Teaching is a complex process. It consists of many practices that teachers have to perform. Teaching is the basis of economic, social, political, and family life. Teaching has evolved through the decades. Teaching methods, phases, and practices have modernised education.
Today, education is all about student focus and independent learning. Technological advancements assist in incorporating various teaching phases in the educational process. Teaching consists of different stages to make learning more effective. Philip W. Jackson has divided effective teaching into three phases: pre-active, interactive, and post-active.
This article will first consider the phases of teaching. This article will outline the different stages of teaching in detail. Secondly, this article will suggest the phases of microteaching. Lastly, this article will include the application of ICT in education, considering the teaching phases.
Phases of teaching
In the 1960s, Philip W. Jackson introduced the phases of teaching to make learning more effective. Teaching needs systematic planning to be effective. Teachers share their knowledge and insights to develop the skills of their students.
Stages of teaching
The concept of teaching is about sharing, telling, and demonstrating information. There are three variables in the teaching process.
- The independent variables. The teacher is the independent variable that helps the students learn. The teacher plans and organises the lesson. He offers insights and makes a change in the learning experience of the students.
- The intervening variables. This variable consists of the learning experience. In this stage, the teacher and the student interact during the learning process. The teacher conveys demonstrations, presentations and activities to students.
- The dependent variables. Students are the dependent variables who dependent on their teachers to learn. Students should follow the instructions from their teachers to develop their learning abilities.
Jackson has introduced three phases of teaching.
- Pre-active
- Interactive
- Post-active
What are the phases of teaching?
The teacher should understand that teaching happens before, during, and after class. Below we will discuss the teaching phases.
The pre-active phase of teaching (Planning).
This stage happens before class. The teacher prepares reading materials, tasks, and activities to follow up on in the classroom. The teacher considers possible outcomes when planning activities for the students. In this phase, teachers set objectives while considering student behaviour. Then the teacher decides how to achieve these objectives based on the school curriculum. For example, select the subject matter, the presentation of the contents, and the methodology. The teacher should also address issues in the learning process and make plans to discuss them with students and parents.
The interactive phase of teaching (Implementation).
This stage includes the performance of the students in class. The teacher executes the plans made in the pre-active phase. This is a crucial stage, as all the teaching interactions happen here. The teacher provides explanations and questions for the students. Then he listens to their replies and offers guidance.
When entering the class, teachers should identify students who understand the contents easily. They should identify those with learning difficulties and even troublemakers. The teacher should also collaborate with the student’s previous knowledge of the discussed contents.
The interaction between teacher and student is crucial at this stage. Teachers demonstrate the contents to stimulate inquiries and responses. Teachers will know the behaviours of their students based on the information presented. Feedback is essential at this stage. Moreover, teachers may change plans based on the follow-up in the classroom. There may be student issues that need attention at the time.
The post-active phase of teaching (Evaluation).
In the post-active stage, teachers evaluate the outcomes of the teaching process. They identify learning difficulties in specific areas and make plans to assist learning. The post-active phase consists of tasks and activities. Teachers evaluate the knowledge intake of students through questions, homework, tests, or quizzes.
The teachers alter the evaluation techniques based on student behaviour and reaction. The evaluation techniques should evolve for effective results. Feedback at this stage is crucial for better learning outcomes.
The phases of microteaching
Micro-teaching is an innovative procedure that reinforces teachers with the necessary teaching skills for classroom performance and behaviour. This procedure places a trainee teacher in a small class of students to train student teaching skills. The duration of training is limited to a few minutes at a time. The trainees should exercise only one skill at a time. 
The process of microteaching consists of six steps.
- Plan. The trainer provides the skill to be demonstrated. The trainee teacher makes a short lesson plan to practice that skill.
- Teach. The trainee is put in a small class and teaches the lesson with an appointed supervisor.
- Observation-Feedback. The supervisor provides feedback on the skill to the trainee. He highlights inconsistencies and suggests ways to make performance better.
- Replan. The trainee should replan the lesson to practice the skill more effectively.
- Reteach. The trainee is put back in a different small class to reteach.
- Re-feedback. The supervisor gives feedback once more to the trainee. This cycle can continue several times to perfect the desired skills.
There are 3 phases of microteaching.
Knowledge acquisition (pre-active phase)
This is the primary stage where trainee teachers acquire knowledge for teaching skills. The trainees are presented with lectures, presentations, and demonstrations about teaching. Moreover, they explore, debate, and recognise the teaching procedures.
Skill acquisition (interactive phase)
This is the six-step process discussed above. In this stage, the trainee has to exercise all the skills gained. The trainee plans a small lesson to exercise one skill with a supervisor in a small class. The trainee replans and reteaches the lesson until the skill is improved.
Transferring phase (post-active phase).
In this stage, the trainee can teach a class full of students without a supervisor. This stage is crucial, as the teacher can demonstrate their microteaching skills and insights to the students.
Application of ICT in education
Information and Communications Technologies are infused into education today. Educational technology has shifted the learning process from traditional classes to online learning. Teachers and students should be digitally literate to make online learning efficient. ICT tools are presented in the classroom to make the lesson more engaging and interactive. However, the application of ICT in education is not easy. There are four stages of ICT integration.
- Emerging. Schools are introduced to ICT. They familiarise themselves with ICT and start exploring the tools.
- Applying. Schools already understand how to use ICT tools, e.g. for administrative tasks.
- Infusing. The ICT tools integrate into the curriculum and enter the classrooms.
- Transforming. Expertise in ICT tools leads to the transformation of the educational environment. Education today relies on this transformation to make learning engaging and interactive.
ICT tools can help teachers enormously in the phases of teaching discussed above.
Lesson planning, tasks, and assessments become easier with ICT tools. Teachers can store online objectives, presentations, and other materials to showcase in the classroom.
Research suggests that integrating ICT in schools makes learning more interactive. ICT tools help teachers showcase presentations, illustrations, videos, or recordings live in the classroom.
The learning materials are stored in the cloud or on other platforms. The teachers can group the learning materials and share them with the students. Tasks, activities, tests, and feedback are shared instantly online.
Sources:
Anwaar Ahmad Gulzar, ‘Micro Teaching Cycle’ (Educare, 9 February 2015) https://educarepk.com/micro-teaching-cycle.html
Dhananjoy Sutradhar, ‘Phases of Teaching: Pre-active, Interactive and Post-active Phase’ (YourSmartClass, 4 March 2023) https://yoursmartclass.com/phases-of-teaching-pre-active-interactive-and-post-active-phase/
Ekramul Hoque, ‘Phases of Teaching-B.Ed. Notes’ (EducereCenter) https://educerecentre.com/phases-of-teaching/
Harappa Blogs, ‘What Is Micro-Teaching’ (Harappa, 11 February 2022) https://harappa.education/harappa-diaries/introduction-skill-in-microteaching/
Kavya Baburajan, ‘Micro teaching’ (GoogleSites) https://sites.google.com/view/micro-teaching-kavya/text
Shyamal Majumdar, ‘Modelling ICT Development in Education’ (Unevoc-Unesco) https://unevoc.unesco.org/fileadmin/up/modelling_ict.pdf
Steve Kennewell et al., ‘Interactive Teaching and ICT’ (Welsh Journal of Education, 29 July 2009) file:///C:/Users/ker-a/Downloads/wje-285-tanner.pdf
PhysicsCatalyst, ‘Phases of teaching’ (PhysicsCatalyst, 11 January 2019) https://physicscatalyst.com/graduation/phases-of-teaching/?utm_content=cmp-true
