By Shaaban Fundi,

I have summarized the three most effective teaching ideals that I find useful in my daily duty as an educator.

1.People learn to do well only what they practice by doing.

With regard to the above mentioned effective teaching idea, I have always tried to incorporate some hands on activities in my lesson plans and delivery. For instance, last week when my students were learning about the menstrual cycle, I used data from the internet that shows how luteinizing hormone (LH) levels changes before and after ovulation.

This helped my students to not only learn how to draw line graphs but also to interpret what is represented by the data. It was not the perfect way of showing them the hormonal changes associated with the menstrual cycle, but it just help them to visually comprehend the abstract idea I was presenting to them.

2.Expectations affect performance.

I always expect high performance in whatever my students are engaged in. This is not only for my students, I strive to be a better educator for them and I will not accept less than what I am confidence they are capable of.

This should not be translated as lamping all students in the same category but to recognize their individual potentials as well. I do realize that students learn and perform differently, but they all have to conform to the same standards regardless of their individual capabilities in learning. Therefore, whenever opportunity arises I do try to help each and every student to realize their full potentials without demanding for something that they might not be able to achieve otherwise.

3. Use of team approach.

Regardless of my struggle with teaching and learning, I have always tried to involve my students in group work especially during interactive lessons. I believe that it is paramount for students to gain experience for sharing responsibility for learning with each other. I do use name cards for each students with their specialties for that particular lesson in order to reduce confusions and increase efficiency in the flow of the lesson or experiment.

I know the strategy does limit the students to a particular function each day and there is no room for them to explore other functions, but at least the classroom environment becomes less confusing. I will try to rotate the students’ functions as much as possible to be in line with the best learning environment I am developing for my students.