Vielen Dank, Louise, für Ihre (deine?) Einführung in die deutsche Sprache...
We saw last week the importance of the rapport between the teacher and the class in creating a culture of learning, and this session reinforced that. Central to language teaching is having learners prepared to experiment, and potentially make fools of themselves. That calls for a safe environment and confidence in the teacher, which Louise clearly generated.
The prospect of "role-play" does make some people really nervous, as one of you said; but the reality, in terms of just asking one another simple questions and then answering them, was much less daunting.
Louise also made good use of the board, in terms of reinforcing new words and expressions, and giving value to the class contributions. As we discussed, there is something of a trade-off between just breaking off to jot down a word, without interrupting the flow of the conversation too much, and maximising the value of the note, by for example including the translation. One way of dealing with this is to make a habit, as part of the conclusion of the session, of spending five minutes re-visiting everything on the board, and adding in the translation. Obviously it doesn't apply to a one-off session, but when learners know what to expect of the shape of a session, they'll usually wait fairly happily for such a point.
Reflective Journal
The point of my session was simply to give you enough confidence to get started with the journal. It is not likely to come very naturally to begin with, but practice is an important component (together with feedback), and it does get easier and more fluent.
So for once I discouraged you from doing too much reading around at this stage of the game, because well-intentioned though the literature is, at the moment it is more likely to confuse than illuminate. You can revisit it when you have found your own voice, and you want to raise your game further.
So we looked at the simplest of all models of reflection, that of Rolfe (ref. below):
In practical terms, there are notes about the pros and cons of notebooks and blogs etc. on pages 63 and 64 of the Handbook.
A useful way of getting started is what Jenny Moon calls the "double entry" methods: divide your page into two (or three) columns. Write your narrative in the first column, and your reflections (so what? and now what?) in the others. This helps you to take the step beyond simple description. In a few weeks, you'll probably find it a little restrictive, so you can then abandon it and move to a more fluent account integrating the narrative and the reflection.
Incidentally, we did get into something of a "Why don't you? Yes, but..." interchange at one point towards the end of the session (the link is to the discussion of the full-scale "game" version of this in Transactional Analysis--we didn't get to that stage!), but it did remind me to suggest that the "Now what?" stage does not have to have any answers, particularly at this stage. The questions and issues are what matter. Two points occur to me:
References
Moon J (1999) Reflection in Learning and Professional Development; theory and practice London; Kogan Page
Moon J (2006) Learning Journals; a handbook for reflective practice and professional development (2nd edn.) London; Routledge
Rolfe, G., Freshwater, D., Jasper, M. (eds.) (2001) Critical Reflection for Nursing and the Helping Professions Palgrave; Basingstoke
Whitaker D S and Lieberman M A (1965) Psychotherapy through the Group Process London; Tavistock
And if you do want to follow up my reservations about reflection as a panacea, there's a paper on them here.
We saw last week the importance of the rapport between the teacher and the class in creating a culture of learning, and this session reinforced that. Central to language teaching is having learners prepared to experiment, and potentially make fools of themselves. That calls for a safe environment and confidence in the teacher, which Louise clearly generated.
The prospect of "role-play" does make some people really nervous, as one of you said; but the reality, in terms of just asking one another simple questions and then answering them, was much less daunting.
Louise also made good use of the board, in terms of reinforcing new words and expressions, and giving value to the class contributions. As we discussed, there is something of a trade-off between just breaking off to jot down a word, without interrupting the flow of the conversation too much, and maximising the value of the note, by for example including the translation. One way of dealing with this is to make a habit, as part of the conclusion of the session, of spending five minutes re-visiting everything on the board, and adding in the translation. Obviously it doesn't apply to a one-off session, but when learners know what to expect of the shape of a session, they'll usually wait fairly happily for such a point.
Reflective Journal
The point of my session was simply to give you enough confidence to get started with the journal. It is not likely to come very naturally to begin with, but practice is an important component (together with feedback), and it does get easier and more fluent.
So for once I discouraged you from doing too much reading around at this stage of the game, because well-intentioned though the literature is, at the moment it is more likely to confuse than illuminate. You can revisit it when you have found your own voice, and you want to raise your game further.
So we looked at the simplest of all models of reflection, that of Rolfe (ref. below):
- What happened? This is simple description of an event (which can concern any aspect of your practice, not just an actual face-to-face teaching session).
- So what? What is the significance or impact of it? In particular what does it mean to you, and/or your students, colleagues, mentor?
- Now what? How might you respond to it? What might you do differently if something similar happens again?
In practical terms, there are notes about the pros and cons of notebooks and blogs etc. on pages 63 and 64 of the Handbook.
A useful way of getting started is what Jenny Moon calls the "double entry" methods: divide your page into two (or three) columns. Write your narrative in the first column, and your reflections (so what? and now what?) in the others. This helps you to take the step beyond simple description. In a few weeks, you'll probably find it a little restrictive, so you can then abandon it and move to a more fluent account integrating the narrative and the reflection.
Incidentally, we did get into something of a "Why don't you? Yes, but..." interchange at one point towards the end of the session (the link is to the discussion of the full-scale "game" version of this in Transactional Analysis--we didn't get to that stage!), but it did remind me to suggest that the "Now what?" stage does not have to have any answers, particularly at this stage. The questions and issues are what matter. Two points occur to me:
- One model of group processes suggests that initial solutions to problems ("There ought to be a law about it!") are often restrictive and ineffective, and it is important not to fall into their traps. Instead the debate needs to be kept open until you can get past to an enabling solution. An example of a knee-jerk restrictive but ineffective solution to a problem often cited was the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991, and the initial version of the Vetting and Barring Scheme for safeguarding children and vulnerable adults (now suspended as counter-productive).
- John Keats also wrote about the desirability of "Negative Capability, that is when man is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts without any irritable reaching after fact & reason.” (Keats,1817) Reflection is a useful way of hanging on to such open-ness--although it has to be admitted that it can lead to dithering!
References
Moon J (1999) Reflection in Learning and Professional Development; theory and practice London; Kogan Page
Moon J (2006) Learning Journals; a handbook for reflective practice and professional development (2nd edn.) London; Routledge
Rolfe, G., Freshwater, D., Jasper, M. (eds.) (2001) Critical Reflection for Nursing and the Helping Professions Palgrave; Basingstoke
Whitaker D S and Lieberman M A (1965) Psychotherapy through the Group Process London; Tavistock
And if you do want to follow up my reservations about reflection as a panacea, there's a paper on them here.
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