My Comments on Professor Shu’s Statement about“What is Learning to Teach?”

华中师范大学英语教育硕士

湖北省武汉市江夏区实验高中

熊慧芳

As for the statement“learning to teach is a collab鄄orative effect,a reflective process,a situated experience,and a theorizing opportunity”(舒白梅,2010:311)，I can’t agree more.Lessons are dynamic in nature,to some extent unpredictable.In the process of learning to teach,it is necessary for teachers to continuously make decisions that are appropriate to the specific dynamics of the lesson.So,in order to optimize students’ learning and teach鄄ers’sustainable development,teachers should learn to teach throughout teaching career.

1.Make comments on the statement

1.1 Learning to teach is a collaborative effort.

In the present times,collaborative effort is regarded as an important factor to achieve success.The situation also goes for the process of learning to teach.Collabora鄄tion can be seen as the catalyst to optimize the process,making it more efficient and perfect.

1.1.1 the collaboration between novice teachers and experienced teachers

As novice teachers,they may have learned a lot theories about teaching,they may not have sufficient experience-based practice knowledge about what to teach,how to teach more effectively,how to deal with problems encountered in the teaching process and why based on the particular students.Therefore,they may not choose appropriately what is more suitable for the particular students from their repertoire of teaching methods or apply them flexibly.However,through the collaboration with the experienced teachers,novice teachers may have less confusion in the aspects men鄄tioned above under the guide and influence of experi鄄enced teachers.So they can integrate the theory and practice better in a shorter time.

1.1.2 the collaboration between teachers and more experienced teachers

Different teachers may have different teaching con鄄ceptions,strategies or styles.Some teachers may take the traditional transmission of knowledge,others may e鄄quip themselves with the innovative teaching concep鄄tions applied to their teaching effectively.Through the collaboration,teachers can learn from more advanced and experienced teachers in the aspects of conceptions,methods and paradigm,and try to apply them to their teaching appropriately in their own comfortable styles.

In addition,teachers can collaborate by sharing teaching material with each other who should make a necessary adjustment according to students’language level,thus reducing teachers’work load and enhancing teaching efficiency.

1.1.3 the collaboration among teachers,students and their parents

As we know,interest is the best teacher.Therefore,teachers should know what their students are interested in and familiar with,what they have already known or mastered,what they are confused at,what teaching styles they like better,what learning styles or strategies they have etc.Teachers can negotiate with students and their parents through questionnaire,interview,observa鄄tion or free communication to get what they want to know.In this way,teachers can know more about stu鄄dents “zone of proximal development” and find a better way to trigger the motivation and interest of students’learning and help them construct the systematic knowl鄄edge,improving the efficacy of teaching and learning.

1.1.4 the collaboration between teachers and schools

In the school where teachers are provided suffi鄄cient chances and time to learn from other teachers through observation,conference,the innovative teaching revolution or take in-service training course,teachers will have a better professional development,which is the results of the collaborative efforts.

1.2 Learning to teach is a reflective process.

Learning to teach continues throughout a teachers’entire career no matter how good a teacher’s education program is,it can only prepare teachers to begin teach鄄ing.Teachers need to take a reflective teaching to in鄄ternalize the disposition and study their teaching and become better at teaching over time.Reflective prac鄄tice is an unstructured approach directing the under鄄standing and learning,as well as a self regulated pro鄄cess,which involves thoughtfully considering one’s own experiences in applying knowledge to practice while being coached by professionals in the discipline.

1.2.1 the importance of reflective teaching

When teachers collaborate with other teachers,they can’t take in all from others passively. “Experience alone is insufficient for professional growth,and experience coupled with reflection is a much more powerful impetus for development”(Richards&Nunan1 990:201).Teachers may meet much confusion and puzzles.Without reflective thinking,what teachers have got,observed or learned from others is just superficial.Similar dilemmas will appear because teachers can’t form theirown flexible and systematic practice integrated with theories.

Reflective practice works well in helping teachers find the students’problems consciously and actively,and determine what works best for the students.Through critically reflective thinking and action,teachers may feel more intellectually involved in their work,the paucity of scientific fact and the uncertainty of knowledge in the discipline of teaching.As Burton says that “reflection is an essential tool in teacher professionaldevelopment.”Teacherscan enhance theirown cognition,equip themselves with the knowledge base for LTE,and improve their own teaching by consciously and systematically reflecting on their teaching experiences.

From this point,we can say reflective teaching is part of integral parts.

1.2.2 what to need reflective thinking

Cruickshank and Applegate(1981.4,as cited in Bartlett,1990,202)define reflective teaching as“the teacher’s thinking about what happens in classroom lesions,and thinkingaboutalternativemeansof achieving goals or aims”.Reflective teaching involves“a recognition,examination,and rumination over the implications of one’s beliefs,experiences,attitudes,knowledge,and values as well as the opportunities and constraints provided by the social conditions in which the teacher works.”(Zerchner&Liston 1996,6,as cited in Kathleen M.Bailey,Andy Curtis&David NuNan,2009)

1.3 Learning to teach is a situated experience

Whatteachersknow consistsofexperiential knowledge and the received knowledge of the field.Experiential knowledge relates to the“knowledge-inaction by practice of the profession”—in other words,the knowledge we amass through ourpersonal experience with teaching.So in the process of professional development,teachers should equip themselves with experienced knowledge to perfect gradually their knowledge system.

In the process of learning to teach,teachers should collaborate with others,reflect on the teaching and learning process.Without experience,collaborative effort and reflective process are just like “water without origin”.Teaching experience can provide sufficient resources for reflective teaching.In turn,reflective teaching should be situated in experience.

Learning to teach is the process of putting what are learned into teaching practice.Teachers may have learned many teaching theories,strategies and methods,but the imperfect combination between theories and teaching practices and insufficient period of teaching practicum isn’t enough for novice teachers to apply what they have learned in the education program to satisfy the needs of particular students.However,teaching practice or experience can help teachers better understand and figure out how to use what they have learned in the book more effectively in the specific teaching settings.

1.4 Learning to teach is a theorizing opportunity

In the learning to teach,teachers use the theory they have learned as an guideline through collaborative approach that assumes mutual respect among various participantsinvolved in teachereducation,reflective teaching involved in teaching elements and teaching practical experience,teachers may refine or reformulate their own theories situated in experience, critical reflection,collaboration,thusintegrating theory with practice better.New theory will be applied to teaching for testing its validity and reliability.“Theory comes from practice and is tested in practice.”

In the process like this,whether the practitioners in the flesh,or other teacher educators can get their theory knowledge and teaching practice improved to a higher level,facilitating the learning of students.

2.Conclusion

“Learning to teach is a complex process which is combined with a collaborative effort,a reflective process,a situated experience and a theorizing opportunity”(舒白梅,2010:311).For the professional development,teachers can’t sacrifice some aspects to lay more emphases on one as鄄pect.A collaborative effect,a reflective process,a situated experience,and a theorizing opportunity are all integral parts of learning process.They are usually interwoven with each other,permeating and interacting with each other.

[1]Bartlett,L.Teacher development through reflective teaching[M].New York:Cambridge University Press,1990:202.

[2]J.C.Richards and D..Nunan(Eds),Second Language Teache Ed鄄ucation[M].New York:Cambridge University Press,2002:214

[3]Kathleen M.Bailey,Andy Curtis&David NuNan..Pursuing Professional Development:The Self As Source[M].Beijing:For鄄eign Language Teaching And Research Press,2009.

[4]舒白梅.现代外语教育学 [M].上海:上海外语教育出版社,2010:311.