All assignments must be submitted electronically via myUnisa. Assignments may not be
submitted by fax or e-mail and no postal assignments will be accepted in future. For detailed
information on assignments, please refer to the Study @ Unisa brochure.
To submit an assignment via myUnisa:
• Go to myUnisa.
• Log in with your student number and password.
• Select the module.
• Click on assignments in the menu on the left-hand side of the screen.
• Click on the assignment number you want to submit.
• Follow the instructions.
2
, TPN3704/103
• Please do not zip documents.
• Please note that essay assignments must be in Portable Document Format (pdf) for
online submission and onscreen marking.
• Check that your assignment does register and is uploaded.
Please remember that Unisa’s systems are designed to accommodate many students. All
records are linked to your student number and the module code. It is very important that you
ensure that you use the correct 8-digit student number on all correspondence, including
assignments. It is equally important that you identify your assignments with the correct
module code and assignment number: e.g. Student number: 3423-777-5; Module Code
HBEDTL6; Assignment 03. A mistake in any one of these or the unique numbers could
result in your work not being credited to you! Take care, therefore, when filling in the
information. WE WILL NOT REMARK ASSIGNMENTS IF YOU NUMBER THEM
INCORRECTLY.
3
, TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. GENERAL INFORMATION REGARDING YOUR TEACHING
PRACTICE PERIOD ............................................................................................... 4
2. SOME TIPS FOR SURVIVAL ................................................................................. 4
3. YOUR LESSON PLANNING AND ASSESSMENT FORMS .................................. 5
4. TEACHING AND LEARNING METHODS/STRATEGIES ...................................... 6
5. LEARNING AND TEACHING SUPPORT MATERIALS (LTSMs) .......................... 7
6. LESSON AIMS AND OBJECTIVES/OUTCOMES .................................................. 7
1 GENERAL INFORMATION REGARDING YOUR TEACHING
PRACTICE PERIOD
All BEd (Intermediate Phase) students must prepare at least six lessons and present them in
the presence of a mentor teacher during the period of teaching practice. You must complete
the blank lesson plan and assessment forms included in this tutorial letter during the
compulsory five-week period of teaching practice and submit them no later than the 24
September. However, if you complete your teaching practice period earlier, you may submit
them at that time.
Teaching practice is a compulsory requirement for the B.Ed. (Intermediate Phase) programme.
Unless Assignment 50, unique number: 360599, (provided in this tutorial letter) containing your
lessons and resources have been submitted, marked and passed, the degree will not be
awarded to you.
Please note: Place the assignment in an assignment cover and use the relevant code
and unique number.
2 SOME TIPS FOR SURVIVAL
• Be thoroughly professional. Your way of dressing and punctuality are important
throughout the teaching practice period.
• Do not be late for meetings and classes.
• You should not chew gum or attend to your cell phone while you teach.
• Ask your mentor teacher where you should sit during breaks, where to park your
car and so on.
• Generally (there are exceptions) you should stand while you teach in order to show
the learners that you are in control.
• Move around the class while the learners are working. It will keep them focused while
the shy ones will be able to get your attention more easily. It will also assist you in
stopping any disruptions. You will also be able to see if the learners are able to do the
activity you set for them.
• Always be very well prepared for a lesson. Plan extra activities until you get a better
idea of how long the lesson will take. It is unprofessional to “finish” your lesson after 10
minutes. As you gain more experience you will be able to judge time a little better. If
you don’t need the extra activities, you can save them for another day.
• Don’t aim to get learners to like you. Get them to listen to you. If they see that you are
organised and in control of a lesson, they will respect you for being a good teacher. If
you only want them to like you, they will not listen to you. They will think you are one of
their friends. Remain friendly, but professional.
• Offer to assist your mentor teacher whenever possible (by making photocopies,
marking learners’ books, making posters and so on).
• Mark all the work you were responsible for teaching. Check with your mentor teacher
what the marking policy of the school is.
5
,• Take cognisance that there are laws regarding corporal punishment – in short, it is not
allowed. Discuss all discipline-related matters with your mentor teacher and follow the
policies of the school. These policies should fall within the framework of the law.
• An important part of classroom management is to be consistent with your discipline. If
you and your mentor teacher have a set of rules in the classroom, stick to them.
• It is always better to remain calm than to fuel a confrontation. If a learner misbehaves
during a lesson, ask him or her to speak with you and your mentor teacher after the
lesson.
• Vary the use of your voice. Try not to speak with the same tone and at the same
volume throughout a lesson.
• Avoid shouting at learners. Shouting should only be kept for an emergency.
• Many teaching practice students are so concerned about classroom management that
they do not plan interesting lessons. If your lessons are interesting, the classroom
management will be much easier!
3 YOUR LESSON PLANNING AND ASSESSMENT FORMS
• Plan and prepare six lessons, namely, two for Home or First Additional Language, two
for your first chosen school subject and two for your second chosen school subject.
Use the blank lesson plan forms for this purpose.
• Discuss each lesson with a senior teacher or your mentor teacher at the school
beforehand.
• If the senior teacher or mentor teacher are not available, then ask any of their
colleagues to be of assistance in the assessment of your lessons.
• Ask your mentor teacher to complete the assessment forms after you have presented
the lessons.
Include all the resources/media you used in your lessons in this workbook.
Be original and creative!
6
, TPN3704/103
4 TEACHING AND LEARNING METHODS/STRATEGIES
It is unlikely that you will use only one method to present your lessons. You may find that you
need different strategies at different stages of a lesson. Take note of the following guidelines
on how to use the different teaching and learning methods/strategies:
• Lecture/direct instruction. The younger the learners, the shorter this component of a
lesson should be. Remember, it is preferable for learners to be active and to construct
meaning about what they learn.
• Class discussion. You have to be very careful in managing a class discussion. How
will you ensure that the learners do not all talk at once or shout out answers? Have a
strategy ready. The discussion shouldn’t be too informal.
• Question-and-answer session. The questions for such a session must be organised
beforehand, but you must also be able to change the questions or to add questions as
the lesson unfolds. You can also write your questions on pieces of paper and hand out
the papers to a few learners to ask the questions to the class.
• Group work/cooperative learning (discussion, answering written questions, working on
projects, etc). You have to determine how many learners there should be in a group
for these activities. Experiment with two, three or four learners per group. Group work
does not have to occupy a whole lesson; you can use it for a few minutes as an
introduction or a conclusion. Make sure that the groups understand your expectations
and what you want them to achieve – perhaps it is just to discuss or brainstorm ideas,
in which case the activity should not be too long. Sometimes it is a good idea to give
each group a different set of questions to answer in a report-back session.
• Reading aloud. Reading aloud gives learners background knowledge, which helps
them to make sense of what they see, hear, read and write. Before learners do a
written assignment, especially in the Intermediate Phase, make sure the learners
understand the instructions by reading them aloud and explaining them.
• Classroom debates. Classroom debates provide learners with opportunities to work as
a group. Learners can organise their points of view for one side of an argument and
discover new information. This strategy can be used from the Intermediate Phase to
the Senior Phase.
• Storytelling. Learners love sharing their everyday stories. Give them opportunities to
express themselves by telling the class about what is happening in their daily lives
since this is part of language development.
• Role-play. Role-play is an experiential learning method. Learners understand by
action. Let learners experience some activities, for example, grocery shopping by
acting them out.
• Oral work presented by learners. After you have taught a topic, you may ask the
learners to do a short oral presentation on it. Give each learner one word relating to
the topic. Thereafter, give the learners a few minutes to prepare a short presentation
on those words and then ask them to present it to the class. Alternatively, you could
give them a topic a few days in advance and ask them to prepare a short presentation
on it.
• Individual seat work. This method/strategy includes activities like reading, writing,
cutting out of pictures, drawing, colouring, working from a textbook, working on a
computer and doing research.
• Learners teach the class. This activity can work as a conclusion or if you have given
the learners a topic to prepare. Take care to include learners who may be very shy.
7
,• Stations. Set up different activities in different parts of the classroom. Let the learners
move from station to station in groups to complete the work you have set out. Each
station must have a different learning item (a book, a picture, a real object, etc) and an
activity you want them to do (answer questions, draw a picture, complete a table, etc).
• Drill and practice. Drill is the repeated hearing and use of a particular item. This
method is most helpful in language learning. Drills, as a form of repetition, enable
learners to focus sharply on particular points of grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation
and spelling. The method can be fun if you are lively and enthusiastic about it.
• Translation tasks. Give the learners a picture and let them write a paragraph about it,
or give them a paragraph and let them draw a picture about it. This activity works well
for Social Science and Natural Science lessons.
• Quizzes. Prepare questions about a topic that the learners know and hold a quiz.
5 LEARNING AND TEACHING SUPPORT MATERIALS (LTSMs)
Teaching aids and materials are those items that you use during a lesson to help the learners
understand what is being taught. A textbook on its own is usually not sufficient to teach a
concept thoroughly. You will need more than one teaching aid for each lesson. If you talk or
read from a textbook for a whole lesson, it will not provide a meaningful learning experience for
the learners. These are just some of the items you can include in lessons:
• Textbooks, teacher guides and so forth
• A board (a chalkboard, a whiteboard or an interactive board)
• An overhead projector
• Slides/posters/pictures (can also be projected)
• A real item (a leaf, a 3D object, etc) (it must be safe!)
• A video/DVD/YouTube clip (you must have watched it beforehand and set
questions for the learners to answer, otherwise they will consider it a fun activity)
• Other books or magazines
• Maps
• Other items (found at home/recycled)
• Flashcards
• Games
6 LESSON AIMS AND OBJECTIVES/OUTCOMES
• When you formulate the aims/objectives of your lessons, ensure that you are not
vague. Examples of vague lesson aims are as follows:
Aim: to teach fractions.
Aim: to teach about heat.
These statements do not specify exactly what you want to achieve.
State exactly and specifically what you want to teach in a lesson, as in these examples:
Aim: to teach learners how to write equivalent fractions so that they can add fractions.
8
, TPN3704/103
Aim: to teach the action of heat on metals by way of an experiment.
• A very good place to start is the curriculum document. At the beginning of the CAPS
document you will find the broad aims for education in South Africa (every teacher
should read these aims), followed by the broad aims for the particular subject you
are teaching. Then you will find the specific content you need to teach. Make sure that
the content you teach meets the aims of the subject you are teaching. Always refer
back to the CAPS document. Don’t simply rely on the textbook as your guide through
the curriculum.
• The outcomes relate to what the learners will know, be able to do, understand or show
you on completion of a lesson. You can start the outcomes/objectives with: “Learners
will be able to … ” Here are examples of lesson outcomes/objectives:
- At the end of the lesson, learners will be able to arrange the phases of the water cycle
in the correct order.
- At the end of the lesson, learners will be able to label the colour wheel showing the
primary and secondary colours.
- After watching a DVD on plastic pollution, learners will be able to answer five
questions on the benefits of recycling plastic.
• Structure every lesson in relation to the learner activity that will take place during the
lesson. You may need more than one objective or outcome for a lesson, depending on
the content to be taught for that lesson.
7 OBSERVATION GUIDE
Part of the purpose of your teaching practice period is to give you the opportunity to learn by
observing an experienced teacher. However, observing is not simply watching. You have to be
actively involved in observing. When you are not teaching but observing your mentor teacher,
consider the following questions. Write up the answers for yourself. Throughout your teaching
experience, you will observe many teachers. Every teacher has his/her own way of managing
a classroom. You have to identify the best practices of different teachers and decide for
yourself what will be the most effective way to run your own classroom in the future.
(Source – adapted for Parts A, B and C: Cohen. L, Manion, L & Morrison, K. 2005. A guide to
teaching practice. New York: Routledge: 103–105.)
NB: Do not write. Just observe and learn.
A. The beginning of a lesson
• How do the learners enter the classroom?
• How does the teacher greet the learners?
• How do they greet the teacher?
• How are the desks arranged?
• Where is the teacher at the beginning of the lesson?
• Does the teacher take a register?
9
, • Are the learners allowed to talk when they enter or are they silent?
• Are they allowed to bring their school bags or sport bags inside?
• How is the previous day’s homework dealt with?
• How does the teacher settle the class?
• How does the teacher indicate that the lesson has started?
• How are books/resources handed out?
B. During a lesson
• Does the teacher use individual work, work in pairs, group work or a whole class
discussion?
• Does the teacher vary these activities during the lesson or across several lessons?
• What does the teacher say and do so that all learners know what they have to do and
what they must not do?
• Are the learners allowed to move around in the classroom and, if so, how many may
do so at any given time?
• Where is the teacher at different stages of the lesson?
• How does the teacher vary his/her voice during the lesson?
• How does the teacher gain and maintain silence when it is required?
• How does the teacher handle difficult situations?
• How does the teacher praise or reward learners?
• How does the teacher reprimand or discipline learners?
• How does the teacher handle a question he/she cannot answer?
• What happens if a child feels ill?
• How does the teacher deal with learners who are slower or faster than the others?
C. At the end of a lesson
• How does the teacher close the lesson?
• How does the teacher facilitate a discussion or feedback at the end?
• How does the teacher deal with learners who have not finished their work?
• How do the learners put away their books and materials?
• How does the teacher collect material or books?
• Where are the learners at the end of the lesson?
• How much homework is set?
• How does the teacher dismiss the class?
D. Observing learners during a lesson
• Those learners that take a long time to settle down before the lesson – what are they
doing (talking, finding equipment, playing, etc)?
• If a learner does not pay attention while the teacher is teaching – what is that learner
doing?
• Observe the learners’ interaction with each other during group work or work in pairs.
• Observe those learners who take an active part in the lesson as well as those who do
not contribute to the lesson.
• Observe how the learners put away their books and materials. Do some learners have
difficulty with this?
10
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller sthembisomaboea. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $5.99. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.