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.