understand the material presented. At the close
of the presentation period, the major points
covered in the lesson should be summarized.
This should enable students to organize the
material in their minds and provide for better
retention.
At the close of the presentation, students
cannot reasonably be expected to have learned
all that was discussed in the lesson. Instruction
cannot be terminated at this point. To do so
would give the students no opportunity to rein-
force their learning by application, and would
not permit the RE instructor to check the results
of instruction by testing. Therefore, it is
necessary that the remaining steps in the
teaching process be completed before the train-
ing can be said to be complete.
Application
The third step in instruction demonstrates
the fact that one learns by doing. The applica-
tion step permits students to utilize the ideas
they have acquired in the presentation under the
guidance of the RE instructor. It also offers the
instructor an opportunity to observe the per-
formance of each individual and to correct the
students errors. Teaching continues, and the
RE instructor is given an opportunity to answer
questions pertaining to the lesson. The instruc-
tor must make further explanations, and give
additional demonstrations, but no information
should be offered which was not included in the
presentation step. Students must be given ample
opportunity to practice what they have learned.
Testing
The fourth and final step in the teaching pro-
cedure is testing. When reasonably sure that
students understand the lesson, the RE instruc-
tor can help them clarify their knowledge by
testing. In a test, students function without
supervision. It must be remembered that in the
application step, the students work was con-
stantly under the instructors direction. They
could ask questions, and wherever possible,
errors were identified and corrected. In a test,
the responsibility is their own, so the RE instruc-
tor may learn exactly how much they know and
what weak points will require additional instruc-
tion.
Many devices may be used to test the
knowledge or skill the students have acquired.
The means the RE instructor uses to determine
the effectiveness of instruction and the relative
achievement of learners constitutes the testing.
Students also learn to what extent they have
mastered the subject matter. The most common
means of testing include work projects, practical
performance tests, written tests, oral tests, or a
combination of these. The timing and means of
testing utilized will depend in large measure
upon the nature of the material being taught. It
may be more practical to test achievement upon
the conclusion of a unit of instruction rather
than upon the completion of each lesson.
The Lesson Plan
The ability to plan a presentation or lesson so
that the content can be presented in an orderly
and precise manner is a basic requirement for
instruction. If effective lesson plans are prepared
for each presentation or lesson, the students will
find it easier to understand and remember the
material that is being presented.
The lesson plan is an organized outline of a
single topic taken from the course of study and
developed in detail,
showing the specific
knowledge and/or skills to be taught by the RE
instructor during one particular session.
The lesson plan is an indispensable guide for
the RE instructor in that it tells the instructor
what to do, in what order to do it, and the pro-
cedure to follow in teaching the material. A
lesson plan prevents teaching from becoming
haphazard, as might otherwise be the case if the
instructor depends upon memory for all the
items to be taught and the proper sequence of
such items. A variety of forms may be used to
prepare a lesson plan. Regardless of the form
used, however, there are several definite compo-
nent parts which must always be included in a
lesson plan:
Title: The title should briefly convey the
subject matter which is to be presented.
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