MACHAKOS UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF EARLY CHILDHOOD STUDIES
,
COURSE CODE: ECE 201
COURSE TITLE: GENERAL METHODS
LECTURER: DR. Peter Kibet Koech

Course content

Education aims and objectives for early childhood education. Basic theoretical principles
of teaching and learning in early childhood. Appropriate teaching strategies, methods
and techniques of teaching pre-school children. Knowledge in preparing schemes of
work and lesson plans in early childhood classroom. The importance of interpersonal
interaction in early childhood classroom. Techniques in motivating and sustaining pre-
school children are learning interest. The concept of evaluating children’s performance:
measurement and assessment. Techniques of management and administration of pre-
school classroom

Course objectives

By the end of this unit, you should be able to:

1. Analyse the education aims and objectives for early childhood education.
2. Describe basic theoretical principles of teaching and learning in early childhood.
3. Discuss appropriate teaching strategies, methods and techniques of teaching pre-
school children.
4. Acquire knowledge in preparing schemes of work and lesson plans in early
childhood classroom.
5. Explain the importance of interpersonal interaction in early childhood classroom.
6. Identify some techniques in motivating and sustaining pre-school children’s
learning interest.
7. Discuss the concept of evaluating children’s performance: measurement and
assessment..
8. Describe various techniques of management and administration of pre-school
classroom

Award of Marks:

CAT 30%
Exam 70%

Take Away Assignment:

Write a term paper on the importance of interpersonal interactions in early childhood
classrooms. (30mks)

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References:
1. K.I.E. (2008). Handbook for early childhood development education syllabus.
Nairobi: Kenya Institute of Education.

2. Ng’asike, J.K. (2003). Ecd 015: Introduction to general methods in early

chilhood education. Kenyatta University.

3. Ginsberg, M.B. & Wlodkowski, R.J. 2000). Creating highly motivating

classrooms for all students: a schoolTide approach to powerful teaching
with diverse learners. San Francisco: C.A. Jossey Bass.

4. K.I.E. (2000). Kenya pre-school guidelines. Nairobi: K.I.E./NACECE.

5. McKeachie, W.J. (1999). Teaching tips: strategies, research, and theory for
college and university teachers. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

6. Ayot & Patel (1992). Instructional methods. Nairobi: ERAP.

7. Bonwell, C.C. and Eison, J.J. (1991). Creating excitement in classrooms.

8. Bredekamp, S. (1987). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood

programs serving children fro birth through age 8 (ed). Washington DC:
NAEYC.

9. K.I.E. (1984). Kenya pre-school teachers’ activities guide series 1: management

and language activities. Nairobi: Kenya Literature Bureau.

10. K.I.E. .(1984). Kenya pre-school teachers’ activities guide series 2:

play and creative activities. Nairobi: Kenya Literature Bureau.

11. K.I.E.(1984). Kenya pre-school teachers’ activities guide series 3: mathematics

and environmental activities. Nairobi: Kenya Literature Bureau.

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TOPIC ONE: EDUCATION AIMS AND OBJECTIVES FOR EARLY
CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

By the end of this topic, you should be able to:

1. Define the terms: Aim/goals, Objectives and Syllabus

2. Discuss the national goals of education in Kenya and their relevance to pre-
school.
3. Identify learning activities that may lead towards the attainment of specific
aims/goals and objectives of education in Kenya.
4. Analyse the general objectives of early childhood development and
education in Kenya.
5. Describe the components of a syllabus.

Goals and Aims of Education

Educational aims are ordinarily often used to mean the same thing as goals and
objectives. However, a distinct difference exists amongst these three terms.

So how can we define goals of education?

Educational goals are the ends/outcomes that society sets for its education system it
operates expressed in broad political, cultural and economic terms such as citizenship,
democracy or national unity (Farrant, 1980). However, sometimes they refer to more
specific aspects of education such as life-long learning or equal opportunity.

What are aims of education?

Aims of education as Farrant (1980) further states are more like the targets used in
shooting practice because they indicate the precise direction that educators must follow
in all or part of the educational system.

What are objectives of education?

Educational objectives may be best thought of as intended outcomes of the process of
education.

The national goals of education in Kenya

National goals of education in Kenya are important in spelling out what should be taught
in our educational institutions. The National goals of education in our country Kenya are
described below:

i) To Foster nationalism, patriotism and promote unity

It is a paramount duty of education to unite all children despite their individual
differences. Education aims at promoting in children, positive values and
attitudes for harmonious living. It also aims at promoting in them love for their
country. This goal can for example be attained through you availing
opportunities for children to sing patriotic songs, tell stories or recite poems
related to our country, ensuring group work, where they work collectively for a
common goal and they are also trained to co-exist peacefully through respect
for one another.
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 ii) To promote the social, economic, technological and industrial needs for
national development

Education should equip Kenyan children with knowledge to be able to play an

effective and productive role in building the nation based on the three pillars
described below:

Social pillar: education must prepare Kenyan children for change of attitudes or
relationships necessary to enhance development and adapting to ever-growing changes
in social and economic circles. In pre-school, you as the teacher should enhance positive
social relationships amongst children so that they learn to appreciate one another.

Economic pillar: education should produce future citizens with knowledge,

skills, expertise and personal qualities that Kenya requires to support her
growing economy. Adequate domestic power is necessary to ensure everyday
growth in development and an independent economy that is self-sustainable. In
pre-school children can learn the value of work as they discuss different
economic occupations that Kenyans engage in or as they do classroom chores.
They could also role play buying and selling things in their classroom shop
corner.

Technological pillar: education in Kenya should provide learners with the

necessary skills and attitudes for industrial development. This means that
education must focus on knowledge, skills and attitudes that will prepare pre-
schoolers for technological changes which will also help them to fit or embrace
global technological advances in future. Kenya should be part of the global
village. In pre-school, children should for example be allowed to come up with
different creations of their own. This can be fostered by providing them with
opportunities and materials to use as they engage in various activities in the
classroom construction corner, the sewing corner etc.

iii) To Promote individual development and self-fulfilment

All opportunities should be availed to learners to ensure they develop to their
utmost or maximum potential in terms of character, interest and abilities. This
calls for pre-school children to be taken and appreciated as individuals. Their
learning should also be individualised or organised according to ability groups,
interest or age, in
order to cater for these unique individual differences.

iv) Promote sound moral and religious values

Education should help learners develop knowledge, skills and attitudes that will
enhance moral/religious values that will mould them into self-disciplined, self-
reliant (independent) and integrated citizens. If pre-school children are trained to
be morally upright and God fearing, they will promote harmony and

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 understanding amongst themselves in pre-school and extend the same to other
Kenyan citizens in future when they grow up.

v) Promote social equality and responsibility

Education system must provide equal chances or educational opportunities e.g.
both boys and girls, the disabled and those from low or high social classes. All
avenues should be sought to ensure that no child misses out on educational
opportunities at
any level. It should also offer varied and challenging opportunities that call for
collective or corporate social service.

vi) Promote respect for and development of Kenya’s rich and varied cultures
Since Kenya has diverse and varied cultures, education should foster love/respect
and understanding of unfamiliar cultures. It should also promote knowledge of
past and present Kenyan cultures. This can be done through exposing children to
various cultural activities through songs, poetry, drama and visiting cultural
centres or show. This in turn will help them learn to blend various cultures
within reasonable limits thereby building a stable and modern society.

vii) Promote international consciousness and foster positive attitudes towards

other nations
Education should assist children to appreciate other people who are non Kenyans
who are within our borders or far away. They must be trained to co-exist well
with them. This way they can learn that Kenya requires the support and
friendship of other countries. They can also learn the need why Kenya must
accept membership in the international community with all its obligations,
responsibilities, rights and benefits since Kenya cannot live in isolation but as
part of the complicated and interdependent network of the world.

viii) Promote positive attitudes, good health and environmental protection

Education should inculcate in pre-school children the value or importance of
good health through healthy living or avoiding activities that may lead to
physical or mental ill health. For example, pre-school children must be helped to
cultivate positive feelings or thoughts towards themselves and others. This keeps
away ailments such as ulcers, hypertension, depression, etc. They should also be
encouraged to embrace positive attitudes towards environmental development
and conservation through practical activities such as keeping their school
compound or classroom clean, watering plants and not destroying them.

The main or fundamental goal of education in Kenya is thus to prepare and equip the
youth to be happy and useful members of the Kenyan society. This means that to be
happy, they must learn and accept the national values and to be useful, they must
actively work towards the maintenance and development of the Kenyan society.

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1.3.2 General objectives of early childhood in Kenya
To ensure that the National goals of education are met or interpreted with more
clarity by educational institutions, the government has formulated the following
general objectives of education as provided below:

i) To provide education geared towards development of the child’s mental

capabilities and physical growth
To attain this objective, different activities must be used in order to ensure
proper development of children’s mental and physical growth. Activities such
as story-telling, news-telling, recognition of colours, shapes, letters or numbers
etc, fosters children’s cognition while proper nutrition, play, exercise and rest
promotes their healthy physical growth.

ii) To enable the child to enjoy living and learning through play
Indoor as well as outdoor play activities, dramatization, games, singing, reciting
poems, drawing, colouring, painting help the children to enjoy their life in school
and also learning.

iii) To develop the child’s self-awareness, self-esteem and self-confidence

In order to help children discover themselves in terms of what they can or
cannot do, they must be encouraged to venture into different learning and play
activities. They should also be appreciated when they do well and encouraged to
improve in their weak areas. This makes them more enthusiastic to try harder to
succeed. Success in their various activities also helps them develop a high self
regard and belief in themselves that they are good performers.

iv) To enable the child develop understanding and appreciation of his/her

culture and environment
Engagement in activities that uphold children’s culture helps them to embrace
and practice the culture or norms in their communities. Children can be guided
in discussions or story telling in regard to their culture, participating in cultural
folk songs and dances.

v) To foster the child’s exploration, creativity, self-expression and

discovery
skill
Through play opportunities children can explore and discover what they are
capable of doing physically or even mentally. They can also explore their
feelings and come to know how to deal with their various emotions. In addition,
they also explore and discover their environment through nature walks or
educational trips. Creativity is also enhanced as they discover new ways of doing
things for example in art or craft activities, composing their own songs, dances
and games. Children also improve in their communication skills as they talk to
others concerning their inventions and discoveries.

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vi) To identify the child with special needs and align/link him or her with
special services
Pre-school should offer services that aim at promoting the welfare of every
child. Children with physical, mental or socio-emotional handicap should be
given appropriate help. Long or short sighted children for example should be
placed in strategic positions depending on their need. Those with hearing
problems should be put near the teacher so that they can get extra help, hear
well and also be able to read the teacher’s lips. Severe cases should be referred
to hospital or relevant centres for help.

vii) To enable the child to build good habits and acquire acceptable values
and behaviours for effective living as an individual and a member of a
group
Good habits must be taught during early childhood because these virtues
remain for life. Children for example should be trained to share, co-operate in
working with others and to be helpful.

viii) To foster the spiritual and moral growth of the child

Training children about God and proper morals early in life also helps them
to embrace proper habits and discipline. They similarly develop self control
and obedience not only to God, but authority in school and at home.

ix) To improve the status of the child’s health, care and nutritional needs
and link him/her with health services such as immunization, health
check-ups and growth monitoring
Ensuring good health and nutritional care is important for healthy growth of
children. They will in turn have fewer incidences of disease, do well
academically. It will also ensure fewer school dropouts and repetition.
Parents will also be able to save on the money that should have been used in
health-care and put it into other use.
x) To enrich the child’s experiences to enable him/her to cope better with
primary school life
Pre-school should prepare children for smooth transition when moving to
primary school because they may be fearful in the new environment. The
change may also make them regress in their school performance. You as a
trained ECD caregiver should thus prepare them for the new change by
talking positively about the new school and what they should expect. This
will help the children to settle down quickly.

xi) To develop the child’s aesthetic and artistic skills

Pre-school should enhance children’s appreciation of beauty in various
forms and particularly in art since this is an important quality in the modern
world today. This is evidenced by the way the world holds high regard for
beauty in personal physical-outlook, beauty in the home, school and the

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 entire environment. Nurturing this virtue will prepare those children with
such talent to be able to compete better locally and globally.

The Pre-school Syllabus

From the National Goals and General Objectives of early childhood, the
syllabus/curriculum for this age group is developed. A syllabus is a list of courses to be
taught and it is organised according to children’s physical and mental maturational level.
The curriculum is organised in formal, informal and non formal experiences. The formal
curriculum is structural/rigid or regulations that must be followed. Informal curriculum
involves imitation/identification with socialization agents. Non-formal curriculum
involves free choice and flexibility in activities to be done e.g. extra-curricular activities
(clubs, games) according to interest. Although not in the curriculum, there is also
provision for incidental learning activities which are not planned but occur according to
an opportunity presenting itself.

The syllabus ensures that the subject content to be covered is provided, the time frame
within which it should be executed, children’s age, the resources to be used and
objectives of the course/subject content. It also provides the assessment procedure to
ensure that the educational aims and objectives are achieved. The pre-school syllabus in
particular has the following activity areas or subjects that should be taught: language
activities, mathematic activities, indoor/outdoor physical activities, environmental
science activities, environmental social study activities, creative art activities, creative
craft activities, music and movement, religious education and life skills (KIE 2008).

From the pre-school syllabus, the teacher must come up with a scheme of work or what
is to be taught for each activity area per school term. Each activity area must bear the
course objectives for the whole school term and stated in broad terms. From the course
objectives, unit or topic objectives are formulated for the various weeks in the scheme
of work. These objectives are more specific compared to the course objectives. Finally,
very specific teaching or instructional objectives are formulated from the unit/topic
objectives. These are found in the daily lesson plans for the various activity areas.

Summary
In this lecture we have looked at the educational goals and aims as well as objectives for
early childhood education in Kenya. We have seen that although the three terms are
generally used interchangeably, they do not bear similar meaning. We have also been
made aware that in order for the aims and objectives of education to remain relevant,
they must meet the needs of a nation. It is similarly important for us to remember that a
syllabus must take into consideration the laid down aims and objectives of education to
ensure their attainment.

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TOPIC 2: BASIC THEORETICAL PRINCIPLES OF TEACHING AND
LEARNING IN EARLY CHILDHOOD

By the end of this topic, you should be able to:

i) Define the terms learning, teaching, learning theory, operant conditioning, classical
conditioning and reinforcement.
ii) Discuss some selected theories of teaching and learning in early childhood.
iv Apply the basic theoretical principles in concrete situations.

Meaning of learning
Learning is a process by which we acquire and retain knowledge, form attitudes and
develop skills that cannot be attributed to inherited behaviour pattern or physical growth.
Atkinson et al (1987) defines learning as a relatively permanent change in behaviour
traceable to experience and practice. Teaching on the other hand is the opposite of
learning or a process that facilitates learning. It basically involves a teacher/instructor
who transmits knowledge, skills, values and desirable attitudes to children or learners.
To ensure success in learning or teaching, various scholars have come up with theories
or philosophies on how best learning/teaching can occur. A theory is a set of ideas or
opinion to explain something. Learning theorists therefore provide their views as what
might contribute to children’s ability or inability to learn. In order to be good caregivers,
knowledge of the various theoretical views and basic principles of teaching and learning
during early childhood is thus important.

Basic Theoretical principles of Teaching and Learning in Early Childhood

Various theories that explain how children learn have been formulated. Teacher and
subject centred teaching methods were mostly used in ancient times. Today however,
many educational research scholars have come up with more appropriate teaching
methods. Researchers in Child Developmental are of the opinion that the aspects of
growth and development are interrelated and thus a child’ physical development will
affect his/her socio-emotional as well as cognitive development and hence his/her
learning. Knowledge of theoretical principles in child development and instructional
methods will help us understand the stages through which a child passes and what he/she
is capable of learning or doing.

Ivan Pavlov 1968

Pavlov developed the theory of classical conditioning or respondent conditioning. In his
experiment, Pavlov taught a dog to salivate whenever its meat was brought to it. He did
so by ringing a bell as he brought the dog food. Later on when the bell alone was rung
without the food, the dog still salivated which indicates that learning had already taken
place through associating the bell with food. Each time the bell was rung, reinforcement
occurred. This can be likened with giving a child a reward such as a smile, a nod, a clap
or thumbs-up gesture after he/she gives a correct response during learning.

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B.F. Skinner (1953)
Skinner developed the theory of operant conditioning or instrumental conditioning
whereby rats were placed in boxes with food dispensers or levers. After two or three
accidental contacts with the food dispenser, the hungry rats showed a deliberate effort to
press the dispenser so as to get food. This shows that learning had similarly taken place
and that whenever the rats pressed the dispenser, there was continuous reinforcement.
Skinner noted that continuous reinforcement is thus important if a certain response was
to be encouraged. In the classroom situation, if children’s positive efforts are positively
reinforced by being rewarded by the teacher with a star for instance, they become
motivated to want to repeat the positive actions. A negative reinforcer (unpleasant
stimulus), such as holding the child in class so that he/she finishes his/her work can also
make a child to work hard to avoid being confined in class as others go to play.

Albert Bandura 1977

According to Bandura, learning is a consequence of observation, imitation and
modelling. Learning thus occurs as the child engages in social interactions with those in
his/her environment. This means that not every little behaviour in children can be
reinforced and that children learn through what they see, experience or do. If children
have positive models to emulate, they learn to do the right thing and vice versa. It is
therefore important for teachers/parents or child minders to be good role models for
children to emulate. Good behaviour in children should also be encouraged so that
others learn to follow suit.

Arnold Gessel
He developed the Gestalt theory which states that learning depends on the environment
around us. According to Gessel, the child unconsciously selects from his/her
environment one thing which he/she takes notice of and then gets motivated to actively
respond to it through investigation. The child at first experiments with objects/materials
in his/her environment in several ways before discovering new insights as they progress
on. In a classroom situation it means that provision of materials or new learning
opportunities are important in stimulating learning in children. However, physical fitness
will determine the level of involvement with the materials or not .

Piaget 1984
Piaget was a Swiss psychologist/scientist. According to him, children’s developmental
processes of concept formation follow a definite pattern of stages which appear at
particular age ranges. Piaget observed that children are active seekers of knowledge, and
interpreters of their environment, which helps them, adapt to it by use of their cognition
or thinking faculties. A rich learning environment therefore helps them in their search of
and interpretation of knowledge. He further asserts that learning takes place by
assimilation whereby new information is simply added to already existing cognitive
organisation through the senses. They also learn by accommodation whereby the
intellectual organisation (mental structures) have to change in order to adjust or fit new
and conflicting information. Piaget divides learning or mental ability of children/humans
according to four cognitive levels or stages and that learning depends on their cognitive
maturation. This means that children cannot be forced to learn until they are cognitively

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ready. The four stages have also to be experienced in a specific order and that it is
impossible to skip one of them to go to the next. The first two stages that cover early
childhood phases described below:

-Stage 1- sensory motor stage (0-2 years): During this stage children learn through
reflex actions, their senses and muscular movements. They thus begin to build up
concepts about objects as a result of experimenting with them as they grasp them, suck
and shake them thereby learning that objects have different qualities.
-Stage 2 - pre-operational stage (2-7 years): In this stage, children learn through
symbolic play and representation using play materials in their environment. During play
or learning, concrete materials for manipulation are thus very important for them to
explore, discover and acquire new knowledge. However, they have the following major
limitations: They are egocentric in nature, have difficulty to decentre and think in
reverse, as well as conserve or comprehend that quantity of things remains the same
despite change in spatial arrangement unless something is added or removed from them.
The pre-school teacher should thus consider these limitations in-order to make their
learning process successful. Children for example should be encouraged to share
materials, take turns and play together in a bid to minimise their egocentrism. Since they
have difficulties in decentring, reversibility and conservation, their learning activities
should be segmented into small manageable portions to assist their comprehension. They
should also be provided with opportunities to practice their learning content through
play and practice.

John Fredrick Herbert

He was a German philosopher who saw learning as a progression through five stages,
namely: preparation, presentation, association, systematization and application.
-Preparation stage: this stage has to do with setting the scene for new knowledge by
drawing together previous knowledge that is relevant. It begins with highlighting the
goal or objectives and gathering content and resources needed in order to focus on the
successful attainment of the goal.
-Presentation stage: This stage has to do with how the new knowledge will be
presented to the learner and by use of what resources. Good presentation entails use of
varied learning activities, teaching methods, ensuring pupils and teachers’ participation
as well as motivating children throughout the presentation.
-Association stage: It involves the provision of opportunities for children to relate new
knowledge to the existing or previous knowledge children may have.
-Systematization stage: It entails helping children make sense of new knowledge
presented in readiness for its use. This involves helping children assimilate or
understand new knowledge, encouraging them to participate, helping them understand
new knowledge by answering their questions, repeating explanations over and over
again in a simplified manner, appreciating their attempts to answer questions even if
they may be wrong and providing ample time for them to experiment with new
knowledge until it is established the information has been conceptualised.
-Application stage: It involves children working on their own using the new
knowledge presented. This ultimately proves that children have learnt. Unless children

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can apply new knowledge presented to them, it is deemed that learning has not taken
place.

From the ideologies of the different scholars above, the following principles of learning
among children have been developed:

Summary of the Basic Theoretical Principles of Learning/Teaching in ECE

1. Provision/meeting all children’s needs:
Children learn best when all their needs are met physically: food, clothing, shelter,
health-care, play, and rest.
Mentally: provision of learning experiences through talking, doing tasks and
provision of materials should be ensured.
Socio-emotionally: provision of love, emotional security, reinforcement, recognition,
and ethics, support learning. A good teacher bears in mind children are: curious to
know/learn, they are natural explorers, they are active/mobile, they pursue what
interests them persistently, they are sociable and unique in nature and therefore
structured learning opportunities should be considered to satisfy all their needs.

2. Interaction with the environment/other human beings:

Interaction with the environment and other people is important. Interaction with the
environment can be enhanced through opportunities for children to explore their
surroundings. Interaction with other people can be enhanced through provision of
opportunities for discussions, question and answer sessions, singing, news-telling,
story-telling, riddling, poetry etc. As children interact with others, they learn through
identification and imitation. An interactive environment helps children to learn that
which they otherwise could not have learnt. Ethics are also learnt by interaction.

3. Provision of play opportunities:

The play method is one way of learning which involves all other learning methods.
Through play children also learn about their environment through exploration. They
learn many concepts as they manipulate play objects and their environment. They are
also able to release their emotions, exercise their bodies, use their brain to reason and
thus their holistic development is enhanced. Play offers opportunity for social
learning or interaction and prepares them for social roles/chores as they role-play.h7

4. Recognition of individual differences/variations:

Children/human beings have unique individual differences. They mature at different
rates and therefore what they can do depends on their socio-emotional, physical and
cognitive maturity or readiness. Catering for all the varied needs among children
therefore supports their learning. Providing opportunities for children’s learning also
helps in understanding each individual child’s needs. Children should also be
provided with opportunities to work individually or as a group according to their
interes t. They could for instance be provided with opportunities to accomplish a
project of interest or one assigned by the teacher. Children also represent their
families and cultural communities or environment. A good teacher will thus involve

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 the family or community in children’s learning so as to understand each individual
child.

5. Construction of knowledge:
Children are capable of constructing their own knowledge as their internal
environment interacts with the external environment (Piaget 1983). They construct
their knowledge through the provision of opportunities that allow them to use their
senses to learn. They also construct new knowledge when they practically do things
or try out new experiences through trial and error, experimentation, exploration,
observation, reasoning, problem solving, hypothesising, scaffolding, role play,
imitation and through identification with socialising agents. A good teacher will thus
provide opportunities for children to generate knowledge on their own.

6. Motivation efforts:
Motivating learning content and activities stimulate children’s learning interest and
performance. Provision of an attractive classroom through display and use of
colourful and varied learning materials as well as learning methods and activities
that are action based, stimulate and sustain children’s learning interest. Children’s
learning interest should also be stimulated through the use of positive reinforcements
(rewards) and also negative reinforcement as well as punishment even though the
latter should be used minimally. Learning materials should also be safe for use, be
sought from children’s local environment, be durable, cost effective, repairable, age
appropriate and also cleanable so that children enjoy using them. Motivation can be
enhanced through active participation by all children, giving work that is within the
children’s’ ability, provision of a loving environment and ensuring that all children’s
needs are met. Use of body language facial expressions, gestures, recognizing or
appreciating children’s individual differences, appealing to their expectations,
believing in their ability to perform, provision of time to practice new or learned
concepts, giving them immediate feedback and teachers being good role models to
children motivate their interest and the need to know or learn more.

Summary
In this lecture, we have covered the basic theoretical principles of teaching and learning
in early childhood. We have learnt that some of the most important basic theoretical
principles of teaching and learning are: provision of children with learning opportunities,
ensuring they have a conducive learning environment, meeting all their needs,
interaction with them in various ways, engaging them in play, providing them with play
materials and company, recognition of individual differences/variations in relation to
their potentiality as well as motivating them to learn.

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TOPIC THREE: TEACHING STRATEGIES, METHODS AND TECHNIQUES
OF TEACHING IN PRE-SCHOOL

By the end of this topic you should be able to:

i) Differentiate between the terms: teaching strategy, teaching
method, teaching approach and teaching technique.
ii) Identify various teaching methods/approaches suitable for teaching pre-school
children.
iii) Discuss the suitability of various teaching methods/approaches.
iv) State the characteristics of the various teaching methods/approaches

Teaching Strategies
A teaching strategy is an overall plan to ensure that the learning content is well prepared
in terms of what content or activities are to be taught and how they are to be taught using
appropriate transmission methods, techniques or approaches (Ayot and Patel, 1992).

Teaching Methods
A teaching method is an orderly manner or way of passing information to children or
learners (Farant, 1997). There are many teaching methods and some of them are
presented below.

 Play Method
The play method is one of the most important and natural learning method as it involves
all other learning methods for children. It involves provision of play time, adequate play
materials, play space, play company and safety in terms of the activities.

Definition of play
Generally play is defined as spontaneous (voluntary) activities of children, inherently
enjoyable to them. Play always relates to what goes on in this environment/related to
their daily experiences.

Characteristics of play method

The following are some of the characteristics of play:
i) Play is a pleasurable activity, enjoyable and rewarding.
ii) It is voluntary or freely chosen, spontaneous and unpremeditated.
iii) It is an active process/engagement (physically, mentally and socio-emotionally).
iv) It is participatory, flexible (has no rigid rules) and involves repetition.
v) It is intrinsically motivated and occurs with familiar objects.
vi) It emphasises on process (doing) rather than outcome/goal.
vii) It is non-literal (not real) and involves pretence/acting out situations in real life
without victimisation.

Types of Play
Children engage in different types of play classified into two major categories according
to their age. The two major categories or types of play are: non social and social type of
play

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i) Non Social Type of Play
Younger children engage in either onlooker, solitary or parallel play which are non
social in form because of limited language.
Onlooker play:
This is a non-social type of play where a child simply watches or listens to other
children as they play, but does not participate in playing with them.
Solitary/independent play:
This is play whereby the child plays alone/independently but with toys or materials that
are different from those of other children without paying attention to others.
Parallel play:
It is a type of play whereby children play side by side using similar materials but
independently without involving other children.

ii) Social Play

Older children engage in social play that is cooperative, associative or dramatic in nature
since they can easily communicate verbally.

Cooperative play:
It includes social pretend and constructive play. The children cooperatively work on
different parts of a structure in complimentary pretend roles. They could pretend to be a
mother, aunt, father, uncle, teacher, pupil etc.

Associative play:
This is a social/friendly type of play in which children assign one another role. They
use/share the same play materials, talk together or imitate each other but the play is
uncoordinated and they are never very clear on exactly what they are trying to
accomplish.

Dramatic play:
It involves children engaging in make believe or pretence play in which imitation of
real life activities familiar to them occurs. During dramatic play, the children pretend to
be somebody else or in another place. Dramatic play is important as it helps the child to
socialize and practice or perfect whatever they have previously learnt.

Importance of Play
Play enhances children’s holistic development (physically, mentally, language, socio-
emotionally). It helps children practice social roles and exploration of their environment.
It enhances acquisition of many concepts. Children learn about their environment
through exploratory play. They also gain skills/experiences in handling different play
materials/apparatus and to relate them in daily life (home corner). Play enhances co-
operation and responsibility in looking after the play materials. It helps children learn
how to share materials. Children develop oral fluency and acquire vocabulary as well as
understanding of terms used during play activities e.g. forward, backward. Play helps
children to relax and enjoy themselves. It helps them to release stress or pent up
emotions and in developing their accuracy and estimation skills. It also helps children
explore and develop personal talents e.g. working towards becoming professional

15
athletes. Play encourages children to appreciate our cultural heritage and to develop a
sense of nationhood through their singing games.

How can you enhance play in children?

You can enhance play through provision of developmentally appropriate play
materials i.e. they should be attractive, adequate, durable, repairable, cleanable,
locally available or familiar, cost-effective and safe for use.

 Discussion Method
The discussion method is an oral interaction between the teacher/children. The
discussion could be planned or unplanned. Discussions help to improve children’s oral
fluency, expand their vocabulary, confidence and understanding of concepts. Children
could for example be given an opportunity to describe their own activities to other
children/teacher, tell stories, talk about familiar objects/things in their environment e.g.
animals, plants, friends, toys, buildings, family, photographs, pictures, their own
work/painting or drawing.

The teacher’s role like that of other children is to be a good listener and when necessary
stimulate the discussion through questions e.g. in the story of Goldilocks what do you
think Goldilocks will choose? Did she enjoy daddy bear’s porridge? Which porridge
did she enjoy? Why did she enjoy or not enjoy daddy/baby bear’s porridge? If the child
mispronounces a word the teacher does not correct but simply repeats the correct
version for the child to hear and not to discourage them . For example the child may
say, “Oh the baby fall down! or He goed home”. The teacher simply says “okay, the
baby fell down” or “so he went home?”

During the lesson, there should be rules governing discussion. For example, all children
must listen to the speaker. The teacher must be fair to all children by allowing adequate
time to them for sharing. Discussions could be carried out using the whole class, small
groups or even in two’s.

Advantages of Discussion Method

Discussion improves children’s oral fluency, vocabulary and confidence. It enhances
their imagination and logical thinking. Children also learn from one another and learn to
respect other children’s views and turn taking.

Disadvantages of Discussion Method

Discussions are time consuming. Only a few guided topics can be covered since
discussion cannot be hurried. Bright children tend to monopolise the discussions.
Weak children may not be willing to participate but should be encouraged to do so.
It is not very easy to evaluate a discussion.

 Observation Method
Observation is a skill that begins early in life and involves examining closely. Children
enjoy gazing at things and cross examining them a lot. The ability in children to produce
or reproduce things emanates from observation. It is said, that children retain much of
what they perceive with their sense of sight than they do with any other sense. However,
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the other senses should not be under-rated because as early childhood theorists indicate,
sensory learning is very important since all learning is centred around the senses during
early years.

The observation method is important because it helps children see contrasts in the
various colours/pictures or objects presented to them. They get to see the change in
patterns and also simply look at and admire the visual aids, thus enhancing their
aesthetic development. To be good observers, children need to be trained to observe
accurately because a good observer is one who has learned to use his senses
appropriately. Use of the observation method in pre-school also forms a foundation for
more understanding as well as appreciation of use of the more scientific and systematic
observation method, later in life

In pre-school, children can be engaged in activities that involve looking at and

interpreting details of pictures or objects of all kinds and symbols. E.g. they can play
games such as picture/colour/letter or word domino and lotto matching games. They can
also use their sense of touch and sight as they engage in fishing game by use of their
hands. They can play sound games to stimulate their auditory sense or touching and
feeling games. They can play blind folding games where children get involved in
searching for objects or tasting or scent games where they get to identify various edible
materials such as coffee, sugar, fruits etc by taste or smell.

Other games that can help children develop their observation skill are the dice game,
dart game, skittle aiming, card game, picture/letter/word hopscotch game, games
involving fixing picture-puzzles and story-picture-puzzles (in sequence), etc. Children
can also observe and imitate teacher’s verbal instructions or language, listen to
teacher’s/other children’s news or stories then tell their own or retell news heard. They
can listen to the radio or already tape-recorded conversation, songs, poems, riddles,
songs etc. The teacher could tape record children’s productions in class e.g. their stories,
poems, songs, tongue twisters then play it back to them. Children can also name/discuss
real objects such as puppets, models, pictures, specimens etc presented to them. They
can also engage in pretend activities or drama.

The observation method helps children to learn from their own experiences (first hand)
rather than depending on someone else’s report.

 Project Method
It is also an important learning/teaching method in pre-school, which occurs, in a more
natural and free environment without much restriction, like in a normal class situation.
The teacher however offers guidelines on what is to be done, guidance and supervision.

Examples of Pre-School Projects:

i) Collecting materials for collage/mosaic.
ii) Word building where children work together to form as many words as possible.
iii) Collecting mounting different types of flowers, cars etc.
iv) Collecting things for a particular theme to be taught etc.

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  Demonstration Method
It is also an important learning method whereby children learn by training, observation
and imitation. The teacher needs to offer encouragement for children to do as shown and
also exercise patience when children appear not to do very well.
Many opportunities should be given to children in order to perfect their skills.

Advantages of Demonstration Method:

 Children are trained to observe.
 Their training, concept formation and generalisation are stimulated.
 Materials used help arouse/motivate children’s interests.
 It is economical I terms of learning resources and time.
 New skills are effectively taught/learnt.

Disadvantages of Demonstration Method:

 Children do not participate fully when only the teacher is dong the demonstration.
To improve on this, children could be given materials to work with the teacher step
by step.
 The opportunity for children to discover things on their own is minimal.
 The learning group might be too large hindering some children to understand/follow
the teacher.
 On the spot evaluation of children’s performance may be difficult and at the same
time children may not have had enough time to conceptualise the concept being
taught.

NOTE:
i) Be at the same level with the children if they are sitting, you should also sit as
you demonstrate.
ii) Establish eye contact with the whole group.
iii) Always establish dialogue while doing the demonstration.

 Group Activity Method

Children’s learning ability is not the same even though they may be the same age.
Some students may be good in one activity area and weak in another.

In-order to be able to cater for these individual variations, group the children according
to need, e.g. ability, interest, physical strength, gender etc. Prepares work for each group
before the lesson. There should be no permanent groups because this may encourage
labelling of children e.g. fools, slow, fast etc. and it may have a negative effect on
learning. They should thus be used sparingly. Children should therefore be grouped
according to the task at hand, but can move to another group if they are bored with the
activity at hand or if they are done with one activity. Ensure that all children improve
their potential by neglecting neither of the groups. Bright children should not be held
back but given opportunities, which are commensurate to their ability in order to keep
them busy. Ensure that instructions are clear or followed by children and go round the
groups giving encouragement, suggestions or help if needed.

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Advantages of Grouping
All children learn at their own pace. Grouping encourages peer interaction/learning from
each other/reduces egocentrism. Children learn how to share and experience warmth or a
sense of belongingness. Grouping encourages participation by all children hence helps to
develop children’s self-esteem/confidence. It encourages healthy competition and offers
an opportunity to train children in leadership/responsibility (group leaders. The teacher
is able to give the required individual attention per group and child teacher interaction is
also enhanced.

Disadvantages of Grouping:
Group method is time consuming especially in preparation for the different groups.It
requires plenty of materials and space. Sometimes it is difficult to divide time
appropriately for every group. The children may develop a negative attitude towards
learning certain skills if the teacher does not organise and motivate students.

Categories of groups
i) Mixed Ability Groups:
This is creating a balance within groups by distributing evenly in a group, children who
are above average, average and weak.

Advantages of Mixed Ability Groups:

In such a group, children learn from one another and bright children are encouraged to
assist weaker ones. It is also the most natural group composed of children from all
ability groups like in any normal circumstances. Children recognise each other’s
strengths and learn to appreciate each other. Their social interaction and social skills
such as sharing, co-operating, patience and turn-taking are enhanced. Mixed ability
group method encourages team spirit amongst children. It is however best in primary
schools and should be used sparingly in pre-school.

Disadvantages of Mixed Ability Groups:

Bright children may not get healthy competition. They may also dominate the group.
And low children may be discouraged to participate and develop low esteem. The
teacher may not be able to attend effectively to all children due to their diverse needs.

Activities for Mixed Ability Groups:

Children could engage in discussions, draw, sort and group or role-playing family roles.
They could engage in word building or construction using letters and sound cards. They
could also make words starting or ending with given letters or sounds e.g. c – cat, car,
cub or t – bat, rat, mat. Children could fix numbers, letters or picture puzzles, paint,
model or mosaic and collage. They could also fill in blanks with vowels e.g. b_g, b_ll
etc. Children could be provided with a picture or pictures where three names are placed
against them from which children circle the correct name of picture. They can tackle true
and false questions. They could engage activities involving discrimination. E.g.
Which letter sound below is different? b b p b
Circle sound “e”

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 a i
e i e
u e

Children could go out for a nature walk to collect flowers of different colours, leaves,
and seeds.

ii) Gender Groups

Although seen to be discriminatory, they also have their place in the society because
culturally there are some specific gender roles/activities, which are emphasised, and the
pre-school teacher must take note to strengthen positive cultural aspects. If teaching in
Isiolo for example, you will be careful to separate boys from girls particularly during
outdoor activities.

iii) Interest Groups

They provide opportunity for making choices and enhancement of independence.
However they should be used sparingly. In life we cannot do as we please without taking
note of others.

 Question and Answer Method

It is an important teaching method, which helps the teacher to know whether children
have understood a concept that has been taught or even to probe them to think further.
Questions may also be used to clarify a point or to help children clarify their own ideas.
Questions also help the teacher to establish the effectiveness of the teaching method.
Questions could be used during the lesson introduction, during the main teaching or
even to conclude. When asking questions, the teacher should use simple language and
distribute the questions to all children according to their strengths so that they all have
an opportunity to participate.

A good pre-school teacher encourages children to ask/answer questions and gives honest
answers to children. He/she plans and writes out questions to ensure they are clear and
useful. He/she pauses before asking a question and again after the question to ensure
children are attentive and also give them time to think of the answer. He/she directs
questions to specific children by name and even to those who never put up their hands.
If children give partially correct answers he/she asks them to explain further or use
another question to direct them where you want.

 Exploration and Discovery Method

Children are naturally curious and love to explore by nature. Through the use of their
senses, they discover new knowledge and increase their ideas. The teacher can guide
children’s exploration and discovery through asking then questions like what happened
when you did…or what will happen, why did this happen?

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The exploration and discovery method is an interesting learning method, which does not
place too much restriction on the child. This encourages children to explore even further
and learn more. The teacher should give children opportunities to do activities related to
what they have seen/experienced.

 Programmed/Individualised Educational Teaching Method

The individualised educational programme (IEP) is usually used for children with a
specific learning difficulty to help them catch up with the rest of the children in the
class. It is however difficult to use this method if the teacher has a large class. It also
requires time and plenty of materials for the specific child.

In the individualised educational programme (IEP), a child systematically works on his

own. The child move from one step to another after mastering certain required content
or skills and learning is from known to unknown or new learning built on previously
acquired knowledge. The teacher makes use of feedback and through feedback, the
teacher is able to know how well or not the child has understood a concept and to help
him learn that which has not been understood. This way the child can smoothly move to
the next stage of learning.

There are two different types of programmed learning namely the linear and branching.
In the linear programme, the learning content of each item is simplified and has
sufficient cues or prompts to remind or help the learner get to the correct answer. It also
employs a lot of repetition to aid the learner to learn and retain content. The branching
programme unlike in the linear has larger steps and no repetition of content. However, it
is designed in a manner that the learner can foretell common mistakes in order to be able
to avoid such pitfalls and hence allows for rapid learning to take place. It also allows the
learner to respond to or determine the learning content to be received next which makes
him/her more prepared for learning.

 Experiential Learning/Teaching Method

Pre-school children have already experienced and therefore learnt many things from
home. Experiential learning therefore acts as a bridge or link in facilitating learning from
known to unknown. Through children’s real life experiences, the teacher can use their
experiences to enrich learning (using their past, present and possibly future experiences).
Learning can take place when children are given opportunities to share their experiences
for example during news telling or story telling sessions etc.

Children feel appreciated when they are used as a source of knowledge. The teacher can
learn a lot about children as they narrate their experiences to others .They also feel
involved when they are given opportunities to share their experiences. Engagement in
sharing of various experiences enhances teamwork in children, motivation and
commitment to participate, creativity and imagination etc.

Teaching Techniques
A teaching technique is a skill or tactic that is used to enhance learning or teaching
methods. Some teaching techniques are presented below:

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  Story Telling Teaching Technique
Stories are tales, narratives or an account of a happening/event. The story telling
technique is one of the oldest and interesting ways of teaching children. Although
interesting, telling stories requires a lot of time for preparation. It also requires creativity
and some people are not creative by nature. There are different types of stories as listed
below:

Types of Stories
There are different types of stories. Some of them are traditional or folktales, general
stories of adventure, stories of heroes or heroines, religious stories, topical stories with
themes of moral teaching, health, environmental conservation, HIV prevention or Child
protection and stories from other societies or countries.

Characteristics of Children’s Stories

Children’s stories should be developmentally appropriate i.e. they should be short,
simple in diction, interesting, action based/oriented, with few characters (not more than
five), with familiar situations to children and with a happy ending.

Importance of Stories
Stories can be used to teach certain concepts/values e.g. friendship, team work. They can
be used to Introduce a lesson to arouse children’s interest or for offering enjoyment.
Stories enhance children’s social aspects e.g. cooperation, turn taking, confidence etc.
They shape their personality (confidence) and development of acceptable or desirable
moral behaviour. Stories can be used to teach about gender roles and social
relationships. They can also be used to enhance concentration, creativity/imagination,
memory, listening and oral fluency.

Principles of Good Story Telling

Choose or create a simple and relevant story according to children’s age. You must read,
rehearse to know and tell the story smoothly. Use gestures, facial expressions, relevant
songs/poems to the story, puppets, good illustrations/pictures/real objects to enhance the
emotions needed. Help children to follow or keep track of the story by involving them in
activities such as questions, singing or saying a response lines in the story. End the story
at the peak of the climax e.g. “They lived happily there after or The hare won the price
of his good work”. Be lively and modulate your voice well (raise/lower voice as
required).

 Singing Teaching Technique

A song may be defined as a chant, hymn or tune produced by children or even birds in
the environment.

Criteria for Selection of Songs

Children’s songs must also be developmentally relevant or appropriate i.e. enjoyable,
short, simple in language, tune and rhythm as well as repetitive in order to aid their

22
memory. They should be meaningful and purposeful, action oriented, morally
appropriate and relevant to learning theme/topic being taught or occasion.

Importance of Songs in Teaching Children

Songs can be used in various ways. They can be used to introduce a lesson thereby
arousing children’s learning interest. They can be used to teach or revise other
curriculum areas, to ensure teacher/child participation in learning or offer relaxation and
enjoyment to children after tedious learning activities. Songs can be used to end
boredom in children, help them appreciate their cultural heritage and enhance their
physical development. Songs can instil confidence in children (as they present them
before others, improve oral fluency/pronunciation, proper use of vocabulary and
expression, enhance imagination/creativity (as they compose own songs or present them
in own style), memory and retention of learning content.

 Recitation/Memorization Teaching Technique

To recite or memorize is to learn something by heart or rote. It is also to deliver or
present a verbal information (poem) publicly. Recitation or memorization is an
important learning method because there are important things that children need to
remember by heart. Children for example need to learn the order of numbers or alphabet.
They also need to memorize songs and poems. Recitation/memorization helps children
to remember or retain facts taught to them. Children however should note just be
engaged in memorizing learning content without understanding.

 Role Play, Dramatization, Imitation and Mimicking

Role-play involves fantasy, pretence and imitating real models performing their roles
spontaneously or the way they know. Dramatization on the other hand requires guidance
or instructions from the teacher. To imitate is to copy someone else’s actions or speech
while to mimic is to non-verbally copy or imitate a character’s actions in a story, poem
or song. In order to enhance children’s ability to role play, dramatise or mimic it is
important to ensure they are provided with of lots of materials, costumes and time to
perform.

Importance of Role Play, Dramatization, Imitation and Mimicking

Role play is important in enhancing children’s physical, mental and socio-emotional
development. It provides practice in oral speech and offers enjoyment and relaxation to
children. Role play improves or/clarifies children’s thoughts and enhances their logical
thinking.

Role of the Teacher in Role Play, Dramatization, Imitation and Mimicking

You can listen to children to note whether they have problems in articulating words.
You can help children use tenses correctly or qualifying words e.g. adjectives and
adverbs. Encouraging children to perform in the best way they can without pressuring
them is another role and to provide them with materials for use and time to perform.

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  Study Trips/Field Trips Teaching Technique
Study/field trips are like nature walks where children explore their environment/nature.
However, unlike nature walks, study/field trips are organised visits planned by teachers
to specific places of interest outside or far away from the school. They usually focus on
children’s needs or interests and help to broaden their knowledge/experiences by relating
what they have learned in class with reality.

Trips should be organised to the animal orphanage, aquarium, snake park, ostrich park,
giraffe centre, an agricultural farm, airport, railway station, soda factory or tea or coffee
factory. In pre-school children’s observation skill is particularly enhanced during such
trips.

Planning an Effective Field Trip:

Identify the place to be visited and give justification/reasons or objectives for the trip to
this venue and seek contacts and clearance from relevant authorities from the school,
head teacher, parents or place to be visited. Make a pre-visit to familiarise with the route
to follow, the site itself, administration of the site and the schedule for the visit. Inform
parents of the intended visit using a newsletter, showing the cost, date, expected time of
departure as well as arrival back in school and ensure their support. Plan for transport
with a reputable transport firm with vehicles that are fully insured. Inform children of
date and venue to be visited as well as expected. Discuss with children what goes on in
the venue to be visited. Encourage them to ask questions prior and during the visit and
ensure they get answers. Talk to them about the behaviour expected during the visit e.g.
They must behave well, remain together or seated in bus, not to put out their hands/head
outside the window and not litter the study site nor the vehicle carrying them. Remind
them that they must be in full school uniform and carry lunch and drinks if these will not
be provided.

Role of the Teacher During the Trip

You will need to count and recount children before leaving the school or site to be
visited and if possible, have a written list to quickly ascertain if all children are there.
Carry the letter showing proof of invitation to the study site, contact of place to be
visited, contact of parents, tissue papers, pain killers and ensure children have enough
food. You will need to ensure that all children are in full uniform for easy identification.
And keep an eye on each and everyone of them all the time. Note down children’s
questions and seek clarification of questions/answers so that you can revisit them during
follow up activities after the trip. Ensure good teacher-child ratio to march the number
of children. (get other members of staff to accompany the children for maximum care).

Role of the Teacher After the Trip

Have follow-up activities to reinforce what was learnt during the trip. E.g. You can
engage children in news telling or oral discussion about the trip. You can make the
children draw, paint what they saw, role play or dramatize events relating to the trip.
You can encourage them to compose and present stories, poems or songs relating to the
trip. You can help the children come up with a learning corner or class project relating to
the trip in groups or as a class.

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Importance of Follow-up Activities after a Trip
Follow-up activities are useful in reinforcing what was learnt in class or during the trip.
The activities assist children to see relationship between what was taught in class and
what was seen during the visit. Follow up activities in consolidating learning content
and it is seen as a whole. They provide children with a forum to share their experiences
concerning the trip and an opportunity to learn from others.

Advantages of Study/Field Trips

i) Children relax and enjoy themselves.
ii) They widen children’s knowledge.
iii) They enhance social interaction.
iv) They provide real learning experience in particular areas of interest.

Disadvantages of Study/Field Trips Teaching Method:

i) They consume a lot of time to plan or organise.
ii) They require financing by parents or school.
iii) Sudden weather changes could occur and be a challenge or children could get lost, be
sick or be over-excited and engage in unbecoming behaviour.
iv) Road accidents could occur.

 Video Programmes Technique

This is a learning/teaching technique whereby children’s learning content is captured on
an electronic device known as videotape or videocassette.

Characteristics of a Video Programme

A video programme has the following characteristics: motions, reinforcement or follow
up of what has been taught in class, intended specific knowledge to learners and familiar
pictures or content from the child’ local environment. It also has simplified/well
illustrated learning content for easy understanding.

Merits of a Video Programme

There are various benefits. Learner’s learning interest for example is aroused because
there is use of sound and motion pictures which provide visual stimulation. There is easy
understanding of learning content because it can be replayed as many times as desired.
Analysis and evaluation of what is learned is done as the video programme progresses
and there is reinforcement of skills being learnt or already taught. Children learn
problem solving skills as they interact with new knowledge and also test themselves by
use of self help or made up tests. Another advantage is that learning can take place
anywhere (inside/outside the class), and may not require intense involvement by the
teacher or tangible materials since the programme is complete in itself. In addition, it
provides good opportunity for individualised teaching and eases the teachers’ workload

Demerits of a Video Programme

Some of the disadvantages of a video programme are that it requires use of
television/computer, electricity or battery which might not be available in some local
pre-schools. Equipment to enable use of video is also expensive or costly. Staring at the

25
learning screen over a long time may cause eye problems to children. It requires special
but simple technical knowledge to operate the programme

Summary
We have learnt that although the terms teaching strategies, methods, approaches and
techniques are commonly used interchangeably, they are actually different. Despite their
difference, the most important thing that you must remember is what content is to be
taught to pre-school children according to their maturational level, the objectives or why
the content should be taught and the method through which specific learning content
should be transmitted or taught. To be able to strategize properly, you need to make
references to various resources such as Early Childhood Syllabus and relevant books or
literature that can provide the appropriate activities for children in line with the
theoretical principles already discussed in this module.

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TOPIC FOUR: TECHNIQUES IN MOTIVATING AND SUSTAINING PRE-
SCHOOL CHILDREN’S LEARNING INTEREST

By the end of this topic, the learner should be able to:

i) Define the term motivation.
ii) Briefly comment on the sources of motivation in children.
iii) Describe the factors that determine the level of motivation of pre-school children.
iv) Discuss the various techniques of sustaining pre-school children’s learning interest.

Definition of Motivation
Motivation is an incentive or inducement that leads us to behave in a certain way or
towards a goal.
Children need to be motivated in order to learn or do better. When children for example
know that their parents or teachers are happy with them when they behave in a particular
manner, they feel motivated to continue doing so.

Importance of Motivation
Motivating children is important because it helps in:
i) Capturing their attention
ii) Sustaining their interest
iii) Improving their learning

Sources of Motivation in Learning in Pre-school

Educational psychologists point to three major sources of motivation in learning.
These are:
i) the child’s natural or intrinsic motivation
ii) the teacher’s/institutional’s Motivation ( extrinsic)
iii) the task intrinsic/extrinsic motivation

The child’s Natural Interest/Intrinsic Motivation–

This is self imposed motivation which is referred to as intrinsic motivation and it goes
deep down into the child’s personality. The child tackles the a task at hand not because
there is any external inducement or incentive, but because it gives him/her personal
satisfaction or he/she feels that it is important for him/her to do it. However, it is
important to note that children’s self imposed motivation quite often arises with the
teacher at first. Once the child learns from the teacher that it is important to do class
work well or to finish the task, spontaneous or self imposed motivation develops in the
child.

The Teacher’s or Institution’s Extrinsic Motivation

As explained before, extrinsic motivation is externally imposed. The teacher or school
therefore do their best to ensure they inculcate learning interest in the children through
external rewards or efforts.

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The Task Intrinsic/Extrinsic Motivation
Success in the task in this category of motivation depends on both self and externally
imposed motivation. The child does not only work hard to satisfy himself but also to
satisfy the teacher. In order for the child to do the task well, the teacher has therefore to
ensure the learning activity is interesting, at the child’s ability or achievable. If the
learning activity is too easy, children get bored while too difficult a task puts children
off. It is therefore important to note that if the task is too easy or too hard, the child in
either way looses interest in the task.

Factors That May Impede Children’s Performance

There are many different reasons that may cause children to do well even if they have
natural love to perform well or even if the teacher tries to motivate them. Teachers
should therefore beware of the above factors and ensure that they are dealt with in order
to promote learning.

Physiological Factors
The state of the body or its functioning can determine how well or not a child performs.
Sickness, hunger, fatigue, personality, physical disability such as poor eye sight etc are
some of the most commonest physiological impediments to learning.

Behavioural Factors/Habits
Bad habits or practices in children may lead to poor performance e.g. noise making in
class and not listening to the teacher, laziness etc.

Environmental Factors
Poor condition of classrooms/furniture, poor lighting or ventilation, bad weather,
learning tasks that are not developmentally appropriate, exposure to new
environment/school or class, poor educational experiences, lack of incentives/rewards

Socio-emotional Factors
Extreme joy or sad events in children’s lives, insecurity, deprivation of love or
recognition, frightening situations, poor self esteem, lack of confidence

Cognitive Factors
Low intelligence, poor language development, lack of mental stimulation and mental
abnormalities are some of the cognitive mishaps that can contribute to poor
performance.

Determinants of Levels of Motivation in Children

According to Farrant (1997) and Ingule et. al. (1996), the motives which affect
children’s learning may change as the process of learning goes on. This is because the
optimal level of motivation is different in every individual child. Two children may for
example play with an identical toy but one throws it away as soon as his/her curiosity
wears off while the other one continues persistently as his/her curiosity turns to pleasure.
The way children respond also depends on their capacity to withstand the degree of
arousal. Some research studies show that people behave in such a way as to maintain

28
their arousal level somewhere near the optimal. This means that if the arousal level is
too high or too low below their optimal level children will seek to either raise or lower it
to their comfortable level. The implication is that it is important for the teacher to
regulate stimulation to which the children will react to. If the stimulation is too intense
or too low, children will respond by switching off in which case maximum benefit will
be lost
.
Techniques of Sustaining Pre-school Children’s Interest
Children’s interest wears off easily. It is therefore important for teachers and caregivers
to ensure they continue sustaining children’s interest. Some of the ways teachers can use
to sustain children’s interest.

 Providing new forms of motivation

Since children’s interest wears off easily, new forms of motivation should be sought
particularly when the teacher discovers loss of it. Children for example get tired of
seeing the same kind of charts in their class. As pre-school teachers and caregivers,
we must ensure we do not use the same kind of motivation over and over again.

 Keeping learning activities short and interesting

Pre-schoolers have a short attention span and cannot sit still for long. The pre-school
teacher should therefore ensure that their learning activities are short and interesting
in order to motivate and sustain their interest: Use gestures, facial expressions and
voice modulation.

 Ensuring learning content is achievable

The content should be at the children’s level or achievable. It should not be too hard
nor too easy. Establish what they know first then move to teach new skills so that
you can give them work that is commensurate to their ability. Children feel proud
when they can accomplish a task.

 Attending to each child’s individual need

This helps children to respond well and feel loved. When children know the teacher
cares for their varied needs, they equally reciprocate by doing what is right to please
him/her.

 Ensuring participation from all children

This calls for the teacher to know the children by ability or interest so that he/she can
ask can involve them at the right time through relevant questions according to their
understanding. Treat children’s questions with respect to motivate them to want to
participate.

 Recognising children’s participation/performance

This can be done by offering reinforcement immediately the action occurs e.g. :Wow
that is good Mary” or “Lets give one clap for John”, or “Come and hug teacher/ let
me draw a star on your hand etc. However, avoid material rewards like sweets,
biscuits etc. For a wrong answer, tell the child, ‘you have tried your best Peter, that

29
is good”!or “ Let us clap for Peter for trying” or “Peter has tried, now who can give
us another answer?’ Emphasise the good aspects in children not the negative.

 Varying the teaching/learning activity

Use varied activities such as: “ Let us all stand/face this way”, “Sing and dance this
song, “ ” For introduction, we are going to read sound ‘a’ after the teacher ‘a a a’,
boys only, girls only, now as we stand, now as we close our eyes, now as we write
sound ‘a’ in the air “round, up, down”, now write ‘a’ with our fingers on the table,”
”Good sit down now, Helen come and write sound ‘a’ on the blackboard and we all
say round, up, down as she writes” etc. Allow two or three other chances to different

children. Make use of group work. E.g. group work one will construct letter
using bottle tops with different colours or brand, group two will cut and paste it,
group three will colour the letter, group four will write over or trace the letter etc.
Use change of pace/voice modulation or have the class in a different venue at times,
etc.

Ensuring Availability of adequate learning materials

Remember children at this age are egocentric and do not enjoy sharing. They also get
frustrated if they wait too long to get a turn to use materials. To cater for this need,
ensure plenty or adequate materials for use.

 Ensuring use of aesthetically appealing learning materials

Materials should be attractive/colourful to capture their interest. Let them use bright
crayons to colour their work. All displays should also be attractive, prepared neatly,
displayed at children’s eye level and change them regularly to ensure novelty. Allow
children to touch, use the learning materials even after the lesson. Children like to
admire the resources the teacher brings to class. Ensure that the classroom is well lit
and ventilated.

 Allowing them time to admire their work

After the lesson, allow them to admire their work or see other children’s work or
simply pick selected pieces and say, ‘this is nice work’ Next time can all of us try to
do better than this one?

 Building trust and love with children

Build trust by being truthful/honest with children. Be a good role model to children
and ensure fairness to all. Ensure consistency in what you expect from them. Make
the classroom a happy place to be in by being friendly and cheerful. Encourage
children to mind about one another’s welfare.

 Allowing movement from time to time

Children by nature are mobile beings. It is therefore important to provide
opportunities for children to move about and talk to you freely. Make sure that the
classroom sitting arrangement allows adequate space to move.

 Ensuring children are comfortable

30
 The chairs/tables should be of correct size/height. The chairs or benches should have
back-rests to support children’s delicate backs. Ensure there is adequate fresh air in
the class and it is well lit to guard against children dozing off.

 Making use of feedback

Feedback is the continuous response from learners to the teacher (Ginsberg and
Wlodkowski, 2000). Children need to know their mistakes and how they can
improve or do better. Through feedback, children’s doubts are cleared promptly.
Lack of feedback leads to poor performance and lack of interest because children
are not sure whether they are doing well or not.

 Ensuring children understand the learning content

Strive hard to ensure children understand learning content. This helps them to apply
new knowledge learnt. The teacher can ask children questions regarding what has
been taught to judge whether they have understood or by observing the speed with
which children take in completing a task, their confidence and also willingness to
participate in a task.

Summary
In this lecture we have learnt motivation is an incentive or inducement that leads us to
behave in a certain way or towards a goal and that children need to be motivated in order
to learn or do better. We have also learnt that it is important for us to ensure that we
continue sustaining their interest by providing them with new forms of motivation
particularly when we discover loss of it.

31
TOPIC FIVE: PLANNING PROCEDURES AND PROFESSIONAL
DOCUMENTS IN PRE-SCHOOL

By the end of this unit, you should be able to:

i) Define the term “planning”.
ii) Identify the various records to be kept in pre-school.
iii) Outline the importance of planning the activities and various records in pre-
school.
iv) Prepare the various teaching and administrative records.
v) Use the records appropriately during peer teaching sessions.

Planning
Planning involves identification of needs in relation to the overall objectives of a pre-
school, the activities and sequence in which they are to be performed and the resources
required to accomplish them. In pre-school, teachers need to know that it is important to
welcome children and their parents as they arrive in school. The play and learning
resources must be available for use and in good condition so that as children arrive, they
select what indoor activities they wish to engage in freely or voluntarily before lessons
begin. The liberty for children to freely choice their own activities help to link the home
and school. Teachers must also plan to allow children to go out to help themselves
before the school assembly or lessons begin. Children can be escorted to go help
themselves at an interval of one to one and half hours depending on age. The teachers
need to plan to have key subjects like language and mathematic lessons in the early part
of the morning before children get tired. Creative activities such as play, art, craft,
music, story-telling etc which bring amusement to children should come later in order to
help them relax. You should also be able to identify the various teaching and
administrative records in pre-school as well as their importance.

Pre-school Records
There are different types of records in pre-school. They include teaching as well as
pupil’s attendance and assessment records. They also include those kept by the head
teacher e.g. administrative records such as school log book, visitors’ book, minutes
record, staff/parents’ attendance register, desk diary/year planner, school property
records such as store ledgers, inventories, write off and handing over/ taking records and
financial records among others.

Teaching Records
The following are teaching records used in pre-school.
 Schemes of work
A scheme of work is a summary of learning content to be covered within a school term
and is best prepared during the holidays in order to ensure orderliness and promptness in
beginning of learning activities every term. A scheme of work has also been defined as a
breakdown of the syllabus into manageable units which could be covered in a specific
period of time, lasting for either a week or more, a month or even months of a whole
year (Nasibi and Kiio, 1995). Practically in our case, a scheme of work specifically
covers the topics in the pre-school syllabus over a period of three school terms. The

32
syllabus lists all activity areas and the description of the content to be taught according
to physical and mental level or maturation of children. It consists of three major
components namely, educational objectives, content items to be covered and procedure
for assessment.

Purposes of a Scheme of Work

Some of the purposes of a scheme of work are:
a) To ensure orderliness and promptness in coverage of the syllabus.
b) To break down the syllabus into manageable units which can be covered easily.
c) To help the teacher to identify and assemble the relevant learning resources to be
used.
d) To ensure that every content in the syllabus is covered.

33
 OUTLINE OF SCHEME OF WORK
Reg. No. ……… Teacher’s Name………………………………
Class/Age Group…... Term……… Year……… Subject/Activity Area: e.g. Language
Term Objective(s): 1. ………………………………………………………
2. ………………………………………………………
3.………………………………………………………

Week/ Lesson Topic/ Sub-topic/ Lesson Learning Resources & Remarks

Dates Theme Sub-theme Objectives Activities References

One 1
2
11-15th 3
Jan
4
5
Two 1
2
18-22nd
3
Jan
4
5

NOTE:
The schemes of work must cover all the subjects/activity areas in pre-school
for the whole term (10 – 14 weeks) and the entire scheme of work should be
completed by the time teaching begins.

 Daily Lesson Plan

A lesson plan is an outline showing systematic steps or stages to be followed by the
teacher when teaching any given learning content. It consists of theme/topic, sub
theme/sub topic, time frame (day and time lesson is to be taught, age group/class,
lesson objectives, teacher’s and children’s activities, teaching materials and resources
as well as remarks column.

Importance of Lesson Planning

i. Lesson planning helps in identifying any impeding challenges that must be
overcome to ensure success of the lesson.
ii. During lesson planning, identification of the necessary teaching resources
needed are made or put in place.
iii. Orderliness and confidence during presentation of the lesson are ensured.
iv. Lesson planning helps in managing teaching time well, and in coming up with
appropriate motivational and relevant teaching modes for use when teaching.

34
 v. In addition, it helps you to become a better advisor to parents of young children
and the community on how they can partner with you in providing any extra
help that may be required to improve children’s performance.

OUTLINE OF THEMATIC/INTEGRATED LESSON PLAN

Student’s Name:…………………………… Registration. No:.……………...................

School:.............................. Roll:........... Class/Age group:..................
Week:... Lesson No:..... Date:…...... Time:…….

Topic/Theme: e.g. Animals

Sub-topic/Sub-theme: Domestic Animals

Objective(s): By the end of the day, children should be able to:

i) Language Activity Area…….……………………………………………………………….
ii) Mathematic Activity Area…………………………………………………………………..
ii) Out-door Play Activity Area………………………………………………………………..
iv) Science Activity…………………………………………………………………………….
v) Music & Movement Activity Area…………………………………………………………..
vi) Religious Education................................................................................................................

Lesson Presentation:
T/Aids &
Time Teachers Activities Children’s Activities Resources

7.30- 0. Indoor Free Choice

8.30 am
Teacher asks children to: Children:
-Sing introduction song, -Sing the song, “Old
“Old Furaha had a farm” Furaha had a farm.”
-Play freely with theme -Play freely with theme
materials provided. materials provided.
-Recite concluding -Recite the poem, “5
poem, “5 yellow ducks.” yellow ducks.”

9.00- 1. Language
9.30 am -
Teacher: -
- Introduces lesson with -
activity related to theme. -
- Guides children in
learning activities.
- Gives group work.
- Concludes with activity
related to theme.

35
9.30- 2. Mathematics
10.00 am
Teacher:
- Introduces lesson with
activity related to theme.
- Guides children in
learning activities.
- Gives group work.
- Concludes with activity
related to theme.

10.00- 3. Outdoor Play

10.30 am Teacher:
-Introduces with free play
activities with/out theme
materials
-Guides children to
learn/perfect a new skill
related to theme.
-Asks them to do running
race, singing game/dance
-Asks them to do
relaxation activity
related to theme.
11.00- 4. Social Studies
11.30 am
Teacher:
- Introduces lesson with
activity related to theme
- Guides children in
learning activities
- Gives group work
- Concludes lesson with
a related theme activity

36
11.30- 5. Music & Movement
12.00 pm
Teacher:
- Introduces with known
song or activity related
to theme
- Guides children to learn
a new song related to
theme entitled, “...........”
after him/her severally
-asks them to sing new
song alone as he/she
listens, then with
accompaniment.
- Concludes: lesson with
a related theme activity.

37
Outline of Single Lesson Plan (Not Integrated but still thematic)

Student’s Name:…………………………… Registration No:.……………..............

School:……………………..... Roll:……… Class/Age Group:………
Week:…… Lesson No:… Date:……... Time:……. Subject/Activity Area:
Mathematics
Topic/Theme:……………………………………………………………………………………

Sub-topic/Sub-theme:……………………………………………………………….................

Objective(s): By the end of the lesson, children should be able to:

…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………

Lesson Presentation
T/Aids & Remarks
Time Teachers Activities Children’s Activities Resources

9.00- -Introduction: (with an

9.05 am activity related to theme)

- (Guiding children in
9.05- learning)
9.15 am

9.15- -Group work

9.25 am

9.25- - Conclusion: with an

9.30 am (activity related to theme)

NOTE: The teacher must give the specific activities to be done e.g. The lesson will begin with
the song, “Old Furaha” or The teacher will guide children in counting number 5 by
picking the correct number of items from a pile of bottle tops, blokes, stones etc.

38
 Class Time Table
A class time table is a record that shows the number of specific activity areas to be
taught, the day they are to be taught and the exact time. There are five (5) learning
activity areas (subjects) to be taught every day and therefore a total of twenty five (25)
activity areas per week. Language, Mathematic and Outdoor activities are taught daily
and therefore allocated five lessons per week. Science, Social studies and Music have
two (2) lessons per week. Religious education, Life skills Art and Craft, have one
lesson each (1) per week (see the illustration below). Before lessons begin, children are
engaged in indoor free choice activities. During this period, children freely or
voluntarily choose any activity they wish to do. The teacher only ensures provision of
materials and safety but he/she can offer help if children request for it. Free choice
activities help to link the home and school, hence the freedom that would exist in their
homes where they choose their play or learning activities.

39
 Sample of Pre-school Time-table

Day Time

10.00 am

10.30 am

11.00 am

11.30 am

3.30 pm
8.30 am

8.45 am

9.00 am

9.30 am

10.00-

10.30-

11.00-

11.30-

Lunch, rest & 12.00-

12.00
7.30-

8.30-

8.45-

9.00-

9.30-
choice activities

quiet activities
Mon.

Social studies
Assembly

Outdoor Play
Toileting

Mathematics

Snack time/
Indoor-free

Language
Arrival,

Break

Art


Science
Tue.

Music
      

Wed. 
      Science 

Thur.  R.E
studies
Social

      
Craft
Life skills

Fri. 
Music

      

 Weekly Focus
This record shows a summary of what will be covered on a daily basis in a whole
week. It is usually used to substitute lesson plans. The teacher only writes one
lesson plan for one activity area per day. For the rest of the other activity areas, the
teacher uses the weekly focus and briefly or in summary form, highlights the
activities to be covered in each activity area per day, for the whole week. It is
however not compulsory for the teacher to prepare this record unless one has a big
teaching workload thereby denying him/her time to plan the various detailed lesson
plans. The weekly focus should be prepared before the beginning of a new week
and all activities to be covered in the whole week indicated.

40
 Sample of Weekly Focus

Outdoor

Life skills
Language

Maths

Science

Social

Music

Craft

R.E
Art
Mon Free &
Recog directed Cut &
Name & nition Activities News paste
write of no. on the ___ telling ___ pictures
members 5 theme, on the of family
in a “Our theme, members
___ ___ ___
family family” “Our
family”

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

41
  Record of work covered
This record gives a summary of what content has been covered daily in a given
week in all the 25 activity areas (subjects). It is the reverse of the weekly focus and
is filled in daily after the day’s teaching so that a summary for the whole week is
obtained at the end of the week.

Format of Record of Work Covered

Life skills
Language

Outdoor
Maths

Science

Music
Social

Craft

R.E
Art
Mon.

Tue.

Wed.

Thur.

Fri.

 Pupil’s Class Attendance Register

This record shows the number of children present or absent and how often they
attend school. Regular school attendance by children is important in order to ensure
they progress well in school activities. Reasons for failure to attend school such as
illness should be recorded so that appropriate follow up the children is made.
Remedial classes should then be done to ensure that the child catches up with the
rest of the class. Regular follow up of children also guards against unnecessary
truancy. Parents and guardians must be made aware of the importance of regular
school attendance by their children. As much as possible, they should be
encouraged to seek prior permission for their children to be away from school. A
class register can be purchased from a book store or prepared by the teacher using
the sample below.

42
 Sample of Pupil’s Class Attendance Register Term 3 2010
Week 1 Day Mon Tue Wed Thur Fri Tot
Date 6/9 7/9 8/9 9/9 10/9
No Child’s Name Gender
1 Kevin Mwachofi M
2 David Mugo M
3 Flaviana Mwende F
4 Gloria Ogana F
5 Kate Nyambane F
6 Sidi Kazungu F
7 Paul Kiptaalam M

Key:
X Present full day 0/ Present afternoon only
/0 Present morning only 00 Absent all day
 Assessment/Evaluation Records
Although no academic emphasise should be encouraged in pre-school, children’s
progress in the various domains of development need to be maintained. Examples are:
i) Children’s progress records in the various activity areas/subjects.
ii) Children’s socio-emotional status record.
iii) Children’s health status record
(Please refer to Lecture 9 to view samples of children’s progress records).

Administrative and Other Records:

These include records that are kept by the pre-school head teacher, administrator or
manager. Some of them include administrative, school property, inventories and
financial records:

i) Administrative Records
 School Admission Register
Upon admission to school, a child is given a registration number according to
entry point or period. The child is thus not only identified by his/her name but
also the registration number. Personal information regarding the child such as
birth date, age, parent’s names, their home and business contact is recorded. This
information is important because it helps the teacher to have background
information about the child and in case of any issues that may require the
physical presence of the parent, they could be reached at easily.

43
 Sample of School Admission Register

Date of Admission

parent or Guardian
Parents/Guardians
name, address &

attended (if any)

Date left school

Admission No.

School gone to
Other remarks
Occupation of
Child’s Name

Date of Birth

Last school

Religion
Gender
Victor Mureithi
Sidi Kazungu
David Mugo

 School Log Book

This is a book where official occurrences, observations or events in the school
such as opening/closing dates, parent’s open day, date of staff meetings,
suggestions or recommendations made to the school by authorities like school
inspectors etc are recorded. It acts as a school diary and contains the school’s
history. The people who record information in the log book should be ensure
clarity of information, be brief, use polite language, indicate their official
identity, status and contact etc.

Sample of School Log Book

Date Occurrence
6.9.2010 Opened the school with 8 teachers and 170 children.

Mrs. Emily Sifa

Head Teacher
Kivulini Day Care Centre.
Box 112-00100 Nairobi.

44
 Minutes Book\File
These are the deliberations made in staff meetings or (PTA) joint teacher and
parent’s meetings. The secretary to the meeting is usually the head teacher
although he/she may appoint the deputy head teacher or senior teacher to take
minutes particularly during staff meetings. At least one meeting per term should
be held. More than one meeting can be held if there is need.

Sample of Kivulini Nursery School Staff Meeting or PTA Meeting held on

2.7.2010 at 2 pm

Members Present
1.
2.
3.

Absent with apology

1.
2.
3.

Absent without apology

1.
2.

Agenda
0. Preliminaries (Registration, prayers and welcome)
1. Reading and Confirmation of previous minutes.
2. Matters arising from the previous minutes.
3. School Trip
4. School Fees Increase
5. Any other business (AOB)

Preliminaries
The head teacher called the meeting to order after which opening prayers were
conducted by ................. Thereafter, the head teacher welcomed all members.

Min 1/7/2010 Reading and Confirmation of Previous Minutes

Minutes of the previous meeting held on 1/3/2010 were read and confirmed to be
a true record by Mrs............. who proposed and Mr.............. who seconded.

Min 2/7/2010 Matters Arising from Previous Minutes

Members sought to know whether the computer had been repaired as agreed in
the previous meeting in readiness for typing of school correspondences.

Min 3/7/2010 School Trip

45
 Min 4/7/2010 School Fees Increase

Min 5/7/2010 Any Other Business (AOB)

There being no other business, the meeting ended with prayers sais by Mr............

Signed:...............................................................................................
Secretary

Signed:..................................................................................................
Chairperson

 Teachers’/staff attendance register

It resembles the pupils’ attendance register (see unit...).

 Parent’s attendance register

This is a record indicating the number and details of parents during school
meetings. The register helps in showing which parents were present during a
certain deliberation in a meeting so that follow up of those who were not in
attendance may be made if necessary.

 School Visitor’s book

This book serves as the hospitality register where all people who may visit the
school sign. This helps to keep truck of the number of visitors to the school at
any one time. The visitors must identify themselves by name, contact address
and signature. In addition, they should indicate reason for the visit or state their
general impression of the school. The visitors could be parents, community
members, school authorities etc.

Sample of School Visitor’s Book

Date Name of Visitor & Contact Remarks Signature
designation Address
2.3.2010 Mary Magana M.o.E. Led visit by
(Chief Inspector of Box 21- teachers from
Schools) 00100 UK on mmagana
Nairobi. exchange
programme.

46
 ii) Financial Records
 Receipt Book
It is a record that shows exact amount of money paid and is issued to a parent
every time he/she pays school fees. The receipt is always written in duplicate by
using a carbon paper. The receipt is only valid if it bears the school’s official
rubber stamp and is signed by the head teacher or person issuing it.

Sample of a Receipt

R/No...........................................Date.......................20.......................................

Received from......................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................

Sum of Ksh.........................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................

Being payment of...............................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................

With Thanks Revenue

stamp

Ksh................... ................................................
Signed

 Petty Cash Book

This record is used for day-to-day expenses in the pre-school. It involves a small
fixed amount of money that is afloat and always available to the head teacher. It
is replaced from time to time as need arises. All receipts used should be attached.
When it is not possible to get receipts, a petty cash voucher can be used in place
of a receipt.

47
 Sample of Petty Cash Record
Date Particulars Money Spent Cash at Hand
5.1.10 Petty cash amt 5,000
9.1.10 Milk @ 27/- 270
 Bread @ 35/- 70 4,660
10.1.10 Milk @ 27/- 270
 Bread @ 35/- 70
 Sugar @ 200/- 200 4,120

 Cheque Book
It is a book that contains leaves of papers that can be used to deposit or draw
money from a bank account. It bears the name of the bank, the branch of the
bank, the name of the account holder (school’s name), cheque number, bank’s
code and account number. It has a space where the date the cheque is issued is
indicated and also space for the name of the person or institution that the account
holder wishes to pay. It also has space where the actual amount of money to be
paid should be filled in figures and also where the amount is written in words.
The person issuing the cheque (head teacher) must sign the cheque on the empty
space on the left just below Ksh, before issuing it out to the person to be paid.
Usually, institutions operate current accounts and the cheques have two lines
running across the cheque to show that they are closed and only payable to the
person stated therein.

48
 Sample of Cheque Book Leaf

Date..................... Name of Bank ,

Payee................... Branch and Address Date.....................
..............................
Ksh....................... Pay Julius Mamboleo or order
Ksh:5,000/-
Kenya Shillings.Five thousand only/-
______________________________ JMumo

KIVULINI NURSERY SCHOOL

Cheque No. Bank Code Account No.

000252
‘’I 000252I: 500016 I:’’’0025585020‘’I

 Cash Book\Financial ledger

A cash book is a record where all money paid to the school and any payments
incurred by the school are recorded. In other words it is the record of money
received (credit) and money spent (debit).

Sample of a Simple Cash Book

Date Particulars Cash In Cash Out Balance at
(Credit) (Debit) Bank
5.1.10 Bal from March 7,000 7000
6.1.10 School fees 45,000 52,000
7.1.`0 Petty Cash 5,000 47,000
7.1.10 Purchased ex. 5,000 42,000
books
8.1.10 School fees 60,000 102,000
9.1.10 Purchased 20,000 82,000
Food items
31.1.10 Total 112,000 30,000 82,000

49
 It is best to bank all money received before using it so that all income and
expenditure is reflected in the bank statement.

iii) School Property Records

The books in which all school property is recorded are known as ledgers and the
property itself as store. The school stores once received may be classified into
permanent, consumable and expendable stock/stores. Other school property
records include Inventories, Write off, and Handing over/ Taking over records.

 Permanent Store/Stock Ledger

All property with usefulness exceeding two years e.g. desks, tables, radio,
sewing machine, cooker, computer etc are referred to as permanent stores.

Sample of Permanent Store/Stock Ledger

Receipt: Children’s tables
Rat
From whom received

Requisition voucher

Issue voucher
Receipt No.
e/value

Balance in stock

Signature
Unit No.

No. Received

No. issued
Date

Shs Cts
2.3.10 MoE 2,000 1 05 20 20 10 10 J.Mumo (Hm.)

Total Receipts............................................
Less Total Issues.......................................
Balance in stock........................................
C/F to Folio No........................................

 Consumable Store Ledger

These are items or stores that get consumed or used up within a short time e.g.
chalk, pencils, tissue papers, paints, exercise books etc.

50
 Sample of Consumable Store Ledger (IN)

Received from

Issue note No.

Head teacher
Signature of
Article
Qty
Date

2.3.10 General 2 230 Newsprints J.Mumo (Hm.)

store
3.3.10 General 4 100 Pencils J.Mumo (Hm.)
store

The head teacher receives the above items on behalf of the school. However,
when there is need for use, he/she distributes them to teachers as demand
arises. The record below is used to issue out items e.g. newsprints from the
school store to teachers.
Sample of Consumable Store Ledger (OUT)

Balance left in
Head teacher
Signature of

Signature of
receiver
Article
Issued To:

store
Qty
Date

3.3.10 Tr. Ivy 30 Newsprints Ivy Yaa J.Mumo (Hm.) 200

Baby
class

The issuing officer (head teacher) and receiver (teacher) both sign the above
consumable record.

51
  Expendable Store Ledger
These items wear out while in use but they do not get used up as fast as
consumable stores and require the teacher to produce the finished pieces for
replacement e.g. dusters, text books, footballs etc).

Sample of Expendable Store Ledger (IN)

Received from

Issue note No.

Head teacher
Signature of
Article
Date

Qty
2.3.10 General 1 80 New Picture J.Mumo (Hm.)
store Book 1
3.3.10 General 4 50 Footballs J.Mumo (Hm.)
store

As in the case of consumable stores, there are two types of records that may be used (see
the sample above and below).

Sample of Expendable Store Ledger (OUT) Head teacher

Signature of

Signature of

Balance left
receiver

in store
Issued To:

Article
Qty
Date

3.3.10 Tr. Ivy 30 New Picture Ivy Yaa J.Mumo 50

Baby Book 1 (Hm.)
class

iv) Inventory Book

An inventory book is a record whereby movement of school property from one
teacher to another or from one class to another is recorded. Any equipment
issued is recorded in the issue column while those withdrawn or returned are
recorded in the withdrawal column. A teacher is also required to have his/her
own class inventory in order to check movement of books or any other items
issued to children by him/her.

52
 Sample of Inventory Record
Issues Withdrawals

Total issue less total

withdrawal
Total s
Totals
1 2 3 1 2 3
Description
of Article/

Date

Date

Date

Date

Date

Date
Sign

Sign

Sign

Sign

Sign

Sign
No.

No.

No.

No.

No.

No.
v) Write off Record
This record shows school property or equipment that has got worn out or
damaged and is no longer useful hence the need to get rid of it by writing it off.
Authority to write off any school property must be sought from the school
authorities.

Sample of Write Off Record

Date Name of Qty Date of Price per Status of item Ledger
Item Purchase Item No.
5.6.10 Fairy 5 1.3.1998 25/- Damaged, un- Txt 1/97
repairable & to
Tales
be destroyed

vi) Handing over/ Taking over Record

When the head teacher of a school is transferred or retires, he/she must hand
over all school property to the incoming head teacher. Both the outgoing and
incoming head teacher must counter check that the list of all school property
available tallies with available records. For example the outgoing head teacher
must ensure that the incoming head teacher is introduced at the bank as the new

53
signatory to the school account and that other items such as cheque books, other
financial records, keys to all rooms etc are handed over. After this is done, the
handing over/ taking over certificate is signed by both head teachers. One copy
belongs to the outgoing head teacher, the second to the incoming head teacher
and the third one to the school. If in case there are discrepancies or anomalies,
these are recorded in which case, the outgoing head teacher agrees to take
responsibility to pay for the items in question.

Sample of handing over/ Taking over Record

The following listed school items have been handed and taken over:
i).........................................................iii)...................................................................
ii)........................................................iv)...................................................................

However, the following discrepancies below have been noted and

Mr/Mrs/Miss................................................................................ takes full responsibility
to replace them.

i).........................................................iii)...................................................................
ii)........................................................iv)...................................................................

Signed by: Handing over head teacher: Taking over head teacher

Full Name............................................... Full Name....................................

Signed .......................................... Signed..........................................

Date:.......................................... Date:..........................................

54
TOPIC SIX: MEASUREMENTAND ASSESSMENT PROCEDURES IN
CHILDREN’S PERFORMANCE

By the end of this topic, you should be able to:

i) Define the terms, “assessment and measurement”.
ii) Identify the purposes of assessment and measurement.
iii) Describe the assessment tools for assessing and measuring performance of
young children.
iv) Prepare pre-school children’s progress records in various areas.

Assessment and Measurement of Performance in Young Children

According to Bredekamp (1987), assessment is the process of observing, recording and
otherwise documenting the work the children do and how they do it as a basis for
educational decisions that affect the child. Measurement on the other hand is the
assigning of numerals to individuals or objects in a systematic manner as a means of
presenting the properties of the individuals or objects (Ingule et. al., 1996).

55
 Purpose of Assessment and Measurement of Children’s Performance
The purpose of assessment and measurement of children’s performance is to help in
determining or identifying their strengths and weaknesses. Thereafter, planning of more
appropriate learning activities commensurate to their needs can be made.

According to Said et al (1997), the progress of pre-school children should not have
academic achievement as their priority but should instead monitor children’s areas of
development such as creative activities, physical, mental, social and emotional aspects.
In other words, assessment and measurement should target at establishing to what extent
the child is capable of achieving the set objectives for the various pre-school activities as
stipulated by the Ministry of Education (K.I.E., 2008).

Types of Assessment in Pre-school

The following assessments are used to establish children’s progress in pre-school

Norm referenced assessment tests

These are tests that are used to compare individual children with other average children
(normal) or peers in the pre-school classroom. These tests are able to reveal whether a
particular child is lugging behind or is ahead of others in a certain areas of development
by comparing him or her with what the other children are capable of doing on average
basis.

Criterion referenced assessment

These tests are based on a specific set criteria or expectation. This assessment is used to
determine a child’s abilities and also difficulties in a specific area or criteria after which
individual or remedial teaching can be done.

Ipsative referenced assessment tests

The child’s previous performance is used to gauge his/her current performance to
establish his/her progress over a period of time. It is usually used with special needs
children to avoid comparing them with other children.
Standardised norm referenced or Group tests
These are designed by an examining body using standardised tests and scored as per set
standards e.g. School entry examinations, Divisional, Zonal, Provincial, KNEC,
KASNEB, etc.

It should however be noted that standardised norm referenced assessment tests are not
good for pre-school children since they pressure the children and seem to put more
emphasis to academic excellence rather than the areas of development.

Assessment Tools for Use in Pre-school

Observation
Observation is the most common tool used by pre-school teachers. Brief and accurate
information or performance of each child in terms of interest, ability and achievement in
all developmental areas should be made. It may be used to identify any problems in

56
children. It can also be used to establish the presence or absence of a particular skill or
behaviour in children.

Oral Questions
Children have learnt a lot of information from home, school, from their peers etc. To
establish how much they know, oral questions could be asked. From their answers, the
teacher discovers what areas in particular children need reinforcement.

Oral Discussions
The teacher engages children in a discussion to find out how well they can
communicate. The teacher can also listen to children conversing amongst themselves
and note down children’s strengths and weaknesses in order to take corrective
intervention measures.

Practical Work
Children’s strengths and capabilities can be sought through giving them practical work
and observing how well they do it. It provides a good opportunity for the teacher to
discover children’s weaknesses and to provide appropriate support. It can also help the
teacher evaluate the effectiveness or failure of his/her choice of teaching methods with
the view to improve.

Preparing Children’s Progress Records

Children’s progress in all developmental areas should be monitored. The following are
samples of some of the records that can be used to assess or measure children’s
performance in pre-school.

Sample of Children’s Language Activities Progress Record

Child’s News Story Picture Picture/ Recitation Recognition of

Name telling/ telling reading/ object of sound “a - i”
oral Naming description alphabet
fluency
1
2
3
4

NOTE:
Provide a key to show progress:
Key: Good ♣ Average ● Below average ▲
Indicate all skills being evaluated separately in every pre-school activity area/subject.

57
 Sample of Children’s Mathematic Activities Progress Record

Child’s Sorting Matching Ordering Rote Recognition Valuing Writing

Name & & & counting of nos 1 - nos 1 - nos 1 -
grouping Pairing sequencing 10 10 10
1
2
3
4

Sample of Children’s Socio-emotional Progress Record

Child’s Friendly Generous Empathetic Co-operative Caring Humorous
Name
1
2
3
4

Sample of Children’s Physical & Outdoor Progress Record

Child’s Throwing/ Sliding Skittle Galloping Skipping Skipping Tyre
Name catching Aiming freely using race
ball ropes
1
2
3
4

Sample of Children’s Health Progress Record

A. Child’s Personal Details
Child’s Name:……………………………………………………....................
Admission Number……...............................................Gender……..................
Date of Birth……………………………………………………………….......
Parent’s/Guardian’s Name………………...................Tel/Cell No……………
Physical Address……………………………………………….........................
House/Plot No……………………………………………………......................
Family Dr’s Name…………………………………….Tel/Cell No……….......

In case of emergency I would like my child to be taken

to………………………………………………………………………...hospital.

Signature of Parent………………………………………....Date…………….....

58
B. Details of Immunizations (Parents please attach copy of child’s immunization card)
BCG Date given…………….
BCG Date checked….......
Hep B 1st Dose…………... 2nd Dose…………
DPT 1st Dose…………... 2nd Dose………… 3rd Dose……………
HIB
OPV 1st Dose................. 2nd Dose…………. 3rd Dose……………
Measles
Yellow fever
Hep A
Typhim V
MMR

C. Daily Health Progress and History

i) History on admission:
Date 5.1.07 On admission day the child had/had no reported medical
complications/allergies etc

ii) Daily Health Progress (Action taken and by which

person)
Date 24.1.07 Had a common cold and was taken to the doctor by the
parents
Date 13.6.07 Complained of headache and was asked to lie down by
teacher Cynthia then felt better
Date 18.10.07 Was hit by swing and sustained swelling. Was taken to
hospital by teacher Harriet

NOTE: Each child must have his/her own separate page for health record and it is
therefore advisable to use a large exercise book for preparing a health record.
Summary
In this lecture, we have seen that assessment is the process of establishing children’s
performance by use of devices that are graduated in order to measure or gauge their
performance in a systematic way. Assessment and measurement of children’s
performance help in determining or identifying children’s strengths and weaknesses in
order to provide more appropriate learning activities according to their need.

59
 TOPIC SEVEN: PRE-SCHOOL CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT AND
ADMINISTRATION TECHNIQUES
By the end of this topic, you should be able to:
i) Define the terms management and administration.
ii) Recognise the managerial and administrative roles of the pre-school
classroom teacher.
iii) Define the characteristics of a good pre-school classroom.
iv) Identify the causes of poor pre-school classroom management and
administration.

Management and Administration of a Pre-school Classroom

Class management can be viewed as a system of working with individual persons
(teachers/children) in order to achieve the learning and other set classroom goals Myron,
D. 1987; Bennaars et.al., 1994, K.IE, 1996). Class Administration on the other hand
could be defined as the process of controlling, supervising, planning, organising,
managing and making decisions on the classroom activities/processes (Blanchard, K.. &
Johnson, S., 1982, Bennaars, et.al. 1994). Good management and administration of pre-
school learning/play activities ensures that things are done well and ultimately
maximum benefit to the children are realised.

Importance of Pre-school Classroom Management and Administration

i) To ensure proper planning of all pre-school learning and play activities.
ii) To enhance proper co-ordination of all learning and play activities.
iii) To guarantee proper utilization of all learning and play resources.
iv) To avoid failure in the attainment of the set classroom goals/objectives.
v) To enhance quality care of pre-school children’s growth and
development.

Managerial and Administrative Roles of the Pre-school Classroom Teacher

A pre-school teacher is supposed to ensure maximum care and safety of the children, the
class and play environment as well as the learning and play resources. He/she must also
be a friend. Children need to be assured that he/she is a friend whom they can depend
upon and to love them the way they are. The pre-school teacher is the custodian of
knowledge. Children depend on him/her to learn both formally, informally and non-
formally. He/she also needs to be a good role model for children to emulate. He/she is
similarly a peace maker and one who settles disputes among children when they arise.
He she guides and counsels children to make good choices in life or their relationships
with others. The pre-school teacher is a motivator of children. He/she ensures that
children are interested and fully involved in learning/play activities by in learning by use
of motivational techniques or encouraging them to participate actively.

The pre-school teacher is a supervisor of children. He/she ensures that children are
supervised in all their activities. Vigilant supervision is very necessary in pre-school
because pre-schoolers are very active and mobile beings. The teacher must ensure eye
contact with children all the time. Eye contact is important in telling children he/she can
see them. He/she is also a disciplinarian in order to ensure children do as they are

60
required to. Proper discipline coupled with vigilant supervision of children also ensures
that the teacher is able to ensure that children do as expected. The teacher is also able to
identify correctly which child is misbehaving and to punish the right child for
misbehaviour. These roles must be played well since children mostly learn by imitation.
By observing the teacher, they will acquire knowledge, positive skills as well as
attitudes which will make them better people in future. They will also learn to be
responsible and self controlled. To be a disciplinarian, the teacher him/herself must be a
disciplined person in all ways. A disciplined teacher similarly begets disciplined
children. If children perceive their teacher as loving even though he/she disciplines them
when they break classroom rules, they will take admonishment well. Most importantly,
the pre-school teacher ensures that the classroom is a happy and comfortable place for
children to work or to be in.

Characteristics of a Good Pre-school Classroom

For learning to take place effectively, the classroom must be well spacious and well
organised. KIE (1995) asserts that the classroom size/space, ventilation, lighting, size of
furniture and also their arrangement can foster or hinder effective learning. The
classroom should therefore be spacious to allow 1m2 space per child (KIE 1995), have
adequate windows to let in fresh air and light. The tables (50 – 63.5 cm) and chairs (25.4
to 35.5 cm) should be of the right size to allow children’s feet to rest on the ground and
the chairs should have backrests to support their delicate backs.

Despite the fact that straight rows facing the front of the class help to discourage pupil-
pupil talk, making classroom control easier, they are not recommended for pre-schools.
It is best to have children sitting in groups all round a table because it makes the feel one
and the sharing of materials also becomes easy. It is also easier for the teacher to attend
to a small group. It also makes the children feel close to the teacher and loved. Children
should be grouped according to a specific criteria and should not remain in the same
group the whole day, e.g. according to ability in a certain activity, interest, age or
friendship at some point.

Classroom materials should be colourful, varied, neatly arranged and displayed. They
should also be clearly labelled by name so that children learn to associate the name and
object e.g. door, chair, window, floor, ceiling, blackboard, table etc. Charts and
children’s work should also be well displayed according to activity area and at
children’s eye level. This ensures that they do not strain their necks or eyes when they
are reading or simply admiring them. Hanging mobiles should also not be too high.

Materials not in use should be stored neatly in tins/jars and labelled with pictures or
words depending on the children’s age. In baby class for example, the tin for pencils
could have a picture of a pencil instead of the name since they do not know how to read.
The children must be trained to ensure proper use and care of the learning and play
materials. They should be taught to ensure that they return them to their respective
storage area after they have used them.

61
7. Self Test
7. Summary
We have seen that class management and administration in simple terms is the process
through which resources are organised and controlled in all aspects in order to achieve
all learning activities or the set classroom goals/objectives. Good management and
administration of a pre-school classroom therefore entails the way the teacher handles
the classroom learning or play activities, the learning materials and the children
themselves.

62
 TOPIC EIGHT: INTERPERSONAL INTERACTION IN EARLY CHILDHOOD
CLASSROOM
Lecture Objectives
By the end of this topic, the learner should be able to:
i) Define the term “interpersonal interaction,” in a pre-school classroom.
ii) Identify and describe the four categories of interpersonal skills.
iii) Discuss the importance of interpersonal interaction in pre-school.
iv) Apply the knowledge gained in order to support development of interpersonal
interaction in a pre-school classroom.

Meaning of Interpersonal Interaction

Interpersonal interaction in a pre-school classroom refers to the relationship or
involvement that goes on between the teacher and pupil/s or children amongst
themselves in a face-to-face encounter. The interaction employs use of verbal or non
verbal communication to establish some understanding between the persons involved.
Interpersonal interactions in a pre-school classroom are important because children get
to le6arn new knowledge from the teacher who is the main custodian of knowledge.
Children also get an opportunity to learn new experiences from one another thereby
sharpening their thinking.

Forms of Interpersonal Interactions in pre-school

There are various forms of interpersonal interactions in a pre-school class. These are
teacher to children, teacher to a specific child or group of children in the class, as well as
child to child. It is important to ensure that all these different forms of interaction are
used in pre-school since they foster different forms of learning.

Importance of Interpersonal Interactions in Pre-school

According to Skinner (1956), Vygotsky (1962); Bandura (1977) & Piaget (1984),
children learn through social interactions with adults, older children/siblings and age
mates. Through modelling, observation, imitation, dialogue or participation in various
tasks with these socialization agents, children learn to perform new tasks or those that
they could not have learnt on their own.

Pre-school children are egocentric by nature but interpersonal interactions help them to
minimize their egocentrism. Interpersonal interactions help children to be confident and
to develop as well as increase their vocabulary. Children also get an opportunity to think
as they express themselves freely thereby enhancing their fluency and clarity in their
thinking or physical performance. During interactions in pre-school, the children get an
opportunity to acquire and practice acceptable speech and behaviours. In pre-school,
children in particular get opportunities to learn as they interact during role play and
dramatization activities. They similarly develop their competence in various tasks as
they compete or compare themselves with their peers and also get challenged to be good
or even better than them.

63
Categories of Interpersonal Skills
In order for the teacher and children to interact effectively, Nasibi (2005) reveals that the
following interpersonal skills are necessary: social skills, perceptual skills,
presentational skills and listening skill.

i) Social Skills
These have to do with social competence or capability and values that enable one to live
or get along well with self as well as other people in the society. In other words, social
skills are the abilities that enable an individual to fit into his/her society.
Children need to be helped to develop social behaviours that can assist them to cope
with themselves and others in their environment. Skills that can help them cope with
themselves include:

 Knowledge of self e.g. knowledge of what one can or cannot do in different

activities such as in writing, drawing, painting, reading, modelling, tracing,
sweeping etc.
 Appreciating self or having high self regard or esteem
 Being self controlled and responsible.

Children should also be encouraged not only cope with themselves but also to live well
with others. The ability of the child to know or understand other people within his/her
environment will foster peace and harmony with others. The characteristics needed to
live and cope with others in the environment include:

Ability to be Assertive
This is the ability to be forceful or strong headed when one knows their position or stand
towards a certain matter is right and to insist upon it without wavering. This helps them to be
respected by others and not to be trampled on by them unnecessarily.

Ability to Negotiate
This is arbitration ability in order to reach a fair agreement or consensus with others particularly
where there may be contentious issues. The skill of negotiation is important in life because it
teaches humility and thoughtfulness to say the right thing in order to gain favourable response
to ones’ benefit.

Decision Making Ability

It is the ability to make a sound resolution/judgment or make up one’s mind appropriately.
Decision making ability is important particularly when one is faced with a difficult task where a
specific choice or decision must be made. This helps the child to weigh out available options
and to correctly identify the best choice.

Conflict Resolution Ability

This is the ability to settle disagreements or problems. In life, there are times when the child
will find him/herself in certain problems with others. Ability to resolve the conflict peacefully
helps to create harmony and restore love or understanding between the two disgruntled parties.

64
Ability to be Ethical
This is the ability to display positive values such as fairness, honesty, generosity, responsibility,
diligence, empathy, kindness etc. Ethical integrity is an important virtue or value that makes one
to be trusted and depended upon by others.

i) Perceptual Skills:
These are capabilities within an individual which help him/her to notice or perceive
mentally what other people are thinking. The capabilities assist the individual to be able
to evaluate other peoples’ attitudes, motives, personality and emotional state thereby
helping him/her respond towards them or a situation appropriately. Children should thus
be taught to interpret correctly other people’s intentions by merely observing them.
When the teacher is for example happy with children’s actions, they should check to see
if the teacher nods in approval, smiles or gives a thumbs-up gesture. If on the other hand
the teacher frowns, children should be able to automatically tell that the teacher is not
happy with them. If children are trained to develop their perceptual skills, they will be
able to avoid actions that make others unhappy. This in turn would improve their
relationships with others.

ii) Communication or Presentational Skills

These are verbal and non verbal abilities that children need to acquire in order to be
understood effectively by others. Children for example need to speak with clarity,
confidently, loud enough for others to hear, modulate (raise/lower) their voices in order
not to be boring, articulate words correctly and use acceptable speech. They also need to
use non verbal forms of communication in order to present appropriate emotions and
emphasize or reinforce the content being presented. Use of moments of silence or
pauses, gestures, facial expressions, eye contact, movement as well as physical contact
are for example important because they give life to communication. Presentational skills
in children are best enhanced during news-telling sessions, story-telling, riddling and
discussions (Bennaars, Otiende and Boisver, 1994). As children make their
presentations, the teacher should however refrain from discouraging them by for
example correcting their pronunciation of words but instead repeat them so that they
hear the proper pronunciation. Children also need to be reminded that a good
communicator looks at their audience since this helps in making oneself to be
understood well by others.

iii) Listening Skill

Listening is an important skill that enhances interaction with others. A good
communicator is also a good listener and does not dominate in a conversation. In this
way, he/she gets to hear and understand the other person’s point of view. Listening is
also important because it helps one to be able to know how to respond towards others in
a conversation. Children can be helped to be good listeners during singing, poetry, news-
telling and story-telling sessions. They can also be trained to listen during language
drills so that they hear and pronounce the words properly. They can similarly listen to a
story or news then be asked to retell the story or answer questions regarding various
events in the story.

65
As a teacher, you have a responsibility to be firm but friendly to children so that they
can be able to interact with you and other children freely. Guide, counsel, demonstrate or
model acceptable habits to children so that they can emulate the intended behaviours or
actions. You also need to provide the necessary resources and opportunities for them to
perform different tasks so that they acquire various relevant skills. Encourage children to
be in good company and give them opportunities to exercise responsibility. In addition,
be patient with them by being non judgmental. Be ready to provide remedial teaching
where necessary and create confidence in them as they struggle to learn what seems
difficult to them. You should also help children to learn to set goals for themselves, and
also to meet them. As much as possible, children should be rewarded when they display
the desired skills so as to motivate them to repeat these actions more often. You may use
negative reinforcement which entails withdrawing of favours to the child and
punishment when necessary but sparingly so as to minimise discouragement among
children. Most importantly, children should be encouraged to appreciate and accept
themselves but strive hard to improve or remain at their best. You should also encourage
children to appreciate others so as to cultivate positive relationships with those within
their environment.

Effect of Personality on Interpersonal Relationships and Learning

Our personality influences or affects the way we interact with others. Personality is
one’s inherent traits or characteristics. According to Erikson (1963), personality in
children develops in different stages from infancy to adulthood. During the period
between birth and 2 years, the child first develops trust for the primary caregivers who
offer nursing care to him/her and later on extends the trust to other people. However,
attention may not come at the right time always and this creates minimal amount of
discomfort, fear, mistrust etc and it makes the child to discover that the world is not a
totally comfortable place which in turn helps him/her adjust where necessary. However,
if attention is not given at all, the child learns to hate and mistrust those around him/her.

The period between 2- 4 years, the child is in the autonomy versus shame and doubt
stage and discovers he/she can control his/her environment to some extent through
bowel and bladder control. Praising, scolding or ridiculing remarks to the child results in
the child development the other hand breed shame and doubt. Any efforts for him/her to
gain control over his/her environment are thus thwarted and progression into the next
stage delayed.

Between 4 -6 years they are in the initiative versus guilt stage. If they meet with
encouragement, they develop confidence to undertake some positive initiatives or
actions by themselves. They can for example dress/undress by themselves, clean their
face, feed selves with a spoon etc. Those who experience failure in this stage develop
self guilt. They do not need other people to point out their failure. The feeling of guilt is
not externally imposed but internally imposed by the child (from child’s own internal
self).

Although personality is one’s inherent traits which are difficult to change, they can still
be modified by training or ones’ environment. Four major personality types namely

66
sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic and melancholic exist. However, most of the time, there
is a likelihood of people displaying a mixture of all of them but with one personality
type emerging more strongly and a second one which supports the dominant one being
less dominant.

Children’s personality type influences how easily or not they interact with others. Those
with the personality type described as sanguine, are outgoing, happy and care free, they
make friends easily but also forget them as them quickly especially if their ties are
weakened. Such children are noisy in class and interact with others very easily. They
require very little initiation from the teacher to interact with others. Children with
choleric personality type are goal getters, ambitious, aggressive and non sympathetic.
They are also impatient and not bothered about people who do not meet their high
standard. Those that are phlegmatic are quiet, slow, peace loving, they make few but
lasting friends, are non confrontational, empathetic and sympathetic but can also be lazy.
Children with melancholic personality type are generally quiet, analytical, studious,
good with numbers or figures, are organised but they get depressed very easily if things
don’t work their way since they are perfectionists

Summary
In this lecture, we have learnt that interpersonal interaction in a pre-school classroom is
important because it enhances good relationship between the teacher and children, and
even amongst children themselves. We have also learnt that in order for children to
interact effectively, they need interpersonal skills such as social competence, perceptual,
presentational as well as listening skills. An interactive pre-school environment helps
children to co-exist peacefully with others and to learn various things from both the
teacher and their age-mates.

67
 TOPIC NINE: TEACHING PRACTICE

By the end of this topic, you should be able to:

i) Identify the purposes of teaching practice.
ii) Prepare appropriately for teaching practice.
iii) Explain what you should do before beginning your lesson upon the arrival of
a
teaching practice supervisor.

The Purpose of Teaching Practice

According to Bennaars e.t al. (1994), the major purpose of teaching practice is to
provide opportunities for student teachers to experience the classroom atmosphere and
to apply the educational theories and skills they have learned in colleges and
universities. In addition, they are given an opportunity to organise, guide and direct a
group of learners in a class. Teaching practice similarly allows college or university
supervisors to guide the student teacher in his relationship with pupils as well as other
teachers. The lecturers’ feedback to students provides them with the opportunity to learn
their pitfalls and to evaluate themselves. Teaching practice also provides an opportunity
for the teacher trainees to become socialized into the teaching profession (Furlong et al,
1988). The student experiences the real classroom teaching/learning experience as
he/she interacts with children and other teachers in his/her teaching practice school.
He/she gets an opportunity to learn classroom and school routine through observation
and practice. Teaching practice also acts as a predictive measure for a future successful
teacher. Teaching practice exposes the student teacher to different leadership styles.
Good teachers exercise the democratic leadership style. However, they are times they
must learn to be authoritative, autocratic or use the laisez faire style. It is also a time
when student teachers get an opportunity to develop career mentors with school
administrators, teachers and parents. It is also an opportunity for them to mentor the
pupils they teach.

Preparation for Teaching Practice

1. Preliminaries
Prior to you as a student teacher going for teaching practice, you must have covered
the course on General methods of teaching young children as well as those
pertaining to teaching of the specific pre-school activity areas namely Language,
Mathematics, Outdoor and Indoor play activities, Science, Social study, Creative art
and Craft, Music and movement, Religious education and Life skills. You also
must have covered the course on material development for young children.

2. Schemes of Work and Lesson Plan Preparations

The schools’ policy will dictate the format of schemes of work e.g. thematic or
ordinary. Schemes should first indicate the term’s broad/general objectives on the
first page of schemes as derived from the syllabus. Thereafter, weekly objectives
should follow. They should be specific to capture what topics are being taught e.g.
Counting or Writing nos 1-50. In the lesson plans, objectives must be even more

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 specific e.g. Counting or Writing no 20, Addition/Subtraction of numbers 5 to 10
etc.

The objectives must be “SMART”.

Specific/clear and precise,
Measurable- successes/progress clearly definable,
Achievable by end of lesson,
Relevant to age group/syllabus,
Time bound- e.g. in schemes indicate – Schemes of work for 2nd Term 2009. In
break down of schemes show (weeks and dates/months/year). In lesson plans, time
should read from beginning to end of each specific lesson e.g. 8–8.30, 9–9.30 etc.

All lesson plans must begin on a new page. This means that no lesson plans should
be integrated even if they are prepared using the thematic and integrated approach.
E.g. Mathematics should be on its own page and Language on another because
supervisors will need to tear off the lesson plan they have assessed and take it to TP
office.

You will need a carbon paper daily when writing lesson plans. After writing the
lesson plan, pluck off the original copy every day before beginning to teach the
lesson and file the lesson plan in your TP file.

When the supervisor arrives for supervision, give him/her your TP folder, schemes
of work and children’s progress record for him/her to examine and grade your entire
preparations. The observation sheet in the TP file should have your name and
registration number filled in. It should also indicate your two major teaching subjects
on the top and bottom slots provided. Time table should be filled in, map to your
school drawn behind it and names of the class teacher/s, age group also indicated.
Three copies of the timetable should be submitted to the ECS TP coordinator on
Friday of 1st week after opening school.

3. Language
In order for children to understand and/or follow instructions you must use simple
language. Your assessors will try to establish whether children grasp what you
communicate to them.

4. Nature of Lessons
Pre-school children are mobile beings with a short span of attention. Activity based
lessons full of actions/movement or use of varied materials. The activities should be
interesting, varied, relevant and commensurate with children’s attention span.
Songs, dances, poems, riddles, story telling, verbal explanations, visual aids,
practical demonstrations are highly recommended.
In a story telling lesson it is preferred that you sit on a low chair/stool in order to be
at children’s height/level.

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5. Group Work/Individual Variations
Pre-school children enjoy working together. Sitting in small groups around the table
is thus best for them. It also encourages sharing. Chairs/tables should have back rests
or placed in such a way that the desk/wall behind them supports their delicate backs.
This enhances proper bone development and comfort. Weak children need short
tasks compared to brighter ones. Children could be grouped according to age,
interest or ability.

6. Lesson Presentation
Before starting a lesson, ensure your children are ready and attending to you. Ensure
that all your materials are near to ensure smooth transition. Begin the lesson with a
relevant, interesting and action based introductory activity.

Practice your lesson development severally before going to class so that you have
mastery of teaching/learning content. This also helps you to keep time. Use a variety
of activities to deliver the new learning content to children.

At the end of the lesson, ensure that you conclude the lesson by revising/highlighting
the main points or what was taught. This could be through songs, poems, question
and answers etc.

7. Learning Materials
Pre-school children are egocentric and may not comfortably share learning materials.
The materials should thus be adequate in number, attractive (colourful), safe and
multi sensory. As much as possible, they should stimulate their sense of sight,
hearing and touch. It is therefore important to ensure that children actually use the
materials during the various stages of the lesson.

Children’s worksheets/books should be prepared in advance (a day before the

lesson) unless they can copy for themselves. Pictures/objects should be drawn first,
followed by their names/initial sounds or letters i.e. known to unknown procedure.

Ǒ Ǒ
A apple

Labelling must be done in lower case, clearly and neatly printed.

8. Classroom Display
It must be neat/attractive, with variety of teacher’s/children’s work. Children’s work
should be displayed low/at their eye level. The work may be displayed according to
activity area (subject) or learning theme. The display must not be overcrowded.

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 Centres of interest or learning corners create interest in learning and you are
therefore strongly advised to establish a number of them in your class.

9. Checking/Correcting Children’s Work

All children’s work (written or oral), must be assessed. This could be through
observation, asking questions, actual marking etc.

Avoid putting wrong ticks (X) in children’s work as it discourages them.

Use a dot ( . ) or underscore ( _ ) to mark wrong answers.

9. Children’s Progress Records

You must maintain up-to-date progress records for all children. A key showing
whether a child has understood a certain concept or not should be provided.
E.g. (√) has mastered well, (.) has not mastered properly, (x) has not mastered.

Ticking/marking record in pencil is best. The teacher can easily adjust (by erasing) a
mark if the child’s performance drops or improves.

Your children’s progress records must be availed to the teaching practice supervisors
before you begin your lesson, together with your schemes of work, lesson plan book
and TP file with all its contents from TP office.

10. Discipline
Corporal punishment is not allowed in pre-school. Children could for
example be isolated and made to sit alone for a while until they show the required
conduct. Ensure you always sit/stand where you can see all children even when
writing on the board, stand sideways and write away from you so that you ensure
your eyes are on all the children. When moving around the class, it is best to move
along the classroom walls so that no child is at your back. Multi-tasking on the
teacher’s part is important. You should be able to handle two or more activities
simultaneously. For example as you talk, you can gesture or move near a talking
child
and put your eyes on him/her o put across a question to a child who is not paying
attention. This helps to regulate behaviour. If children are busy working and you are
attending to another child, an another child raises his hand or needs your assistance,
show approval by either nodding to avoid distracting other children and at the right
moment, move to the needy child. To ensure order and good behaviour by pupils, do
not allow chorus answers. Ask them to put up their hands if they need to answer your
question. Train them to listen to you or their friends when answering questions.
Moderate children who do not seem to allow other children to answer by saying –
‘Now let’s have so and so who has not had a chance’. However do not ignore children
disrespectfully.

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11. Relating with Children
Pre-schoolers may not behave normally when there is a stranger (assessor) in class.
They may show fear or over excitement, which might disrupt learning. Ensure you
teach them how to behave when a visitor/assessor arrives. Tell them another teacher
will visit class to see how well they are working. Be pleasant to them and display a
cheerful personality. They prefer a cheerful face.

12. Dress Code & Mannerism

Dress decently and smartly like a professional teacher. Do not over dress as it
distracts children. Wear comfortable low/shoes when teaching. Dress lightly for
outdoor activities. Conduct yourself like a professional teacher and in addition, learn
your school’s routine. As much as possible, assist in all school activities like a
regular teacher.

13. Duration of Teaching Practice

Teaching practice is a full time activity and lasts the whole term. You should
therefore remain in your teaching practice school from the beginning of the term to
the end. In case of any emergency requiring you to be away from your teaching
practice school, you must inform your area supervisor, the teacher in whose class
you are practicing and the head teacher. Failure to report to the above relevant
authorities can lead to termination from teaching practice or your results being
cancelled.

Summary
We have seen that teaching practice is a time when we students are given an opportunity
to practice what we have learnt in class. Specifically, we need to apply the instructional
methods we have learnt, follow our lesson preparation systematically, prepare and use
good quality materials and assess children’s performance as well as our own among
other things.

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