Key Elements of Teaching (8 M's of Teaching)

(Source: Curriculum Development System:A Handbook of School Practitioners in Basic Education by Jesus C. Palma. National Bookstore, c 1992)

What is Teaching?

In school, we are dealing with the young who are immature and who lack the experiences in life which learning emanates. That is why the teacher assumes an important role in their development. The learners who are expected to undergo the learning process cannot do it on their own without adult help and supervision. That is what teaching is all about. It is the process of "helping" the learners learn economically, efficiently, and effectively. The success of a learning situation depends to a large extent on the skillful intervention of a professional person, the teacher.

There are intervention or helping points in teaching process. These points encompass the key elements or the so-called 8 M's of teaching. These are:

1. Milieu: The Learning Environment
Since learning is triggered off by stimuli in the environment, it assumes primary importance in teaching and learning. The classroom is the usual although not the exclusive environment of learning at school. Teachers need to male the learning environment as "stimulating" as possible. Every stimulus in the classroom should contribute to learning. Very much part of this environment are the human stimuli, the most important of whom is the teacher himself. Material stimuli include objects in the room as well as common routine activities. Checking of receptors of the learning stimuli, the senses, to make sure that every student is properly equipped for and disposed to receive the stimuli of learning. Provisions for proper lighting and acoustics as well as corrective measures for students who may be impaired somewhat in this regard.

2. Matter: The Content of Learning. This refers to the what is to be learned as specified in the instructional objective. Mastery of every lesson instead of its mere coverage by the class is a very important "rule-of-thumb" The teacher should make sure that the minimum standard or level of proficiency is attained by the class before moving onto the next lesson or unit. Curriculum makers are advised to be realistic in projecting subject matter and avoid giving the students "too much, too soon," and to teach only "little matter, but well mastered."

3. Method" The teaching-learning Strategy. This consist of purposeful, planned activities and tasks that are undertaken by the teacher and the students in the classroom to bring about the intended instructional objective. Methods are means to an end, never an end in itself. There is good straggly per se, it is deemed good or effective only if it brings about the desired learning outcome. Furthermore, an objective may be archived using different strategies just as a strategy may be utilized to attain different objectives.The strategy must be appropriate to the level of maturity and sophistication of the learners. It must also be adequate or sufficient for the lesson objective and the teacher must be adept or skillful in the use of the strategy. The learners must also show efficiency in handling the activity, going through it without hassle. The strategy must also be effective to yield expected result and must be economical in time, effort and expense.

4. Material: The Resources of Learning. Materials are resources available to the teacher and learners which serve as stimuli in the teaching-learning situation. This may be either a "human person" or a "physical object." The whole purpose of materials is to initiate the students to the "real world" they live in. Instructional materials represent elements found in that world are are meant to help students understand and explain reality. Portraying reality can be by direct experience, reproduction, representation or abstraction

5. Media: Communication in Teaching and Learning. This pertains to the communication system in the teaching-learning situation. This serves dual purpose: to promote common understanding in instruction and to set and maintain a healthy psychological climate in the classroom conducive to learning.

6. Motivation: Arousing and Sustaining Interest in Learning. Motivation is the cardinal principle in learning. A learner will learn only those things he wants to learn.

7. Mastery: The Be-all and End-all of Learning. This means internalization of learning resulting in automatic or habitual change behavior through meaningful repetition and application. Mastery comes through a "fixation" of what is to be learned, shifting it from short-term to long-term memory, allowing for ease in use and transfer to new situations in the future. Some call it executive control"

8. Measurement: Getting Evidence of Learning. This is the final stage in the teaching-learning sequence, involving the systematic collection of the evidence of learning. This is concerned with the "behavior" aspect of the objective.

In preparing for teaching, the teacher should take all of these elements into consideration. These constitute thew warp and woof of a unified unit and session plan or Plantilla.