Encouraging teacher development

We teachers might like to think we know it all...... or we're really uncertain about how to further our own development... or we're looking for a way to improve our performance, but uncertain of how to go about it.  At the end of the day, there's always a way to improve our teaching, and usually …

Policy planning part 3: a plan of action

Now that you've created a complete picture of the language curriculum, it's time to make a list of "Points of Action" for each section of the language policy.  Points of Action are things that need to be done, in order to realize the ideal English program.  These actions may be big or small, as long as …

Exploratory action research: improving teacher practice

  Every year, I guide my students through the process of conducting a small research project.  For them, it's often the first time they've done anything of the sort, so it's really important that my students understand the importance of learning not only how, but also why they need to learn how to do this.  …

Teaching from the top-down: flipping Bloom’s taxonomy

How many of us have learned about Bloom's taxonomy, back in the days we went to college?  Very likely, one learned to start teaching at the base: knowledge and comprehension, before moving on to the higher levels of application and analysis.  And maybe, just maybe the children would be clever enough to move on to …

Mirror, mirror… why bother with self-reflection?

I sat across the table from a young student while perusing his semester reflection.  "I don't understand why we have to do this," he said, "it's just a waste of time, when I could be using the same time to write lesson plans or study for my classes."  Why bother, indeed, I thought.  What was …