Need of the hour -27
Play way method to teach lessons in EVS
-J.P.Bharathi
A teacher has to have an innovative style in her teaching every time. What she tried today may become monotonous and boring for kids in the next class activity. An innovative teacher creates new enthusiasm in her students and can keep them attentive in her class. Also an innovative teacher can inspire, involve, innovate and impart with ease, within the four walls of a class room.
So teachers can try using various play way methods and make the class interesting and also ensure to cover the topic which she has to teach. Let us discuss few ways a can class can get interesting.
- Story board method
- Drawing and colouring method
- Flash cards
- Chits method
- Dumb charades
First let us say, the teacher has to teach the lesson on the topic “The Plants”
As the teacher enters the class she can ask the students shall I take a lesson on “The Plants” or shall we have a drawing class. In the normal methods, students will be happy to say that they want a drawing class. Now giving the full freedom for the students to do their chosen activity, a teacher can ask them to draw on the topic- “The Plants”. She can use any one method to take up the topic.
Students will get involved in the drawing and coloring activity. Now the teachers job is only to monitor and guide the slow learners, as the rest of them are engrossed in their activity. As the students are drawing, a teacher can ask them what the tree needs to live. Slowly, students understand they need to draw a pond or well beside the plant. As she keeps moving, she can ask why the leaves are green in color, and slowly explain how it makes its food or photosynthesis. Here she can ask them to color few leaves in brown and tell them how a plant withers its old leaves and how a fresh leaf starts growing.
As the students are getting curious about the drawing session, she can ask all the students to hold their breath for a while. Obviously, children express difficulty and their inability to do it for even a few seconds. At this stage, if she talks about oxygen and carbon dioxide, a child can understand in a very practical way. She can appreciate the plants as our best friends and tell the students that plants take away all the bad air, i.e., carbon dioxide and give us oxygen. Obviously, they will come out with stories, why there is no air in the surroundings and what should be done to increase oxygen and reduce carbon dioxide.
As the students get more involved she can tell about the trunk, branches. She can relate and tell how the tree stands grounded and remains stable with the help of branches on all the sides. She can also ask, what is the purpose of the fruits and flowers on a tree?
At this stage, teacher can take a small break and tell them that plants are our best friends; they give us food, air to live on this earth.
As the plant is growing, (in the drawing) a teacher can tell the students what are roots and why they grow in different directions under the soil. A teacher can demonstrate or show a video clip as to how the soil in dessert flows with the wind and ask them why it does not happen in the places where there are plants. Here students will first understand the difference between the soil where there are plants and no plants. Depending upon the grade of the students, teacher can talk about deforestation and soil erosion, how it can be controlled.
As the drawing is coming to a final shape a teacher can ask the student why a plant should grow in an open area and not in the closed rooms. So, students start understanding that plants need sunlight to grow. The drawing will now include clouds, sun and also few birds. Here the teacher can ask the students where do the birds live, they will obviously understand the trees are the homes for many birds and insects.
As the drawing is coming to a close, she can find from all the students if, they have all the parts of the plants and also birds, insects, water, clouds, sky and the sun included in their drawing.
A teacher can monitor the class, develop the topic along with the drawing activity and make every student understand the lesson on the plants.
She can also involve students and ask what if there are no plants in the neighborhood. A teacher should dramatize and appreciate the students view points and act as if she is learning from their stories. This way, students become responsible and take pride in saying that they discovered something new in the classroom activity. Now she can come out with small stories and also allow students to tell their own stories as to what happens if we do not plant trees in the houses.
At the final stages of the lesson, teacher can help the students to learn the correct spellings. She can as well ask the students to carefully open the reader and note down the correct spellings. This gives them the pride of learning a full topic without any difficulty.
Now, she can ask students to go and explain the same to their parents as a home activity and bring in more stories in the next class. As the topic gets more interesting they tend to learn the lesson on the plants from various sources and have an overall practical knowledge on the topic.
She can come to few agreement points in the class and slowly tell them that they need to name the parts of the plant. This activity can be supported by an appreciation with grade points or a star. A teacher can easily complete her correction duty as the students always are eager to get the credit points for their class activity.
Every time, the lesson has to be revised, the teacher can ask them to open their drawing activity and start talking about the plants.
This method of involving a student has many advantages, like,
- Involving the student completely in the class activity
- Making them think while doing the activity
- Understanding the concept clearly
- Giving the freedom of doing their passionate drawing and coloring activity
- Coming out with stories which give every student a chance for expression
- As the activity is very much dear, student obviously discusses the same at home and the home activity is complete
- As the student takes the help of the reader to write the spellings, they feel happy to learn a lesson without much efforts
- They get their grades and a star as a reward by the end of the class
The class teaching activity starts as a drawing session and ends with the completion of a lesson in class “The Plants”. This way of teaching helps every student to become a performer in the class.
*****
