FOR REFLECTION AND EXPLORATION IN THE PRACTICUM Ins K. de Miller - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Ministry of Education Chile / British Council Chile Initial Teacher Education Seminar on Teacher-research 22-23 March 2016, Santiago

FINDING OPPORTUNITIES FOR REFLECTION AND EXPLORATION IN THE PRACTICUM

Inés K. de Miller (PUC-Rio, Brasil)

Teacher education: an ethical, inclusive and investigative perspective

It is possible and desirable to live in classrooms, in an ethical and exploratory way, considering that teachers and learners are practitioners of teaching and learning and key developing learners. (ALLWRIGHT & HANKS, 2009) Teacher educators and teacher-learners  key developing practitioners

Teacher education: an ethical, inclusive and investigative perspective

Teachers can either “cooperate in their

• wn

marginalization by seeing themselves as ‘language teachers’ with no connection to such social and political issues” or we can accept that “like it or not, English teachers stand at the very heart of the most crucial educational, cultural, and political issues of our time” (Gee, 1994).

Teacher education: an ethical, inclusive and investigative perspective

We find support for our innovative work in:

• a developmental view of learner-teachers as

‘learners becoming teachers’ (Allwright & Miller, 2012);

• a process-oriented view of ‘quality of classroom life’

(Gieve & Miller, 2006);

• the non-technicist belief that a reflective attitude is

central in professional teacher education since its initial stages (Perenoud, 2002; Allwright, 2008; among others);

Teacher education: an ethical, inclusive and investigative perspective

• the possibility of re-conceptualizing classroom work

as ‘work for understanding’ (Allwright, 2003; Miller, 2009);

• the desire to engage future teachers in Allwright’s

proposed move from ‘teaching points’ to ‘learning

• pportunities’ (Allwright, 2005);
• and from ‘planning to control’ to ‘planning for

understanding’ (Allwright, 1997, 2003).

Monolingual and bilingual initial teacher education curriculum at PUC-Rio

• “Licenciatura

de Língua Portuguesa e Respectivas Literaturas” Duration: 4 years Teaching Practice (5 Workshops + 7 Courses) Portuguese Practicum I and II

• “Licenciatura Português-Inglês e Respectivas Literaturas”

Duration: 5 years Teaching Practice (5 Workshops + 7 Courses) Portuguese Practicum I, II e III English Practicum I, II e III

‘Puzzle-driven’ courses and ‘puzzle-driven’ practicum experiences involve….

• ‘puzzlement’ (Hanks, 1999) as a syllabus component;
• invaluable syllabus time and space to the discourse
• f puzzlement and reflection;
• opportunities for teachers and learners to pursue

issues that puzzle them about their areas of interest

• r that they are curious about;
• collective work for understanding which becomes

deeply integrated into teacher-learners’ and teacher educators’ continuing personal professional development.

BUT, ‘puzzle-driven’ courses and ‘puzzle-driven’ practicum experiences are still challenging! They can generate…

• ‘Student puzzlement’ at ‘puzzle-driven’ coursework;
• ‘Institutional puzzlement’ at ‘puzzle-driven proposals

for language education courses, workshops and practicum semesters. So, “we need to concentrate our efforts on carefully co- constructing participants’ receptivity (Allwright & Bailey, 1991) for ‘puzzlement’, … facing ‘uncertainty’ and ‘accepting complexity’.” (Miller, 2009, p. 89).

Time and presence at schools: ‘observing for understanding’ and ‘puzzling’

Some teacher-learner puzzles:

• Why don’t students care about doing homework for

their grades in English?

• Why doesn’t the teacher allow me to participate in the

internship?

• Why don’t students in classes B and C pay attention and

clearly don’t like the teacher?

• Why does the teacher I’m observing seem to be very

motivated with class A and demotivated with classes B and C?

Time and presence at schools: ‘observing for understanding’ and ‘puzzling’

• Why do teachers treat students as a ‘mass’?
• Why does my teacher still work in that school, if she

does not like it there?

• Why does my teacher only talk to me to complain

about/ or criticize the students?

• Why does my teacher behave in different ways: one

with the "normal" students and another with students with special needs and / or children of employees?

Micro-teaching at the university as ‘working for understanding’

• Preparation and presentation of micro-lessons by

each teacher-learner and comments made by classmates  re-signified as learning opportunities rather than as opportunities to display technical knowledge.

• Questioning

what was learnt/understood by planning, teaching, participating and/or observing the micro-lessons  innumerable issues about language (L1 and/or L2), discourse, genre, materials, pedagogic activities, group participation, etc.

Micro-teaching at the university as ‘working for understanding’

“What I have learned from my own presentation of Micro I was that it is not always easy to tell the difference between eliciting and asking questions.” With my classmates’ presentations of Micro I, I had some other important understandings:

• 1. Preparing five-minute activities may be very challenging.
• 2. We need to be always aware of our target public (students’ profile) at all times, in order to prepare an

activity, because if we ask them to do some kind of activity at home, for example, we should make sure they will have the tools needed (computer, internet…).

• 3. Activities must always be meaningful. The class must have a purpose.
• 4. Students may not be willing to move from their seats when we ask them to.
• 5. We should prepare all the equipment needed before the class starts (set the movie, download the

video…)

• 6. Students don’t always get what we want from them. It’s difficult to guess what is on the teacher’s

mind.

• 7. Should we run the whole class in English? In Portuguese? Switch codes? We must again think about the

profile of our students and the knowledge they have of the language.

• 8. Eliciting does not have to do with “right” or expected answers.
• 9. We should be prepared to deal with our own anxiety, (expectations towards the students), to
• vercome silence, time issues, students’ pace.
• 10. We must be very careful not to make grammatical mistakes in presentations (oral or written in power

point/ handouts).

• 11. We should trust our memories and try not to read our notes during the entire class.

Micro-teaching at the university as ‘working for understanding’

My understandings with Micro II were:

• 1. We should be careful not to give students the answers while asking them (again, it’s important to

control our anxiety).

• 2. Will students be able to say, for example, what “can” and “will” have in common? Do they know

what modal verbs are? Why use them? When we ask a question such as: “What do these words have in common?” Aren’t we expecting a correct/ most appropriate answer? Therefore, it should not be considered eliciting.

• 3. Managing the board may be difficult for some teachers. We need to practice writing on the board

in an organized way in order to help our students.

• 4. We must avoid spoon-feeding students (don’t tell them what they can tell you and remember it’s

not good to have all the grammar rules on the power point or on the board if your intention is to make them think about it and come to conclusions by themselves).

• 5. Sometimes we may write too much and unnecessary things on the board. (I, you, he, she, it, we,

you, they… too much!)

• 6. We should be very careful not to ignore students’ answers and their effort. If we ask them a

question and they participate, we should give importance to what they are saying and not just go on writing on the board the sentences we believe to be the best.

• 7. We should be careful also not to give decontextualized examples. Once again, the activities should

always be meaningful.

• 8. We should rehearse before the class, specially the teachers that have more difficulty with

pronunciation/ sentence construction. Otherwise, it seems we are insecure or not prepared.

Micro-teaching at the university as ‘working for understanding’

As you can see, I did have many understandings throughout the presentations of our two first micros and I am looking forward the next ones. The course has been very enriching so far! (Practicum report, 2012)

Lessons taught (at schools) as Potentially Exploitable Pedagogic Activities

• A pedagogic activity proposed by a teacher or a learner

may become an

• pportunity

for classroom participants to understand issues not only related to the pedagogical content being worked on but also to what is going on inside as well as outside the classroom.

• As future teachers begin to plan PEPAs in this pre-

professional context, they become familiarized with the promising notion of ‘planning to understand’ and try to stay away from the notion of ‘planning to control’ (Allwright, 2003).

‘Planning to understand’

…class planning was among the activities we had to develop as part of the teaching assistantship, having in mind that the planned class content had to have some connections with subjects in class, but not necessarily restricted to it, with the objective to help them perceive things in a comprehensive manner. Starting from this point and having the Exploratory class guidelines as our basis, we started to reckon and discuss about themes that would provoke some debate and possible puzzles to work in the classroom. (Excerpt 2 - Kleber’s journal)

Lessons taught (at schools) as potentially exploitable pedagogic activities

We tried to prepare a class in which the students would have the opportunity to enhance their communicative skills, especially regarding their ability of having conversations in English. However, Kleber and I did not want this class to be only like a conversation class in which the topic is chosen randomly. Instead, our main

• bjective was to foster a thorough reflection about the

subject covered. (Excerpt 5 - Diego’s journal).

Reflective poster as an opportunity to integrate pre-professional learning and understandings

Preparing this poster was a really interesting experience. What I understood has, in fact, to do with Exploratory Practice itself and with teaching as whole – therefore, I think it was one

• f the most important understandings.

I realized that doing activities that have an exploratory potential is not something very complicated. An additional understanding I had was related precisely to the importance of the participation of the students in the process and the importance of our proposal – which was to understand how each class sees group work. (Practicum report, 2012)

Is the Practicum a fabulous contemplation excercise or teaching and learning practice?

This poster invites reflection

• n the following questions:

What experience / experiences distinguish the

• bserver and the trainee? and

How the educational community can act to make the undergraduate practicum a practice space for teaching and learning?

Gabriel Martins Assis de Matos – Translation and Bilingual Initial Teacher Education Graduate, PUC-Rio.

Como/Por que? How/ Why? Practicum poster (Fernanda, Marta, Lais)

A practicum poster

Why don’t parents participate in their children’s school life?

We believe that parents have central importance in the education of their children. But why do they not participate?

Ana Beatriz Cunha, Cristiane Vitoriano, Juliana Neto, Maria de Lourdes Souza e Rafaela Araujo - Licenciandas Depto. de Letras, PUC-Rio

Admilson’s narrative

During our course I was kind of spotting for a language school. In the beginning of this year I was desperate, because I was unemployed, and even now, I am not much better. I went there and taught what, in the words of the coordinator, was a disappointing class. She was expecting me to be the best candidate. But I was not sad. I apologised and told her that I had other priorities. At that moment I realised that something had happened to me. That was not the kind of work I wanted to do. We have to survive, of course; but I really did not want to do that behaviouristic

• thing. There weren’t possibilities of really doing something I understood

and could discuss with colleagues as a real possibility of giving meaning to the teaching of a foreign language. “Put quality of life first.” We have to make it real, for us and for our

• students. Maybe I could have found there this possibility, but I don’t

believe so. There wasn’t room for changing.

(In Allwright & Hanks, 2009)

By way of conclusion….

• At

the university,

• ur

teacher-learners spontaneously pay attention to quality of classroom life (an Exploratory Practice principle).

• We work to educate future teachers who value

dissensus (Souza, 2011, p. 297) and who accept the notion that there is no complete or finished understanding.

• We hope that, as future practitioners, our teachers,

will be able to contribute with agentive, collaborative and transformative practices. (Barreto, Miller & Góes, 2015)

References

ALLWRIGHT, D. Am I now, have I ever been, and could I ever be - a ‘developer’? In: Engin, M.; Harvey, J. (Eds.). Teacher training/teacher development: Integration and diversity. Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey, p. 138-143, 1996. ______. Three major processes of teacher development and the appropriate design criteria for developing and using them. In Johnston, B.; Irujo, S. (Eds.). Research and practice in language teacher education: Voices from the field. Minneapolis, MN: Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition, p. 115-133, 2001. ______. Planning for Understanding: A New Approach to the Problem of Method. In: Pesquisas em Discurso Pedagógico: Vivenciando a Escola. Rio de Janeiro, Instituto de Pesquisa e Ensino de Línguas, PUC-Rio, v. 2, n.1, p. 7-24, 2003. ______. From teaching points to learning opportunities and beyond. Tesol Quarterly, Alexandria, Virginia, v. 39, n.1, p. 9-31, 2005. ______. Prioritising the human quality of life in the language classroom: is it asking too much of beginning teachers? In: GIL, G.; VIEIRA-ABRAHÃO, M.H. (Orgs.) A formaçao de professores: os desafios do formador, Campinas: SP, Pontes Editores, 2008, p. 127-144. ______.Six Promising Directions in Applied Linguistics. In: Gieve, S.; I.K. Miller. (Eds.) Understanding the language classroom, 11-17. Hampshire, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. ALLWRIGHT, D.; MILLER, I. K. Burnout and the Beginning Teacher. In: Soneson, D. and Tarone, E., with Anna Uhl Chamot, Anup Mahajan and Margaret Malone (Eds.). Expanding our horizons: Language teacher education in the 21st century. Minneapolis: Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA), p. 101-115, 2012.

References

ALLWRIGHT, D.; HANKS, J. The Developing Learner: An Introduction to Exploratory

• Practice. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.

BARRETO, B.; MILLER, I.K.; GÓES, M.C.G.M. Por que trabalhar com a Práctica Exploratória na formação inicial de professores. IN: BOKEL REIS, C.M.; SOARES dos SANTOS, W. Formação de professores de línguas em múltiplos contextos. Campinas: SP, Pontes Editores, p. 57-83, 2015 BORGES, E. A.V.B. 2007. Afinal, o que as supervisoras acadêmicas fazem? Explorando

• backstage de uma comunidade de prática. Master’s Dissertation. Rio de Janeiro:

Departamento de Letras, PUC-Rio, 2007. CERDERA, C. The notion of understanding in Exploratory Practice: a Wittgensteinian

• approach. PhD Thesis. Rio de Janeiro: Departamento de Letras, PUC-Rio, 2009.

EWALD, C. “I’m not just participating. I’m also benefitting from it all”: Exploratory Practice in teacher research development. Tese de Doutorado. PhD Thesis. Rio de Janeiro: Departamento de Letras, PUC-Rio, 2015. GIEVE, S.; MILLER, I. K. What do we mean by quality of classroom life? In GIEVE, S.; MILLER, I. K. (Eds.). Understanding the language classroom. Hampshire, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan, p. 18-46, 2006. MILLER, I. K. A Prática Exploratória na educação de professores de línguas: inserções acadêmicas e teorizações híbridas. In: SILVA, K. A.; DANIEL, F. G.; KANEKO- MARQUES, S. M.; SALOMÃO, A. C. B. (Orgs.). A formação de professores de línguas: Novos olhares – Volume II. Campinas, SP: Pontes Editores, p. 317-339, 2012.

References

______. Formação Inicial e Continuada de Professores de Línguas: da Eficiência à Reflexão Crítica e Ética. In: Moita Lopes, L.P. (Organizador). Linguística Aplicada na Modernidade Recente: Festschrift para Antonieta Celani. São Paulo: Parábola Editorial, p. 99-121, 2013. MILLER, I.K., BARRETO, B. C., MORAES BEZERRA, I. C. R., CUNHA, M. I. A., BRAGA, W.G., KUSCHNIR, A. N. ; SETTE, M. L. Prática Exploratória: questões e desafios. In: GIL, G.; ABRAHÃO, M. H. (Eds.). A Formação do professor de línguas: os desafios do

• formador. Campinas, SP: Pontes, p. 145-165, 2008.

MILLER, I.K.; BRAGA, W. G.; CÔRTES, T. C.R.; OLIVEIRA, A. F. A. Exploratory Practice in initial teacher education: working collaboratively for understandings. In: Teacchers Research, SMITH, R. & BULLOCK, D. Kent, United Kingdom, 2015. MORAES BEZERRA, I.C.R. “Com quantos fios se tece uma reflexão?” Narrativas e argumentações no tear da interação. PhD Thesis. Rio de Janeiro: Departamento de Letras, PUC-Rio, 2007. MOURA, S. M. L. A PhD thesis as a potentially exploitalbe pedagogic activity: working to understand textualisation of academic knowledge. PhD Thesis. Rio de Janeiro: Departamento de Letras, PUC-Rio, in progress. PERRENOUD, P. A prática reflexiva no ofício do professor: profissionalização e razão pedagógica. Porto Alegre: ARTMED, 2002.

References

REIS, B. Who am I? Who were we?: (The Story of) a research on teacher identities. Master’s Dissertation. Rio de Janeiro: Departamento de Letras, PUC-Rio, 2014. RODRIGUES, R. Exploratory Practice in English teacher education: reflection and ethics in pedagogic practice. PhD Thesis. Rio de Janeiro: Departamento de Letras, PUC-Rio, 2014. RODRIGUES, R. M. V. Por que somos felizes nas aulas de inglês da turma 1701? Alunos e professora buscando entender a qualidade de vida que vivenciam em sua sala de aula. Master’s Dissertation. Rio de Janeiro: Departamento de Letras, PUC-Rio, 2009. SANTIAGO, A. C. dos S. Members of the Exploratory Practice group working to understand their own narratives of experience. Master’s Dissertation. Rio de Janeiro: Departamento de Letras, PUC-Rio, 2009. SETTE, M. de L.. A vida na sala de aula: ponto de encontro da Prática Exploratória com a Psicanálise. PhD Thesis. Rio de Janeiro: Departamento de Letras, PUC-Rio, 2006. SOUZA, C. A. O espaço de escuta na escola: questões sobre interdição, direitos, deveres e ética. PhD Thesis. Rio de Janeiro: Departamento de Letras, PUC-Rio, 2015.

Learners at a poster

General scene of the ‘event’

Three young learners at the EP Event

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