The
well-planned extension demonstration is an excellent illustration of the events
of instruction that are under the volunteer teacher's control and organization.
- Gain the learners' attention by having them observe the finished product or performance of the demonstration. For example, if the demonstration is to give a short speech, begin the lesson with a short speech that contains the elements that you want to teach.
- Tell the learners what they will be able to do when the lesson is over. This is the objective of the lesson. In this case, it is to be able to give a short speech in front of other people.
- Stimulate the recall of necessary prerequisites by saying that giving a short speech is much like presenting to one's Family Community Education Club (formerly Extension Homemakers).
- Guide the learning event by telling how to plan for and deliver each part of the short speech.
- Provide for opportunity to practice.
- Provide feedback so that learners can see how they are doing in comparison to teacher's expectations and to other students' performances.
- Tell learners how they can use the ability to make short speeches in everyday life.
Providing Feedback in extension organization to
the Learners about their Performance
Using questions
to appraise the learner's performance is one way to give feedback to the
learner in a positive way. Questioning techniques in extension organization can
be an important part of lectures, demonstrations and group learning. The
importance of asking questions is often overlooked as a teaching technique,
especially for giving feedback to the learner. Below are some important points
of the way questions can be used effectively to stimulate adult learning.
- Questions encourage exchange of information and viewpoints in the process.
- They can be used to assess what the learner knows, to stimulate their interest.
- Questions teach critical thinking and reinforce important points to be remembered.
- Questions encourage participation in the process.
The learner's
response will depend to a great extent on how the question is posed. A good
question will use vocabulary that is easily understood and conveys a
conversational tone. Avoid words that are technical or have specialized
meanings. Good questions are prepared in advance and tend to be succinct so
that they can be understood by the listener, that is, they should not have to
be written to be understood. Avoid leading questions that suggest an intended
answer. Leading questions seek answers that direct the learner's response. Below
are three kinds of questions that can stimulate the adult learners’ response.
Recall
questions
As
implied, in extension recall questions ask the learner to repeat information
that was memorized, retained or recognized. Recall questions also increase
retention. The verbs used most often in recall questions are: name, list,
identify, describe, relate, tell, give, locate. Some examples of recall
questions are: (a) Locate the state stations that are closest to the city where
you live. (b) Name the two senators that represent your state. (c) Identify the
types of beans that are highest in fiber content.
Evaluative
questions
The
kind of question evaluation uses words to judge the worth of something or to
make an assessment. Words that make comparisons or evaluate include: analyze,
judge, compare, contrast, differentiate, calculate, measure, appraise. Examples
of questions that evaluate are: (a) assess the long term effects of recycling
papers from the home; (b) analyze the budget for the upcoming conference based
on what was spent last year; (c) compare the cost of petroleum fuels to nuclear
power for generating electricity.
Creative questions
These
ask the learners in extension to go beyond what is already known and to
speculate about the future or what could be. It asks the student to deal with
hypothetical situations and to use imagination. Questions that use this
technique to involve students contain words such as: create, design, speculate,
predict, if this were the case, what you would do if, and so on. Examples of
creative questions include: (a) what would you do if you were in the middle of
the Atlantic Ocean on a raft with three other people and one jug of water?; (b)
design a plan that would allow people to work for 40 hours a week but not for
five consecutive days; (c) construct a learning plan in the extension process that
is taught by a teacher to 10 students and that does not use any verbal
language.
Providing example of good teaching for all the
volunteer teachers
A picture is
worth a thousand words, The same principle applies to teaching a person. A good
example is worth a thousand pages of writing about how to teach. Extension
implies education. The volunteer teacher will follow examples, both good and
bad, that are set by Extension administration. Review the methods used most
often and the outcomes obtained in examining your own personal teaching style.
Ask yourself, "Is this the teaching style I want my volunteer teacher to
use?" If the answer is no, work on improving your teaching methods. You
will see the results in the outcomes of the volunteer teacher during the
process.
The record of classes taught
The extension
volunteer teacher is a valuable part of the Extension exercise. In that regard,
it is appropriate to ask them to keep all record of the hours, location,
lessons taught, and attendance, as seen in the process. This information will
be useful for their organization, It will also be useful for the reports that
the County Extension Office is required to furnish each year. This record is
extremely important and it should be collected at appropriate intervals during
the year of the extension activities.
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