Pedagogy

Introduction to Teaching and Pedagogy

As an OCC volunteer, developing your abilities to deliver these things to our community will mean you also develop valuable skills and competences that you will carry forward into your career. We understand that you may not have had any experience teaching before. That's ok, we have seen volunteers without teaching experience grow into great teachers. What matters is that you want to learn. There are several key areas of learning for the volunteer English teacher at OCC:

1. Pedagogy - in other words, teaching methodology

2. Relationships - understanding the importance of the teacher/learner relationship

3. Resources - knowing how to access teaching materials and assets to support you

What is Pedagogy?

Pedagogy just means methods of teaching. As a teacher you will draw on your natural strengths and communication skills, but you will also need to be curious and open-minded to new techniques or approaches. One key pedagogical tool is the Lesson Plan.

Lesson planning

Why is it important to plan your lesson carefully?

• It allows you to control how much time you spend on different activities, and make sure you cover what you want to cover

• It provides you with a written record of what you have done. This can be very useful when you can't remember what topics have been covered, or you're handing over to another teacher.

• it allows you, as the teacher, to know what sequence of activities you will run in the class, and so ensure you go through some pedagogical steps, e.g. Present, Practice, Produce. Knowing what you are going to do, and being ready, also really helps inexperienced teachers to deal with being nervous!

What Goes Into Your Lesson Plan?

Read the blog post on the FluentU website, here.

Teaching philosophy

Your learners will have probably experienced very traditional learning environments before arriving in Polykastro. They will probably be used to rather formal lessons with emphasis on learning grammar structures and memorising vocabulary. If this is what you are comfortable teaching, then that's ok, but we'd encourage you to explore alternatives.

Non-traditional teaching philosophies have gained traction in the teaching world in recent years, including the 'flipped classroom' and project-based learning. Learners in the OCC community are often very happy to be taught in more interactive and creative ways, and in our experience this results in a more enjoyable and productive learning experience.

One example is provided in the video opposite, where educator Roberto Guzman talks about how he moved away from a grammar/rule-based approach to teaching, and focused on helping his students learn through discussion and self-expression.

Teacher/learner relationship

At OCC our work is centred on a basic principal of caring for our fellow human beings. That principal should drive all of our work. A lot of our work is around language teaching, and both research and the experience of our teachers indicates that the teacher-learner relationship is a key enabler of effective learning and positive outcomes. Read this blog post on the Importance of Teaching Through Relationships

Teaching in a multicultural environment

Appreciate and accommodate the similarities and differences among the students' cultures

Effective teachers of culturally diverse students acknowledge both individual and cultural differences enthusiastically and identify these differences in a positive manner. This positive identification creates a basis for the development of effective communication and instructional strategies. Social skills such as respect and cross-cultural understanding can be modeled, taught, prompted, and reinforced by the teacher.

Build relationships with students

Interviews with African-American high school students who presented behavior challenges for staff revealed that they wanted their teachers to discover what their lives were like outside of school and that they wanted an opportunity to partake in the school's reward systems. Developing an understanding of students' lives also enables the teacher to increase the relevance of lessons and make examples more meaningful.

Focus on the ways students learn and observe students to identify their task orientations

Once students' orientations are known, the teacher can structure tasks to take them into account. For example, before some students can begin a task, they need time to prepare or attend to details. In this case, the teacher can allow time for students to prepare, provide them with advance organizers, and announce how much time will be given for preparation and when the task will begin. This is a positive way to honor their need for preparation, rituals, or customs.

Teach students to match their behaviors to the setting.

We all behave differently in different settings. For example, we behave more formally at official ceremonies. Teaching students the differences between their home, school, and community settings can help them switch to appropriate behavior for each context. For example, a teacher may talk about the differences between conversations with friends in the community and conversations with adults at school and discuss how each behavior is valued and useful in that setting. While some students adjust their behavior automatically, others must be taught and provided ample opportunities to practice. Involving families and the community can help students learn to adjust their behavior in each of the settings in which they interact.

Use a variety of instructional strategies and learning activities

Offering variety provides the students with opportunities to learn in ways that are responsive to their own communication styles, cognitive styles, and aptitudes. In addition, the variety helps them develop and strengthen other approaches to learning.

Consider students' cultures and language skills when developing learning objectives and instructional activities

Facilitate comparable learning opportunities for students with differing characteristics. For example, consider opportunities for students who differ in appearance, race, sex, disability, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic status, or ability.

Incorporate objectives for affective and personal development

Provide increased opportunities for high and low achievers to boost their self-esteem, develop positive self-attributes, and enhance their strengths and talents. Such opportunities can enhance students' motivation to learn and achieve.

Communicate expectations

Let the students know the "classroom rules" about talking, verbal participation in lessons, and moving about the room. Tell them how long a task will take to complete or how long it will take to learn a skill or strategy, and when appropriate, give them information on their ability to master a certain skill or complete a task. For example, it may be necessary to encourage students who expect to achieve mastery but are struggling to do so. They may need to know that they have the ability to achieve mastery, but must work through the difficulty.

Provide rationales

Explain the benefits of learning a concept, skill, or task. Ask students to tell you the rationale for learning and explain how the concept or skill applies to their lives at school, home, and work.

Use advance and post organizers

At the beginning of lessons, give the students an overview and tell them the purpose or goal of the activity. If applicable, tell them the order that the lesson will follow and relate it to previous lessons. At the end of the lesson, summarize its main points.

Provide frequent reviews of the content learned

For example, check with the students to see if they remember the difference between simple and compound sentences. Provide a brief review of the previous lesson before continuing on to a new and related lesson.

Facilitate independence in thinking and action

There are many ways to facilitate students' independence. For example, when students begin their work without specific instruction from the teacher, they are displaying independence. When students ask questions, the teacher can encourage independence by responding in a way that lets the student know how to find the answer for him- or herself. When teachers ask students to evaluate their own work or progress, they are facilitating independence, and asking students to perform for the class (e.g., by reciting or role-playing) also promotes independence.

Promote student on-task behavior

Keeping students on task maintains a high level of intensity of instruction. By starting lessons promptly and minimizing transition time between lessons, teachers can help students stay on task. Shifting smoothly (no halts) and efficiently (no wasted effort) from one lesson to another and being business-like about housekeeping tasks such as handing out papers and setting up audiovisual equipment helps to maintain their attention. Keeping students actively involved in the lessons – for example, by asking questions that require students to recall information – also helps them to stay focused and increases the intensity of instruction.

Monitor students' academic progress during lessons and independent work.

Check with students during seatwork to see if they need assistance before they have to ask for help. Ask if they have any questions about what they are doing and if they understand what they are doing. Also make the students aware of the various situations in which a skill or strategy can be used as well as adaptations that will broaden its applicability to additional situations.

Provide frequent feedback.

Feedback at multiple levels is preferred. For example, acknowledging a correct response is a form of brief feedback, while prompting a student who has given an incorrect answer by providing clues or repeating or rephrasing the question is another level. The teacher may also give positive feedback by stating the appropriate aspects of a student's performance. Finally, the teacher may give positive corrective feedback by making students aware of specific aspects of their performance that need work, reviewing concepts and asking questions, making suggestions for improvement, and having the students correct their work.

Require mastery

Require students to master one task before going on to the next. When tasks are assigned, tell the students the criteria that define mastery and the different ways mastery can be obtained. When mastery is achieved on one aspect or portion of the task, give students corrective feedback to let them know what aspects they have mastered and what aspects still need more work. When the task is complete, let the students know that mastery was reached.

Additional resources

How To Use The OCC Teaching Resources

There are electronic resources that we keep in the Google Drive. The folder is called 'Team Teaching', and you can access it here.

Please do take some time to familiarise yourself with the resources before you arrive in Polykastro, as you will be very busy. OCC is a bustling and dynamic environment, and it's not easy to get time to yourself!

You probably won't need to use all the resources available. Instead, be aware of what is there so that you can pick and choose what to use at the right time. Do make sure you familiarise yourself with the OCC Behaviour Policy, as it is really important that this policy is applied consistently in OCC classrooms. Inconsistent application of the behaviour policy can create a lot of problems!

The resources include: behaviour policy, example lesson plans, lesson resources, syllabi, class lists.

External resources

The University of Kent's English Hub for Refugees contains a wide range of materials, conveniently arranged by topic, and specifically designed for refugee learners.

Bogglesworld is a website with crowd-sourced ESL activity sheets and lesson plans. Some of the activities are really fun!

Gateway Qualifications has published a set of activity ideas for teachers, here.

For resources on mental health, trauma and refugees, check the University of East London's Refugee Mental Health and Wellbeing Portal