers aspire to be interactive teachers. Yet, interactive teaching is not common in the African classroom. However, it can work in this context!

The following clip shows Eness, a teacher in a community school near Lusaka interacting with a Grade 3 class. Watch the clip of her class discussion about Is a bat a bird?

Observing, thinking, reflecting (5 min): Watch a video of a whole class discussion.

Watch video:

VIDEO

Whole class discussion

Whole class discussion of ‘Is a bat a bird?' Teacher sets unresolved problem as homework

Video/Eness vertebrates 12.mp4, https://oer.opendeved.net/wiki/Video/Eness_vertebrates_12.mp4,This video is available on your memory stick in the video/Eness Vertebrates folder. Duration: 4:19 watch on YouTube, local play / download options / download from dropbox)(Series: Eness Vertebrates, episode 12)(Transcript available here or via YouTube captions.)

Educator note

(Clip shows whole class discussion of ‘is a bat a bird?', set unresolved problem as homework)

Whole class dialogue (10 min): Whole group discussion on the whole class discussion video.

• What have you noticed?
• How are the learners taught?
• How do you think they will react to the homework task?
• Is this classroom different from yours?
• What is interactive teaching?

Educator note

Issues to discuss

• Noisy but productive - A classroom can be noisy and productive at the same time
• interactive = inter-action (with view to sense making; i.e. purpose of inter-action is to make sense)
• Children making sense of ideas for themselves, developing their own classifications, relating to what they already know...
• Teacher not telling answer, asking students to investigate for themselves

Facilitator needs to know how to deal with criticisms (such as too noisy, too much chaos, not productive)

The road is long. But it can be done!

Whole class dialogue (10 min) on the previous activity Because we have done the above activity as part of this facilitators workshop, now come back together as a group and discuss how the activity went. You could e.g. use PMI to say some plusses, minuses, and interesting things. What would you do the same? What would you do differently? What questions can you ask, to find out whether the activity was conducted in an interactive way?

Practitioner reflection on interactive teaching

Observing, thinking, reflecting (5 min): Practitioner reflection on interactive teaching. The key to interactive teaching is teachers shifting “from telling to listening” and learners shifting from receiving information to making sense of it for themselves.

How can we “listen” to learners? What does that mean in practice?

Educator note

Facilitator describes own experience of shifting to interactive teaching and how it is different in his/her classroom now…

Evidence for impact of interactive teaching (optional)

Generally we have experienced that teachers welcome interactive ways of teaching. However, it is possible that teachers may object or have major concerns to the interactive teaching shown in the videos as well as what has emerged from this discussion. For instance, they may say that this just will not work in their classroom, that it may not work with large classes, or perhaps that such styles of teaching would not be welcome by parents or head teachers for various reasons.

At this stage, you could introduce interactive teaching as an international trend. Research evidence from different countries shows that this kind of active learning is both motivating and far more effective for learning than direct instruction (“chalk-and-talk” or lecturing). In particular independent, collaborative or oral work, as well as questioning and whole-class discussion that encourage pupils to grapple with ideas are effective. They lead to long-term and deeper learning rather than memorising facts (resulting in short-term, superficial learning).

The following video clip may help to reinforce the point.

Observing, thinking, reflecting (5 min): Watch a video on one Zambian teacher’s experience of interactive teaching.

VIDEO

Agness Tembo speaking at eLearning Africa 2010 in Lusaka, Zambia

Agness Tembo speaking at eLearning Africa 2010 in Lusaka, Zambia

Video/Agness Tembo at eLA 2010 Zambia.mp4, https://oer.opendeved.net/wiki/Video/Agness_Tembo_at_eLA_2010_Zambia.mp4,This video is available on your memory stick in the video/Talks folder. Duration: 12:34 (Series: Talks, episode 02)

This two minute clip features Agness Tembo, a Grade 2 teacher from Chalimbana Basic School located in a rural area of Zambia. She is presenting at the e-Learning Africa Conference 2010 her own experiences of participating in Phase 1 of the OER4Schools research project. She talks animatedly about the challenges she faced in introducing both ICT and interactive pedagogy into her (mathematics) teaching for the first time, the benefits to students, and the qualities she needed as a teacher to make the shift successful.

Introduction (5 min) of Think Pair Share. This is a technique that encourages cooperative learning by peer interactivity. Here are the steps:

1. Think - Students listen to a question (this may be an open-ended question to which there are many answers) or a presentation and are given ‘think time’ to formulate their responses.
2. Pair - Following the ‘think time’, students work together with a partner, sharing ideas, discussing, clarifying and challenging.
3. Share -The pair then share their ideas with another pair, or with the whole class. Students should be prepared to share their partner’s ideas as well as their own.

You will now use this technique to help you to formulate your ideas on interactive teaching.

Educator note

Think-Pair-Share^(a):

Teachers should cue the progress from one step to the next. In the primary classroom, hand signals for each step can be developed with the students and these can be used along with verbal cues.

Allowing students time to think, sometimes referred to as 'wait time' has been shown by researchers to improve the quality of their responses. Talking through ideas with a partner first before sharing them with a wider audience allows for those ideas to be elaborated on and refined.

Model the think pair share technique in the following activity, remembering to tell the participants what step they are on, what they should be doing and for how long.

Think-Pair-Share (10 min) your ideas on the differences between interactive teaching and traditional teaching

We mentioned that interactive teaching involves moving from “telling” to “listening.” What other words do you feel might describe the difference between traditional approaches and interactive teaching? What are the two kinds of classroom like? Think on your own for a minute and then pair up and discuss your ideas with a partner. Write your ideas on the board for all to see. Aim for each person to write a word or phrase for each approach perhaps under the headings 'traditional classroom' vs 'interactive classroom'.  

Educator note

  Some contrasts people might make (let them suggest their own terms):

• passive - active
• quiet - noisy
• individual - collaborative

  Note: these are not value judgments - they can be positive or negative in different circumstances!  

Whole class dialogue (10 min) on the previous activity Because we have done the above activity as part of this facilitators workshop, now come back together as a group and discuss how the activity went. You could e.g. use PMI to say some plusses, minuses, and interesting things. What would you do the same? What would you do differently? What questions can you ask, to find out whether the activity was conducted in an interactive way?

Brainstorm on ICT

Whole class brainstorm (5 min) on ICT Consider the following questions:

• What does ICT mean to you?
• What different types of ICTs have you heard of?
• What ICTs have you used?
• Which ICTs would you like to use in the classroom?

Educator note

ICT = Information and Communication Technology

Remember to record the brainstorm on the board or a large sheet of paper. Things that may feature are: PCs, laptops, netbooks, tablets, mp3 players, mobile phones, games consoles, web content (images/maps/), software applications etc.

Whole class dialogue (10 min) on the previous activity Because we have done the above activity as part of this facilitators workshop, now come back together as a group and discuss how the activity went. You could e.g. use PMI to say some plusses, minuses, and interesting things. What would you do the same? What would you do differently? What questions can you ask, to find out whether the activity was conducted in an interactive way?

Whole class dialogue (10 min) on the previous activity Because we have done the above activity as part of this facilitators workshop, now come back together as a group and discuss how the activity went. You could e.g. use PMI to say some plusses, minuses, and interesting things. What would you do the same? What would you do differently? What questions can you ask, to find out whether the activity was conducted in an interactive way?

Whole class dialogue (10 min) on the previous activity Because we have done the above activity as part of this facilitators workshop, now come back together as a group and discuss how the activity went. You could e.g. use PMI to say some plusses, minuses, and interesting things. What would you do the same? What would you do differently? What questions can you ask, to find out whether the activity was conducted in an interactive way?

Whole class dialogue (10 min) on the previous activity Because we have done the above activity as part of this facilitators workshop, now come back together as a group and discuss how the activity went. You could e.g. use PMI to say some plusses, minuses, and interesting things. What would you do the same? What would you do differently? What questions can you ask, to find out whether the activity was conducted in an interactive way?

Whole class dialogue (10 min) on the previous activity Because we have done the above activity as part of this facilitators workshop, now come back together as a group and discuss how the activity went. You could e.g. use PMI to say some plusses, minuses, and interesting things. What would you do the same? What would you do differently? What questions can you ask, to find out whether the activity was conducted in an interactive way?

Whole class dialogue (10 min) on the previous activity Because we have done the above activity as part of this facilitators workshop, now come back together as a group and discuss how the activity went. You could e.g. use PMI to say some plusses, minuses, and interesting things. What would you do the same? What would you do differently? What questions can you ask, to find out whether the activity was conducted in an interactive way?

Whole class dialogue (10 min) on the previous activity Because we have done the above activity as part of this facilitators workshop, now come back together as a group and discuss how the activity went. You could e.g. use PMI to say some plusses, minuses, and interesting things. What would you do the same? What would you do differently? What questions can you ask, to find out whether the activity was conducted in an interactive way?

Whole class dialogue (10 min) on the previous activity Because we have done the above activity as part of this facilitators workshop, now come back together as a group and discuss how the activity went. You could e.g. use PMI to say some plusses, minuses, and interesting things. What would you do the same? What would you do differently? What questions can you ask, to find out whether the activity was conducted in an interactive way?

Whole class dialogue (10 min) on the previous activity Because we have done the above activity as part of this facilitators workshop, now come back together as a group and discuss how the activity went. You could e.g. use PMI to say some plusses, minuses, and interesting things. What would you do the same? What would you do differently? What questions can you ask, to find out whether the activity was conducted in an interactive way?

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