The Summer Teacher Training Forum

Rabat, July 6th-10th, 2009

Prerequisites of Quality
Classroom Practice
Dr. Mohammed Larouz
English faculty
School of Arts and Humanities
Moulay Ismail University of
Meknes
 Introduction
As Ts grow professionally:
Their instructional expertise
increases,
Become more effective at various
aspects of teaching.
Have a larger repertoire of
instructional knowledge and skills
to create meaningful student
learning experiences.
 Aims of the presentation
Highlight some prerequisites of effective
teaching
Suggest some instructional classroom
strategies and procedures that could
enhance and sustain quality teaching.
Describe some best strategies and
techniques that contribute to effective
classroom practice.
Describe characteristics of effective
teachers
 Empower ELT practitioners with the
necessary skills and qualifications that
will help them develop professionally,
Improve their performance,

Allow SS to work together or individually

and give them self-discipline and self-
motivation.
Reflects my philosophy of education.

It is the result of my previous and

current contributions in education in
general.
Is effective teaching all that is needed?

Skills
to manage students with all
kinds of problems are essential to
even the most effective teacher.
 Understand your learners: Why?
Understanding their needs and wants, lacks,
aspirations, weaknesses, will help you graft a
methodology that will suit their needs and aspiration.
Understanding how the learner learns will determine
your approach, method, classroom techniques and
perhaps your philosophy of education (Brown, 2004)
Find the special ability of each student
SS come to the classroom with different learning
habits and expectations.
SS problems will accompany them to your classroom.
Try to accommodate/adapt these styles.
 Participatory (negotiation) Analysis

Negotiate what they want to

learn and how they wish to
learn.
Involve them in syllabus design
Instruction/teaching can be
effective when SS have a course
in which they have participated
 Take initiatives
Do Not heavily rely on the
textbook.
Do not follow the book blindly
(slavishly)
Devise and bring your own
supplementary materials to the
classroom.
Adapt it to suit the needs of SS
 Make Public Speaking component
of your syllabus.( PS
Competitions, too)
Whats wrong to fight stage fright
at earlier stages of learning
English?
Why should we wait till SS get to
the university to introduce them
to Public Speaking?
Conduct AR whenever necessary
Itis meaningful when conducted by Ts
Effective strategy for bringing about
change in the classroom
Part of Ts professional development

Discuss classroom practice and share

what works and what does not work
 Use Technology:
Use technology whenever
possible: use of mass media, the
internet.
Integrate the use of ICT into
language Teaching: Familiarize
them with technology
Do not panic if you lack expertise
in the use of ICT.
 Teaching skills:
Get out of students way: You are
not allowed to do what students can
do.
E.g,.: Reading Instructions in the
textbook will spoil the ultimate
objective for which the reading
comprehension has been assigned.
Do not repeat SS answers unless to
be used for teaching
 Use games a lot along with your
teaching
Bring humor and life into your
teaching:
Make it one of your daily activities and
routine in your language classroom
practice.
Do it on a regular and daily basis as an
ongoing process.
When SS are not having fun, they are
not interested in what is going around
them
 Use Drama: acting will reduce tension
in the classroom and lower inhibition
Develop creative writing in the SS
Develop Candle learners not jug
learners
Accustom SS to using resources outside
the classroom.
SS should be involved in extensive use
of communication processes (L,S,R,W)
for purposes that are real and valid to
the learners rather than academic
exercises
 Misbehavior
Use Effective classroom management
that works.
Dont give up a theory just because it
has an earlier publication date.

Dont give up successful theories of

classroom management until you have
a replacement theory that is effective
(Robert T. Tauber, 2007).
 The following are linked to effective teachers
Stronge et al (2004)
Verbal Ability (linguistic ability/competence) :
has a positive effect on student achievement
Content Knowledge: (subject area knowledge)
majoring in the subject area or/and
participating in professional development in
the content contributes to increased student
learning.
Educational Coursework:
(Instruction/teaching coursework)
a stronger predictor of teaching
effectiveness than grade average or
test scores. Embracing the
concept of life-long learning
results in increased student
achievement.
 Teacher Certification: Teachers with
certification have proven to be more
effective than their uncertified
counterparts ( CPR and ENS diploma)
Teaching Experience: is influential
in teacher effectiveness, particularly in
the areas of planning, classroom
management, questioning, and
reflection.
 Effective Teaching Methods: Research
Based Practice by Gary D. Borich
What is an effective teacher?
Honest
Hard-working
Generous
Friendly
Considerate
In the classroom, he is organized,
disciplined, insightful and committed
Leadership Skills (mine)
 Rubin 1985
Explanatory: command of the subject &
explains aspects of lesson
Inspiratory: stimulating, involving SS in teaching.
Informative: presents info thru verbal
statements.
Corrective: provides constructive feedback
Interactive: facilitates development of SS ideas
Programmatic: guides SS activities & facilitates
self-instruction.
 Commonly studied teacher characteristics
Personality Attitude
Permissiveness Motivation to teach
Dogmatism Attitude toward children
Authoritarian Attitude toward teaching
Achievement-motivation
Attitude toward authority
Introversion-extroversion
Vocational interest
Directness-indirectness
Locus of control
Attitude toward self (self
Anxiety concept)
1. general Attitude toward subject
2. teaching taught
 Experience
Years of Workshops attended
teaching Graduate course taken
experience Degrees held
Professional papers
Experience in
written
subject taught
Experience in
grade level
taught
 Conclusion
EffectiveTeachers are the ones
who make important connections
among theory, research, and
practice, and prepare themselves
for the challenges that come with
learning, teaching, and using new
instructional strategies.
Thank You very
Much for Your
Attention
mlarouz@hotmail.com