This week I had a flash of insight which I thought was unrelated to this course, but then I reconsidered it.
This week I had a flash of insight which I thought was unrelated to this course, but then I reconsidered it. I overheard one of my very experienced colleagues who was mentoring a new teacher saying the following: “So, the way I teach this grammar point is… It always works!” I am doing my best not to pass any judgement here, but it seems to me that reflective practitioners should do their best to avoid such phrases and thinking. To me, once you have arrived at “the way you teach it” which “ALWAYS works”, you are done as a teacher.
A few other valuable (at least to me) lessons from this course I’d like to share:
1. I should focus on applying a more descriptive, non-judgmental approach to my (and other teachers'!) practice. After all, when a teacher teaches a lesson, they do the best job they can with the resources and knowledge they have and in the circumstances they are in. Now when I look at a transcript of my lesson and feel dissatisfied with the interaction, I try to interpret it as a good sign: it essentially means that at some point between the lesson and now I gained better insight into my practice and did some reflection.
2. As a teacher and a reflective practitioner, I should do less and think more. I used to be (and I guess I still am!) a “professional development junkie” who attends online and offline courses, reads journals and blogs – you name it. But this has now turned into an exhausting quest for new, better, grander ideas to implement in the classroom. This is time-consuming and, what’s worse, it does not necessarily result in more learning in the classroom. This course has shown me that I can analyse my practice and my students’ performance using transcripts and implement small, gradual changes, which may be more effective than all the other “fancy ideas” I like to trial.
3. Using the data from transcripts to work on students’ problem areas does not have to be time-consuming and can be easily combined with the rest of what we do, i.e. following the (often quite rigid) syllabus.
A few other valuable (at least to me) lessons from this course I’d like to share:
1. I should focus on applying a more descriptive, non-judgmental approach to my (and other teachers'!) practice. After all, when a teacher teaches a lesson, they do the best job they can with the resources and knowledge they have and in the circumstances they are in. Now when I look at a transcript of my lesson and feel dissatisfied with the interaction, I try to interpret it as a good sign: it essentially means that at some point between the lesson and now I gained better insight into my practice and did some reflection.
2. As a teacher and a reflective practitioner, I should do less and think more. I used to be (and I guess I still am!) a “professional development junkie” who attends online and offline courses, reads journals and blogs – you name it. But this has now turned into an exhausting quest for new, better, grander ideas to implement in the classroom. This is time-consuming and, what’s worse, it does not necessarily result in more learning in the classroom. This course has shown me that I can analyse my practice and my students’ performance using transcripts and implement small, gradual changes, which may be more effective than all the other “fancy ideas” I like to trial.
3. Using the data from transcripts to work on students’ problem areas does not have to be time-consuming and can be easily combined with the rest of what we do, i.e. following the (often quite rigid) syllabus.
Dear L.
ReplyDeleteThese are the most dangerous words in any profession: "It works!" What is it and what is works?
If teaching a grammar point in a particular way works, what if we changed it a bit and it worked better? What if we changed it a bit and the result was worse?
As I wrote in reaction to another participant, blood letting was practiced for centuries and yet there was no proof that it had good effects because alternatives were not tried and compared with blood letting.
The Nobel prize committee commissioned a study to see to what extent all those who have received the Nobel prize in all areas had something in common.
What they had in common was they questioned the accepted beliefs of what reality was. A doctor in Australia said that ulcers were caused in many cases by bacteria. He was laughed at, scorned. "Bacteria cannot live in the stomach with all the acid in the stomach." In the event, many ulcers are caused by bacteria not by worry or some emotional difficulties.
When one of the Japanese Noble recipients was asked how he was successful he said "I had to forget everything I had ever learned and start fresh!"
I am attaching a quote and two photos to remind us of the importance of looking with new eyes.
With all due respect to journals I have come to the same conclusion that you have, we can learn more by exploring on our own than by reading about what others claim we should or should not do.
Having said that, I am not against reading--I mean why would I write books and articles? But articles which prescribe and to not enable teachers to learn on their own I do not think are beneficial.
See ya soon.
J
Sit down before what you see and hear like a little child, and be prepared to give up every preconceived notion,
follow humbly wherever and to whatever abyss Nature leads, or you shall learn nothing. T. Huxley
Sit down before what you see and hear like a little child, and be prepared to give up every preconceived notion,
follow humbly wherever and to whatever abyss Nature leads, or you shall learn nothing. T. Huxley
Sit down before what you see and hear like a little child, and be prepared to give up every preconceived notion,
follow humbly wherever and to whatever abyss Nature leads, or you shall learn nothing. T. Huxley