mentors

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Key Elements of Teaching (8 M's of Teaching)

(Source: Curriculum Development System:A Handbook of School Practitioners in Basic
Education by Jesus C. Palma. National Bookstore, c 1992)

What is Teaching?

In school, we are dealing with the young who are immature and who lack the experiences in
life which learning emanates. That is why the teacher assumes an important role in their
development. The learners who are expected to undergo the learning process cannot do it
on their own without adult help and supervision. That is what teaching is all about. It is the
process of "helping" the learners learn economically, efficiently, and effectively. The success
of a learning situation depends to a large extent on the skillful intervention of a professional
person, the teacher.

There are intervention or helping points in teaching process. These points encompass the
key elements or the so-called 8 M's of teaching. These are:

1. Milieu: The Learning Environment

Since learning is triggered off by stimuli in the environment, it assumes primary importance
in teaching and learning. The classroom is the usual although not the exclusive environment
of learning at school. Teachers need to male the learning environment as "stimulating" as
possible. Every stimulus in the classroom should contribute to learning. Very much part of
this environment are the human stimuli, the most important of whom is the teacher himself.
Material stimuli include objects in the room as well as common routine activities. Checking
of receptors of the learning stimuli, the senses, to make sure that every student is properly
equipped for and disposed to receive the stimuli of learning. Provisions for proper lighting
and acoustics as well as corrective measures for students who may be impaired somewhat
in this regard.

2. Matter: The Content of Learning. This refers to the what is to be learned as specified in
the instructional objective. Mastery of every lesson instead of its mere coverage by the
class is a very important "rule-of-thumb" The teacher should make sure that the minimum
standard or level of proficiency is attained by the class before moving onto the next lesson
or unit. Curriculum makers are advised to be realistic in projecting subject matter and avoid
giving the students "too much, too soon," and to teach only "little matter, but well mastered."

3. Method" The teaching-learning Strategy. This consist of purposeful, planned activities and
tasks that are undertaken by the teacher and the students in the classroom to bring about
the intended instructional objective. Methods are means to an end, never an end in itself.
There is good straggly per se, it is deemed good or effective only if it brings about the
desired learning outcome. Furthermore, an objective may be archived using different
strategies just as a strategy may be utilized to attain different objectives.The strategy must
be appropriate to the level of maturity and sophistication of the learners. It must also be
adequate or sufficient for the lesson objective and the teacher must be adept or skillful in
the use of the strategy. The learners must also show efficiency in handling the activity,
going through it without hassle. The strategy must also be effective to yield expected result
and must be economical in time, effort and expense.

4. Material: The Resources of Learning. Materials are resources available to the teacher and
learners which serve as stimuli in the teaching-learning situation. This may be either a
"human person" or a "physical object." The whole purpose of materials is to initiate the
students to the "real world" they live in. Instructional materials represent elements found in
that world are are meant to help students understand and explain reality. Portraying reality
can be by direct experience, reproduction, representation or abstraction

5. Media: Communication in Teaching and Learning. This pertains to the communication

system in the teaching-learning situation. This serves dual purpose: to promote common
understanding in instruction and to set and maintain a healthy psychological climate in the
classroom conducive to learning.

6. Motivation: Arousing and Sustaining Interest in Learning. Motivation is the cardinal

principle in learning. A learner will learn only those things he wants to learn.

7. Mastery: The Be-all and End-all of Learning. This means internalization of learning
resulting in automatic or habitual change behavior through meaningful repetition and
application. Mastery comes through a "fixation" of what is to be learned, shifting it from
short-term to long-term memory, allowing for ease in use and transfer to new situations in
the future. Some call it executive control"

8. Measurement: Getting Evidence of Learning. This is the final stage in the teaching-
learning sequence, involving the systematic collection of the evidence of learning. This is
concerned with the "behavior" aspect of the objective.

In preparing for teaching, the teacher should take all of these elements into consideration.
These constitute thew warp and woof of a unified unit and session plan or Plantilla.

Dr. Olga C. Alonsabe at 1:02 PM

3 comments:

Quinn Aaron February 6, 2009 at 12:59 AM

the 8 M's of teaching

always reminds me, on how i dwell my profession in the mere future and i cannot deny that.
hehehe (^_^)

Reply
 Reply

Mark February 10, 2009 at 8:51 AM

8 M's of teaching..

I will never forget this 8 M's because it reminds me of mam olga^_^

Reply

Margie anne Cruda June 28, 2013 at 7:50 PM

nice.. I will dwell on these 8 m's of teaching
Reply

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