At the onset of 21st Century, new standards of teaching and learning have been raised to the pedestal of education. Gone are the days that we used the traditional ways of teaching such as chalk and blackboard and the teacher-centered discussion because today we are now confronted of a totally different kind of students pursuing the real essense of learning.
And so today, allow me to narrate to you one of the most effective way of discussing a topic to these students. By the way I am teaching here at Philippine State College of Aeronautics and basically, I am teaching pilot and tourism students. With that, I am handling subjects like Filipino and Sociology.
This teaching strategy I am going to tell you is known as Carousel. This technique is characterized by group of students taking over the role of a teacher or a reporter to their classmates as they deliver a particular lesson. This is neither the typical reporting thing since it basically requires more than that.
Methodology in Carousel
The class is divided into 4 groups. Each group is given topics according to the syllabus given to them.Then each group will be divided into 4 sub-groups. Each sub-group is then assigned topics to be discussed to their classmates.
A sample syllabus in Filipino Subject. However, I translated the topics in this syllabus to English to be understood by the many.
For example these following people are tasked to be the group 1.
- Alissa
- Shaniah
- Darylle
- Japhet
- Brendo
- Eralyn
- Pierce
- Dave
- Kearck
- Erica
- Jean
- Eliza
This group is divided into 4 subgroups having 3 members on each group.
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Here now is the delegation:
Sub-group 1: Alissa, Shanaiah, Darylle
Topics Assigned: Definition and Characteristics
Sub-group 2: Japhet, Brendo, Eralyn
Topics Assigned: Levels of Language and its Relationship to Culture
Sub-group 3: Pierce, Dave, Kearck
Topics Assigned: Characteristics of Culture and its Role to Learning
Sub-group 4: Erica, Jean, Eliza
Topics Assigned: Theories and Processes in Reading
Given the following subgroups and the assigned topics, these following people will present to the class their assigned topics. But before that, they will divide first the class into 4 groups excluding their own members. Then, they will assign which group will be the station 1, 2, 3 and 4. Afterwhich, the sub-group 1 people from the above delegation will be assigned to present on station 1 and the sub-group 2 will be on station 2, 3rd sub-group to 3rd station and 4th sub-group to the 4th station.
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Each sub-group is given only 10 minutes to present their lesson to their classmates staying on their station. After 10 minutes of discussion and taking down notes, their classmates will now move to the next station to listen to the other presentor on that station. Again after 10 minutes, they will now move to the next station until they reached back to their original station. In other words, this activity is like hopping around each station and learning from the presentation of your classmates.
Strengths:
: It promotes research skill on the part of the presentor to really study their assigned topics.
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: It develops the confidence of the presentor especially talking at the front of your classmates.
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: It improves communication skills and social skills in presenting and answering questions.
Things to take Note
However, despite such huge advantage to the learners having said the aforementioned above, still the job of the teacher is to facilitate the students on their answers and their ideas so to ensure its validity and applicability to real life setting.
With this, I got lots of positive response and feedbacks from my students saying that its their first time to do this kind of activity and its really fun because even in just a day they experienced to become a teacher to their classmates. Moreover, they felt that they become more confident in dealing with people.
Thanks everyone. I hope that this technique will give you a new perspective of teaching and learning process.
Shalom.