Teaching Methods and Lesson Planning

UCE Birmingham Faculty of Health
Dip HE Rehabilitation Work

(Visual impairment)
Teaching methods and lesson planning

By Patrick Haywood
Introduction
As rehabilitation workers, we often need to impart skills and knowledge to
blind and partially sighted people in order for them to regain the ability to
perform everyday tasks. This material is therefore designed to develop
your understanding and use of specific teaching techniques and to enable
you to plan and evaluate your teaching.
Learning outcomes
By the end of this material, you should be able to:
• Describe a range of teaching methods and approaches to teaching
• Analyse the application of techniques in teaching rehabilitation skills
• Formulate learning objectives and lesson plans
• Demonstrate the application of Task Analysis
Using this material in context

This material integrates with the Learning Theories materials, which
should be studied first.
Contents
Adults as Learners
Learning outcomes
Teaching methods
Managing the learning process by planning
Lesson planning
Task analysis
Legislating for success
Back chaining
Essential study materials
Copyright © UCE Birmingham Visit us at www.sightlossmatters.com

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Document revised 31 Jan 07

(Visual impairment)
Assessed work
There is no formal assessment of activities undertaken in this material.
However, the content and activities will form the basis of your preparation
for teach-backs in mobility and ADL
Adults as Learners
Formative Activity - Adults as Learners
Learning as an adult can be a very challenging process. Reflect on your
own experience of participating in this course:
How did you feel about returning to a learning situation?
What factors tend to motivate you to learn?
What might de-motivate you?
List factors that contribute to a good learning environment?
List factors that contribute to a poor learning environment?
How might some of the themes you have discussed above relate to the
experience of a blind or partially sighted person who needs to learn new
ways of doing everyday tasks?
Copyright © UCE Birmingham

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Before concentrating on how we can structure and plan our teaching take
a few minutes and try to suggest ten ways to make your teaching fun for
you and your learner.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Learning Outcomes
When attempting to impart skills and knowledge to others one needs to
formulate clear plans for intervention. A key aspect of this process is to
decide the desired learning outcomes, sometimes called setting
objectives. These objectives need to reflect desired learning outcomes
rather than simply stating what is to be taught. What then is the difference
between simply stating what is to be taught and specifying a desired
learning outcome? To answer this let us first consider a theoretical
perspective
Benjamin Bloom and his associates organised their taxonomy (or
classification) of cognitive factors under six major headings. The six are
arranged hierarchically to demonstrate that levels of knowledge are

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(Visual impairment)
cumulative, so that higher classes are built on the skills involved in lower
classes. The classes are:
• Knowledge
• Comprehension
• Application
• Analysis
• Synthesis
• Evaluation
The knowledge level consists mainly of acquiring facts; comprehension
then involves a deeper understanding of this factual knowledge.
Application is concerned with how the knowledge is used in specific
situations. Analysis involves making lateral connections with other areas
of learning. Synthesis allows thinking that is more abstract; it involves the
formulation of cognitive constructs, which enable the projection of learning
into new areas. Evaluation involves reflection on the whole process.
Bloom used this same hierarchy to construct a Taxonomy of Instructional
Objectives with lists of words for each level of the hierarchy. These words
can be used in the formulation of learning objectives for a particular level
and so help to ensure that an appropriate level of learning is taking place.
Additional Study Materials

Bloom, Benjamin S., et al (1980). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives.
New York: Longman Publishing.
Also see Articles and additional study materials provided with this Unit
Formative Activity
Now try to write some learning outcomes which would provide a
framework for teaching some simple skills to a person with a visual
impairment. Choose an activity such as making a hot drink or simple
meal.
By the end of the teaching session my learner would be able to:
A.
B.
C.
D.

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Remember these should be learning outcomes, not statements of

what you are going to teach.
Formative Activity
Many of the objectives we set when teaching rehabilitation skills are
necessarily in the lower order areas of knowledge, comprehension and
application. However, if you consider the higher order levels of learning,
what benefits could our learner derive if we encourage them to achieve
these higher levels of learning? For example, how could the simple skills
involved in making a hot drink be used as a basis for further and deeper
learning?
Teaching Methods
Having established the principle of setting learning outcomes we need to
consider a range of specific teaching methods that can be used and their
application in the context of teaching rehabilitation skills. We must also be
aware that when teaching, the actual methods one employs can have a
significant effect on the outcome of the lesson. The methods used need to
be appropriate to the skills or knowledge area being taught and to the
needs of the learner. For example, attempting to teach a blind or partially
sighted person to use a complex piece of electrical equipment by simply
describing it verbally is perhaps likely to lead to an unsatisfactory
outcome for both teacher and learner.
Some specific teaching methods are:
• Questioning
• Verbal Description or explanation
• Verbal Prompting
• Modelling (hand on hand)
• Demonstration
Questioning is vital in any teaching situation, it allows the teacher to elicit
information from the learner. For example, ascertaining the current level
of knowledge about a task or checking what has been learned.
Verbal description is particularly important in the context of teaching
people with a vision impairment, as items or tasks may have to be
described if vision is not available to observe a demonstration.
Verbal prompting can be used to coax or reassure the learner when they
have forgotten some of their learning or lack confidence.
The modelling techniques can be very helpful to people with a vision
impairment as it allows more direct contact with the task or skill to be
learned.
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Demonstration is a good technique as it allows movements to be followed
directly. It can be used when teaching people with a vision impairment but
relies on the learner having sufficient sight to follow what is being taught.
Formative Activity
Try some micro teaching exercises employing some of the specific
teaching methods listed above. The subject of your micro-teaching should
be some task with which you are familiar and which could be taught to
someone else in no more than ten minutes. Work with a partner, friend or
another group member and attempt to teach them the chosen task. Use
one of the specific teaching methods discussed above as your actual
means of teaching. Repeat the micro teaching employing a different
teaching method. Record your results below.

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Learning Diary
(Copy this format for each micro teaching exercise).
The task I chose to teach was:
I attempted to use as my principal teaching

method.
The strengths of this approach were:
The weaknesses of this approach were:

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(Visual impairment)
Formative Activity
Having completed the previous activity. Consider how the specific
teaching methods could be used with a learner who has a vision
impairment. What would be the strengths and weaknesses in this
particular context?
Managing the Learning Process by Planning

After setting the learning objectives and having some idea of the teaching
methods we might employ, we need to organise the actual structure of
our lesson. Unless the content of our lesson is very simple, we will
probably need to break the teaching into portions that are more
manageable. This is often referred to as chunking and is an effective way
of managing the learners’ experience based on sound learning theory.
Think back to Gagné’s comments in unit 4 about a knowledge hierarchy.
Lesson Planning
There are a number of ways in which a lesson plan can be written. One
can write a series of statements, which describe the stages of the
process. These can also include an indication of the teaching methods to
be used. Alternatively a set of cue cards can be used. Again, these can
serve to order the sequence of teaching and indicate teaching methods. A
third method is to use a tabular format to lay out a written plan. This
approach is quite efficient as it allows easy reference to the plan whilst
teaching is underway and presents all of the important information. See
example.
Formative Activity
Using the lesson plan sheet as a guide, try to complete the lesson stages
for teaching someone to make a cup of tea.

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Lesson Plan
Task Teaching Method/s Safety/Notes
Fill teapot with correct Describe methods: Ensure learner can
amount of cold water. Counting distinguish hot and
cold taps.
Weight
Use of finger.
Assemble all
necessary equipment.
Allow learner to
experiment.
Question to gain feed-

back.
Prompt as needed.
Transfer cold water to

kettle.

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Task Teaching Method/s Safety/Notes
Refining the Structure of our Lesson

The plan you have just devised should present a sequence of tasks or
areas to be taught, together with an indication of the teaching methods to
be used. This forms a good basic plan but by itself does not constitute a
fully rounded lesson. We need therefore to incorporate some additional
elements to round out the total plan.
Introduction to the lesson – describing what is to be done in the
lesson helps to clarify our objectives and to engage the learner with
the task.
Recap of previous learning – this stage may not be needed in
every case but is useful when something is being taught over a
series of lessons.
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Practise time - following the teaching input the learner usually
needs time to actually attempt the new skill. At this stage the
teacher can use prompts and other input to facilitate learning. It is
easy to overlook this aspect in planning the lesson.
Recap of new learning – in this phase, the teacher can use a
variety of techniques to facilitate retention of knowledge and skills.
The recap phase can also facilitate transfer of knowledge.
This sequence can be used more than once in one lesson particularly if
the tasks or areas to be taught are more complex. Remember that this
structure is intended as a framework and is not a definitive model to be
applied in every case.
Formative Activity
Now try to refine your lesson plan ensuring that you have incorporated the
above elements.
In addition to deciding what teaching methods to employ and ensuring we
allow time for practise, recap etc we may also need to give more detailed
consideration to the actual structuring of what we teach. In rehabilitation
work a significant proportion of the teaching we do is related to the
development of motor skills, coupled to cognitive learning. This means
that our learners may need to string together a series of specific skills and
engage in problem solving in order to accomplish an overall task.
Task Analysis
In order to ascertain the component parts of a task we need to employ the
process of task analysis. If we look carefully even apparently simple
everyday tasks can actually be broken down into many sub tasks. Gagné
describes this sort of process in relation to defining pre-requisite
knowledge. If you are unsure about this look back to Unit 4.
Formative Activity
Take a simple task that you perform every day. Try to think of all the
stages that are involved and the individual pieces of knowledge that you
need and the individual actions you perform in order to accomplish the
task. List them, or, if you prefer draw a mind map. Think back to Gagné’s
concept of prerequisites discussed in unit 4.
In practice the learner will dictate the degree of deconstruction of a task
into sub tasks. For example, when teaching someone who is a competent
cook to adapt their approach following the onset of a visual impairment, it
is probably safe to assume that they will know some of the subordinate
stages involved in a particular cooking task. However, for someone who is
inexperienced in catering for themselves and has also become visually
impaired, detailed task analysis may be required.

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Legislating for Success
Another important aspect of teaching is the need to provide rewards and
a sense of achievement for the learner. Carefully selecting the content
and delivery of a lesson can facilitate this experience. For example, it is
more likely that someone will succeed in learning long cane skills in a
controlled and safe environment. Placing the person straight onto a busy
street and expecting them to cope with learning the complex moves
involved in using the cane is a recipe for failure.
In addition to the process of setting our lesson to maximise the chances
of success for the learner it is also important to reinforce a sense of
achievement by the appropriate use of praise. Praising a learner can be
equivalent to giving a reward and so can fulfil some of the basic aspects
of learning as postulated by Pavlov and Skinner. See unit X. When
dealing with adult learners we do however need to be aware that over-use
of praise can be seen as condescending and false.
Back Chaining
In some learning situations achieving success even when the task is
broken down into manageable chunks can be difficult because the
separate parts of the whole do not of themselves lead to a meaningful
goal. For example, if teaching a route where the destination is a shop. If
we use the conventional forward chaining approach then the learner does
not have the reward of reaching their goal. However, if we gradually work
back in stages from the shop then we can end each lesson with the goal
having been reached.
Essential Study Materials

These two books show examples of applying teaching theory and
techniques to specific rehabilitation skills.
Jackobson W H (1993) The Art and Science of Teaching Orientation and
Mobility to Persons with Visual Impairments AFB New York
Ponchillia, P. & Ponchillia, S. (1996) Foundations of Rehabilitation
Teaching with Persons who are blind or visually impaired AFB Press
ISBN 0-89128-939-9
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Dip HE Rehabilitation Work