UNIVERSIDAD CATÓLICA DE LA SANTÍSIMA CONCEPCIÓNFACULTAD DE EDUCACIÓN

PEDAGOGÍA EN EDUCACIÓN MEDIA EN INGLÉS

“PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT REACTION PAPER”

Course: English Methodology IITeacher: Roxanna CorreaStudent name: Camila Cuevas

Concepción, November 22, 2013

Joanne Pettis (2002) presents her reflections on developing the

professional competence as ESL teachers. She strongly states there is a need on

reflecting and committing oneself to the continuing development of one’s

professional competence on a regular basis. The author also declares ESL

teachers have the necessity to continuous the lifelong process of learning in and

outside the classroom, for this is vital to their professional competence. The social

aspect of teaching presents educators as agents of change who facilitate the

development of the student’s communicative competence, concept defined by

Tedick and Walker (1994) as the ability to communicate and understand messages

across linguistic and cultural boundaries. Pettis asserts principles, knowledge and

skills are undoubtedly the three aspects that make an educator professionally

competent. Moreover, she argues these aspects to be equally important since

there must be a balance in order to assure professional effectiveness. Knowledge

and principles without skills or, skills and knowledge without principles are

considered unacceptable states by Pettis.

The author also states the importance of learning new things while each teaching

career naturally evolves, and making a personal commitment to the own

professional growth. She says it is a professional responsibility that should be

undertaken by every teacher, promising to make the most of the opportunities that

are presented not because it is an obligation, but because it is beneficial for both

teachers and students.

In her article Elizabeth Taylor (2002) refers to the importance on conducting

research in the classroom. The author declares whenever there is a doubt or

question about a particular topic relating your context, no matter how specific it

may be, there is an opportunity to conduct an investigation. For instance, a teacher

may realize that when students work in groups of four, they tend to stand up and

walk around the classroom much more than if they were working in pairs. In this

text, Taylor communicates some steps to teachers in order to conduct a research.

Among these steps, the author mention teachers should have casual

conversations in order to find out whether these behaviours have been seen in

other classrooms as well. The idea is that this informal chat provides the

opportunity to share ideas that could be useful and learn from colleagues. After

this, Taylor states the need to decide whether to work alone or in a group and to

find out if some previous studies on the topic have been conducted in the past.

Later the author uses the research of a teacher as an example of how to conduct a

research in which she mentions collecting information, analysing it and making

conclusions of it as parts of the investigation. Finally, the author asserts that

investigating in the classroom is absolutely positive not only for the development of

their particular class but also to the whole area of teaching as well.

Penny Ur (2002) begins the article with a definition of professional and

states the dissimilarities that differentiate -almost- professional teachers with

concepts such as lay, amateur, technician and academic in terms of the quality of

preparatory, standards and the level of commitment each of them have. As stated

by the author, a professional of education should be committed to its job from the

moment of preparation that leads to it, such as pre-service or in-service courses, to

the learning that continues through all its professional’s working life. In addition to

this, the skills that an educator has and the context in which they are used

differentiate professionals from technicians and academics, respectively. These,

alongside with responsibility, are the matters she remarks through the article she

considers give teachers the level of professionals. Penny also declares that

English teachers are a community of colleagues committed to reach certain

standards of performance, which are continuously learning and publishing new

ideas in an autonomous way and are responsible for the training of pre-service

teachers. To conclude, the author specifies that even though English teachers

have not reached the level to be considered professionals yet, there is a growing

effort in organisations that will eventually lead to the degree of professionalism

expected.

The most important statements of Brown (2001) are the ones referring to the

relation of teachers and learning. He states that educators are continuously

learning though not only educational situations such as conferences or workshops

but actually in every moment of their working life. The author states that a student

asking a question or a doubt presented by a colleague can be a challenge in a

teacher’s professional life and will undoubtedly enrich his or her knowledge in all

aspects. Brown presents a list of eight different goals that can certainly help

teachers develop their professional competence though the course of years and

while getting more and more experience. Additionally, he states that these goals

should be taken step by step and not expect to achieve them all at once for it is a

long and difficult road to become an expert in the area and he also suggests

teachers should help each other since it is a much more enriching process than

doing all on their own.

Evaluation

Firstly, I have to admit I agree with all the ideas presented by Joanne Pettis

(2002) in her reflections. I agree when she states there must be a balance between

principles, knowledge and skills. When I first arrived at the university to study my

major I believed principles and skills were not as important as knowledge, but over

the course of years and the practices at school I have learnt and realized the three

are equally important. I have learnt that a teacher who knows all the grammar but

lacks the skills to teach it is the same as a doctor who knows the theory but is not

able to operate. Now I think that we as teachers need to have all the knowledge, all

the skills and all the principles in the same amount and we should be able to make

one good professional from the combination of all. In my experience as a student in

the university I have seen many times professionals that lack one of these three

aspects and unfortunately, they seem to have no interest in changing it, which

takes me to the next idea of the author: every teacher should be committed to their

professional development.

I consider this as one of the most important activities a teacher should do regularly.

In my case, I have attended as many conferences and workshops as I have could

and hope to continue participating when I am a professional. I have a constant

desire to learn and try new things, which explains my interest in these sorts of

activities, and to me, the chance to exchange knowledge with more experienced

and full of advises professionals is a very enriching opportunity to develop as a

professional. While reading Petti’s reflections I found myself nodding since I agree

with her ideas on this matter and it was very gratifying to know that I have been

committed to my future students on a level I had not give much thought before.

To conclude, as in the text says, it is important to show a high level of responsibility

with ourselves and our students which reinforces the idea that teachers must have

a willingness to learn new activities or techniques to use them in class. Sometimes

teachers tend to avoid these professional development opportunities, becoming

out-dated and more of a problem than someone who provides help.

Secondly, I consider the text of Elizabeth Taylor (2002) of most use since

we are facing a final stage in our major. During this last academic year, I have

been exposed to many different theories and papers in which investigations are the

protagonist and to be completely honest, it has been very confusing at times.

When I first read the text in class, I thought it was quite motivating and very easy to

follow with all the descriptions and examples in it. Now that I have read it more

carefully, I still believe that but I also consider that the impact that an investigation

has on our context in immense and it can be the extra push we sometimes need to

improve our performance as educators. Additionally, I consider it now as another

way to develop our professional competence for it certainly contributes to the

constant needs we present though our career. In my opinion, I believe conducting

investigations on particular topics are an excellent way to try to find solutions to

problems that seem to not have a clear answer. Moreover, it is a good opportunity

to contribute to the improvement of the educational system we are immersed.

It has been during these last two years I have realized I would like to conduct

investigations in the future, for I believe everyday matters in schools should and

can be studied with the same level of professionalism as any other scientific

studied issue. I think this is an activity that should be largely encouraged by

authorities such as the Ministry of Education and every single school in our country

since provides an effective and powerful tool lo every context in which is

conducted. Even though some professionals might find it difficult to implement, I

consider these challenges to be one of the most rewarding since contributing to the

development of other teachers and students it is not very common in our Chilean

society. To conclude, I have to admit it was a very interesting article from beginning

to end for the example used by the author gave me a clear view on how to find

something interesting in my professional context and be able to expand it and take

it to the next level.

Thirdly, I have to say I had never had the chance to read any work of Penny

Ur (2002) but I did know she is a very important author of our times, which gave

me an extra interest while reading her article. I saw Penny in a conference earlier

this year and her ideas are quite similar to the ones I heard in that opportunity. I

believe this author, given her vast experience, talks from a much known

perspective than others could, which makes me feel confident about her. I have to

admit she makes good points on the distinctive aspects on a professional versus

amateurs and all the other categories and I found myself wondering whether I was

on my way to become a professional or any other from the list. When we started

this major, I think none of us knew how difficult and hard it would be, but though

the years, I think we have learnt the importance of preparing ourselves in every

aspect possible. The experience the teaching practicum gives us ever semester,

added to the constant theories and discussions that take place in and outside

university classrooms had given us a wide range of opinions on what is expected

from a teacher. Some of my classmates –and professors as well- still believe that

you can be a teacher if you have a good level of English and tend to forget about

the skills and expertise that requires to be an educator. However, I do consider

there is a thin line between one and another, and sometimes one tend to make that

confusion and call ‘professional’ to an academic or vice versa.

Finally, I totally agree with Brown (2001) when he states educators never

stop learning because I have seen many cases in which I see my own school

teachers attending workshops and some of them have even talked to me about this

matter. I consider this as one of the most interesting things in teachers since it is

very important to be constantly acquiring new knowledge and making a good use

of it in the practice. Another aspect that caught my attention was Brown’s list

because I actually consider it very helpful for us pre-service teachers, since we

tend to expect much of ourselves as we expect from our students, but actually in

reality things work in a different way. When we first go to schools as pre-service

teachers we believe we can perform a class just as it is told in university, but when

we face reality we discover that it is not the case at all. Most of the time it is quite

stressful to deal with the different situations presented in the classroom and it is

particularly interesting to find out some teachers in school are not very willing to

help us when we face difficulties.

References

Brown, H. D. (2001). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language

pedagogy (2nd. Ed.). White Plains, NY: Longman.

Pettis, J. (2002). Developing our professional competence: some reflections. In J.

C. Richards, & W. A. Renandya, Methodology in language teaching: an

anthology of current practice, 395-396. (Reprinted from TESL Canada

Journal, 14(2), 67–71, 1997).

Richards, J. C., & Renandya, W. A. (Eds.). (2002). Methodology in Language

Teaching: An Anthology of Current Practice. Cambridge University Press.

Taylor, E. (2002). Research in your own classroom. In J. C. Richards, & W. A.

Renandya, Methodology in language teaching: an anthology of current

practice, 397-403. (Reprinted from TESOL in Context, 3(2), 6–10, 1993).

Tedick, D. J., & Walker, C. L. (1994). Second language teacher education: The

problems that plague us. Modern Languages Journal, 78, 300–312.

Ur, P. (2002). The English teacher as professional. In J. C. Richards, & W. A.

Renandya, Methodology in language teaching: an anthology of current

practice, 388-392. (Reprinted from English Teaching Professional, 2, 3–5,

1997).