My Practical Theory

Well it looks like we are getting into the meat of the course now. We've introduced ourselves and talked about a memorable learning experience - I really enjoyed reading those. Now I get the sense of the rubber hitting the road (so to speak)

I got value reading the articles listed but can't say that I have a developed sense of my own practical theory. I think this is for a number of reasons. Firstly I am not entirely sure what we mean by theory in the educational setting. Does it mean something similar to what it means in the world of science? Personally I don't think that can be the case, because scientific theory (as far as I understand it) basically means things that can be empirically proven in the real world - like Einstein's theory of relativity. This doesn't seem to be true in education and other social sciences.

Or does it mean theory like in the theory of music or the theory part of a driving test - rules you can adopt and apply in the real world? I think it must mean something along these lines. But am not sure!!

One of the main problems I have is that the theories seem so contextual - true today in this context but not tomorrow in another - that I am not entirely convinced they have a relevant meaning outside their own context. For me this actually really matters. Because as a content teacher in DMC the one thing I have always been told to be is FAT. Flexible, adaptable and tolerant. What this has meant in practise is that I have taught courses from low level practical courses in the Diploma to high level theory based courses in the final year of the Bachelors degree. This means different types of learning outcomes to different types of learners. I am sometimes (though not often) envious of those teachers who teach the same subject to students of roughly the same language level every semester. It must be far easier for them to have a sense of what it is they are trying to do! And to practise their ability at doing it!

I am wary of using metaphors to describe what teaching and learning is like (baking a cake etc) because I think it is very easy to make tempting but incorrect analogies. However, it seems to me that one can make an analogy between teaching and driving a car (and being competent at it). But just as in teaching, there are many many forms of driving - such as Formula 1, driving with your family going for a day out, driving in hazardous conditions etc. And there will be theories associated to each one. What you should do when this happens, how to avoid that happening etc. And the theory may be valid in one situation but almost certainly will be incorrect and possibly dangerous in another. My "theory of driving" if I have one is based on my experience which is almost entirely within a narrow set of contexts. I have never driven a formula 1 car and only rarely drive in hazardous conditions. But it is based on my values, principles and beliefs. Things my parents told me such as "Better 5 minutes late in this world than 50 years early in the next". Which means I rarely break the speed limit.

And one of the great dangers I think - both for drivers and educators- is when the practical theory (including the beliefs, values and principles of the drivers) conflicts with the context in which they find themselves. I see several drivers on Shekih Zayed Road who would be better suited to a Formula 1 track!! Could it also be true that many educators feel conflicted or stressed because their personal beliefs about what education is or should be conflicts with the educational context in which they find themselves?

Very early on in my HCT career a colleague told me that the most important thing in becoming a good teacher was to be a "reflective practitioner". And I have never doubted that this is true. And one of the concerns I have with the theories of teaching is that I feel there is a danger of focussing too much on the theory - particularly when it is a theory that we find personally attractive - and not enough about the reality of the context in which the learning is taking place.

So I think where this is going is that I don't think I really have a "practical theory" of teaching because I don't feel I have a consistent enough context in which to have developed one. Unless that is my practical theory - to try to understand the context in which I am operating and react accordingly.

And doing the reading for this exercise has actually helped with that. I think it will be beneficial for me and my learners if I consciously consider in my lesson planning the particular type of learning that is going on/required, according to the list described by Saljo. That way I can try to create the environment which will maximise the chance of effective learning happening. And although this may be different from what I would ideally like it to be, that is irrelevant, because when I am teaching my job is to enable my students to achieve the learning outcomes of the course I am being paid to teach them and to develop the graduate outcomes of the HCT.