Conceptualizing Teaching Acts
Presented by Jillian WhetstoneESL 501
What is Teaching?
Job – a repetitive activity that provides both sustenance and survival.
Vocation – provides sustenance and survival, but also guarantees personal autonomy and personal significance.
Career – long term involvement in an activity, but doesn’t necessarily provide fulfillment.
What is Teaching?
Occupation – an endeavor within society’s economic, social and political system, but may not entail a sense of calling.
Profession – emphasizes the expertise and social contribution to society, but not necessarily a calling for personal fulfillment.
What is the Goal of Teaching?
To create optimal conditions for desired learning to take place in as short a time as possible.
Learning
The Role of the Teacher
Hats off to teachers for their many roles:› Artist and Architect› Scientist and Psychologist› Manager and Mentor› Controller and Counselor› Sage on the Stage› Guide on the Side
Historical Roles of Teachers
Teachers as Passive Technicians› Conduit
Teachers as Reflective Practitioners› Facilitator
Teachers as Transformative Intellectuals› Change Agent
Passive Technicians
Primary focus of teaching is content knowledge.
Simply use “teacher-proof” packages. Professional experts create the
knowledge base and teachers pass it on to students.
Leads to disempowerment. Passive form of teaching.
Reflective Practitioners
First proposed by John Dewey:› Teaching is not just a series of predetermined
and pre-sequenced procedures. › Teachers are problem solvers.› This is a holistic approach that emphasizes
the creativity, artistry, and context sensitivity. Don Schon added:
› Teachers bring perspectives that cannot be matched by experts who are far removed from the classroom.
Reflective Practitioners
There are 2 types of Reflection: Reflection-on-Action:
› Reflection-on-action – can happen before and after a lesson as teachers plan for a lesson and then evaluate the effectiveness of their teaching acts afterward.
Reflection-in-Action› Happens during the teaching act when teachers monitor
their ongoing performance, locate unexpected problems, and adjust instantaneously.
Reflective Practitioners Kenneth Zeichner and Daniel Liston say
that to be considered reflective, teachers must:› 1. examine frames and attempt to solve the
dilemmas of classroom practice.› 2. be aware of and question the assumptions
and values of his or her teaching.› 3. be attentive to the institutional and cultural
contexts in which he or she teaches.› 4. take part in curriculum development and be
involved in school change efforts› 5. take responsibility for own professional
development.
Shortcomings of Reflective Practitioners
Focuses on the teacher alone, not on learners, colleagues, planners, and administrators.
Focuses on what teachers do in the classroom and not the sociopolitical factors that shape a teacher’s reflective practice.
Contributes very little change to the reliance on established professional wisdom.
Transformative Intellectuals
Developed by critical pedagogists. Empowers teachers and learners. Takes seriously the lived experiences that
teachers and learners bring and teach according to student needs and wants.
Requires teachers to be sociopolitically conscious and to be assertive in acting on it.
Dual Task – strives for educational advancement and personal transformation.
Transformative Intellectuals Inquiry oriented Socially contextualized Grounded on a commitment to world
making Dedicated to an art of improvisation Extended by a concern with critical self
and social reflection Shaped by a commitment to democratic
self-directed education Committed to action Concerned with the affective dimension
of human beings
Hierarchy of Teachers Roles
Teachers as Transformative Intellectuals
Teachers as Reflective
Practitioners
Teachers as Passive
Technicians
Teaching Theory
Theory and Practice Should Inform One Another
Types of Teaching Theories
Professional Theory – created and perpetuated within the professional culture.
Professional Theory – unique to each person, developed through testing professional theories.
Three Levels of Theorizing Technical Level: Concerned with effective
achievement of short-term, classroom centered instructional goals.› Passive Technicians
Practical Level: Concerned with assumptions, values, and consequences of classroom activities.› Reflective Practitioners
Critical or Emancipatory Level: Concerned with the wider ethical, social, historical and political issues.› Transformative Intellectuals
Discussion Questions1. This chapter gave several different
synonyms and definitions for the act of teaching (job, vocation, career, etc.). In thinking about yourself and your own teaching philosophy, which do you feel is the most relevant? Why?
2. What are the obstacles you may face in carrying out the responsibilities of a reflective teacher and how might you overcome them?
Kumaravadivelu, B. (2003). Chapter 1: Conceptualizing Teaching Acts (p. 5-22). Found in: Beyond methods: Macrostrategies for Language Teaching.