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At WORKSCOOL, the belief is that the greatest changes can come through education. Though in the larger scheme of things, education is a developmental tool, there are many whose main business is education. WORKSCOOL is an endeavour to provide essential management services to these businesses. It is an initiative towards professionalizing and stream lining the efforts taken by different people in the field of education. It is an outfit that works on educational projects.We have worked with many educational institutes in their strategic development. Workscool’s expertise in management in the education field brings to the table best practices that reduce cost and enhance efficiency, thus increasing the brand value of the institution.

 

Making Teaching Aides

 

Many of you may consider making aides a stretch of your job description. But it is not. As a teacher, not only are you expected to know your subject, but also to convey it fully to the students and make sure they retain it. Teaching aides can go a long way in enhancing your classroom experience and improving retention. In short, the time and effort put into making a teaching aide is always well spent. In this issue, we shall cover the Visual Still Aides.

Visual Still Aides:

Explore your topic under consideration. Though you may have gone through the lesson notes of the topic many times over, you need to reconsider it with a fresh eye. Write down all the important words and sub topics of the lesson. These should be words and small phrases. This method can also be used to enhance your memory, instead of depending on the text while teaching. For instance: The topic is Market Research Strategy and the class is about what steps are needed to have a market research done. 

1. From your notes, the main sub topics will be identified as Purpose, Population, Procedure and Publication.

2. There are some more branches off Population and Procedure, but that will be covered with another aide.On your browser window, go to Google Image Search (http://images.google.com) and search for the word 'Purpose'. As expected, you will get many many images that have nothing to do with purpose. Narrow your search and type 'Purpose of Life'. Keep scouring through the images till you find one visual appealing enough and which conveys in one look the word 'Purpose'. Our favourite is http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/philosophy/Undergraduate%20Resources/Honours/Honours%20Courses/JH3/Brain-in-vat.gif 

   Be careful about using graphics from other sites that show copyright signs on them or request you to ask for permission before use. Once you contact them and let them know that it will be used as a teaching aide, they should have a problem. Moreover there are tonnes of free downloadable images that you can use. Crop, cut and size them down for your use. You can also use a question mark image for Purpose.

3. Similarly, repeat it for the other Ps.

4. In a chart, place the 4 pictures in line with arrows leading from one to the other. Mark the images with their individual labels.

5. Completed it could look like this

   

    

    

   
   Paste this on the pin-up board or wall of the classroom.

6. Another aide could be devoted to Population. The sampling technique could be represented using images. For instance: The difference between Cluster sampling and Stratified Sampling can be shown with a simple hand drawn diagram. You can also use ready made material such as http://www.fao.org/forestry/webview/media?mediaId=7622&langId=1 

   Be sure to change it to your needs.

    
   

    
   

Visual Still Aides can also be used for the structure of the lesson. Let us take the same topic of Market Research. The lesson follows a pattern and that should be on the wall before the class begins. Put it up first thing in the morning before any other class. That will give the students enough time to soak it in. And once the words are familiar, it becomes easier and less stressful for them to absorb it.

1.  Divide the board into two. On the left hand side on the top, write Structure. Use the right hand side to write. 

2. The topic flows from one central issue. Here the issue is Research Strategy. Make a round in the centre of the structure side and write MR Strategy inside it.

3. The strategy comprises of the 4Ps. These can be written in a circle around the centre circle. Keep them close to the main circle as you will need more space to expand the Ps.

4. From one of the Ps, say Procedure, arrows can come out to smaller bubbles that represent the steps of Procedure.

5. Similarly, for all the Ps, the diagram should be completed as the lesson continues. The students are continuously then seeing the unfinished diagram and the completed chart and comparing. They not only know how much is left, but also know how it is going to proceed. Purposely ask obvious questions for which answers are prominent in the chart. All the students will want to answer then and participation will increase and so will their confidence.

6. See the below diagram for an idea of how the chart would look in construction on the Procedure side

   

    

Remember to colour code each of the Ps so they dont get mixed up. Ask the students to copy the structure in their books.

This diagrammatic representation is very effective in remembering the lesson. Do not make it into a homogeneous looking flowchart as this will make the aide pointless. The colours, balloons and the blurbs make it stand out. It will take you a maximum of an hour to make the pin-up chart perfect. That one hour of time spent on one day can help enhance all your future classes.

Next week

Next week, we shall delve into making audio-video aides and audio podcasts. Try the above technique for a lesson you are teaching this week and see the difference. If you are not able to find an appropriate aide, mail your query to us and we will find it for you. If you use visual still aides in your classroom and find it beneficial, do write in to us with your success stories which we will share on the Workscool website for your entire fraternity to see. Communication is key and we can come together to make your workplace a more effective and well-managed environment. Do write in with queries and comments at edvantage@workscool.com

Next Week: Audio and Video Aides >>

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