TSP – A Preview of Models & Tools

Shared by Br. Ali Jawad Hansraj, a Participant of the first TSP Program held in February.

The Concept of ‘Learning Styles’

Not all children learn in the same way. Where one may enjoy listening to a lecture, another may learn better via video clips or physical activities. It is the responsibility of the teacher to identify and cater to the diversity of learning styles.

Sometimes the inability to cater for the various learning styles leads to students not being interested. These, then, are addressed via behaviour management tools instead of making the lesson more dynamic or incorporating multiple learning styles.

Smart Objectives & Outcomes

A lesson can have broad objectives, spread over the course of a few weeks, but every individual 50 minute lesson must have bite-size outcomes. This makes learning continuous and measurable.

Additionally, when setting outcomes and objectives, the teacher must be careful not to be overly ambitious, but keep the objectives realistic and not boring. The teacher should have specific goals in mind which should be measurable in some way to gauge how students are absorbing what is being taught. This not only helps deliver a good lesson but also aids the teacher in self-evaluation.

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Instead of ‘Banking’ our content into the minds of the students, our goal should be to get them thinking about the concept.

Bloom helps us design a lesson that promotes analysis and evaluation. This will ensure better retention and ownership.

The example here shows how a relatively simple lesson on Wudhu can be constructed to make the students think, evaluate and hopefully allow them to create a manifestation of their learning through a project or an activity. Imagine how much could be achieved
in lessons with more scope of discussion and analysis.

A Preview of Tarbiyah

The trainer at the TSP was a part of the team that designed the new Tarbiyah Curriculum (MCE). In this course, he helps us create a lesson plan based on a sample lesson which then gives us insight into the standards expected of us under the Tarbiyah Curriculum.