Teacher Professional Development: A Guide to Lifelong Learning
UNIT 7: Teacher Professional Development
7.1 Introduction: Planning Your Professional Development
Lifelong learning means that learning doesn’t stop when you leave school or college. Learning can take place in formal and informal contexts, and we can learn from our peers, students, and more. Using a professional development portfolio is one way we can plan and organize our learning at this stage in our professional life.
7.2 Creating Your Development Portfolio
What is a Professional Development Portfolio?
A portfolio is a selection of materials that illustrate our professional growth as a teacher. It is a work in progress and helps us to identify, focus on, and reflect on areas of interest. It enables us to plan, review, and assess our professional development.
Why Should We Have a Professional Development Portfolio?
These portfolios help to secure work, exhibitions, etc. Teachers can display exemplars of their work and demonstrate their growth as professionals. Some of its benefits are:
- Helps us to plan our development
- Facilitates reflective practice
- Provides a framework for lifelong learning
- Enhances teaching
- Has a positive impact on our learners
7.3 Classroom Action Research
What is Classroom Action Research?
It is a reflective process that helps teachers to explore and examine aspects of teaching and learning and to take action to change and improve. Classroom action research begins with a question or questions about classroom experiences, issues, or challenges.
Who is it For?
Any teacher who:
- Wants to understand more about teaching and learning
- Wants to develop teaching skills and knowledge
- Wants to take action to improve student learning
Benefits of Classroom Action Research:
- Provides a framework for trying out different approaches and ideas
- Helps develop reflective practice
- Enables teachers to make choices and decisions about their teaching styles
- Helps develop confidence
- Helps teachers improve student learning
Steps to Conduct Classroom Action Research:
- Reflect: Think about questions related to teaching and make a list. Then, decide what you would like to research.
- Explore: Reflect on your research question. Find out as much as you can about your question topic in books, on the internet, etc.
- Plan: Elaborate an action research plan that states your question.
- Research: Carry out your research using your chosen method. Some tools are: peer observation, teacher diary, learner feedback, lesson evaluation, etc.
- Analyze: Reflect on, organize, and review your data to help you answer your research question. What have you found out?
- Act: Reflect on your results and look at your teaching practice.
- Review: Review after you have implemented changes.
7.4 Teacher Diaries
A teacher diary is similar to a personal diary where you record events, thoughts, and observations. With a teacher diary, you write about your experiences as a teacher. We should keep a teacher diary because:
- It provides a focus for reflecting on things that happen in our class and why they happen in the way that they do.
- It can be used to help other teachers.
7.5 Peer Observation
Peer observation is a tool to help teachers find out about their own and their colleagues’ classroom practices so that they can take action to change and develop. It is intended to provide a supportive framework where teachers can explore and share ideas about teaching and learning. It is a two-way learning process – the teacher and the observer learn from the experience. It is not about making criticisms, monitoring, or judging colleagues’ teaching skills.
Who Observes?
Some teachers find it useful to observe and be observed by a colleague who shares their interests or concerns or by a more experienced colleague.
What is Observed?
Teachers themselves decide on the focus of the observation. This may be, for example: clarity of instructions, class dynamics, sequencing tasks and activities, experimenting with a new approach or idea, and so on.
How to Do It:
- Before the lesson, talk to your ‘observer’: Be specific about what exactly you want your observer to observe. How much of the lesson do you want to have observed – all of it, or selected parts? What time should your observer enter your class?
- During the lesson: Remember this is a developmental opportunity. Try not to get distracted by having an observer in your classroom. Introduce the observer to your class.
- After the lesson: Reflect on the stage you selected for observation. What are your impressions? How did your learners respond?
- Post-lesson feedback: Remember peer observation is a supportive process and it is also an opportunity for the observer to learn and develop. Discuss points noted by the observer or explore ideas for improving or changing things with your observer.
7.6 Reflective Practice
Reflective practice means thinking about and learning from what happens in our classroom.
How to Do It:
Think about what went well or didn’t go well in a lesson. Also, think about how you can improve on things.
7.7 Starting a Professional Community
A professional community is a group of individuals who share common interests. The aim is to support continuing professional development. The community space is a place where members of the community can exchange ideas, share experiences, collaborate on projects, and support each other.