Thread by @Josh_CPD

📖Another MUST READ article for T-EDs/coaches.

'Parsing the Practice of Teaching' by Mary Kennedy

researchgate.net/publication/28…

I'm obsessed with this paper - probably talk about it too much TBH - and here's why

... 🧵

Kennedy is writing in response to a 'Lemovian' approach that focuses overtly on teacher moves...

I certainly don't have a problem with this approach (far from it!), BUT...

💡"When we define teaching by the visible practices we see, without attending to the role these practices have in the overall lesson, novices are likely to use their newly acquired practices at the wrong times, in the wrong places, or for the wrong reason."...

Any T-Ed will sympathise! We've all seen a novice teacher use the step we've trained them in for an inappropriate reason.

A classic example is trainees misusing questioning techniques, like 'Cold Call', without a clear model of the purpose of questioning...

💡Kennedy's fix is to ensure that instead of solely working on solutions (teaching moves), we ensure that teachers focus on the core challenges of teaching:

"By focusing on challenges, rather than on solutions, we help novices learn to think strategically about how their actions address a larger purpose, rather than focusing on how to mimic a set of actions that they observe."...

She argues that everything a teacher does should be characterised as a response to one of the four central challenges of teaching:

1) Managing Student Behaviour
2) Portraying Curriculum Content
3) Enlisting Student Thinking
4) Exposing Student Thinking

IMHO: Genius!..

❓Why does that matter for coaches❓

1) As coaches, we need to be laser-focused at communicating the purpose of steps.

2) It's likely that this is a deficient area for lots of coaches, who can be focused on performance. It certainly is an area of weakness in my practice!