Professional
development: collaborative teaching in EFL/ ESL
Author: Lindsay Clandfield and Jo Budden
Level: starter/beginner, advanced, elementary,
pre-intermediate, intermediate, upper-intermediate Type: reference
material
An article about developing different
mechanisms of peer support.
"I
love my new job. I can be creative in my class preparation, I get along really
well with my students and I really appreciate the responsibility. There's
nobody looking over my shoulder all the time when I'm at work. It's me and my
class."
"I
feel bored and a bit depressed with my job. I feel like I am doing the same
thing over and over again. I have no new ideas and I hate my course book. I
don't know if I can do this for the rest of my life. One of the problems is that
I feel so lonely, even with a class full of students. I think I'm becoming
disconnected from it all."
The first quote is from a new English
teacher in their first few months of teaching (after the “fear” of the first
classes has worn off) and the second is from an English teacher who has been
working for some years. Do either of these sound familiar? Why does the second
teacher feel that way? What has happened?
The second teacher may be close to
suffering from teacher burnout. Burnout is a response to chronic, everyday
stress, rather than to occasional crises. As Dr. Susan Barduhn, President of
IATEFL, notes, "People who go into teaching (or nursing, social work,
fire-fighting or any kind of helping profession) often have a high need for
approval and high expectations of themselves. The burnout-prone individual is
one who simply takes on too much." One of the best ways to avoid burnout
is to start supporting and cooperating with fellow teachers and professionals.
According to many studies, burnout and teacher turnover is drastically reduced
when successful peer support exists.
This article is about Collaborative
Teaching. I take Collaborative Teaching to mean more than teaching or
planning a class between more than one teacher (although it can take that form).
For me, collaborative teaching is about developing different mechanisms of peer
support. It is also about developing professionally, but not in isolation. What
follows is a series of tips and activities for teachers to do to start
collaborative teaching and stop burnout before it occurs.
Share ideas
One of the easiest and cheapest ways to start collaborative teaching is to swap ideas. Teachers often do this anyway. You can formalize this process at your school in two ways:
One of the easiest and cheapest ways to start collaborative teaching is to swap ideas. Teachers often do this anyway. You can formalize this process at your school in two ways:
·
Organize
a folder entitled Ideas and Tips. Divide it into sections (either by
level, or by theme) and ask other teachers to contribute. For a project like
this to work you really have to have someone in charge of keeping the folder or
folders in order. Why not rotate that duty among teachers? You could also have
a “Tip or Activity of the Week” that you can post on the staff room wall.
·
Offer
to organize a meeting to exchange ideas at your work. All you need is a time
and a place where teachers can meet. At a school where I worked we called it
the Materials Circus Maximus (Gladiator had just come out in the
theatres!) We all met on a Friday afternoon and shared activity ideas. This
became even more popular when teachers would “teach” the others using their
material. It made the activity more memorable when teachers actually played the
part of learners.
Sharing ideas in your school can be
beneficial for all involved. But why stop at your school when you can share
tips and classes with English teachers all around the world! One way of doing
this is through the onestopenglish Lesson Share
competition. See section G below for other ideas.
Professional
development: continuous professional development
Author: Tim Bowen
Level: starter/beginner, advanced, elementary,
pre-intermediate, intermediate, upper-intermediate Type: reference
material
A discussion on ways to maintain continuous
professional development.
In order to understand the concept of Continuous
Professional Development (CPD), it is first worth looking at the
differences between Teacher Training and Teacher Development.
Teacher Training can be seen as the process of equipping an
individual with the means to carry out the job of teaching. This is normally
done by means of a course of training that presents the individual with a
series of skills that meet the requirements of different aspects of teaching.
In the specific field of language teaching, these would consist of skills and
techniques to teach grammar, lexis, pronunciation, reading, writing, listening
and speaking, plus the more general skills involved in classroom management.
For the most part it is fair to say that
Teacher Training is a process that comes from "outside" – from a
course and from a trainer or group of trainers. Teacher Development, on the
other hand, comes from within the individual and requires a commitment from
that individual to move forward in some way as a teacher.
Adrian Underhill’s definition of Teacher
Development is particularly succinct:
"Teacher
development is the process of becoming the best teacher one is able to be, a
process that can be started but never finished" (IATEFL Issues, June/July
1999, 149: 17).
One way of looking at this kind of
development is to question what experience means. Does "10 years"
experience mean the same year experienced 10 times or has the individual with
that experience moved forward, experimented and developed as a teacher during
that period?
If Teacher Development comes from within
the individual practitioner how does this differ from the notion of CPD? First
and foremost, it is to do with the commitment of the organization where the
individual is employed. CPD implies both the commitment of the individual and the
commitment of the institution. Teacher Development can be regarded as more or
less a voluntary activity but CPD is much more a requirement for all employees
of a given organization, the aim of which is to benefit not only the individual
but also the organization and, ultimately, the profession as a whole. In order
to implement CPD the individual teacher makes a commitment to develop and move
in some way and that commitment is endorsed and actively supported by the
organization There are numerous ways in which a teacher can develop and the
active support of the organization will greatly expedite this process. Some of
these modes of development may involve teacher training, others will simply
involve discovery. Concrete examples of such development might be attending
external events such as workshops, seminars or conferences, following a
specialized training course, getting a higher qualification, becoming a member
of a Special Interest Group (for example, the IATEFL Pronunciation SIG),
leading in-house and external workshops and seminars, writing teaching
materials, publishing articles, becoming more informed about current literature
on language teaching and linguistics, and observing other teachers and being
observed oneself.
With the active support of the institution
many of these goals can be achieved. A motivating factor introduced by some
institutions is to have a "points system" where points are awarded
for different developmental activities. Attaining a specific points total over
a given period of time will indicate to the current employer or to a potential
employer that a particular teacher is in the process of active Continuous
Professional Development and as a result this teacher will be more employable
and more eligible for more responsible posts within a given organization
CPD is still in its infancy and is being
applied across a wide range of professions. It is not only applicable to the
teaching profession. Some teaching institutions have already embraced the
principles of CPD, however, and are actively encouraging their employees to
explore the different possibilities open to them in the CPD programme. The
British Institute for English Language Teaching (BIELT) actively supports CPD
and their web-site (www.bielt.org) has some helpful advice in setting up CPD
programmes.
Professional
development: reflective teaching
Author: Naashia Mohamed
Level: starter/beginner, advanced, elementary,
pre-intermediate, intermediate, upper-intermediate Type: reference
material
A discussion on ways to improve teaching
through systematic inquiry.
I
recently read an article about the importance of reflection on one's own
teaching and how essential it is to critically reflect and evaluate on a
regular basis. As I haven't read very much on this topic before, I'm just wondering
(1) how to actually go about doing it systematically - surely it doesn't simply
involve thinking for example "Oh I don't think that activity went very
well, maybe I'll try it in groups next time;" (2) where I can get more
information about it. Preferably something that deals with the practical side
of things, rather than the theory behind reflective teaching. Any help would be
most appreciated.
Question posted by detective
Question posted by detective
By
three methods we may learn wisdom: first, by reflection, which is noblest;
second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the
bitterest.
(Confucius)
What is reflective teaching?
The question that first needs to be posed is: what is meant by reflection? The word “reflection” generates connotations of mirroring, meditation or deep thinking; and transformation. Applied to the context of teaching, reflection can be interpreted in terms of mirroring, symbolizing or representing, as well as in terms of thoughtful consideration. Pennington (1992) describes reflective teaching as “a movement in teacher education in which … teachers analyze their own practice and their underlying basis and then consider alternative means of achieving their ends (p.48).” Richards & Lockhart (1994) add to this by incorporating a critical component, stating that a reflective approach to teaching is “one in which teachers and student teachers collect data about teaching, examine their attitudes, beliefs, assumptions and teaching practices, and use the information obtained as a basis for critical reflection about teaching (p.1).” They argue that such a critical reflection of one’s practices can trigger a deeper understanding of teaching, and contribute to one’s professional development. It is through repeated cycles of professional development, practice and reflection, Wallace (1991) claims, that professional competence arises.
The question that first needs to be posed is: what is meant by reflection? The word “reflection” generates connotations of mirroring, meditation or deep thinking; and transformation. Applied to the context of teaching, reflection can be interpreted in terms of mirroring, symbolizing or representing, as well as in terms of thoughtful consideration. Pennington (1992) describes reflective teaching as “a movement in teacher education in which … teachers analyze their own practice and their underlying basis and then consider alternative means of achieving their ends (p.48).” Richards & Lockhart (1994) add to this by incorporating a critical component, stating that a reflective approach to teaching is “one in which teachers and student teachers collect data about teaching, examine their attitudes, beliefs, assumptions and teaching practices, and use the information obtained as a basis for critical reflection about teaching (p.1).” They argue that such a critical reflection of one’s practices can trigger a deeper understanding of teaching, and contribute to one’s professional development. It is through repeated cycles of professional development, practice and reflection, Wallace (1991) claims, that professional competence arises.
How can I begin reflection?
There is no one way in which a teacher should explore her own classroom practices in order to self-observe and self-evaluate. But it is important to begin by collecting information about what happens in the classroom. Such classroom data can be gathered in several ways:
There is no one way in which a teacher should explore her own classroom practices in order to self-observe and self-evaluate. But it is important to begin by collecting information about what happens in the classroom. Such classroom data can be gathered in several ways:
·
Maintain
a teaching diary:
this is a daily record of your professional experiences, particularly focussing
on the events in the classroom. Maintaining a regular diary takes discipline as
it does take up some time. But it is time well spent as it will help to clarify
your thinking. Include in your diary not only the events that occurred during
the lesson, but also your own thoughts and feelings about it as well as
students’ reactions and responses. Here is an example, an excerpt taken from
the diary of one teacher who teaches EFL to teenagers:
I
was apprehensive about whether it would work as they have never done something
like this before. But I think because I demonstrated how to do the task by
doing a sample task with Asifa, everyone had a much clearer idea of what they
needed to do. I should have done the demo with my 9B class too, rather than
simply explaining what to do. It was actually a great success as everyone (even
Hashim!!) was using English to talk with their partner and solve the picture
riddles. I must find some more of these riddles for a later class. They seemed
to really enjoy it!
·
Record
a lesson:
Recording a lesson is a useful way of getting information about your teaching
that you may not have been aware of before. You could audio or video record the
lesson, making sure that the students are aware of the purposes of the
recording, and that they have no objection to it. Bear in mind, however, that
many students tend to be self conscious and less willing to participate in a
lesson if they are being recorded.
Lesson recordings can help you determine
how much you talk; how much time you allocate to student talk; whether you give
equal attention to all students; your movements in the classroom; your tone of
voice; etc.
·
Obtain
feedback from students:
Your own students are the best people to give you feedback on your teaching.
You can do this by speaking with the class as a group or individually. You can
ask them to comment on what they like and what they don’t like about what you
already do in the classroom as well as about what new things they would like to
do.
If the thought of getting oral feedback is
a bit daunting, you could ask them to complete a simple questionnaire which
would give you specific information about your teaching. You may want to focus
this on a particular aspect of your teaching (for example, error correction) or
target the questionnaire to teaching in general. Students are generally quite
open about what they think of your teaching, and provide some very good
suggestions about new activities they would like to try.
Alternatively, you could ask your students
to maintain a learning diary. This could be done as part of class work (you
could allot a weekly fifteen minute diary writing segment into your lessons) or
a regular homework activity. But make sure you explain clearly to your students
about what you want them to include in the diary. The diary is not meant to be
assessed in any way, or shared with other students or teachers.
·
Invite
a colleague to observe you:
You may not enjoy formal observations of your teaching by a superior, but
getting feedback on your teaching through a colleague may be a different
experience. Again you may ask your colleague to focus on a particular aspect of
your teaching (for example, your patterns of interaction with students), or to
comment on your teaching in general. The observer can take down notes or use a standard
observation form. Immediately after the lesson, make notes about what you felt
were your strengths and weaknesses, and then discuss the lesson with your
observer.
What can I do next?
Having obtained information about what goes on in your lessons, the next step would be to think and analyze the information:
Having obtained information about what goes on in your lessons, the next step would be to think and analyze the information:
·
What
were your goals [for a particular lesson]?
·
How
did you intend to achieve those goals?
·
What
actually happened?
·
How
do you feel about this?
·
What
could you do/have done differently?
Share your stories
This may be done very informally through
talking with a helpful colleague/friend, or through the promotion of
professional dialogue in teachers’ groups. It is through the telling and
sharing of our teaching stories that we communicate our problems and work
towards findings solutions. Seek solutions through professional reading or by
consulting experts in the field. There is a variety of professional resources
available, including research journals, teacher’s magazines, resource books,
and a number of websites on the internet. Ask questions. Get answers and ideas
through teachers’ forums or magazines as well as in your teachers’ groups. You
may also want to observe some of your colleagues’ lessons as these may help
generate ideas. Collaboration is essential. Consider how to put those ideas
into practice in your own teaching situation. Trial new ideas. Evaluate their
effectiveness. Share your stories… The reflective cycle goes on.
References
Pennington, M. (1992). Reflecting on Teaching and Learning: a developmental focus for the second language classroom. In J. Flowerdew & M. Brock & S. Hsia (Eds.), Perspectives on Second Language Teacher education. HongKong: City Polytechnic.
Richards, J. C., & Lockhart, C. (1994). Reflective Teaching in Second Language Classrooms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wallace, M. J. (1991). Training foreign language teachers : a reflective approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Pennington, M. (1992). Reflecting on Teaching and Learning: a developmental focus for the second language classroom. In J. Flowerdew & M. Brock & S. Hsia (Eds.), Perspectives on Second Language Teacher education. HongKong: City Polytechnic.
Richards, J. C., & Lockhart, C. (1994). Reflective Teaching in Second Language Classrooms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wallace, M. J. (1991). Training foreign language teachers : a reflective approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Professional
development: teacher development and confidence
Author: Gerardo Valazza
Level: starter/beginner, advanced, elementary,
pre-intermediate, intermediate, upper-intermediate Type: reference
material
Advice and suggestions on how teachers can
improve their personal development and confidence.
I
am a teacher of college and I want to know how one teacher can enhance her or
his confidence in this field and how to build the best teaching ability of
teaching.
Posted by Mariam
Posted by Mariam
Gaining confidence in their teaching skills
and developing their teaching ability in general are not just the concern of
teachers who are new to the profession, but also of experienced teachers when
they meet new challenges which seem to threaten their long-standing values and
beliefs about learning and teaching, especially if these may imply changes to
their teaching practices. Just think of how many times you have asked yourself
the following questions when you have had to face a new task: “Can I do that?”
“Will I be able to do it well?” After a while you may find yourself asking:
“How can I do better?”
In my opinion, gaining self-confidence and
developing your teaching ability are closely related, and working on either
concern leads to improvement on the other. The more you develop your teaching
ability, the more confident you will become in your teaching. In the same way,
the more confident you become in your teaching skills, the better prepared you
are to move on to “the next level”, i.e. deepen your understanding of learning
and teaching, find out about the latest learning and teaching theories, and try
out new teaching practices, thus developing your teaching ability. In other
words, answering one of the questions may help us to answer the other question
as well.
But where do the answers to Mariam’s
questions lie? It seems to me that finding ways to gain confidence in what you
do and improve your teaching skills are different aspects of the same concern,
i.e. how can we develop as a professional teacher? Underhill (1986:1) describes
teacher development as the process of becoming “the best kind of teacher that I
personally can be.” Rossner (1992:4) argues that “teacher development is not
just to do with language or even teaching: it’s also about language
development, counseling skills, assertiveness training, confidence-building (my
italics), computing, meditation, cultural broadening – almost anything, in
fact.” Both descriptions of teacher development seem to take account of
Mariam’s concerns. Therefore, in order to answer Mariam’s questions we can
perhaps look into the theory of “teacher development”.
Freeman (1989:37) regards teacher
development and teacher training as the two main teacher education strategies.
In order to distinguish between them he proposes a model of teaching which
characterizes it as “a decision-making process based on the categories of
knowledge, skills, attitude, and awareness” (ibid:27). Whereas teacher training
addresses the more “trainable” aspects of teaching based on knowledge and
skills, teacher development is concerned with generating change with regard to
the more complex constituents of teaching, i.e. awareness and attitude.
I believe Freeman’s model of teaching can
help us to impose some order on the wide range of options which are available
for teachers aiming to gain confidence in their teaching and develop their
teaching ability in general. In the sections that follow I make reference to
each of the aforementioned constituents of teaching in turn and discuss what
teachers can do in each of these respects in order to develop professionally.
These are not exhaustive lists and readers will very likely have their own
ideas to add to them.
As far as knowledge is concerned there seem
to be different ways in which teachers can develop confidence and improve their
general teaching ability:
·
The
subject matter
– Above all, teachers should aim to develop their knowledge of the subject
matter they teach. If this is English, teachers can study the language to
further their understanding of how it works, they can enroll in language
development courses, and they can seek opportunities to practise and develop
their ability to listen to, read, speak and write in English, for example, by
not missing the opportunities they have to interact orally with native
speakers, subscribing to EFL/ESL magazines, and participating in synchronic or
asynchronic discussions on the Web. (Ed - such as the onestopenglish forum)
·
Theories
about learning and teaching
– Teachers should also aim at deepening their understanding of the theories
underpinning learning and teaching practices. This can be achieved by reading
about teaching and learning, attending seminars and workshops regularly, and enrolling
on methodology courses which will enable them to reconstruct their knowledge of
the background to language learning and teaching.
·
The
students
– The more teachers know their students, the more effective their teaching will
be. Teachers can get to know students better by giving them opportunities to
talk about themselves, really listening to what they have to say, encouraging
them to give teachers feedback on anything and everything that happens in the
classroom, showing a real interest in them and above all, by teachers just
“being themselves,” i.e. not pretending to be somebody they are not.
·
The
workplace
– Finally, it is important that teachers know the context in which they work
very well. This involves academic aspects such as syllabuses, assessment
procedures, and knowledge of the supplementary materials they can count on, as
well as more practical concerns like the use of audio, video or computer
equipment.
In addition to knowing about the subject matter,
theories of learning and teaching, the students, and the workplace, teachers
should aim at improving their ability to put all this knowledge into practice
and becoming more skilful at teaching. This can be achieved by having a daring
and exploratory attitude towards teaching which involves trying out different
methods, techniques and activities again and again, reflecting on their
effectiveness, and capitalizing on these experiences in order to make the
necessary changes to their teaching habits.
Trying out new ideas in the classroom has
the additional benefit of making the activity of teaching much more
interesting. Having an exploratory attitude towards teaching helps to prevent
the feeling of being stuck in a rut, i.e. working on the same teaching points
in the same way year after year.
Becoming more skilful at a certain activity
has a lot to do with being aware of one’s own strengths and weaknesses, which
is the aspect that is discussed in the next section.
Teachers can develop further by increasing
their self-awareness. What kind of teachers are they? How are they perceived by
their students and colleagues? What are the strengths they should capitalize on
and the weaknesses they should be working on? Self-awareness can be raised in a
number of ways:
·
Teachers
can make audio or video recordings of their lessons and watch, analyze and
reflect on the recordings afterwards.
·
They
can invite a colleague to sit in while they teach and ask them for feedback after
the lesson.
·
Observing
other teachers teach can be very enlightening. It helps teachers to compare
different teaching styles, practices, etc. and become more aware of what kind
of teachers they are, or they are not.
·
The
students themselves can provide teachers with very valuable feedback on their
performance. Implementing instances for the collection of this kind of feedback
regularly can be very valuable.
·
Teachers
can benefit from whatever evaluation system is implemented at their workplace
if they regard it as an awareness-raising opportunity leading to professional
development.
Finally, teacher development has much to do
with developing and sustaining a positive attitude towards the activity of
teaching and oneself as a teacher. Teachers must plan their lessons regularly,
aim at being better informed about their profession, obtain a teaching
certificate, diploma or degree, and respect themselves, their colleagues and
their students.
In addition, teachers should try not to
allow personal problems to affect their teaching or feel discouraged when
facing new challenges which at first may seem insurmountable. They should enjoy
themselves when teaching, treat themselves to something nice when they achieve
their aims, and take a well-deserved rest when they have the opportunity to do
so.
Mariam’s questions are not easy to answer
and some of the solutions that have been suggested may not be simple to
implement. Neither is the aforementioned list of options and exhaustive account
of what teachers can do to develop professionally. However, I hope the present
article has shed some light on some of the possible ways in which teachers can
face the problems of developing self-confidence and their teaching ability.
Bibliography
Freeman, D (1989): “Teacher Training, Development, and Decision Making: A Model of Teaching and Related Strategies for Language Teacher Education” in TESOL Quarterly 23/1: 27 - 45.
Freeman, D (1989): “Teacher Training, Development, and Decision Making: A Model of Teaching and Related Strategies for Language Teacher Education” in TESOL Quarterly 23/1: 27 - 45.
Underhill, A (1986): Editorial in Teacher
Development Newsletter 9: 4
Rossner, R (1992): “Where there’s a will
– facilitating teacher development” in Teacher Development Newsletter 18: 4
- 5
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