Skill of introducing a lesson is such a skill that helps teachers establishing rapports with the learners, gaining their interest and attention to a particular content to be taught. Without armed with this skill the teacher will almost not be successful in transacting his lesson/content knowledge
Teaching becomes almost half-successful if a teacher can successfully introduce a lesson he want to teach. Introducing a lesson is one of the foremost important skills to be learnt by a teacher. Skill of introducing a lesson is such a skill that helps teachers establishing rapports with the learners, gaining their interest and attention to a particular content to be taught. Without armed with this skill the teacher will almost not be successful in transacting his lesson/content knowledge.
Components:
There are certain components of this skill and they are as under –
· Preliminary attention gaining
· Use of previous knowledge
· Use of appropriate device
· Explicit link with content
· Effectiveness in introducing a lesson
Preliminary attention gaining:
Normally, at the beginning of a lesson, students are found that they are not attentive and mentally not prepared for learning. Most of the students found distracted in the class. In such an environment the act of teaching-learning cannot be done successfully. Thus, the primary duty of the teacher is to create a congenial environment for learning among the students. To do so he can take help of different activities like story telling, demonstration of teaching aids, playing short audio or audio-visual clip, recitation, etc. Until and unless students are ready to learn the lesson attentively, teacher should not begin his lesson.
Use of previous knowledge:
We can learn a new thing when we can coordinate the new information with the existing ones. So, before we begin to teach our learners we should check their existing previous knowledge. Thus, the previous knowledge refers the knowledge already possessed by the learners. We must not assume that students come to our class like empty vessels. They acquire knowledge from various sources like classrooms, friends, books etc. Remembering that mind cannot receive any new knowledge unless there is a continuity with the relevant previous knowledge, teacher should check first his students previous knowledge and then use those previous knowledge in his teaching-learning process. More importantly, teachers should be aware of the previous knowledge of the pupils of particular age group and grade level. This is because a student of grade ten’s previous knowledge will be different from that of a grade eight’s.
Use of appropriate device:
Here ‘device’ refers to the technique that teacher uses while introducing a lesson. There are various devices such as a) use of examples/analogies/similarities, b) questioning, c) lecturing/describing/narrating/illustrating, d) story telling, e) role playing/dramatization, f) audio-visual aids, and g) experimentation/demonstration that can be used to introduce a particular lesson. There is no rigid rule for using an appropriate device. One can use more than one (appropriate) device if the lesson/content demands. The use of such devices, however, should be suitable to the age, experience, maturity, etc. of the learners. This is because lecturing/describing/narrating/illustrating device is mostly used in the higher classes while story telling device is helpful mostly for the lower classes.
Explicit link with the content:
Whatever previous knowledge of the learners are checked during introducing a lesson or whatever devices or techniques are used to gain attention of the learners, they must have explicit link with the contents. Previous knowledge that are not related to the lesson/content does not help teacher introducing a lesson. Those devices also do not help introducing a lesson if they are not related to the content. They will, rather, confuse the learners.
Effectiveness in introducing a lesson:
Introducing a lesson is a very important skill in a teaching-learning process. Success of the process very much depends on the effectiveness of introducing a lesson. Therefore, teacher should whole-heartedly concern about gaining effectiveness in this skill. Teachers, therefore, should give emphasis on using previous knowledge of the learners and using appropriate devices during introducing a lesson. He should not begin his lesson until and unless learners are ready to learn.