What topics will you cover?

 Understanding continuing professional development

 Areas for professional development
 The challenges and solutions of professional development
 Defining and explaining reflective practice
 Understanding and using Kolb’s cycle as a reflective tool
 Considering peer observations as a means of professional development
 Learning through and from classroom observation and peer feedback
 Understanding what communities of practices are and why they are important
 Exploring a range of online communities of practice
 Building the necessary skills for interacting in communities of practice
 Refining the skills to observe your own classroom
 Exploring the Spiral of Inquiry as a tool for improving classroom practice
 Understanding the importance of being a lifelong learner
 Creating your own iterative professional development plan

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you'll be able to...

 Reflect on your own beliefs about teaching, learning and professional development
 Explore the characteristics of successful professional development
 Apply a range of tools, activities and strategies to reflect on and improve learning and teaching
 Identify aspects of your professional practice to develop
 Collaborate with and learn from peers by engaging with communities of practice
 Develop your own iterative professional development plan

Keeping a reflective journal

What is it?

A reflective journal is a learning tool that can help you to keep a record of useful information,
links and ideas from a course, or from your teaching and learning in general. For the purposes of
this course, it is entirely optional, but it could prove to be very useful in keeping your thoughts
and reflections in one place to refer to after the course has finished.

What do I use it for?

Just like a diary, you can make notes in your journal on a regular basis. You might want to
include:

 Something you have realised or learnt that you think is important and want to remember
 A question you have
 Something you want to research further
 An idea you have gained from the course materials or other participants, that you would
like to try
 A link or video that you haven’t had time to look at, but plan to.

Where do I write it?

You can keep a reflective journal of your learning and reflections by hand, or digitally (online or
offline). Some popular note-taking software tools are OneNote, Evernote or Google Keep.

When should I write in it?

You can make notes whenever you encounter something useful in the course.

At the end of each week, there is a reflection step – Take five for reflection – where we will ask
you questions to help you to reflect on your learning from that week of the course.

Is it compulsory?

No. It is optional! You might choose to reflect in another way, without writing anything, or
simply by sharing your reflections on the ‘Reflecting on this week’ step of the course.

Which description is most like your own view of continuing professional development? Why?

What do you think you need to change about your practice?

What do you like about your practice - what do you need to keep hold of?

Making decisions about professional

development
Being a teacher is challenging and there are an infinite number of areas in which you can
develop. Making decisions about what to focus on can be overwhelming. It doesn’t have to be –
look at the British Council’s Continuing Professional Development framework which outlines
twelve professional practices for teachers.

Planning lessons and courses

Understanding learners
Managing the lesson

Knowing the subject

Managing resources

Taking responsibility for professional development

Assessing learning

Integrating ICT

Using inclusive practices

Using multilingual approaches

Promoting 21st-century skills

Understanding educational policies and practice

In this course we’re specifically focusing on the professional practice Taking responsibility for
professional development, which is linked to helping you to develop in all the other areas.

Self-assessment – a good start

In order to know which areas to focus on for professional development, it’s necessary to take an
honest look at where you are now.

Take this self-assessment which is based on the British Council’s Continuing Professional
Development framework. See where you are in relation to the four stages of development:

Stage of
Description
development
1. Awareness You have heard of this professional practice.
2. Understanding You know what the professional practice means and why it’s important
3. Engagement You demonstrate competency in this professional practice at work.
You demonstrate a high level of competency in this professional practice and
4. Integration
this consistently informs what you do at work.

Note: The self-assessment should take 30 minutes to complete. When you have completed it, you
can save the results to your computer by taking a screenshot.
If you wish, share your results in the comments section below. Select one professional practice
for each of the four levels: Awareness, Understanding, Engagement, Integration

An example answer would look something like this:

 Awareness: Integrating ICT

 Understanding: Using inclusive practices
 Engagement: Understanding learners
 Integration: Knowing the subject

Note: Awareness and Understanding indicate areas you need to develop in and Engagement and
Integration are your strengths.

Continuing professional development – it's

not a choice!
Dylan Wiliam discusses why it’s crucial that teachers continue to develop professionally. He
says…

This job is so difficult that one lifetime isn’t enough to master it.

ALL teachers – newly qualified or very experienced – face challenges and continue to develop as
teachers throughout their careers. Tell us:

 What do you love about your job?

 What are the challenges you face?

Challenges and solutions

Azania, Mahesh and Sangeeta talk about some challenges they face when planning their
professional development activities: motivation, being away from the classroom and their
learners for activities outside the school and overall time management.

Post your responses to the questions below:

Which teacher’s experience do you relate to the most? Why?

What other challenges do you face?

How have you overcome your challenges?

Your professional development activities
Tell us about the activities you do to develop professionally. In this poll, consider each activity,
and record how often you participate in each one.

Results will be revealed in the text of step 1.16. As the poll will remain live throughout the
course, we’ll try and update results a few times over the next few weeks.

Please note, by launching the exercise you will be taken to a page containing content provided by
a third party website.

questionnaire

Think about your continuing professional development (CPD). Consider each activity, and
record how often you participate in each one.

1.Peer observation (as an observer and/or participant

2. Plan lessons with peers

3. Team teaching

4. Attend face-to-face teacher training

5. Attend online teacher training (e.g. webinars)

6. Participate in an online course

7.train other teachers

8.participate in mentoring

9. read articles or books about teaching

10. research lesson ideas on internet.

11. maintain a teaching register

12. conduct a class room enquiry

peer observation

Tell us about your experiences of peer observations:

Who, if anyone, observes your teaching?

Do you ever observe other teachers teaching?

How do you feel about lesson observation?

Observing learners
Before discussing peer observation, let’s take a quick look at how we observe our learners.

In order to help our learners improve, we need to observe them while they are learning or
engaged in activities. We do this by actively listening to them and carefully looking at what they
are doing in class. Observing learners is important because it helps us to:

 realign our teaching to better suit their needs and levels

 adapt tasks / activities to suit their needs and levels (e.g. some tasks may need more
support while others may need to be made more challenging)
 How do you record your learner observations? Or if you don’t do this already, how could
you do this?
 What do you do (or what might you do) with the observations you have recorded?

Giving effective feedback to learners

Learners improve most when they are given clear and prompt feedback on their progress. Using
observation enables us to know what feedback to give; feedback lets our learners know how they
are doing and guides them to advance their learning.

In order to help our learners, we must give effective feedback which is…

 focused on the task being undertaken and the learning that the learner needs to do
 clear and honest, telling the learner what is good about their learning as well as what
requires improvement
 actionable, telling the learner to do something that they are able to do
 given in appropriate language that the learner can understand
 given at the right time
 includes praise specific and targeted on the work done
 prompts learners to think more deeply and encourages them to find answers and take
responsibility for their own learning
 How do you give feedback to your learners? (e.g. written, oral)
 What other features of effective feedback can you add to the list?

The value of peer feedback

Peer feedback works with students too! In this video, Ron Berger from EL Education
demonstrates the transformational power of models, critique, and descriptive feedback to
improve student work.

After you watch, respond to these questions in the comments section below:

1. What kind of feedback does Austin receive and how does he respond?
2. What is the difference between criticism and critiquing? Why is critiquing important?
3. Austin’s peers had a model on the basis of which they gave him feedback on his drawing.
As teachers, some people would argue that we don’t often have a model for observing
lessons as teaching is as much a creative process as it is a scientific one. Do you agree or
disagree with this?
4. Giving feedback to learners on their work in one thing. Giving feedback to peers is
another! What are the similarities between the two situations? What are the differences?

5.Different perspectives in observation

6. Look at the picture. What do you see?
7. Look again. Can you see anything different?
8.
9. Observing a colleague can be overwhelming. There are so many factors to consider and
so much is happening the same time that it can be hard to decide what to focus on.
10. We see different things in a classroom depending on what we are looking for. How does
this affect peer observations?

Learning from observing

Krupa, Azania, Adib and Sangeeta talk about learning from others in peer observations.

What about you? What have you learnt from observing colleagues?

Observation tasks
Look at some different observation tasks below:

1. Where’s the teacher? Consider the position of the teacher at various times in the lesson.
Draw lines to indicate the pattern of movement of the teacher.

2. Who’s talking? What percentage of the lesson time was taken up by the teacher talking and
what percentage by learners talking?

3. What are they saying? Consider the content of what the teacher is saying: are they
instructions or feedback? What about the learners? Are they asking or answering questions?
4. Sound of silence Consider how much of the lesson was taken up with silence. Why was there
silence? Was it a help or a hindrance?

5. Focusing on one Choose one learner and record how many times they were invited to speak
and what they said.

6. Learner interaction Consider the way the learners worked together. How much of the lesson
did the learners work as a whole class / individually/ in pairs / in groups?

7. Board work Consider the whiteboard / blackboard. What was it used for? Was what was
written on it clear, legible and well-organised?

8. Teacher roles Did the teacher’s role change during the lesson? What roles did the teacher
play: monitor, observer, facilitator, helper, dictator?

9. Guess the gesture What gestures did the teacher use and what were they used for?

10. Skills used Consider the skills learners were involved in using. Was the focus on one skill
only?

11. Learner communication Consider the communicating the learners were doing. Was it
‘meaningless repetition’ or ‘genuine communication’? Did the learners have any opportunities to
express their own ideas?

Which of these tasks have you tried? What was your experience of them?

Which of these observation tasks would you like to try? Why?

Being a critical friend

There are usually three stages of a peer observation: a pre-lesson discussion, a lesson observation
and a post-lesson discussion.

In order to have an honest and valuable post-lesson discussion, it’s important to be a critical
friend:

a trusted person who asks provocative questions, provides data to be examined through another
lens, and offers critiques of a person’s work as a friend. A critical friend takes the time to fully
understand the context of the work presented and the outcomes that the person or group is
working toward. The friend is an advocate for the success of that work.

(Costa, A. and Kallick, B.(1993) ‘Through the Lens of a Critical Friend’. Educational
Leadership 51(2) 49-51)
Do you have a critical friend? How have they helped you?

Have you ever tried being a critical friend? Why / why not?

What techniques might a critical friend use when giving feedback to a peer after a lesson
observation?

Unseen observations
When ‘real-time’ observations are not possible because of time or distance it is possible to try an
‘unseen observation’. This is a lesson ‘observation’ where the observer does not actually see the
lesson.

Here is one approach:

Stage Task
Plan your lesson. Think about what area you want to develop and get feedback
Pre-discussion
on.
Discuss your lesson plan with a peer. Get their feedback and incorporate it.
Discussion
This discussion can be conducted virtually or face-to-face.
Teaching the
Teach your lesson. Your peer is not in the classroom, there is no ‘observer’.
lesson
Post-lesson
Discuss how your lesson went with the peer.
discussion

Have you ever tried an unseen observation?

What are the benefits and challenges?

What is the role of the peer in this type of observation?

A virtual peer observation

Watch this video of a secondary school teacher, Lalit Prabha, teaching a reading lesson. This is a
shortened version of the complete lesson.

We’re going to try using one of the peer observation tasks from Step 3.8. Choose one from
below to observe Lalit Prabha’s lesson.

Who’s talking? What percentage of the lesson time was taken up by the teacher talking and
what percentage by learners talking?
What are they saying? Consider the content of what the teacher is saying: is she giving
instructions or feedback? What about the learners? Are they asking or answering questions?

Learner interaction Consider the way the learners worked together. For how much of the lesson
did the learners work as a whole class / individually/ in pairs / in groups?

Board work Consider the blackboard. What was it used for? Was what was written on it clear,
legible and well-organised?

Teacher roles Did the teacher’s role change during the lesson? What roles did the teacher play:
monitor, observer, facilitator, helper?

Respond to these questions in the comments section below:

Which task did you use to observe the lesson?

What did you find out while using the task?

What did you learn from the teacher?

watch video of teaching

Take five for reflection

This week we’ve discussed peer observations as a means for professional development.

Consider these reflection questions:

Which observation tasks would you like to try?

If you have tried peer observation this week, how did it go? What did you learn from it? Would
you do it again in the same way? Why/why not?

What other steps could you take to involve your peers in your teaching?

teacher assessment :
Planning lessons and courses
.I can write lesson aims which describe the intended learning outcome of the class.
1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well.

I can select activities which help me meet the aims of the lesson.

1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well.

I can describe how learner's understanding will be assessed.

1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well.

I can describe how feedback on learner performance will be provided.

1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well.

I can anticipate problems that may arise during the lesson and decide how to respond.

Your professional level

on the questions

1-

2-you are at awareness level

3- understanding level

4- engagement level

5- integration level

Managing the lesson

I can create positive learning environment

1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well.

I can give explanations that the learners are able to understand.

1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well.

I can give instructions effectively

1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well.

I can check learner's understanding during the lesson

1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well.

I can monitor learner engagement

1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well.

on the questions

1-

2-you are at awareness level

3- understanding level

4- engagement level

5- integration level

Assessing learning
I can measure learner's progress effectively

1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well

I can give learner's feedback on errors that helps them improve.

1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well

I can use assessment results to inform subsequent teaching

1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well

I can assess learners in a range of ways

1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well

I can reflect on the effectiveness of the assessment I use.

1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well

on the questions

1-

2-you are at awareness level

3- understanding level

4- engagement level

5- integration level

Knowing the subject

I can use a range of engaging techniques to introduce new
grammar to my learners.
1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well

I can use a range of engaging techniques to teach vocabulary
to my learners.
1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well

I can use a range of engaging techniques to teach

pronunciation to my learners.
1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well

I can use a range of engaging techniques to teach my learners

to speak English.
1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well

I can use a range of engaging techniques to teach Listening
skills
1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well

I can use a range of engaging techniques to teach writing skills

1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well

I can use a range of engaging techniques to teach reading skills

1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well

on the questions

1-
2-you are at awareness level

3- understanding level

4- engagement level

5- integration level

Managing resources
I can select material from a range of different sources
1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well

I can develop material to supplement the course book I use.

1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well

I can select material and resources based on learner's need.

1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well

I can work with colleagues to design material collaboratively.

1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well

I can evaluate effectiveness of the materials and resources I

use during my lessons
1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well

on the questions

1-

2-you are at awareness level

3- understanding level

4- engagement level

5- integration level

Integrating ICT
I can locate appropriate digital content effectively
1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well

I can evaluate quality of digital content

1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well

I can use technology to design and create teaching learning material

1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well

I can use digital tools effectively to help my students learn

english
1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well

I can use technology conveniently for my purpose of teaching.

1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well

on the answer....

understanding your learners

how much do you know about your learner's level of English

How Much do you about your learner's level of English ?

1. I don't understand this questions

2. nothing at all

3. A little

4. A fair amount

5. A lot

How much do you know about your learner's motivation to learn English ?

1. I don't understand this questions

2. nothing at all

3. A little

4. A fair amount

5. A lot

How much do you know about your learner's preferred ways of learning?
1. I don't understand this questions

2. nothing at all

3. A little

4. A fair amount

5. A lot

How much do you know about your learner's interests?

1. I don't understand this questions

2. nothing at all

3. A little

4. A fair amount

5. A lot

how much do you know about any special education need that your learners have?

1. I don't understand this questions

2. nothing at all

3. A little

4. A fair amount

5. A lot

Promoting 21 century skills

I can select appropriate methodologies for introducing ,
developing and evaluating my learner's skills in
Critical thinking and problem solving
1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well

I can select appropriate methodologies for introducing ,

developing and evaluating my learner's skills in
collaboration and communication
1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well

I can select appropriate methodologies for introducing ,

developing and evaluating my learner's skills in
creativity and imagination
1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well

I can select appropriate methodologies for introducing ,

developing and evaluating my learner's skills in
citizenship
1. the statement is not clear
2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well

I can select appropriate methodologies for introducing ,

developing and evaluating my learner's skills in
digital literacy
1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well

I can select appropriate methodologies for introducing ,

developing and evaluating my learner's skills in
student leadership and personal development

1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well

Using inclusive practices

I treat my learners equally and with respect
1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well

I develop positive attitude towards diversity in my classroom

1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well

I can reflect my own biases and beliefs and the impact this might have in the classroom .

1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well

I help my learners identify individual learning goals

1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well

I involve parents , learners and any other relevant persons in an inclusive learning environment.

1. the statement is not clear

2. the statement is clear but I am quite not sure how to do this.

3. I can do this but not very effectively

4. I can do this quite well.

5. I can do this very well

on questions .....