The article describes the importance of teaching methods on students’ success and achievements. It is not a new field but it is very important and interesting for a research work.
A teaching method is an approach used by a teacher to enable his students learning. It refers pedagogy and management strategies used for classroom instruction. A teacher is not just a person who gives information to his students, but also he has to be a psychologist, friendly and a clam person. Students have different personality, way of thinking, way of learning, capacity etc., but is teacher’s job to find a middle way and turn this diversity into his favor.
A teacher has different choices when it comes to teaching methods, but approaches for teaching can be classified into two:
- Teacher-centered approach to learning.
- Student-centered approach to learning.
In “teacher-centered approach to learning”, the main role of the teacher is to fulfill his students brain with information. He is “the axis of the earth” where everything whirl around him. In “Teacher-centered approach to learning” students’ role is passive. They have to receive information with an end goal of testing and taking high score. After they pass the exam teachers know more about his students deficiency. In this case, student learning is measured through objectively scored tests and assessments. [1]
In “Student-centered approach to learning” teacher and students play an equal role. This does not mean that teacher loose his model as an authority figure, he just gives the opportunity to his students to be more creative. Students have to be active while teacher has to coach and facilitate student learning and overall comprehension of material. In this method, students’ interests are first. They decide what they will learn, how they will learn and in the end they are going to do by themselves the assessment. Teaching methods are an important aspect of teaching and learning. Selecting the right teaching method is the key to success. Teacher has to know that students belong to different categories and personality. The most successful students are they who use all kind of learning styles, even those they do not prefer. However, when you work with children or pupils, they have different preferences. Some of them like to learn by reading, some by listening, some of them by looking at particular objects, some of them like to learn on low temperatures and some of them on high temperatures. It is problem because if a teacher do not respect their need or preferences their probability to succeed decrease. This is the reason why choosing the right teaching method is important. Reading, listening, writing and speaking are four skills where a teachers has to work with his students. His role is to identify his student’s weakness’ and try to fix it. While teaching listening we cannot use the traditional method where teacher is the center of the lesson. He has to use modern teaching methods.
For example:
He brings in class different objects like MP3 player, projector etc. He plays with mp3 different audio segments. When the students are ready, he asks from them to learn the only part from the audio segment, which is interesting for them. After audio has finished, ask from students to write down as much as they can from the audio segment. By doing this activity you improve also their writing skills. Once they have gained confidence instruct them after the audio segment retell it with their words developing this way their speaking skills. This method is going to make them comfortable with speaking and all other skills.
A teaching method is not just used to make students learn but also motivate them. It is one of the hardest part of teaching process. However, we cannot neglect it because it is one of the most important component, which affect the success of a class. Motivation is the reason for students’ actions, willingness and goal. It derives from motive, which is defined as a need that requires satisfaction. Motivation has been considered as one of the most important reasons that inspires a person to move forward in life. [2] Some students do not need any push, they are self-motivated and it is always easy to work with them. However, some students are lazy, with no desire for learning; they are looking for another adventure in their life. Here we need a great teacher and a special teaching method. Even they have no desire to learn, a good teacher can make learning a fun and inspire them to rich their full potential and desire. Here are some effective methods or ways how to motivate students and get them excited about learning.
– Encourage students
Everyone likes compliments. Teacher have to utilize this in his favor. Students like when their teacher approve their work. They feel more enthusiastic for learning when their work is valued. This is why teacher have to encourage students speak and make them feel important. A teacher have to recognize his students for their contribution. Words like good job”, “nice work and “clever” are also helpful.
– Get students involved
Teamwork is a good method to involve students in class. By separating them in different groups and giving to each one a different job, they will see themselves important. They are going to try the best and help their group achieve the aim.
– Help students have a goal
A goal in mind is always important. This is the reason why a teacher has to give a goal to some students. Some students do not have any reason why to learn in their minds. If the teacher cannot motivate them by talking about future profession, he can use their week point.
For example: a student has no desire and no goal in his mind, but he loves pizza so much. Here comes the chance to use this in teacher favor. Offer a reward for this student if he has the highest mark in exams he is going to win ten pizza. Rewards give students accomplishment and encourage them to work with a goal in mind.
– Avoid monotony
It is very important to have an entertainment class. Some teacher use only traditional methods during lesson and this is not a good thing. Teacher have to teach through games, visual aids, colorful charts, diagrams and videos. He has to encourage his students to debate. This is a good approach to avoid monotony. He can even show a movie that effectively illustrate a topic or theme.
Physical classroom is also important. Different decorations, posters and students project bill on walls create a warm and stimulating environment.
– Connect learning with real life
Students always ask the same question. “When will I ever need this?’
This is why a teacher have to connect his lesson with real life. If a student do not believe that, the think he is learning is not important he is not going to learn it.
A student living in Albania may be not interested to learn a new language because he thinks Albanian language is enough for him. Teacher has to tell him different stories about importance of language and amaze him. Tell him that English is the third most spoken native language and has more than one milliard speaker all around the world. The desire to know the language of one milliard people all around the world is always a big motivation.
Conclusion: There are always many problems in this world. However, for each problem there can be also a solution. The same is with teaching process. There are always problems during teaching and there is always a solution. Nevertheless, in difference from other spheres of life here the solution is choice of appropriate teaching method. This is just a modest article as a beginning of many serious articles which will follow it.
References:
- ”Teaching methods” teach.com. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
- Jodai, Hojat; Zafarghandi, Ahmir Mahda Vi;Tous, Maryam Danaye (2013–01–01) “Motivation, integrativeness, Organizational Influence, Anciety, and English Achievement Glottotheory.4
