Page 227 - DEDU505_TEACHER_EDUCATION_ENGLISH

Unit 24: Meaning, Nature and Strategies of Group Controlled Instructions

important activities that you may have to perform are as follow: Notes
(i) Interactive sessions should be a regular instructional activity in the school. Once at becomes
a part of overall teaching learning strategies, the students would develop necessary skills to
actively participate in pedagogic interactions and acquire knowledge. You can call upon the
student who has to make presentation and introduce the topic raising one or two important
issues to which the entire group may pay attention. For this you should go through the
topic beforehand. After a brief introduction you should request the speaker to make the
presentation. As soon as the speaker completes the presentation, you should help the
participants to recall, in a nutshell, the main points of the discussion. As ouk students are
not acquainted with group interaction, you should tell them some rules for participating in
and learning from interactive sessions. Some of these important rules are as under:
(i) Panicipanrs should raise their hands before asking questions and wait for the chairperson's
permission.
(ii) All the questions should beaddressed to the chairperson.
(iii) No participant will intempt in another participant's talk and will speak only when the
speaker has completed his presentation. In other words, studeots should take turns for
speaking.
(ii) Motivator: You may find that many students do not take active part in the discussion. At the
school level it is mainly due to the reason that students in the beginning can not gather up
enough courage to speak in a group. Some students generally feel shy and hence withdmw
themselve from active participation in discussion. Some students do not interact because of
the fear that they may commit mistakes. As a result, many students prefer to become just
passive listeners. In order to ensure that every student participates in discussion, you should
make some effort to motivate the students. You should invite, by name, those participants
who are passive listeners and ask them whether they have anytliing to contribute. You
should remain alert and read the facial expression of the indiddual student whether hdshe
feels like asking questions but does not raise hisher hand, Such students should be motivated
to express their ideas. You should encourage them to participate in discussion. You should
be polite in your behaviour.,You should appreciate the views expressed by the students.
This, in turn, will ensure their willing participation in the teaching-learning process.
(iii) Facilitator: The students may expect you to clarify the issues and ideas, and occasionally
raise questions when these are not clear to the group. You should summarise the ideas
expressed by the participants. Sometimes when arguments and counter arguments start on
a point of discussion and different participants give almost the same views, you can give
your judgement and conclude, and ask the students to proceed to the next issue. But it
should also be kept in mind that you should not become the main speaker; you should
rather be an attentive listener than a compulsive speaker.
(iv) Elaborator: At the school stage you may find that many participants face difficulty in
expressing their ideas in proper words. They may not have mastery over the subject.
Sometimes the participant may express a concept which is not correct. In such a situation
you should elaborate the views expressed by the students. In other words, you should
facilitate them in asking questions or raising points. You should clarify the questions which
are not clear to the group.
(iv) Interactive Sessions Conducted by Students: When group controlled instruction becomes a
regular feature in your school, you may find that one period is too small for an interactive
session. It would be essential to divide the class into smaller groups and discuss the assigned
topic or the problem in a more satisfactory manner.
This arrangement will ensure that all the students take part in discussion. In a small group,
students themselves cad choose one of them as the chairperson who will take the
responsibility of conducting the session. In the absence of the teacher some students who
otherwise do not take part in discussion due to fear of commiting mistakes, etc.. may take
part in the discussion. However, such an arrangement should be made only when the
students have observed 8-10 interactive sessions chaired by you. It would also be advisable
that in some sessions you should be present as a participant and allow the students to chair

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