OER4Schools/What is interactive teaching
Section 1: What is interactive teaching? An introduction to the interactive Zambian classroom
The aims of Unit 1 are:
- understand principles of interactive teaching - with and without ICT,
- see illustrations and discuss issues involved in implementing it,
- thinking about changing one’s own practice, and
- develop ways of working with colleagues to reflect on practice, share ideas and trial new strategies.
Brainstorm on what interactive teaching is
- What is interactive teaching?
- What interactive techniques do you know?
- How often have you used such techniques?
Whole group brainstorm.
Suggested time …. [we should add suggested times for these sections]
Want to hear from everyone, don’t worry if you’re not sure, have a go at making a suggestion... we will develop our collective understanding as time goes on [what are teachers’ expectations?].
If participants are not very forthcoming, probe them with additional questions, eg what do you think interactive teaching might be? Is it the same as learner-centred teaching?
Record the brainstorm. The facilitator writes on a large sheet of paper, or makes notes for everybody to see on the overhead projector. Alternatively, participants write on small pieces of paper which are placed on a table. If there are no facilities, then it is ok to note make a record.
If you are part of our “facilitators program”, use the tools provided to capture the discussion.
Examples of interactive teaching in the Zambian classroom
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?
[stimulus] See video - Eness_vertebrates_12.mp4 (4 mins. 19)
(Clip shows whole class discussion of ‘is a bat a bird?’ + 1 min clip - set unresolved problem as homework)
[group discussion]
- 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?
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!
[stimulus] Show brainstorm clip: Eness_vertebrates_1.mp4 (2 mins 43)
This clip from the same Grade 3 classroom illustrates how the teacher solicits (and records) different students’ views without evaluating them.
Note that the clip shows the start of a lesson but it can be done at any point in a lesson. It shows a brainstorm – with unique contributions, allowing time to think first, ‘no hands up’ technique too.
Workshop participants continue with the discussion.
[group discussion]
- What have you noticed this time?
- At what point(s) in the lesson could this be used?
- What do you think the students are learning from this?
- How are they learning?
- Can brainstorming be used with large classes too, where there isn’t time for everyone to contribute each time? How would you adapt it for this?
The facilitator now summarises the outcomes of the discussion, first elaborating the previous brainstorm record, and then summarising by emphasising the points below and including any key points the participants have made.
Summary: 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?
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.
One Zambian teacher’s experience
[video] Agness video here (Agness_eLA_contribution.mp4) http://sms.cam.ac.uk/media/1093072
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.
[Think Pair Share] What does interactive teaching offer you? Share your thoughts with the whole group.
move to Section 2 after a max. of one hour
