Lesson 13

Teaching with Visual Symbols

Abstraction:

Your experience of the words and the graphs convinces you that a graph is easier to understand than the words of a paragraph. A graph is “worth a thousand words.” A graph and any visual symbol for that matter such as drawings, cartoons, strip drawings diagrams, and maps are worth a thousand words.

A.   DRAWING 

A drawing may not be the real thing but better to have a concrete visual aid than nothing. To avoid confusion, it is good that our drawing correctly represents the real thing.

B.    CARTOONS

Another useful visual symbol that can bring novelty to our teaching is the cartoon. A first-rate cartoon tells its story metaphorically. The perfect cartoon needs no caption.

Sources of Cartoons

You can easily collect cartoons for instruction. They appear often in newspapers and magazines. In class, you can give it to individual students or individual study or project it by an opaque projector.

Sketching cartoons

Want to develop your skill at sketching for cartoons?

·         Start with simple shapes and add details. Note changes in expression.

·         Side view start with same basic shapes.

·         Most cartoon figures are about four heads tall. Keep them simple.

When to use cartoons in instruction?

You can also use this as a springboard for a lesson or a concluding activity. It depends on your purpose.

C.  STRIP DRAWINGS

These are commonly called comics or comic strip. Dale (1969) asserts that a more accurate term is strip drawings; make use of strips that are educational and entertaining at the same time.

Where to use strip drawing in instruction?

These can serve as motivation and a starter of your lesson. It can also be given as an activity for students to express insights gained at the conclusion of a lesson.

Sources of strip drawing

You can obtain drawings from newspaper, magazines and books.

K to 12 curriculum standards and competencies

Identify a competency where a strip drawing Is appropriate.

D.   DIAGRAMS

It is “any line drawing that shows arrangements and relations as of parts to the whole, relative values, origins and development , chronological fluctuations, distribution. Etc.” (Dale, 1969) 

If you can draw stick figures, you can easily draw the diagrams that you need as you go along. To emphasize the key points in your diagram, make use of color whether you use the chalkboard or the OHP and transparencies.

Types of diagram

Find out what these other diagrams are. You must need them as you go about your other teaching-related tasks.

·         Affinity diagram- used to cluster complex apparently unrelated data into natural and meaningful groups.

·         Tree diagram- used to chart out, in increasing detail, the various tasks that must be accomplished to complete a project or achieve a specific objective.

·         Fishbone diagram- it is also called cause-and-effect diagram

E.    CHARTS

A chart is a diagrammatic representation of relationships among individuals within organizations. We can have a: 1) time chart, 2) tree or stream chart, 3) flow chart, 4) organizational chart, 5) comparison and contrast chart, 6) pareto chart and 7) run chart or trend chart.

Examples of chart

·         Time chart- is a tabular time chart that presents data in ordinal sequence.

·         Tree or stream chart- depicts development, growth and change by beginning with a single course (the trunk) which spreads out into many branches; or by beginning with the many tributaries which then converge into a single channel.

·         Flow chart- is a visual way of charting or showing a process from beginning to end.

·         Organizational chart- hows how one part of the organization relates to other parts of the organization.

·         Comparison and contrast chart- used to show similarities and differences between two things.

·         Pareto chart- is a type of bar chart, prioritized in descending order of magnitude or importance from left to right.

F.    GRAPHS

There are several types of graphs. They are: 10 circle or pie graph, 2) bar graph, 3) pictorial graph and 4) line graph

·         Pie or circle graph- recommended for showing parts of whole.

·         Bar graph- used in comparing the magnitude of similar items at different ties or seeing relative sizes of the parts of a whole.

·         Pictorial graph- makes use of picture symbols.

·         Graphic organizers- you met several graphic organizers in your subject, principles of teaching.

G.  MAPS

A map is a “representation of the surface of the earth or some part of it…” (Dale 1969)

Kinds of map

·         Physical map- combines in a single projection data like altitude, temperature, rainfall, precipitation, vegetation, and soil.

·         Relief map- has three dimensional representations and show contours of the physical data of the earth or part of the earth.

·         Commercial or economic map- also called product or industrial map since they show land areas in relation to the economy.

·         Political map- gives detailed information about country, provinces, cities and towns, roads and highways.

·         Map language Scale- shows how much of the actual earth’s surface is represented by a given measurement on a map.

·         Symbols- usually a map has a legend that explains what each symbol represent highways, railroads, mountains lakes and plains.

·         Color- the different colors of the map are part of the map language.

·         Geographic grids- the entire system of these grid lines are called grid lines. 

         H. POSTER

               

 A poster is any piece of printed paper designed to be attached to a wall or vertical surface. Typically posters include both textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or wholly text.

This cover emphasizes the use of modern technology in school to develop and innovate students in exploring the world of technology. The book symbolizes knowledge because it contains all the information about anything. In fact, books nowadays have also developed to compensate with modern technology. Gadgets like the computers, laptops, cellphones and tabs could contain all the needed information that a person is looking for because they are capable in using the internet to access the web. And today's generation uses technology for better educational foundation and learning integration because we need this to be able to cope up with our evolving and fast growing society.

     

Lesson 12

The power of film, video and TV in the classroom

The film, the video and the TV are indeed very powerful. Dale (1969) says, they can:

·         Transmit a wide range of audio- visual materials, including still pictures, film, objects, specimens and drama.

·         Bring models of excellence to the viewer- we can see and hear the excellent scientist like John Glenn, the excellent speakers and master teachers who lecture and demonstrate a teaching method for professional development of teachers.

·         Bring the world of reality to the home and to the classroom through a “live” broadcast or as mediated through film or videotape.

·         Make us see and hear for ourselves world events as they happen, with a sense of helplessness, we witnessed the fire that engulfed homes in San Diego, California in October 2007 as it happened trough TV. When the strong earthquake shook Baguio,  Agoo , Dagupan and Nueva Ecija.

·         Be the most believable news source.

·         Make some programs understandable and appealing to a wide variety of age and educational levels.

·         Become a great equalizer of educational opportunity because programs can be presented over national and regional networks.

·         Provide us with sounds and sights not easily available even to the viewer of a real event through long shots.

·         Can give opportunity to teacher to view themselves while they teach for purposes of self-improvement.

·         Can be both instructive and enjoyable.

While the film, Video and TV can do so much, they have their own limitations, too.

·         Television and film is one-way communication device.

·         The small screen size puts television at disadvantages when compared with the possible size of projected motion pictures, for example. With new technology, how is this remedied?

·         Excessive TV viewing works against the development of the child’s ability to visualize and to be creative and imaginative.

·         There is much violence in TV.

Basic Procedures in the use of TV as a supplementary Enrichment

For enrichment of the lesson with the use of TV, we have to do the following:

·         Prepare the classroom.

-          Darken the room. Remember that complete darkness is not advisable for TV viewing.

-          The students should not be seated too near nor too far from the TV.

·         Pre-viewing activities

-          Set goals and expectation. Why are you viewing the TV? What is expected of your students? state clearly.

-          Link the TV lesson with past lesson and / or with your student’s experiences for integration and relevance.

-          Set the rules while viewing.

-          Put the film in ontext.

-          Point out the key points they need to focus on.

·         Viewing

-          Don’t interrupt viewing by inserting cautions and announcements you forget to give during the previewing stage.

-          Just make sure sight and sounds are clear.

·         Post-viewing

-          To make them feel at ease begin by asking the following questions:

1.)               What do you like best in the film?

2.)               What part of the film makes you wonder? Doubt?

3.)               Does the film remind you of something or someone?

4.)               What questions are you asking about the film?

·         Go to the questions you raised at the pre-viewing stage.

·         Tackle questions you raised by students at the initial stage of the post-viewing discussion.

·         Ask what the students learned.

·         Summarize what was learned.

Lesson 11

Making the most of Community Resources and Field Trips

What procedures must we follow to avoid the failed study trips described above? Let’s plan. Planning a field trip includes these steps: 1) preliminary planning by the teacher, 2) preplanning with others going on the trip, and 3) taking the field trip itself and, 4) post-field trip follow up activities. 

For preliminary planning by the teacher, Brown (1969) proposes the following:

·         Make preliminary contacts, a tour on final arrangements with the place to be visited.

·         Make final arrangements with the school principal about the details of the trip: time, schedule, transportation arrangements, finances, and permission slips from parents.

·         Make a tentative route plan, subject to later alteration based on class planning and objectives.

·         Try to work out mutually satisfactory arrangements with other teachers if the trip will conflict with their classes.

·         Prepare preliminary lists of questions or other materials which will be helpful in planning with the students.

Preplanning with students joining the trip.

· Discuss he objectives of the trip and write them down. The main objectives should be included in the permit slip given to parents and should be consulted later when the trip is evaluated.

·   Prepare a list of questions to send ahead to the guide of the study trip.

·   Define safety and behavior standards for the journey there and for the field trip site itself.

·  Discuss and decide on ways to document the trip. Everyone is expected to take notes.

·   List specific objects to be seen on their way to the site, on the site of the field trip and on their way home from the site.

·    Discuss appropriate dress. Comfortable shoes for walking are important.

·    Before the trip, use a variety of learning materials in order to give each student a background for the trip.

Preplanning with others joining the trip

Other people accompanying the group need to be oriented on the objectives, route, behavior standars required of everyone so they can help enforce these standards. These may be parents who will assist the teachers, other teachers and/or school administrator staff.

Taking the field trip

·         Distribute route map of places to be observed.

·         Upon arriving at the destination, teacher should check the group and introduce the guide.

·         Special effort should be made to ensure that:

-          The trip keeps to the time schedule

-          The students have the opportunity to obtain answers to questions

-          The group participates courteously in the entire trip

-          The guide sticks closely to the list of questions.

Evaluating field trip

These are questions we can ask ourselves after the field trip to evaluate the filed trip we just had.

·         Could the same benefits be achieved y other materials? Was it worth the time, effort, and perhaps, extra money?

·         Were there any unexpected problems which could be foreseen another time?

·         Were new interests developed?

·         Should the trip be recommended to other classes studying similar topics?

Disadvantages of field trips

These educational benefits can compensate for the drawbacks of field trips, some of which are: 1) it is costly, 2) it involves logistics, 3) it is extravagant with time, and 4) contains an element of uncertainty.

 Community Resources

A field trip may be a visit to a scenic spot or to a historical place. What community resources can we use for learning?

These can be persons and places in the community. For persons, let us not go too far. Let us begin with the parents of our students. Many of them can be resource speakers in their fields of expertise.