Teaching Skills of Teacher in Increasing Student Learning

Interest
Sariaman Gultom1, Ahmad Fakhri Hutauruk2, Andres M. Ginting3
1
Lecturer in Pancasila and Civic Education Study Program, Universitas Simalungun, Indonesia
2,3
Lecturer in History Education Study Program, Universitas Simalungun, Indonesia
Sariamangultom1966@gmail.com

Abstract Keywords
Lack of student interest in learning results in pre-determined skills; teachers; interest in learning
learning goals not being achieved. The teacher must work hard
to find new breakthroughs so students are interested in learning.
In addition to implementing a good work ethic, a teacher must
also have skills in teaching as to achieve learning objectives in
accordance with curriculum requirements. This research involves
qualitative research method. The data analysis techniques used
are: data reduction, data presentation and drawing conclusions /
verification. The result of the study indicate that a teacher must
have several teaching skills, namely: (1) questioning skills, (2)
reinforcement skills, (3) variation skills, (4) explaining skills, (5)
learning skills opening and closing, (6) small group discussion
guiding skills, (7) small classroom management skills, and (8)
small group and individual teaching skills.

I. Introduction

Based on the results of observations made by researchers in several different schools

in the Pematangsiantar City area, it was found that often when teachers will teach in class
have problems, where these obstacles often come from students because there are still
many of them who do not care about the teacher when in front class, besides that there are
still many who play with their friends when the teacher starts the lesson in class. Thus, the
learning process in the classroom is not conducive and does not achieve learning
objectives.
In fact, in addition to being at home students can also study at school, meaning
schools have an important role in the process of transferring knowledge so that students
can learn what they do not know and develop their potential. As explained by Wayne (in
Admodiwiro, 200: 37) explains that the school is a system of social interaction of an
organization as a whole consisting of personal interactions related together in an organic
relationship. The school is also an institution or place for learning such as reading, writing
and learning to behave well. Schools are also an integral part of a society dealing with real
conditions found in a society that are dealing with real conditions that are present in
society today. School is also the second environment where children practice and grow
their personalities (Zanti Arbi in Pidarta, 1997: 171).
However, the interaction carried out at school needs to be done by several parties
including between teacher and students so that the interaction process goes 2 (two)
directions. The teacher has an important role in the interaction process because the teacher
will transfer knowledge to students. The teacher is a profession, which means a position
that requires special skills as a teacher and cannot be carried out by just anyone outside the
field of education. For a teacher to know and be able to apply several teaching principles in

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33258/birci.v3i3.1086 1564

 Budapest International Research and Critics Institute-Journal (BIRCI-Journal)
Volume 3, No 3, August 2020, Page: 1564-1569
e-ISSN: 2615-3076(Online), p-ISSN: 2615-1715(Print)
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order to carry out their duties in a professional manner. Among them, (1) teachers must be
able to arouse the attention of students on the subject matter provided and can use a variety
of media and varied learning resources. (2) the teacher must be able to arouse the interest
of students to be active in thinking and searching and finding their own knowledge. (3)
teachers must develop students' attitudes in fostering social relations, both in the classroom
and outside the classroom. (4) teachers must investigate and explore the differences in the
participants individually in order to serve students in accordance with these differences
(Arifudin, 2015: 180).
Thus, the teacher must be able to manage the class well. The activity of managing the
class intends to create and maintain a class atmosphere (condition) so that the learning
process takes place effectively and efficiently. Teachers must have teaching skills in order
to achieve learning goals and students can understand what is conveyed by the teacher.
Teaching skills are professional competencies that are quite complex, as an integration of
various teacher competencies in their entirety and comprehensively. As explained by
Turney (in Mulyasa, 2017) revealed eight teaching skills that are very instrumental and
determine the quality of learning, namely the skills to ask questions, provide
reinforcement, make variations, explain, open and close lessons, guide small group
discussions, manage classes, and teach small groups and individuals.
Based on this background, the researcher is very interested in exploring in depth how
the teacher's skills in teaching so as to attract students' interest to learn well.

II. Research Method

This research involves qualitative research method. As explained by Creswell (1998:

15) that Qualitative research is an inquiry process of understanding based on detailed
scientific traditions of inquiry that explore a social or human problem. The researcher
builds a complex, holistic picture, analyzes words, reports detailed views of informants,
and conducts the study in a natural setting. Whatever the approach used is a naturalistic
approach because the research is done in natural conditions (natural settings) or on natural
objects. Natural objects are objects that develop as they are not manipulated by researchers
and the presence of researchers does not change the dynamics of these objects (Sugiyono,
2011: 14).
The data analysis technique uses interactive model analysis. Because it is considered
more appropriate to meet the requirements in conducting data analysis. Interactive analysis
consists of three activities that occur simultaneously, namely: data reduction, presentation
data and drawing conclusions / verification (Miles and Huberman, 1992: 16).

III. Discussion

Problems that often occur in class are often due to students who do not care about the
teacher in front of the class which results in the learning process not going well, so the
learning objectives are not achieved according to curriculum demands. How will it be
realized if the students are just not interested in taking lessons in class? Therefore, teachers
need to make new breakthroughs to attract students' learning interest. In addition to the
teacher must master learning material, learning methods, learning models and the use of
media in accordance with the material being taught, the teacher must also have skills in
teaching.

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 Before understanding and applying teaching skills, a teacher first understands and
has a good work ethic. As explained by Sinamo (2011) that (1) Work is Grace; I Work
Sincerely Gratitude, (2) Work is Trustful; I Work Right Full of Responsibility, (3) Work is
a Call; I Work Completely Full of Integrity, (4) Work is Actualization; I Work Hard with
Enthusiasm, (5) Work is Worship; I Work Seriously with Love, (6) Work is Art; I Work
Smart Full of Creativity, (7) Work is Honor; I Work Diligently Full of Excellence and (8)
Work is Service; I Work Plenary Full of Humility.
Thus it is hoped that later the learning process can run well and students have an
interest in participating in learning well. The intended teaching skills are as follows:

3.1 Questioning Skills

Questioning skills are very important skills mastered by the teacher. This is because
the ability to ask students can create a more meaningful learning atmosphere, so that the
values in the learning material can be conveyed well to students. By asking questions can
also provoke student knowledge of the material to be taught, based on this the teacher can
explain the material according to student needs.
As explained by Supriyadi (2011: 158) questioning skills are skills that are used to
get answers or feedback from others. The questioning skill is a teaching itself, because in
general the teacher in his teaching always involves or uses question and answer. Thus, the
questioning skills possessed by the teacher can provide stimulus to students to think in
answering questions raised by the teacher.

3.2 Strengthening Skills

Similarly, the skills to ask questions, where students are also given a stimulus to be
able to do the best in him. Skills to provide reinforcement or reinforcement in general can
be interpreted as the ability of teachers to respond to student behavior in teaching and
learning activities, so that students are encouraged to increase these positive behaviors.
Basically the terms appreciation, prizes, praise that are often equated with reinforcement
have a position as part of skills in giving reinforcement.
Giving reinforcement as a response in the process of educational interactions in the
form of positive responses and negative responses. A positive response is a response given
through a reward, while a negative response is given through punishment. Both have the
same goal, which is to change someone's behavior. This shows that changes in student
behavior (behavior modification) can be done by providing reinforcement in order to
increase student motivation (Djamarah, 2005: 118).
This needs to be done by the teacher because the provision of reinforcement aims to:
(1) increase student attention, (2) arouse and maintain student motivation, (3) stimulate
students to think, (4) facilitate student learning, (5) encourage appropriate behavior
productive, and (6) control and modify inappropriate behavior.

3.3 Skills for Making Variations

In general, variation skills are the teacher's skills to keep the learning climate
interesting, not boring, so students show enthusiasm and perseverance, are full of
enthusiasm, and actively participate in every step of the learning activities. The teacher's
goal to make variations is for a specific purpose so that it can achieve what has been
planned before so that it can run smoothly and continuously. Thus, teachers need to keep
the learning climate conducive and pleasant.

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 This is emphasized by Wina Sanjaya (2005: 166) that everyone has a boredom in
learning to feel bored, bored, less passionate, even sleepy as these conditions usually arise
d
ue to the presentation of your teacher who is less attractive, so you want the learning
process to end quickly . To avoid students' boredom in learning, teachers need to have
stimulus variation skills.
Thus, teachers need to use lectures for auditive students, teachers need to use media,
visual aids for students, and teachers must hold discussions, experiments, demonstrations,
and practices for kinetic students. If the teacher has done this it means the teacher has
touched each student's intress. In addition, the use of variations in learning activities is
intended to overcome the boredom and boredom of students due to monotonous learning,
by holding variations in learning activities, it is expected that learning is more meaningful
and optimal, so students always show perseverance, enthusiasm, and full participation in
learning activities (Rusman, 2011: 85).

3.4 Explanatory Skills

The skill to explain is the presentation of information orally which is organized
systematically to show the relationship between one message and another message, so that
the desired understanding is reached. For example between cause and effect, definition by
example or by something that is not yet known.
Explanatory skills is one of the most important aspects of the teacher's activities in
his interactions with students in the classroom and usually the teacher tends to dominate
the conversation and has a direct influence, for example in giving facts, ideas, or opinions.
Therefore, this must be addressed to increase its effectiveness in order to achieve optimal
results from the teacher's explanation and conversation so that it is meaningful for students
(Usman, 2010: 89).
The teacher's aim is to provide explanations in order to: (1) guide students to be able
to understand science objectively and reason, (2) train students to always concentrate on
listening to the teacher's explanation so that it involves them to think while solving
problems or questions, (3 ) To get responses and feedback from students regarding their
level of understanding and to overcome their misunderstanding and (4) Guide students to
appreciate and get a process of reasoning by using evidence in solving the problem.

3.5 Skills for Opening and Closing Lessons

Skills to open lessons or set induction is an effort made by the teacher in learning
activities to create preconditions for students so that mental and attention are focused on
the learning experience that is presented so that it will easily reach the expected
competence, meaning the activities carried out by the teacher to create an atmosphere
ready mentally and raises attention so students focus on the things they will learn. While
closing the lesson is basically the activities carried out by the teacher to end the core
learning activities.
This is confirmed by Djamarah (2010: 138-139) that opening and closing lessons can
be done on lessons, both long and short, small parts of the whole material or part by part of
a concept. It also can be done on students who are small groups, individuals or large
groups. Good teacher criteria when opening a lesson, such as: arouse curiosity, enthusiastic
attitude, provide variations of learning also make a connection with previous learning.
Efforts made by the teacher when closing the lesson, such as: activities provide a
comprehensive picture of what students have learned and provide a picture (to find out the
relationship) between the experience that has been mastered with the things that have just

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been learned. Based on the opinion above, it can be concluded that the skills of opening
and closing lessons are very important as the key to the success of teachers in achieving the
desired goals and to find out the level of achievement of teachers' success in the learning
process (Supriatna and M Arif, 2015: 67-68).

3.6 Skills in Guiding Small Group Discussions

Mulyasa in Suwarna (2006: 79), "group discussion is a process regular conversation, which
involves a group of people in face-to-face interactions free and open, with the aim of
sharing information / experience, making decisions or solve a problem.” This needs to be
done by the teacher considering that group discussion is a strategy that allows students to
master a concept or solve a problem through a process that gives opportunities to think,
interact socially, and practice being positive. Thus group discussions can enhance student
creativity, as well as foster communication skills including language skills.
This was confirmed by Rusman (2013: 89) who stated that the skill of guiding small
group discussions is one way that can be done to facilitate the learning system needed by
students as a group. For this reason teacher skills must be trained and developed, so that
teachers have the ability to serve students in small group learning activities. Thus, the
teacher must have the skills to guide small group discussions in order to carry out small
group discussions effectively in order to achieve learning objectives.

3.7 Classroom Management Skills

Classroom Management Skills is an effort made by the teacher in order to create
conducive learning conditions so that the learning process can run efficiently and
effectively. This needs to be done by the teacher because learning requires high
concentration so a class atmosphere must be created that can increase student interest in
learning. The purpose of classroom management is that every child in the class can learn in
an orderly manner so that the teaching objectives are achieved effectively and efficiently.
This was confirmed by Usman (2010: 90) who stated that there was a disturbance, an
inability to adjust. The skill to manage an effective classroom is an absolute prerequisite
for the occurrence of absolute conditions for an effective teaching and learning process. As
well as a good relationship between the teacher and students and between students and
students is a prerequisite for successful classroom management. At the same time an
optimal learning condition is achieved if the teacher is able to manage students and
infrastructure and is able to control it in a pleasant atmosphere to achieve teaching
objectives.
The objectives of classroom management are as follows: (1) creating and
maintaining optimal learning conditions, (2) returning optimal learning conditions, (3)
encouraging students to develop individual responsibilities for their behavior, (4) building
students to understand behavior in accordance with classroom rules, and understands that
the teacher's reprimand is a warning and not anger and (5) creates a sense of obligation to
involve themselves in assignments and to behave in accordance with class activities.

3.8 Small Group and Individual Teaching Skills

Essentially small group and individual teaching skills are intrapersonal relationships
between teacher and student and also students and students. In this skill, students learn
according to their level of ability and ability. In addition, students are also involved in
planning teaching and learning activities.
Basically, small group and individual teaching skills can be said to be teaching which
gives more opportunities to students in the sense of reducing the role of the teacher in the

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classroom. These skills will enhance the understanding of the teacher and students
involved, as well as understanding in organizing teaching and learning or educational
interactions. Interpersonal and social relationships, and organizing are important for the
success of teaching small groups and individuals. Therefore teachers must have the ability
to do personal relationships, if they want to apply the teaching skills of small groups and
individuals (Nasrul, 2012: 71-72).
Thus the skills of teaching small groups and individuals can be done by: (1)
Developing skills in organizing, by providing motivation and making variations in the
assignment of tasks, (2) Guiding and facilitating learning, which includes reinforcement,
initial process, supervision, and learning interactions , (3) Planning the use of space and (4)
Giving clear, challenging, and interesting tasks.

IV. Conclusion

Based on the results of research and discussion of teacher skills in teaching can
increase student interest in teacher learning, it can be seen that a teacher must have some of
the skills described, namely: (1) asking questions, (2) strengthening skills, (3) holding
skills variations, (4) explaining skills, (5) opening and closing lessons, (6) small group
discussion guiding skills, (7) classroom management skills, and (8) small and individual
group teaching skills.
The implementation of teaching skills is expected to attract students 'interest in
learning better, more conducive classroom conditions and students' readiness to accept
learning material taught by teachers so that learning objectives can be achieved in
accordance with curriculum demands.

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Creswell, W. John, (1998). Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing
Cataloging Among Five Tradition. London: Sage Publication Inc
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Jakarta: Rineka Cipta
Djamarah, Syaiful Bahri. (2010). Guru dan Anak Didik Dalam Interaksi Edukatif (Suatu
Pendekatan Teoretis Psikologi). Jakarta: Rineka Cipta.

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