Effective teaching method

Effective teaching methods

Tenzin Nyibhum

STS Darjeeling

PRT ‘gen’

 

Some things seem difficult at first but later become easy. Some things seem easy at first but later turn out to be difficult. Teaching is one such task. It has never been truly easy.

Teaching may seem easy if one ignores the needs of students, but that approach is neither effective nor meaningful. Every classroom is made up of students from diverse backgrounds, cultures, habits, and behaviours. While all students come to school to learn, their ways of learning are different. Therefore, teaching must meet the varied needs of every student.

When delivering a lesson, a teacher should focus on what the student needs to learn, rather than rigidly sticking to how the learning should happen. Each student learns at a different pace, has different learning styles, and grasps concepts differently. The human brain functions uniquely in every individual. How we see, imagine, function, and respond to stimuli varies from person to person. This must be taken into account in the teaching process.

Today’s world has detected various learning challenges, including differently-abled learners, irregular development, and cognitive delays. In response, modern teaching methods have been adapted and improved to address these diverse needs.

So, what makes teaching effective? Is it completing a lesson plan? Is it feeling satisfied after delivering a lesson? Or is it ensuring that students truly understand and gain knowledge from the lesson?

An effective classroom accommodates all types of learners. Yet, each class session is bound by limited time. This makes it even more important for teachers to focus not just on covering content, but on ensuring that all students are engaged, supported, and able to learn in their own way.

Every teaching method can be effective but effectiveness depends upon the understanding of the student. How much one gain knowledge from the lesson. Which method can deliver the best understandable knowledge and ignites the desire of learning.

Teaching young children further develops a teacher’s skills in delivering concepts clearly. It improves oneself in delivery the concepts and methods of delivering that particular concepts. Such lesson should be interactive, colourful and mainly through play-way methods. One should include the cartoon characters, colourful drawing and interesting games for grasping the attention of the young minds. Each lesson should be short yet meaningful and play-way but learning.

For instance, while teaching the concept of addition for the younger kid. There are mainly three points related to the addition that seems important. Those are

·       Understanding the numbers

·       Understanding the sign “+” and

·       Understanding the place value

Within these three points, knowing number is the vital point in understanding the addition topic.

Understanding the numbers:

Imagination of the number and the corelation of the formation of number is very important. Like when we say 5. Does the student imagine 5 kinds of balls, pencils or shabhaklay? And how does the imagined number align in their formation? Are they in straight, in a row, or grouped?

For this concept, we can play a game of collections. Students can run and collect the number of items like 6 leaves, 9 stones and 12 sticks as instructed by the teacher. A teacher should observe how does the student present their collection and align them while counting the number of items. This method ignites the desire of learning while enjoying the lesson outside of the classroom through play-way.

Understanding the sign “+”:

Signs are like an instant recognisable cue that indicates the procedure. In mathematics, understanding the sign is very important for solving any maths problems. The addition signs it also one of those signs that gives us an indication to add. For a younger kid, many of the signs get confused with one another. But through understanding the visual of the word “add” can help in such case scenario. Therefore, understanding in reading is very crucial in case one gets confuse with the signs. this point in understanding the sign can gradually cope up through time.

For example, (add the following numbers. 8 + 4). Tough the student may not fully understand the sign of the addition but understanding the visual word “add” can give them a clue in understanding what to do.

Understanding the place value:

Place value plays an important role in addition. Each number has a particular set of places where they belong and while adding, each particular set of places were added together. This understanding of place value is taught later in the addition. A good example to understanding the place value can be taught through the boxes pattern of the notebook, where only one number is written in each box. Just like we don’t sit two people on one chair.

Effective teaching method on addition

Addition is a simple yet complex topic. It brings joy while understanding the concept and feels boring if faces difficulty. Let’s look into some method of teaching addition.

1) mouth and finger addition

In this method, student will keep the greater number on the mouth and smaller number on finger. This method understands the difference between numbers and copes up the functioning of brain from middle of the number. For example, (add 12 + 3)

Understanding which number is greater and which is smaller, the student will keep the greater number on mouth and smaller number on finger. Also understanding the sequences of the number, the student will start counting from 12, rather than counting from the start. This functioning of the brain is very important for understanding the numbers.

2) three circle addition

In this method, student will make three circles. Two small circles and one big circle. In each small circle, student will write down the given number and in the big circle, student will draw the total number from the given two small circles. For example, (add 9 + 5)

While attempting this method, student can draw anything that they like and therefore they will grow interest in learning. this method also develops the student’s imagination in drawing.

 

Teaching is not about finishing a lesson plan or delivering content. It is about ensuring that every learner truly understands, engages, and develops curiosity. Effective teaching adapts to the diverse needs of students, making learning both meaningful and joyful. Even in a simple concept like addition, when lessons are playful, interactive, and connected to real-life experiences, children not only grasp the knowledge but also enjoy the process of learning. True effectiveness in teaching lies in igniting the desire to learn, nurturing confidence, and building a foundation for lifelong growth.