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How Do We Teach Teachers?: Learning Factors

The document discusses three main factors that influence teacher's teaching styles: 1) their own learning style as students, 2) their teaching experience, and 3) the educational theories they adhere to. It also notes that teachers often teach using methods that suited their own learning as students rather than what's best for their current students. The document advocates for teacher professional development programs that are tailored to individual teachers' needs and allow them to develop their own understanding of teaching and learning through reflection and collaboration. It presents the "Teacher's Choice Framework" which helps teachers reflect on their practice and needs at different levels in order to guide meaningful professional development.

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Rosaura Argueta
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© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
40 views

How Do We Teach Teachers?: Learning Factors

The document discusses three main factors that influence teacher's teaching styles: 1) their own learning style as students, 2) their teaching experience, and 3) the educational theories they adhere to. It also notes that teachers often teach using methods that suited their own learning as students rather than what's best for their current students. The document advocates for teacher professional development programs that are tailored to individual teachers' needs and allow them to develop their own understanding of teaching and learning through reflection and collaboration. It presents the "Teacher's Choice Framework" which helps teachers reflect on their practice and needs at different levels in order to guide meaningful professional development.

Uploaded by

Rosaura Argueta
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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How do we

teach
teachers?
Learning Factors
Three learning factors greatly influence teaching styles

The The The theories


teacher’s about
teacher’s teaching and
learning experience learning to
style as learners which they
adhere

2
When making decisions, teachers should ideally have the
students as their main focus.

However, they teach according to their own preferred


learning methods, rather than according to what is best for
the students.

Similarly, teachers tend to emulate the teachers who helped


them to learn best when they were in school. However in
most cases they don't know why the model teachers taught
the way they did.

3
• Be aware of these personal influences
and refocus your actions to benefit
the students.

• To do this, teachers need space to develop


their own theories about teaching and
learning through professional development
with colleagues.

4
Facts that
planners of
professional
development
programs should
bear in mind
• Teachers are talented and devoted individuals who have gained experience by
interacting with students, and possess a wealth of knowledge that must be
explored and shared.
• Teachers differ from one another in terms of their theoretical and professional
knowledge and the stages they are at in their careers. This diversity offers a
wealth of resources and experience.
• Teachers fulfill different functions in their jobs. They are not only mediators of
student learning, but also administrators of student information, counselors on
learning, and resources for parents and the broader community. Their
professional development should be embedded in their daily schedule; they
should not be expected to devote their own free time to programs that are
divorced from the context in which they work.

6
• In order for teachers to develop ownership of professional development, they
need to be active participants in its construction, tailoring programs to their
needs and motivations.
• Professional development should not be regarded as an administrative duty,
but rather as a career-long endeavor aimed at disclosing the factors that
contribute to the success of all students and teachers. Mandatory professional
development offered only when it is convenient to administrators has little to
offer to teachers.
• Professional development will only have an effect on student learning if it
involves the entire school community. Knowledge about teaching and learning
only makes sense when considered in the context of a teacher's own school
culture and climate. The effect of professional development is not measured
by the sum of the discrete actions of individual factors and stakeholders, but
through an examination of how factors and stakeholders interact with one
another.
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TEACHER´S CHOICE FRAMEWORK
• In order to ensure that professional development is congruent with
these facts, educators need an organizational framework based on the
unique characteristics and contributions of teachers.
• The Teacher's Choice Framework helps teachers make individual and
collaborative decisions by having them reflect on practice.
• For the framework to function effectively, learning communities should
promote collaborative reflection on student learning data, which
should be gathered and shared across grades and disciplines. Once the
data are shared, educators should involve as many stakeholders as
possible in planning a professional development program that
addresses the needs of all participants.

8
The Four Quadrants of the Teacher's Choice Framework

9
Types and Levels of
Awareness
10
Types of Awareness

There are four distinct types of awareness needs that teachers can
address through professional development:

Technical awareness. Reflection on particular classroom procedures or


teaching methods.
Personal awareness. Reflection on how classroom activity relates to life
outside of work.
Problematic awareness. Reflection on how to solve professional problems.
Critical awareness. Reflection on established thoughts, feelings, or actions
that have been called into question.

11
Levels of Awareness
Level 1. Teachers are aware that they possess up-to-date knowledge and can help
other teachers through initiatives such as mentoring, providing on-site teacher
training workshops, and expert coaching with colleagues in other levels. They can
also develop field notes—narratives of classroom success stories that they share
with other teachers for feedback and development.
Level 2. Teachers possess updated knowledge, but are not aware that they do.
Those in this category can be involved in mirroring and collaborative coaching by
having colleagues come into their classrooms and observe them in order to
pinpoint areas of strength. Field notes can serve as a powerful reflection tool for
these teachers as well.
Level 3: Teachers are aware of their development needs in specific knowledge
areas. Pertinent techniques for this level include engaging in action research,
establishing critical development teams, and maintaining dialogue journals.
Level 4: Teachers are unaware of their need to expand their knowledge in certain
areas. Appropriate professional development programs for such teachers could
include mandated in-house training workshops, mentoring, and expert coaching.
Types of Knowledge

It is reasonable, if not essential, to expect that anyone who intends to teach


be:
✓ first, educated broadly and well;
✓ second, fundamentally knowledgeable about the fields to be taught;
✓ third, familiar with how children or adolescents develop, behave, and
learn; and
✓ fourth, knowledgeable about and skilled in the profession of education to
assure quality standards, ethics, responsible conduct, and responsiveness
to the educational needs of the greater society.
Prospective teachers should also be made aware that continued professional
growth depends upon prolonged interaction with peers and others.
Types of Knowledge
Teachers are motivated to enter the profession by one or more of the
following:

Content knowledge. An interest in the subject matter.

General pedagogical knowledge. An interest in pedagogy.

Contextual knowledge. An interest in students and their communities.

Shulman (1987), Grossman (1990), and Putnam and Borko (2000)


• The Teacher's Choice Framework allows teachers with expertise in a
certain domain to provide mediation and scaffolding to colleagues
whose weaknesses lie in that same area. Teachers enter a cycle of
constant development, since teachers can have different awareness
levels for different types of knowledge.
• By capitalizing on the internal strengths of its members, the learning
community is enriched.
• The Teacher's Choice Framework allows teachers to feel reassured
about their dual roles as both experts and novices, and “to move
along a continuum ranging from inductee to master teacher where
increased responsibilities, qualifications, professional development,
and performance-based accountability requirements are
commensurate with compensation

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