THE INSPECTOR CALLS
T.Elia, Senior Inspector Batinah South Region 

The job of a teacher, it is said, is basically “making the teachable learnable.” In other words what is givable (by the teacher) is made gettable (by the learner). Reflective teaching is that when you reflect on your teaching procedures, taking a leisurely look at what is happening in the transaction of giving and getting in the class room.

Axiomatically, all teachers of English come into the system with more or less fixed theories regarding what is language, how it is learned, how it is to be taught, etc which influence their experiences and goals as they move back and forth between pedagogical reasoning and interactive decision as shown below.:

Diagram 1

The concepts mentioned in the diagram 1 above were put in a different way in my article last year. As you know “A” above takes place before teaching where as “B” while teaching. And when you reflect on the lesson you have just taught, you probably end up with a list of factors that prompted your interactive decisions – these factors could be connected with timing, methodology, language, student response etc which in turn affect your pedagogical reasoning.

Put differently, at “A” you are guided mostly by external principles / beliefs (proven by others) and at “B” by beliefs / needs proven by yourself. Whether or not you are conscious of it, as a teacher you keep going to and fro between “A” and “B” shown in diagram 1. and your analysis of your toing and froing is what makes you reflective. The space provided for comments in your lesson preparation book is meant for recording the conclusions you come to after reflection. And I seldom see any conclusions recorded for this purpose.

This reflective attitude not only guides you to reshape your lessons but enables you to get the learners in perspective, important, though, your teaching strategies are, what we need to reckon on is the fact that the learners have their own strategies / styles. Here are some styles as identified by eminent educationalists; 

1. independent style: works on his own
2. phantom style: quiet but works well
3. social style: likes joking, moving about
4. dependant style: needs guidance / help

To me it appears that the best teaching strategy is the one which enables learners to discover and hone their own styles. The point at issue therefore is not what the answers are to a task but how to find them – “WHAT” subsumed under “HOW TO”. The fish made subsidiary to fishing.

 In every lesson or set of lessons, an effective teacher takes these various types of learners through a set pattern – with little or no variation – of three stages:

 Irrespective of their different learning styles the learners move from stage 1 through Stage 2 to Stage 3. While this being so, there is need for the teacher to monitor a crucial aspect as the lesson progresses. And that crucial aspect is: Who?What should occupy the center stage? I don not remember the source of the following diagram but it clearly shows the gradual release of control from teacher to learner – in terms of time, focus, involvement etc.

Diagram 2

Having said that, I would now like us to look at the methodological structure of skill employment in OWTE material, put along side what we considered in diagram 2.

Diagram3

 Now in closing, could I suggest some activities for you to try by way of initiating yourself into reflective teaching;

1. writing about teaching experiences:
   This involves more than writing lesson notes, it is a set of notes written after reflecting on certain teachi9ng events, which for some reason become crucial to your development as an effective teacher. It is also called “journal keeping” where you record reasons for your successes and solutions to your problems as you face them. Share these notes with a colleague.
2. Peer Observation:

This is not a casual sitting in on a colleague’s lesson, but with a specific purpose in mind. Perhaps to compare teaching styles, to observe and monitor one’s own teaching style or simply to see how a particular grammar task is handled. It would help if both the observer and the observee are aware of the purpose.

3. Collaborative Lesson Planning:

We have in large schools 2/3 teachers teaching at the same level. Explore the practicality of the three sitting together to draw up a lesson plan sharing each other’s pedagogical reasoning. A common lesson plan ( for a couple of lessons or even a unit) will enable you to share your experience – success or failure without any inhibitions.

Though I mentioned them as three different activities, notice how they mesh with one another:

 Collaborative lesson plan

Peer Observation ( audio/video recording if possible)

Comparing Teaching Styles

Monitoring one’s own style

 Would you like to try them in your school?

Don’t you want to because you are afraid of making mistakes?

Take heart; we all make mistakes and that is why –  

PENCILS HAVE ERASERS ON THEM!