LET
General EducationProfessional EducationMajorship (Sec)
Practice Exams

Principles of Teaching & Instructional Strategies 🎓

This module focuses on the art and science of teaching. To excel in this portion of the ProfEd, you must understand how to translate educational theories into effective classroom actions.

1. Major Educational Philosophies

The LET frequently asks situational questions where you must identify the underlying philosophy of a teacher's action.

  • Essentialism: Focus on "back to basics" (3 Rs: Reading, Writing, Arithmetic). The teacher is the sole authority.
    • Example: A teacher who insists on students memorizing multiplication tables and historical dates.
  • Progressivism: "Learning by doing" (John Dewey). Focus on student interests and problem-solving.
    • Example: A science class where students build their own water filtration system instead of just reading about it.
  • Existentialism: Focus on individual choice and self-responsibility.
    • Example: A teacher who allows students to choose their own topics for a creative project to express their unique identities.
  • Social Reconstructionism: Education as a tool to solve social problems and improve society.
    • Example: A class discussing community waste management and creating a campaign to reduce plastic use in the barangay.

2. Bloom’s Taxonomy (Revised)

Always remember the hierarchy from lowest to highest order thinking skills (LOTS to HOTS):

  1. Remembering: Recalling facts (e.g., naming the parts of a plant).
  2. Understanding: Explaining ideas (e.g., summarizing a story).
  3. Applying: Using info in new situations (e.g., solving a math word problem).
  4. Analyzing: Drawing connections (e.g., comparing two historical figures).
  5. Evaluating: Justifying a stand (e.g., critiquing an essay).
  6. Creating: Producing new work (e.g., designing a new experiment).

3. Gagne’s 9 Events of Instruction

A systematic approach to planning a lesson:

  1. Gain attention: Start with a "hook" (e.g., a mystery box or a short video).
  2. Inform learners of objectives: What will they learn today?
  3. Stimulate recall of prior learning: Connect to yesterday's lesson.
  4. Present the content: The actual lecture or activity.
  5. Provide learning guidance: Give examples and scaffolds.
  6. Elicit performance: Let the students try it.
  7. Provide feedback: Correct mistakes immediately.
  8. Assess performance: The quiz or final task.
  9. Enhance retention and transfer: Homework or real-life application.

4. Classroom Management: Kounin’s Principles

Jacob Kounin identified behaviors that separate effective teachers from ineffective ones:

  • Withitness: "Eyes at the back of the head." Knowing what is happening in all parts of the room at all times.
    • Scenario: A teacher is writing on the board but correctly identifies that a student in the back corner is passing notes.
  • Overlapping: Ability to handle two or more activities at once.
    • Scenario: Helping one student with a math problem while simultaneously signaling another student to stay on task.
  • Smoothness & Momentum: Keeping the lesson moving without "jerkiness" or unnecessary breaks.
    • Warning: Avoid "Dangling" (starting an activity then leaving it mid-air) or "Flip-flopping" (going back to an old topic after starting a new one).

5. Instructional Materials: Dale’s Cone of Experience

Edgar Dale’s theory suggests that we remember more when we are active:

  • Direct Purposeful Experiences (Bottom of the cone): Doing the real thing (Highest retention).
  • Contrived Experiences: Using models or mock-ups.
  • Dramatized Experiences: Roleplaying.
  • Demonstrations: Watching someone else do it.
  • Verbal Symbols (Top of the cone): Reading or listening to a lecture (Lowest retention).

💡 LET Strategy: Analyzing Questioning Techniques

In the LET, you will see many questions about how a teacher handles student answers.

  1. Probing: Asking follow-up questions to lead the student to a deeper answer.
  2. Redirecting: Asking the same question to another student to encourage participation.
  3. Wait Time: Giving students 3-5 seconds to think before calling someone.
  4. The "Longest Option" Trap:
    • In pedagogical questions, the correct answer is often the one that is most complete, descriptive, and "learner-centered." This often makes it the longest choice.
    • However, examiners sometimes use "long distractors" that sound professional but are actually incorrect. Always look for the core action in the sentence.
  5. Pattern Watch: In the choices, the most learner-centered or most active method is almost always the correct answer. If one choice says "Lecture" and another says "Cooperative Learning," the latter is usually the winner.

🔗 Related Topics

Practice Quiz

Test your instructional mastery: Try the Principles of Teaching Quiz.