Classroom Example 3.1: Getting to know your school environment and community

Listen to the audio or read the example below about how Elisa taught Social Studies to her Grade 5 class. As you read, make notes in your Teacher Notebook, considering the following:

1. What topic is Elisa’s activity about?
2. What skills and values does she want to develop in her learners?
3. How does Elisa find out what her learners already know about the topic?
4. How does she teach new knowledge to her learners?
5. What does Elisa do to find out what they have learned from the lesson?

Audio transcript

Elisa is a teacher in Grade 5 and she is exploring the local community and environment around their school in a village in Zambia. As part of the social studies syllabus, Grade 5 learners need to study aspects relating to transport and communication in the district. Elisa hopes to develop her pupils’ abilities in observing and respecting the environment surrounding their village. She hopes this will help them to understand their roles and responsibilities with respect to local resources and their community.

At the end of one day, Elisa explains to the learners what they will be doing the next day and what she hopes they will learn. As homework she asks them to note down all the modes of transport they see on their way home that day and to bring their list to school the following day.

The next day, she writes on the centre of a large piece of paper:

‘What modes of transport do we have in our own environment?’ 

Elisa asks for volunteers to come and add the names of the modes of transport learners have noted in their homework, for example: bicycle, car, minibus. As they add the modes of transport, Elisa asks them what is good and not so good about different modes of transport for the local environment, and for those living in it.

Elisa then draws a circle around all these modes of transport and asks learners to add any other modes of transport they know about but are not present in their own community. She also asks them about the benefits and the issues of each transport. During this activity Elisa has to explain a number of modes of transport that some learners are not familiar with. To do this, she first asks her learners if any of them knows what it is, and then she adds some information herself.

For the next activity, Elisa draws a table on the chalkboard with three columns: mode of transport, benefits and issues. She puts learners into groups of six and gives each group a mode of transport from their community, and one that is not present within their community. She asks them to copy the table on the paper she has given them and write what is good and not so good about both modes of transport.

As she walks around the different groups, Elisa finds that all learners are very engaged with this activity and are contributing very good suggestions.

For her next lesson, Elisa plans to ask each group to explain the benefits and the issues of each mode of transport, asking learners to make notes of all these in their notebooks. Elisa has also thought about how she can assess each learner’s understanding and knowledge in a few weeks’ time.

Activity 3.3: Assessing learners’ learning

After listening to or reading Classroom Example 3.1, reflect about how you have assessed learning during a lesson you recently taught.

Identify a lesson that you taught last week.

• What did you expect your learners would know during the lesson?
• Are you confident that learners grasped the new ideas?
• If so, how do you know?
• If you are not sure, what could you have done to find out?

Make notes in your Teacher Notebook to share with colleagues in the next TGM or next time you discuss your teaching with a colleague.

When discussing your experience with a colleague, make notes about any different ways they have used to assess learners’ understanding or learning as they might be useful for you to use in a future lesson.