This course is open to learners who have completed all eight courses on the Foundations of Teaching for Learning MOOC. It revisits topics covered and focuses on what it really means to be a reflective practitioner. One of the great paradoxes of learning is that the more you know the more you become aware of what you don’t know... and the more you want to know! This course offers an opportunity to further deepen and broaden your professional expertise. It provides an opportunity to participate in practical tasks and assessments that draw on the knowledge and skills gained in the previous courses. If you have completed the eight courses, signed up to the Signature track, met all the assessment requirements of the programme and would like to continue to build on your interest and achievements, this course is for you! There is enough challenge and scope for learners who already have teaching experience, but this course is also suitable for less experienced learners who may not have a great deal of teacher education or may not yet hold a teaching qualification. Announcement for US based teachers: Coursera and its partners are proud to offer eligible teachers in the US free Course Certificates for this course and other high-quality teacher professional development courses, through the Connected effort announced by President Obama. To participate in this opportunity, US district leaders simply need to approve Coursera teacher professional development by completing a brief form at: www.coursera.org/tpd. US Teachers interested in this opportunity are also encouraged to follow the link to learn more and www.coursera.org/tpd. Once a district’s form has been verified, the district leader will be notified and teachers in the district will receive access to free verified certificates for Coursera professional development. Coursera and the Commonwealth Education Trust thank educators for the hard work they do every day and hope this opportunity will assist US teachers to continue developing their craft in a meaningful and flexible way.
Alex Alexandrou
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来自 Commonwealth Education Trust 的课程
教学基础毕业项目： 反思实践者
13 个评分
从本节课中
Practical Task Creation
Lesson plans. Who needs them? Don’t good teachers just teach spontaneously and flexibly in response to their students? Of course many teachers do just that, especially if they have been teaching for a long time. So why engage in the laborious business of creating a lesson plan? Who is it for and what use does it serve?
与讲师见面
Professor John MacBeathProfessor Emeritus
University of Cambridge, UK
Alex AlexandrouDr
[MUSIC]
>> Welcome, Alex, you'll be well known to anybody who has been taking
Coursera courses and has been onto the forums
in which you have been giving people very good encouragement and advice.
And now people are actually going to meet you in the flesh.
So, if you'd just introduce yourself, Alex, thanks.
>> Hi, my name is Dr. Alex Alexandrou and I'm a freelance academic.
I work with universities and schools in relation to
teacher professional development and learning.
>> In terms of observing a colleague's lesson,
what for you would you say are the very first principles?
I would start with identifying a quiet space
where both the teacher and I will not be interrupted,
and the teacher feels is non-threatening and feels comfortable in being able to discuss
the aspects of the lesson, both from a positive perspective
as well as dealing with the gaps and limitations of that lesson.
>> So, there you are, you’ve found your quiet space,
what then is the starting point for you in offering feedback
to the teacher who’s lesson you’ve just observed?
>> The starting point for me in terms of giving feedback is to identify
the positive aspects first, to compliment the teacher
on various aspects of the lesson that I felt went well.
For example, I may comment on the pace and flow of the lesson,
and additionally where I felt the teacher engaged the students in, for example,
questioning and dialogue that actually took their learning to a higher level.
In relation to the type of question being asked,
again, in part it will depend on the topic
that you are teaching on that particular day.
For example, if you can relate it to a current affairs item
that the students are interested in, you may want to base your question
around that issue that can stimulate, not only discussion, but further questioning
where the students not only question you, but question each other.
So, basically, what you’re trying to do through your questioning
is develop learning through discussion and questioning.
>> Let me ask you about planning.
do teachers in this highly pressurised and policy environment,
with more and more pressure, larger classes,
is there really time for planning?
Is there really a pay-off that merits that kind of investment?
>> In terms of lesson planning, I would go along the route of lesson study,
as we call it. And basically, in terms of planning your lessons,
it can’t be an individual task.
Teachers need to work collaboratively
in relation to planning their lessons.
So, for example, a group of teachers from the same subject
will sit down and discuss every aspect of the lesson –
from the planning all the way through to the delivery of the lesson
and then it’s the post-lesson analysis
and discussion that is quite critical as well.
So, basically there is a process to go through that is collaborative.
Teachers have to plan and prepare lessons,
so what is the difference in terms of doing it individually and collaboratively?
But if you share the process with colleagues,
then you are developing yourself as a teacher,
professional learning is going on, in terms of swapping ideas,
challenging each other. Because part of lesson planning
and lesson study is that colleagues on a regular basis will come in
and observe your lessons and vice versa.
So, this type of approach to lesson planning actually is part of your ongoing
professional development and learning, but also
it will become less time consuming
because you are working with others to develop lessons.
It is key the more you plan, the more you prepare,
the more you are able to develop a lesson that will stimulate
the engagement and the interest of students
that will develop two aspects – not only their learning, but also their inquisitiveness.
>> I’m all for inquisitiveness, of course, isn’t that what learning is all about?
And yet, in this real world – and I’m talking about the real world
of many Commonwealth countries with very, very large classes –
it would be nice to think that teachers could let go a little
and allow a little more pupil direction, a little more inquisitiveness on their part,
but at the same time you can understand teachers who want to keep on top,
keep the pace going.
And allowing anything that risks losing that
control, losing that authority, isn’t that a little bit dangerous?
It can be, yes, but again it depends on how you construct,
not only your lesson, but also how you identify
the best method of developing questioning within such a large group.
For example, you may want to split that large number of students
into smaller groups and then set each group a task
that will involve questioning each other and then they can
report back and then you can develop questions based on
the discussions the students have had on the original questions.
It is key that teachers at all times must be flexible in their approach
in terms of finding ways, irrespective of the size of their class,
in terms of questioning and the techniques they utilise to question their students.
I come from the school of thought that both students and teachers
are learners, and that we can all be experts within the classroom.
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