During discussion on skills and strategies required for locating information on the web, a question was raised - Must the teaching of skills always precede strategies or can it be simultaneous? It's like the chicken and egg issue of which comes first, I thought. When Dr. Towndrow mentioned that many of our scheme of work does not state explicitly the strategies required to acquire the skills, he is absolutely right. When I looked at my SOW, there isn't any explicit stated strategies. My guess is that the team of teachers who crafted the SOW want to give teachers more freeplay in executing their lessons. However, after giving it much thought, I'd have strategies stated in SOW so that teaching is uniform across the level/school. This way, all students receive the same input.
Going back to the question on which comes first, I think it really depends on what the focus of the lesson is. If it is meant to teach students the method of acquiring the skills rather than the attainment of skills solely, then the teaching of strategies is the emphasis.
Going back to the question on which comes first, I think it really depends on what the focus of the lesson is. If it is meant to teach students the method of acquiring the skills rather than the attainment of skills solely, then the teaching of strategies is the emphasis.
Perhaps at the end of the day, there isn't a hard and fast rule when it comes to teaching because it is both science and art.
Hi Joshua,
ReplyDeleteI like it when you say ' Science and Art'. I suppose we need the skills and creativity to harness the potentials of technology particularly the use of ICT.
Hi Joshua,
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to teaching both skills and strategies, I agree with you when you said that it largely depends on the target skills and lesson objectives. But I would like to share with you my experience in the school where I taught before. Teaching Reading subject (a separate subject from Language, Speech and Spelling) entailed teaching Reading skills every session. In this case, teachers share strategies to facilitate the mastery of the target skills. In the end, teaching and learning become more meaningful and effective.
Sitzac: Thanks! The need to balance the two Which is why being a teacher is a challenging profession.
ReplyDeleteEulalia: I suppose for the reading classes you conducted, the sharing of reading strategies comes before the learning of the language skills. Which comes first? As professionals, I believe we are able to make the most appropriate decision that best meets the learning needs of our students.