ESTÁGIO SUPERVISIONADO

EM LETRAS - INGLÊS
ESTÁGIO SUPERVISIONADO
EM LETRAS - INGLÊS
 Copyright © UVA 2019
Nenhuma parte desta publicação pode ser reproduzida por qualquer
meio sem a prévia autorização desta instituição.

Texto de acordo com as normas do Novo Acordo Ortográfico

da Língua Portuguesa.

AUTORIA DO CONTEÚDO PROJETO GRÁFICO

Gabriel Lemos Dias Monteiro UVA

REVISÃO DIAGRAMAÇÃO
Lydianna Lima UVA
Maria Lucia Daflon

M775

Monteiro, Gabriel Lemos Dias

Estágio supervisionado em letras - inglês [livro

eletrônico] / Gabriel Lemos Dias Monteiro. – Rio de Janeiro:
UVA, 2019.

4,8 MB.

ISBN 978-85-5459-083-3

1. Língua inglesa - Estudo e ensino. I. Universidade

Veiga de Almeida. II. Título.

CDD – 428.07

Bibliotecária Katia Cavalheiro CRB 7 - 4826.

Ficha Catalográfica elaborada pela Biblioteca Central da UVA.
 SUMÁRIO

Apresentação 6
Autor 7

UNIDADE 1

Observing the school environment 8

• Observation techniques

• The school community: roles and beliefs

• Classroom interaction

UNIDADE 2

Lesson planning 25
• Observing aims

• Materials

• Analyzing aims, materials and adaptations

 SUMÁRIO

UNIDADE 3

Evaluation systems 40
• Observing continuous assessment

• Observing punctual assessment (tests and exams)

• Analyzing evaluation systems and adaptation

UNIDADE 4

Reports, research and teaching philosophy 56

• Reporting

• Research

• Teaching philosophy
 APRESENTAÇÃO

Welcome to Estágio Supervisionado em Letras Inglês. Here you should be able to put into
practice — even if observing, instead of applying in your own classes — most of the theo-
retical framework and data you have been presented with during your course so far. This
is the time when you have the chance to observe professionals in action. Keep in mind
that this opportunity is given to you so that you can really experience what it is like to be
in a real classroom with real students — instead of reading books which talk about the
classroom environment or watching videos showing role models with edition and most of
the times no room for flaws.

You should also keep in mind that you are a visitor in that teacher’s classroom with clear
aims: to learn and relearn. Be open to challenge and confirm your beliefs when it comes
to Education, teaching, learning, rapport, interpersonal relations, language and language
development. As Paulo Freire (1970) states, “for apart from inquiry, apart from the praxis,
individuals cannot be truly human. Knowledge emerges only through invention and re-in-
vention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry human beings pursue
in the world, with the world, and with each other”.

Finally, you should be able to observe parts of these teachers’ lessons and find out their
aims, assumptions, tasks, procedures, differentiation etc. In a few words, you can take
advantage of this opportunity to analyze these professionals’ practices, beliefs and acts.
All in all, you can be sure that these opportunities shall contribute to your future self, not
only as a professional but also as a human being, because this course is all about reflect-
ing and changing your praxis. Therefore, make the most of these experiences so as to
grow and grow as much as possible! I do hope you enjoy, learn and challenge your beliefs!
Good studies!

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 AUTOR

GABRIEL LEMOS DIAS MONTEIRO

Gabriel Lemos Dias Monteiro is a Cambridge certified teacher of English as a Foreign

Language and English as a Second Language. He has a degree in Language Arts and
holds a Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages and Diplomas
in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, as well as over fifteen other
certifications in the field of ELT. He currently works as a teacher, a certified teacher trainer,
materials developer, teaching coach and lecturer at various institutions. He researches in
the fields of teaching methodologies, teacher language development, English as a Lingua
Franca and discourse analysis.

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 UNIDADE 1

Observing the school

environment
 INTRODUÇÃO

As important as observing a teacher’s class is knowing how to behave and how to act in
the classroom. Bear in mind that we need techniques to observe a class and make the
most of it. We are not there to merely look at the teacher and the students. We need to
know what to observe, how to observe and why to observe the class we are attending.
Also, we should stick to the roles in the classroom, as well as to our beliefs and to the
interaction in the classroom. All these concepts should help you develop and shape the
professional you will be in the future.

OBJETIVO

By the end of this unit, you should be able to:

• Analyze observation techniques for the classroom and school environment.

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Observation techniques

One of the most common data collection techniques is observation. When it comes to
observing teachers in action, what we are doing is called research. Whenever we do (conduct/
carry out/undertake) some research, we need methodology and technique/method.

These are some of the possible methodologies and techniques for research and for data
analysis:

Source: people.ds.cam.ac.uk

Observation is imperative. According to David Hopkins (2008, p. 75), it “plays a crucial role
not only in classroom research, but also more generally in supporting the professional
growth of teachers and in the process of school development.” That means, the learning
environment tends to be more welcoming and pleasant.

As seen in the figure above, it is possible to state that we can observe in either a structured
or an unstructured way. During your internship, you are supposed to observe teachers
and write reports throughout your observation. Therefore, do you believe you’ll need a
structured or unstructured observation? You will be accurate if you answer, ‘structured
observation’. This involves some observation skills.

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The first certifies that we do not jump into conclusions too quickly. In order to get that
guaranteed, we need to have a clear goal in observing that teacher’s lesson — in this
case, what is our goal? We must profit from their practices, no matter if we are going to
reproduce them in the future or take them as examples not to follow. Remember that not
every example is to be followed.

The second is interpersonal skills. We can define this term as “capabilities to effectively
communicate, socialize, connect, and cooperate with people in life, whether it be an
individual or a group” (GONZALES, [s/d]). This concept is supposed to be put into practice
because we need to bear in mind that we are ‘invading that teacher’s classroom — their
personal space’ to make notes on their performance and behavior. Remember that
a teacher’s classroom is his/her property and we should respect it and value his/her
kindness in allowing us to be there. We need to create a sense of trust and show support
whenever they need it, as far as threatens are concerned.

Focusing on structured observation, we can make use of the system that caters to our
needs. Bear in mind that whatever method you choose to use to collect information might
not interfere with the outcomes of your research conclusion, as long as you have clear
aims and a purpose to observe that given lesson.

Let us take the following example: you are observing a lesson and one of your objectives
is paying attention to students’ behavior and response to the teacher’s commands during
the lesson. How would you record those pieces of information? Find an example below.

11
Source: HOPKINS, 2008, p. 94

Source: Hopkins (2008, p. 95).

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In the first example above — to the left, we can see that the circles represent the students.
The number inside the circle represents the question that they have answered. Blank
circles represent students who were aloof during the task, both in terms of exercise and
behavior.

However, in the second example — to the right, we observe students’ response during
exercise feedback, also known as ‘correction’. The ‘V’ represents students that volunteered
to answering and how many times they did so. The ‘A’ represents students who were
asked to answer and again how many times this happened. Blank circles represent
students who did not participate actively.

The example above might not be similar to your original idea. In fact, it may be totally
different from what you had thought before. This is fine, as long as we all get to the same
point: the outcomes of the observation. What does not make any sense is that we make
different types of notes and collect the same data from the same source and get to
different results. This would show that the problem was lack of or poor goals.

Changing the subject a little, we must also keep in mind our roles as researchers and the
role that research plays in learning and teaching. Let us start by discussing the rationale
behind research.

Paulo Freire (1970) states that there is no theory without practice, as there is no practice
without theory. The author affirms that we must act and reflect so that we can act and
reflect again. He believes this is an endless cycle. Freire names his structured research
method praxis. According to his theory, “liberation is a praxis: the action and reflection
of men and women upon their world in order to transform it” (FREIRE, 1970, p. 67).
Furthermore, “no one is born fully-formed: it is through self-experience in the world that
we become what we are” (FREIRE, 1970, p. 88). That means we can always improve by
perfecting our praxis.

Moreover, it is important to bear in mind that research is part of the teaching-learning

process, as Paulo Freire states (1970):

For apart from inquiry, apart from the praxis, individuals cannot be truly
human. Knowledge emerges only through invention and re-invention,
through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry human beings
pursue in the world, with the world, and with each other.

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This means that there is no humanistic learning when we are distant from research,
thinking, relearning, etc. We need the reflection-action process to grow and construct
knowledge together, which comes to exist from questioning, reasoning and asking
questions. This is an endless process.

All in all, be eager to learn, relearn and reflect upon your practice. This process starts from
us and can afterwards extend to our co-workers and their practices, whenever possible.

MIDIATECA

Access our midiateca, which talks about Pedagogy of the oppressed.

14
The school community: roles and beliefs

Can I affirm that ‘students must copy what I write on the board on their notebooks to
internalize information and learn the content’? Well, this is not the only way to learn the
content, is it? Therefore, this is not part of my theoretical framework – since there is no
data that proves this is the only one way to learn. Contrarily, this might be part of my
repertoire of beliefs.

Beliefs

There are many kinds of beliefs which can characterize that what we think is real but is not
the only one universal truth. For instance:

Beliefs
Cognitive
• With neurological reasons
Example: students need to copy from the board

Affective
• For motivational reasons
Example: positive feedback motivates learners

Behavioral
• Regarding students’ attitudes
Example: students need to participate in class

As stated above, the kinds of beliefs we may have can be divided into categories, and this
might help us distinguish between theoretical framework that everyone needs to take into
account and personal beliefs we may have ourselves.

This will play a decisive role because we cannot impose our beliefs as universal truths.
Take this case study as an example:

15
You are observing a teacher in class. He is writing the content of the test
on the board. You realize that 80% of the students are copying, 10% are
waiting for him to finish to take a picture of the board and 10% will neither
copy nor take a picture. It is one of your behavioral beliefs that ‘students
must copy to internalize information’. What will you do? What about your
report? Will you write that the teacher was lenient, naïve? Why (not)?

Well, this is a very delicate situation. First of all, we cannot affirm that this teacher was
doing the wrong thing (1) based on our beliefs and (2) without asking about his reasons
and trying to understand the rationale behind his beliefs. Also, we cannot take our beliefs
for granted.

When it comes to the source of beliefs, there are a number of ways to acquire them. Find
some below.

Own learning
experience
Personality ‘My teachers
‘My students used to do it
Method/ approach
must have fun.’ like that.’
‘Contextualization
Established is indispensable
practice before
Education/
‘This is a presentation.’
Research
Experience school rule.’
‘I learned this
'I've always
at college.’
done it like
that.’

We could also include some other sources to the list: political, professional, learning etc.
Back to the example that ‘everybody must copy’, what might the source of this belief be?
It is actually hard to define it without analyzing this person’s discourse. Do they demand
their students to copy because they have always done it this way? Because he was taught
in a training? Because this is a school rule? Because this is their methodology? Because
of their personality? Because of their learning preferences? We need more information in
order to define it.

On the other hand, there are some shared beliefs such as the role of school, teachers and
students within a school environment.

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Roles

Paulo Freire was an educator with really influential ideas. Find below some of his beliefs:

• Education is freedom.
• Teaching is a political act.
• Teaching consists in acts of cognition, not transferal of information.
• Knowledge emerges through invention and reinvention.

These are some of the concepts that guide our Educational system nowadays. Not only
is Paulo Freire the biggest educator Brazil has ever had, but he is also a reference to
the world in terms of Education. His ideas have influenced great names in the fields of
teaching in general. Let us analyze some of them which relate to the school environment.

According to Freire (1970), Education is the freedom the oppressed need to be free from
oppression. When Education is not liberating, the oppressed dreams to become the
oppressor. Therefore, as teachers – educators – we must always work so that we can
give our pupils some liberating education with a lot of critical thinking.

The educator states that “there’s no such thing as neutral education. Education either
functions as an instrument to bring about conformity or freedom” (1970). This is what
Matt O’leary (2014) states about Paulo Freire’s work:

Over four decades ago, Paulo Freire, one of the most prominent educa-
tional thinkers and theorists of ‘critical pedagogy’ during the last century,
argued that education and politics were inextricably linked. Freire vie-
wed all educational activity as a political act, particularly emphasizing
the strong bond between education and power. Thus, for Freire, the de-
cisions teachers make concerning their approach to the curriculum and
the teaching and learning experience per se are ultimately political. In
other words, there ca be no such thing as ‘neutral’ pedagogy. Although
Freire’s reference to the ‘politics’ of education was meant in the wider
rather than the party political sense, his work coincided with a period in
which government intervention in the educational curriculum was on the
increase. (O’LEARY, 2014, p. 11)

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This means that teachers are not to be neutral. If we want to set our students free and
get them to think critically — by themselves — we need to be ‘not neutral’, as Freire
characterizes it. Hence, we cannot be incoherent and affirm that we have no influence on
our pupils. We do. But we cannot impose our beliefs on them. What we need to do is get
them to think by themselves.

In conclusion, we must be not neutral teachers and should encourage a liberating

education. Students should be open to receiving new knowledge but being able and
finding space to question and ask questions.

MIDIATECA

Access our midiateca, which talks about Paulo Freire’s work.

18
Classroom interaction

The classroom is a plural and unique environment in which lots of changes occur like in
a two-way road; that is, both teachers teach students and students teach teachers. Paulo
Freire believes that “whoever teaches learns in the act of teaching, and whoever learns
teaches in the act of learning” (FREIRE, 1996, p. 117).

We need to deconstruct these images that society has:

- Teachers know everything.

- Students know nothing until their teachers tell them.
- Students take everything teachers say without questioning.

First, teachers are human beings. Therefore, they are susceptible to making mistakes and
not knowing something. Being a good teacher involves understanding this and trying to
evolve every time, learning more and more each day. Not only is this a great concept but
it is also essential that we bear this in mind for two reasons.

To start off with, the myth that teachers know everything is bad because it gives them some
responsibility they might not be able to cope with, since they do not know everything. Then,
taking the focus off the teacher helps learners depend on each other a little bit — it encourages
student-student interdependence, which is great to promote a collaborative environment.

Second myth, we cannot assume students are tabulas rasas (or empty vessels, as
translated). That means we cannot take for granted they do not already know whatever it
is that we are trying to teach them. Paulo Freire (1970) calls this concept, in which teachers

19
just insert some information into their students’ minds without checking previous
knowledge first, ‘banking education’. According to him:

But one does not liberate someone by alienating them. Authentic libera-
tion — the process of humanization — is not another deposit to be made
in a person. Liberation is a praxis: action and reflection upon the world
in order to transform it. Those truly committed to the cause of libera-
tion can accept neither the mechanistic concept of consciousness as an
empty vessel to be filled, nor the use of banking [pedagogical] methods
of domination (propaganda, slogans--deposits) in the name of liberation.
(FREIRE, 1970, p. 55)

This passage refers to the previous topic and also to the following one, which is the
concept that students take everything the teacher says for granted.

They do not. They are human beings with enough knowledge or capable of learning how to
distinguish between fact and manipulation. It is our role as educators to show them how to
think critically, not to let them get distracted or biased by only one point of view.

Crawford et al (2005) state five principles for the classroom which invite students to think
critically.

Both teachers and students are responsible for the class climate. We call the relation
between teacher and students rapport. This term refers to the atmosphere in the room
and the respect that teacher have to students and vice-versa. Authors claim that it is not
enough that the teacher builds a pleasant rapport; students also need to contribute in
order to have a safe environment in which everybody respects each other, and teachers
have a friendly relationship with students – even though they are not friends.

Teachers model thinking and encourage pupils to share their ideas and thinking
strategies. The role of the teacher relies on showing how to think critically and on inviting
students to do the same, not providing them with his/her own ideas as if they were the only
truth. It is also part of the teacher’s duties to respect their learners’ ideas even if they are
different from theirs — however, they are allowed to question their pupils and invite them
to rethink. Everybody in the room is allowed and invited to think, rethink, construct and
deconstruct their own and each other’s beliefs, thoughts and ideas.

20
There must be space for inquiry and openness. Whenever teachers and/or students are
to make decisions and analyze problems, both teachers and students are totally allowed
and expected to ask questions such as ‘what?’, ‘when?’, ‘where?’, ‘who?’ and more complex
ones such as ‘why?’, ‘why not?’ and ‘what if?’, whose answers might be more complex and
whose rationale might be hidden more deeply behind. Lots of activities encourage them
to do so and practice for real-life or classroom contexts: making predictions, guessing,
gathering and organizing information etc.

Students should receive support, not everything they might need in their hands.
Students should have autonomy in learning, in terms of content and ways to learn. That
means it is the teacher’s role to show them the way, but if they are going to take it, how,
when, why... are the students’ choices. We should always bear in mind that we are not
preparing students to stay with us forever, but we are preparing them to be independent,
critical and emotionally secure and confident learners.

Seating arrangement and voices in the classroom make it easier and encourage
students to communicate and rely on each other. We call the relation between students,
the support they offer to each other and their mutual helping peer-teaching. It is
imperative that the seating arrangement, the activities we design, and the space students
have to speak do contribute and encourage them to interact with each other, as well as
teach and learn with and from each other, in terms of content, classroom mechanics and
bureaucracy.

To sum up, it is essential to raise your students’ interest in critical thinking and cooperative
learning. Bear these concepts in mind and promote interaction between students.

MIDIATECA

Access our Midiateca which talks about The banking vs. Problem posing concept.

21
 NA PRÁTICA

Both concepts can be clearly realized in schools where the teacher does care about
the learners’ previous knowledge and tries to dialogue with their learners, especially
when it comes to critical thinking. On the other hand, some others just work on
content and do not make use of transversal themes — as expected by the LDB.

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Resumo da Unidade 1

This unit is about the school environment. In terms of classroom mechanics, roles and
beliefs, we have discussed observation and how to keep track of these concepts and to
relate them in your observation. Bear all these concepts in mind while making your obser-
vations in real classrooms you attend to.

CONCEITO

The concept to be approached in this unit is liberating education. This is a concept

that goes against banking education, another concept that has been well defined by
Paulo Freire (1970), relying on two teaching models with two different philosophies.

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Referências

FREIRE, P. Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum, 1970.

FREIRE, P. Pedagogy of the freedom: ethics, democracy, and civic courage. New York:
Continuum, 1996.

HOPKINS, D. A teacher’s guide to classroom research. England: Open University Press,

2008.

O’LEARY, M. Classroom observation: a guide to the effective observation of teaching and

learning. New York: Routledge, 2014.

GONZALES, K. What are interpersonal skills? Definition and examples. Available at

<https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-are-interpersonal-skills-definition-examples.
html>. Acessed on: Nov. 27, 2018.

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 UNIDADE 2

Lesson planning
 INTRODUÇÃO

Most of the times, as important as being in a classroom with the ingredients, it is to plan
the lesson thoroughly and in advance. Things get to be easier or harder depending on how
much of your time you have devoted to lesson planning. The more you plan and reflect
upon possible consequences of the lesson, the less you have chances to have problems.

OBJETIVO

By the end of this unit, you should be able to:

• Discuss the role of materials and classroom in teaching.

26
Observing aims

Well planned lessons include a lot of information in the lesson plan. One of the most
important concepts to be studied in it is the lesson aims. Lesson plans tend to have more
than one aim. We usually call them main aim and subsidiary aim of the lesson.

The main aim is the one which defines what the goal of the lesson is. If this is not reached,
the lesson was not successful in terms of completion. Along with this aim, we also need
to pay attention to a secondary feature of the lesson, which is called the subsidiary aim, a
secondary objective to be reached throughout the lesson.

Let us take a look at some examples:

LESSON PLAN

By the end of the lesson, students will be better able to use

Lesson aim
the simple present structure in the context of hobbies.

Sub-aim To listen for specific information.

Class profile Basic 1, 6th grade, 12 learners, 0-1- years old.

Assumptions Students have already studied adverbs of frequency.

Source: the author himself (2019).

In the previous lesson plan, we can observe that the teacher has prepared the lesson
thoroughly. S/he has clear aims — both main and subsidiary —, real awareness of the
class profile with great details and of what learners have studied and may already know.

It is worthwhile to mention that s/he played on the safe side and said students have
already studied that, not that they know or are experts. Remember that we cannot assume
students know something just because we have taught them.

Back to the first example, let us observe the (main) lesson aim. This is a SMART aim.
Lesson aims must be S.M.A.R.T. Do you know what it stands for?

27
‘‘S’ stands for specific. The more specific the aim is, the better. We cannot make use of
vague expressions and words that may result in an ambiguous lesson. If so, when being
observed, for example, the observer will not know whether the lesson was successful or
not. This aim is specific because it mentions what students will have to use: the simple
present structure.

‘M’ stands for measurable. We need to know what we want students to do: use the
language, read, write, discuss, talk about etc.? In this case, we will get them to use the
language. Then, “use” the present simple.

‘A’ stands for achievable. We cannot say we are going to teach a lesson and then have
students ‘know’, ‘be experts at’, or ‘ace’ the topic. Therefore, we shouldn’t mention ‘students
will be able to’. Maybe not everybody will be able to grasp and retain that information. This
aim is measurable when it says that ‘students will be better able to’. Then, even if they are
not able to convey meaning as expected, we cannot say s/he is not better able to do that.

‘R’ stands for relevant. Talking about hobbies might be interesting for 9-10-year olds. On
the other hand, it would be useless teaching a lesson with the context of finances, for
instance. Consequently, the simple present structure sounds interesting and relevant to
the context.

‘T’ stands for time-bound. That means, we need to state when this lesson plan should be
complete, or when students will have reached that objective. That is why ‘by the end of the
lesson’ is extremely suitable for the given context.

Source: the author himself (2019).

If we take the lesson aim again, we will notice all the elements.

By the end of the lesson, students will be better able to use the simple present structure
in the context of hobbies.

28
Check the following lesson aims and decide if they are suitable or not:

1. By the end of the lesson, students will practice the simple future forms.
2. By the end of the lesson, students should be able to read an article about malls.
3. By the end of the lesson, students should be better able to speak.
4. Students should be able to write.
5. Students should be better able to communicate in the context of fashion.
1. We cannot assume they will practice that at all. Play on the safe side.
2. They should be ‘better’ able because maybe not everybody will understand you.
3. This is too vague. What will they speak? In which context? What is the goal of the
activity? What will they be looking for?
4. What is the time-bound? What about ‘better able’? What will they write? In which context
are they inserted in?
5. What is the time-bound? ‘To communicate’ is too vague; you need to specify the skill or
system involved (read, write, speak).

Moving on to subsidiary aims, they are stated by using a full-infinitive form. It refers to the
sub-skills to be practiced in that class. For instance, in the example above, even without
seeing the whole lesson plan, we know that this is a grammar lesson and the vehicle that
conveys the language is a listening exercise in which students need to listen for detail.

Besides that, there are the class profile and assumptions. If you want to check previous
lesson plans, you must do it/ should have it. Information may include:

• Age group: we have given them a box.

• Level of the class: we need to know how to evaluate them.
• Number of learners: how many students are part of the group.

In one of his most famous books, Jim Scrivener (1994) added something that made people
think it was a good idea. Also, do the exercise that follows and discuss the teachers’ intentions.

He shows the use of informal aims – the real outcome they would have.
Some teachers write aims what the teacher hopes the students will
achieve by doing them. In the following aim, decide which are achieve-
ment aims.

1. Students will be better able to ask and answer simple informal ques-
tions about a person’s life, likes and dislikes.

29
 2. Students will have done a role play about meeting new clients.
3. Students will be better able to use the phone to order food, call a taxi,
etc.
4. Present and practice comparatives.
5. Listen to coursebook recording 16.4.
6. Students will be better able to assess different people’s attitudes when
listening to a phone-in discussion on the radio. (SCRIVENER, 1994, p.
136).

MIDIATECA

Access our midiateca which talks about Language teacher action research:
achieving sustainability.

30
Materials

The school is a great place for a number of reasons. However, many times we should be
careful so as not to spoil students’ individualities, life stories and privacy. When it comes
to didactic material, including books, movies, games, activities etc., we need to be careful
since language carries a lot of power. According to McCarthy and Carter (1994):

Culture itself cannot be neutral. The existence of English as a world lan-

guage and the provenance of certain cultural products which this entails
is not unconnected with economic, military and political power at a par-
ticular point in history (see Bailey 1992; Phillipson 1992). Similarly, when
textbook authors and publishers select particular cultural situations, in
which language use is illustrated for example, a white middle-class fa-
mily in a London suburb then this conveys a view of British society and of
standard southern British English which is not unconnected with the po-
wer of those values in naturalizing’ a view of culture. Even course-books
which offer a neutral mix of cosmopolitan contexts such as internatio-
nal airports and hotels, express inter-country trains and uniformly similar
beach resorts which in turn serve as background to reading texts and
dialogues centering on international leisure pursuits (pop music, discos,
keep-fit, photography) cannot be culture- or value-free. Such course-
-books only sidestep the problems of the frames of cultural reference
needed for effective use of a language. At the same time, they insert a
set of materialistic values and an ideology of hedonism to which it is
tacitly presumed that learners will be able to and will want to aspire. In
this section we examine more closely the relationship between specific
linguistic choices and some ways in which cultural values and ideologies
are conveyed. Newspaper headlines are frequently cited as key texts in
this connection. The forms of language which have received most atten-
tion in the course of such analyses are confined to a restricted set: mainly
transitivity relations, distinctions between the active and the passive voi-
ce and he functions of tense. (MCCARTHY; CARTER, 1994, p. 155-156)

Materials are produced by authors, which get money for their job. Sometimes, they
get biased and their language, carried by ideology – as described by the authors afore
mentioned. So, their materials may carry ideology. Why is that important?

31
No matter what we do, the materials we produce will be influenced by our ideas, beliefs
and ideology, even if it is our best intention to include them. The dangers of it is making use
of inclusive (not ‘neutral’) discourse. We cannot prefer and favor only one group of people.
For instance, the pictures we choose to illustrate our materials cannot show only white
people; the examples we write cannot be only about the rich part of the city; pictures of
doctors cannot be only men; pictures of secretaries cannot be only women; black women
cannot be only cleaning ladies, and so on. Many of these are so internalized and ‘made
normal’ by society and the media that we may not even notice they are a prejudiced and
stereotyped discourse.

Concerning didactic materials, we can mention one of the greatest names in the industry
to list four of their characteristics. Rogério Tílio (2006) reaffirms what Kramsch (1988) has
previously stated:

They are oriented They are They are They are literal.
by principles. methodical. authoritarian. They are to be
That means Knowledge is Whatever the followed literally
we can notice divided into material says and completely.
the theories classifications is not to be Its shapes
of learning and items. questioned. There and meanings
and theories Organization are absolute are literal, not
of language leads learning. truths written on figurative, so
that guide the Learning the book pages, information
writer (s) when follows a logical and no one should be taken
developing the sequence and is should dare to as it is shown
material. The cumulative, which doubt the words in the explicit
material tends to means there and knowledge language; there
be coherent with is some sort present in there. should be no
these principles. of scaffolding need to analyze it
between in depth.
concepts.

Whether or not we agree with these principles nowadays depends on critical thinking –
which is now discussed more often than it was in the eighties. It is important to keep in
mind that textbooks are one of the main ‘weapons’ teachers can have to support their
teaching and promote solid learning, since it is one of the greatest sources of information
in the pedagogical context.

32
According to Rogério Tílio:

The didactic book cannot be seen as a source of knowledge. It is only

scaffolding which works to support students construct relevant know-
ledge. The didactic material is one more element in the exchange that
should take place in the classroom: exchange between teacher and stu-
dents, going through didactic books, learning institution and the social
context, or different social contexts, where all of them are inserted. The
main aim of Education – and the didactic book can never prevent this
from happening – is taking students to thinking critically. And this can be
done by teachers, starting from the book adopted by the institution, or in
spite of it. Even if the book aims to propagate some values, teachers can
– and must – always take students to thinking critically and analyzing,
evaluating, discussing and even rejecting its content if needed be. (TÍLIO,
2006, p. 110 - free translation made by the author himself)

It is important to mention that the classroom is a great space to give voice to many different
people who work together in negotiating meaning so as to co-construct knowledge.

To Reflect

ELT materials: the key to fostering effective teaching and learning settings (article).

Available on: revistas.unal.edu.co.

Back to ideology in materials, we can say that the key to successful teaching, when it comes
to beliefs, is adapting whenever necessary. Let us take a closer look at it in the next topic.

MIDIATECA

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33
Analyzing aims, materials and adaptations

It is part of the teaching practice to develop teaching aims and materials. However, not
always will the teacher be the one who writes them. At times, they will be given by the
textbook, defined by the learning institution etc.

What can you do if the lesson aim is not appropriate to your/ the school’s/ your language
beliefs? What if it is good, but it is not enough? What if it is okay, but not appropriate for
BNCC, for instance?

There is only one answer for all these questions: adapt the aims. Teachers, of course,
have the say in the classroom – in terms of authority, they are the right people to make
changes whenever they judge it necessary.

Let us take a look at some lesson aims and check what the apparent problems with them
seem to be. Some concepts to be reviewed are: correspondent to the level; suitable for the
age; possible in the context; time limit etc. Find some below.

Class profile: 40 learners, 7th grade

Context: private school, middle class
Main aim: By the end of the lesson, students will be better able to write stories about
their silly mistakes in the context of trips.

It is not suitable for the level. It is way further than what BNCC proposes.

Class profile: 21 learners; 9th grade

Context: private school, middle class
Main aim: By the end of the lesson, students will be better able to identify ten animals in
the sea, in the context of school classes.

It is not correspondent to the level. It is too easy and does not require critical thinking.

Class profile: 32 learners; 2nd grade (high school)

Context: public school, middle class
Main aim: By the end of the lesson, students will be better able to develop and present a
project on the water crisis in the western world.

34
 It is not enough for the time limit.

Class profile: 29 learners; 7th grade; modest school

Context: public school, poor area
Main aim: By the end of the lesson, students will be better able to name the gadgets
they have at home in the context of new technologies.

It is not appropriate to the context. It does not respect the students’ individualities
and limitations.

As you can see, we can adapt aims not only for linguistic reasons, but also for the context
and for logistics too. Whenever the teacher feels the need, s/he can do it in order to
promote a safer learning environment. The same goes for materials themselves.

Important

Whenever you feel the need to change something students might feel
uncomfortable with — such as pictures that do not represent them or examples
that might hurt their existence — feel free to change the material. You do NOT
need to exclude the picture, cut it out, skip the page... you just need some
dialogue with students; bring them to critical thinking!

It is genuinely hard to develop materials. As an example, let us take pictures. If you sear-
ch ‘doctor’, what do you think might show up?

Source: Google ©

35
The first line, which is usually where people get their pictures from when they are in a
hurry, shows one white woman and five white men. And where are the black people?

One more example is the Portuguese word for ‘firefighter’, which inflects depending on the
gender. And guess what? What do you think we will get by typing the male form, bombeiro?

Source: Google ©

On the other hand, what do you get when you type bombeira, the female form? You will get
not very professional pictures, showing how objectified women are in this sexist society
we live in.

Source: Google © - picture with an effect

One more time, we need to be alert to these stereotypes. Jokes with blonde women in
books, cartoons with Portuguese people who seem to be really dumb etc.

In conclusion, adaptation is part of teaching. Be flexible, open and critical yourself, so that
you can develop these skills in your learners.

36
 MIDIATECA

Access our midiateca which talks about Guidelines for writing an action research
project.

NA PRÁTICA

When it comes to classroom praxis study, we need to research and keep on evolving
our material and repertoire. Let us check out some research methods below.

37
Resumo da Unidade 2

This unit talks about lesson planning and preparation, from aims and lesson plan com-
ponents to didactic materials. We need to be careful because we might have to analyze,
criticize, adapt and even develop materials during our internships. As we have seen in this
unit, textbooks — and materials in general — might be ‘weapons’ in teachers’ hands.

CONCEITO

In reality, the more we theorize about learning, the more we DO need to put it into
practice! There is no theory without practice, and no practice without theory. This is
called praxis. Paulo Freire was the one to say it.

38
Referências

HARMER, J. The practice of English Language Teaching. Cambridge: Longman, 2001.

MCCARTH, M.; CARTER, R. Language as discourse: perspectives for language teaching.

UK: Longman, 1994.

SCRIVENER, J. Learning teaching. UK: Macmillan, 1994.

TÍLIO, R. O livro didático em inglês em uma abordagem sociodiscursiva. 2006. 258 f.

Tese (Doutorado em Letras). Departamento de Letras, PUC-Rio, Rio de Janeiro, RJ.

39
 UNIDADE 3

Evaluation systems
 INTRODUÇÃO

There are different ways in which we can evaluate students. Tests are only one of them.
Unfortunately, whenever we discuss evaluation systems, or the validity of tests and
its reliability, we tend to end up evaluating and criticizing exams. However, many other
evaluation systems are usually more reliable, since test results may get influenced by
emotions, external factors etc. In this way, let us analyze types of formal and informal
assessment.

OBJETIVO

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

• Analyze tests and alternatives to it.

41
Observing continuous assessment

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about evaluation? It is
probably something like this picture or the idea contained in words such as tests and
exams.

However, when we think about continuous evaluation, we might be talking about

informal assessment. What are all these terms? Let us define them all according to Scott
Thornbury (2006):

Assessment refers to the different ways of collecting information about

a learner’s progress and achievement. One of these ways is by testing
a learner, but testing and assessment are not necessarily the same
thing. Assessment may include informal procedures, such as those
carried out by the teacher in the course of a lesson. [...] Assessment is
also distinguished from evaluation, which is concerned with evaluating
the effectiveness of the overall course or programme, rather than the
progress of individual learners on it. (THORNBURY, 2006, p.18)

42
In relation to the passage above, we can highlight and comment a few things:

1. Assessment is usually informal and focuses on collecting data during the course about
individual learners, with some non-official procedures such as:

[…] listening to what they say in pairwork and collecting examples of er-
ror for subsequent feedback. Assessment can take place at certain key
points in a course, such as half-way through and at the end, or it may be
ongoing, in which case it is known as continuous assessment. One mode
of assessment that has received attention recently is self-assessment.
(THORNBURY, 2006, p. 18)

However, it can also include tests, since they are focused on measuring students’ progress
and achievements. In this way, we may talk about formative assessment. It gives the
teacher insights while learning is occurring. Its aim is to measure and understand what
and how much students have grasped. It can — and should — also work as a tool for
teachers to measure their own progress and teaching.

It is important to mention that the examples in the citation above are of formative
assessments. So, it will not always be a test, in spite of this being possible. Other examples
may include: journals, homework assignment feedback, presentations etc.

Keep in mind that it is important to include these assessment systems throughout the
course, not only for the reasons aforementioned, but also in order to avoid surprises at the
end of the process. Besides, we can get feedback and have an action plan to avoid failures
and low grades at the end of the course and/or during the evaluation process.

2. Evaluation is a technique to analyze the course as a whole. This is not a term connected
to testing, but to methodology. According to Thornbury (2006):

The main purpose of curriculum evaluation is to determine whether the

goals and objectives of a course have been achieved, or whether the cou-
rse meets externally imposed standards, such as those set by an educa-
tional authority. (p. 77)

43
3. Testing can happen in both cases: formative assessment (continuous, ongoing) and
evaluation. The difference between them is the aim.

In case you want to measure your students’ progress, you can make use of a formative
test to gather information on their progress, both in terms of content and teaching
methodology. Concerning formative assessment, tests can help teachers measure how
much of the content students have grasped. However, it can be biased, as students can
get nervous, or be tired, hungry etc., and all of these can influence their performance.

To measure the course as a whole, we can also use tests; in this case, they receive a
different name and can simply work as measurement methodologies.

According to Scott Thornbury (2006):

Final (or summative) evaluation – that is, when the outcomes of the
programme are evaluated according to the goals that were established
at the outset. [...] Evaluation procedures involve the use of questionnaires,
and interviews (of students, teachers and administrators, for example),
the observation of classes, the holding of meetings or focus groups.
Teachers, too, evaluate their classes in many informal ways, asking
learners to fill out a checklist at the end of a lesson (What I liked about this
class... What I learned...) is a form of evaluation.

Finally, when we get to BNCC, it is important to highlight that it does not mention any
specific kind of assessment we should put into practice. However, it says that we should
work with English in a formative way.

All in all, we must keep in mind that working with formative assessment is of great
importance so as to keep track of students’ learning and reflect upon our praxis as
teachers and educators.

44
 MIDIATECA

Access our midiateca for the unit to learn more about Evaluation and assessment.

45
Observing continuous assessment

Tests and exams are a way to measure students’ learning and get some feedback on their
performance. But do you believe they are the best way to do so? Are they reliable? Find
below some problems that threaten the reliability of tests. Can you identify what they are?

46
Here is what may have come to your mind:

• Cheating on the test.

• Forgetting things.
• Lack of preparation.
• Tiredness.
• Excess of tests.
• Lack of time.
• Hunger.

Keep in mind that all these factors, among others, may influence students’ performance
and results. Not only this is bad, but also it may harm the reliability of results. Whenever
you write a test, make sure you remember that results might be biased towards a not-one-
hundred-percent valid result.

Concerning evaluation systems, teachers voice their concerns, as Peter Rogan does
below:

With [some of the] classes, I was responsible for the full range of course
design, including evaluation. Learning that a failing grade in my course
(or in any course) would mean that a student would need to repeat the
whole year of schooling, I became intimidated by evaluation. For most of
the semester, I avoided the issue, freed the students of the anxiety of tes-
t-taking and forged ahead. As the semester drew to a close, however, it
became clear that I had little evidence to support decisions about course
grades. Now I was in the situation that whatever test or task I designed
would carry an immense weight by itself in the semester evaluation. This
was the nightmare I had dreaded all along-one-shot, indirect, inauthentic
assessment. (ROGAN apud GRAVES, 2000, p. 207)

As we could notice above, it is an ordinary issue among teachers to feel bad about testing
evaluation systems.

That it is crucial to keep improving our teaching practice, everybody knows. Keep in mind
that this should also include testing and assessment:

47
 always keep thinking and reflecting upon your practice and improving
your testing skills and answering questions that needs assessment can
help you to answer (...) What (and how) do students need to learn with
respect to ___? Language learning assessment answers the question
What have students learned with respect to ___? Course evaluation ans-
wers the question How effective is/was the course in helping them learn
___? (GRAVES, 2000, p. 208)

The figure below is called cycle of textbook adaptation. However, it may be applied to
the assessment cycle too. Remember to keep recycling and to make use of different test
questions, techniques, strategies, etc.

Stage 1
Planning how to
teach with the text.

Ongoing
assessment Stage 2
Stage 4 and decision Teaching with
Reteaching. making the text.

Stage 3
Replanning how to teach.

Source: Graves (2000, p. 205).

We should replace labels, though:

Stage 1: Planning how to test with the question.

Stage 2: Testing with the question.
Stage 3: Replanning how to test.
Stage 4: Retesting.

Ongoing assessment and decision making — to help you judge outcomes and students’
feedback.

48
It is imperative that assessment plays three roles in learning: assessing needs, assessing
students’ learning and evaluating the course itself. Whatever test should cover at least
one of these areas. They are interrelated and overlapping.

All in all, remember the reliability of tests and always keep it in mind before fully evaluating
students, as testing systems are not always that reliable and valid.

MIDIATECA

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49
Analyzing evaluation systems and adaptation

One of the greatest skills of the twenty-first-century teacher is the capacity of adapting
materials (including tests).

In this way, let us analyze some evaluation and assessment systems and adapt them to
our context: regular-curriculum schools in Brazil.

David Thomson’s Assessment Plan

1. Student letter: Students write a letter about writing in English in which

they write about their past experiences with writing, their future needs,
the problems they have encountered, what they hope to work on in class.
They also include two goals they would like to accomplish during the
course.

2. Error correction symbol sheet: Students review a composite list of their

errors from the writing sample during the placement tests. They use an
“Error Correction Symbols” handout to help them understand how the
errors are coded and how to correct them. By doing this, they also gain
practice with the symbols sheet as an assessment tool.

3. Self-rating forms: Students rate themselves as writers. They rate them-

selves according to a “Types of Writing” form which includes examples of
the types of writing referenced in the ACTFL Advanced Writing section.
They then rate themselves on four “writing Evaluation” forms. (GRAVES,
2000, p. 217)

First of all, it is interesting to notice that he doesn’t make use of tests. This may sound
more reliable — and many times it is! — and valid, since students do not feel the pressure
to put whatever they have learned (or memorized, as most of the times) on paper on a
specific day.

50
Assessment 1 is great because it gets students to think critically and reflect upon their
own learning. It could be adapted: we could ask students to write in Portuguese, since the
aim here is not to grade their language, but to make them think about the learning itself.

Assessment 2 is valid because it gets students to think about their own mistakes and
learn from them. It does not need to be adapted, but it does take training and practice to
get to independence. The more scaffolding, the better.

Assessment 3 is good because it makes students aware of their own abilities, limitations
and areas they need to improve. I am not sure it would be suitable for our context, though.
Maybe for English language institutes it would work better.

4. Portfolios: Each of the forms and each draft of a writing assignment is

kept in a portfolio.

David Thomson himself comments on the portfolio (assessment 4):

A portfolio is a collection of the students’ work done during the term. By

the end of the course students will have rated themselves on each of the
forms so they will have a sense of their successes and the areas that still
require work. I, too, will use the forms — the same kind of forms used by
the students − to rate them on each assignment. At the end of the term,
they will have two copies of each form — one filled out by them, the other
by me.

5. Grammar/Vocabulary Log: In this log students record new vocabulary,

grammar structures, idioms, collocations they learn. The log is kept in
their portfolio.

6. Teacher-student dialogue journals

Thomson also comments on the dialogue journal:

This is my way to keep in touch with the students individually. My intent

is to get them to express themselves to me. I encourage them to ask me
questions about any subject they are interested in.

51
 Sometimes the questions are about language, sometimes about life in
the United States, sometimes about frustrations with the program. I will
answer their questions and often ask them my own. I only correct their
mistakes if they ask me to. I want them to feel comfortable writing and
feel they have a teacher with whom they can communicate freely without
fear of criticism or censure. This is also my main way to evaluate the
course, to see what is important to students and what is of little conse-
quence. Throughout the term I ask students to give me feedback on what
we are doing and also tell me what they would like to be doing or would
rather be doing. At the end of the term, this information will be used to
determine the effectiveness of the course and to decide what should be
changed in the following term. (GRAVES, 2000, p. 219)

Assessment 4 is valid not only because it organizes students’ material and gives them a
place to put them away, but it also allows them to go over their own productions to think
upon their evolution, weaknesses and strengths.

Assessment 5 is good because it again organizes students’ content and helps them study
(ongoing). Most visual students need to write and read to internalize content.

Assessment 6 is important because it helps learners feel more comfortable, confident,

aware of and involved in the learning process. It is also a way to praise, engage and
demand from them whenever necessary.

7. End of course letter: In this letter students write about what they lear-
ned during the term and what they feel they still need to work on. They
review their original goals and evaluate how close they came to reaching
them.

8. A final self-rating: Students use the rating sheets to assess their writing
skills based on the writing evaluation forms.

9. A read aloud: Students choose the writing they are most proud of and
read it aloud to their classmates. (GRAVES, 2000, p. 220)

52
Assessment 7 is interesting because it gives students a sense of achievement and some
guidance for the next year, including clues on where to start.

Assessment 8 is just like assessment 3, but done at the end of the term – or year – the
comment here would be pretty much the same.

Assessment 9 is valid because it makes students proud of their own work and shows
them that they can produce regardless of level. Take differentiation into account.

In conclusion, there are alternatives for testing. The less we test students and the more
we provide them with input and insight on the language and language learning, the better.

MIDIATECA

Access our midiateca for the unit, which talks about Testing and assessing.

NA PRÁTICA

Tests and exams are part of bureaucracy, but we are not sure if they are the best way
to measure learning. We cannot rely on tests forever in order to assess students.
Therefore, we need to make use of informal assessment to measure learning and get
feedback on students’ performance. What is the rationale behind tests and exams?
Check it out.

53
Resumo da Unidade 3

This unit aims to analyze and think about the evaluation process as a whole (assessment,
testing). Tests and exams are not the only way to assess students’ learning. In this unit, we
are going to think of alternatives for exams and judge whether it is possible to put them
into practice or not.

CONCEITO

Tests are not to be scary. They can be allies to learning, but can we think of alternatives?
How can we decide on the best alternative?

54
Referências

GRAVES, K. Designing language courses. Boston, Heinle & Heinle, 2000.

HARMER, J. The practice of English Language Teaching. Cambridge: Longman, 2001.

THORNBURY, S. An A-Z of ELT. Cambridge: Macmillan, 2006.

55
 UNIDADE 4

Reports, research and

teaching philosophy
 INTRODUÇÃO

Learning never stops. There is always room for improvement, and the more we research
and produce knowledge, the better. With this in mind, make sure you keep on observing
teaching in action, and write — either formally or informally — reports and other possible
documents about one’s classes and teaching.

OBJETIVO

By the end of this unit, you will be better able to:

• Discuss important ELT issues and differentials to teaching and learning.

57
Reporting

We must always keep in mind that teaching is a changing act. This means that each class
is different from another, since it always depends on the people involved in the scene and
on the interaction between them. This living organism which is the classroom makes
every moment into a unique experience.

Therefore, it is important to mention and make it clear that each different experience can
always add up to our repertoire and our experience. Experience is made of every single
moment we have lived in our careers and academic journey.

Notice that it is not only formally observed lessons that can add up to our experience. We
can also count on informal observation — by us or of us — to learn about what the world
of the classroom is, isn’t, should be or should not be like. The more we observe and get
observed, the better.

Observation does not even need to involve experienced teachers to give us

feedback on our lessons. We can do what we call peer observation. We can
ask co-workers or friends who are teachers to observe our classes and give
us their feedback. Likewise, we can observe other teachers in action so as to
learn from their practice what to do and what not to do.

Keep in mind that observations are not a resource box to judge other teachers and their
acts. Similarly, they are not a way to judge ourselves by our lessons. Let’s take for granted
that we do what we do because we believe it is good for our students. No matter how much
experience a teacher has, s/he must do her/his best to promote and enhance learning.

It is worthwhile to mention that every observation should be structured and focused. That
means, the most profitable observation is usually the one that we have structured. Planning
questions and what to focus on is a key element to making the most of the moments in
which you are observing teachers. Therefore, even if you do not have a document such as
an observation report, observation sheet, or observation guide, you can plan questions to
guide you in writing your observation report. Take a look at the example below:

58
 Source: the author himself (2019).

Importante

In the example above, we can see that, even though there is no formal assessment
of the teacher’s class, it is possible to identify that the aim is to gather as much
information about the teacher and the class being observed as possible. In this
way, you narrow down the options of comments you can make, specially if your
aim is to focus on a specific trait of that teacher or class.

59
Let us put it into another example:

You are struggling with varying the pace of your lesson, as it affects students’ motivation.
You believe that varying the patterns of interaction in the classroom would be a great
start to make your students feel more motivated. Therefore, you decide to observe a co-
worker to get some ideas about activities that use different patterns of interaction and
techniques to work with them in a creative way. You are not going to formally observe your
co-worker, right? You just need some input to add up to your own repertoire and the goal
is not an evaluation of your colleague’s class. Do you need a formal observation sheet?
Are you going to grade the teacher?

Well, as you are teachers at the same level and you are the one who needs to profit from
observing the lesson, of course you are not going to formally evaluate and grade the
teacher’s performance. Remember, you should be grateful for his/her patience, space,
time and generosity.

You will need to have an observation guidance. Write down the questions whose answers
you need to find in the class you are going to observe and go for it!

Let us imagine you will observe a lesson, and this is the scenario:

You are struggling with your students’ behavior. There is this teacher who
is the master of techniques, chants, attention-gathers etc., which are a
hit among students. You have asked to observe her/his lesson, and s/he
said yes. What questions can you write to guide you through this lesson
observation?

• What are the techniques the teacher uses to control students’ behavior?
• What chants could I use in my classes?
• What attention-gathers might work with my groups?
• In what moments of the lesson does s/he use these techniques?
• What are the best ways to control students, considering the activity?
• Are controlling techniques always effective?
• Are there activities that calm students down?

You might have also thought about different questions, but keep in mind that the more
focused the questions are, the more systematized your observation will be.

60
 MIDIATECA

Access our Midiateca for this unit, which talks Writing a TPS.

61
Research

What is life without research? There is no science without research and studies, right?

The more we research, the more we develop knowledge and improve our practices.

Can you list some advantages of research? Use the picture below to help you:

Source: oregoncenterfornursing.org.

Among some advantages of research are:

• Improving practice.
• Finding better results.
• Gathering knowledge.
• Proving facts.
• Rethinking practices.
• Searching answers.
• Experimenting with the new.
• Exploring the unknown.
• Examining possibilities.
• Projecting ideas.

62
 • Gathering data.
• Proving theories.
• Asking new questions.
• Reflecting upon praxis.

You may have thought of other advantages, and that is fine. What we need to keep in mind
is that every experience is worth it, no matter the circumstances.

Also, we do need to work with research. Weillard (1996) compares and contrasts research
to carousel rides at an amusement park:

As a child I used to look at the carousel and wonder how it was possible
for the horses to move up and down and move around, without getting
out of their predetermined places in the circle. Looking at myself as a
learner of teacher-research, one believes that my biggest mistake has
been trying to make my research work operate like a carousel. In other
words, I have attempted to present neat contrasts: writing as a process
versus writing as a product; oral and written comments in self and peer
feedback versus number or letter grades; my personal beliefs about lear-
ning and teaching versus institutional goals. Perhaps I am setting myself
up for failure if I take on the task of changing one of these parts and try
to keep it from affecting the whole. I see now that is impossible; the parts
are interconnected like the carousel horses. On the other hand, the disci-
pline of research, as one understands it, does require structure and regu-
larity, like the spacing of the horses on the carousel. I need some space to
figure out this seeming contradiction: How do you separate a part of your
teaching from the whole of your work life in order to study it? Now, I am
out of my classroom, in the middle of an exciting ride of the third module
in this teacher development program. I am aware that my cart will twist
and turn, driven by doubts and insights. Every now and then, I may still
grab on to the handle of old beliefs, just for the sake of safety. But I can
already picture myself standing in line for the next promising ride, when I
will again be back in the classroom, with my students, perhaps to resear-
ch again. (WEILLARD, 1996, p. 59)

Highlighting some parts of this quote, I can mention that Weillard has used a perfect
anecdote to describe what teaching research means to a teacher. Our profession without
research would simply get to an out of date rhythm and be unsuccessful, since human

63
beings tend to develop and change as time goes by. Just like carousel horses which can
never stop, we cannot stop doing research.

Source: Weillard (2006, p. 41).

Also interesting is Weillard’s passion for being in the classroom — not only teaching but
also researching and producing knowledge. If you allow me to put my voice in this text,
the author points out that he hadn’t been in the classroom anymore by that time but
he could see himself back to teaching and doing research. About fifteen years later, he
started teaching again and guess what? Not only did he do research, but he also started
a project to help teachers work with action research and gather better results. It was then
that I worked with him, designed my first action research project and wrote my very first
article. Notice his passion for research!

All in all, this is a way to keep innovating and offering students different classes, approaches,
techniques, design etc. The more knowledge we produce, the more material we have and
the better prepared we are.

MIDIATECA

Access our midiateca for this unit, which talks about TPS Samples.

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Reporting

Having a teaching philosophy is important because... Wait! What is a teaching philosophy?

Your teaching philosophy explains who you are as a teacher. Not only
does it say a lot about you, but it also talks about your teaching, teaching
beliefs, favorite theories, or the methods you have studied and worked
with. It describes your professional journey and academic background
and any other experience that you may have added to your repertoire in
terms of classroom content and mechanics.

If you are not teaching yet, you probably do not have much of a teaching philosophy,
and that is okay. As you keep on studying and learning theories, gathering beliefs and
experiences — even in your internship — you will construct yours quickly.

Sometimes, when you apply for a job abroad, you are required to write a teaching
philosophy statement. This is a document containing your teaching philosophy. But how
do you go about writing yours? We will take a further look at some models later, but first
you need some inspiration to write.

Step 1: what is teaching?

The following quotes might help you:

Source: sarahcollins- Source: lindseyljensen.com/

Source: ut01001306.schoolwires.net
digitalportfolio.weebly.com my-teaching-philosphy/;

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 Source: quotefancy.com Source: quotefancy.com

• Think about what learning and teaching mean to you. Resort to beliefs, experiences,
quotes, methods etc. you have come across and reflect upon them.
• Think about your teaching and assessment methods. What are your objectives and
how do you try to meet them? How do you assess your learners and yourself?
• Think about your rapport with students (your relation with them). How connected
are you within the learning process? — You should not be friends with your students,
but be friendly and try to understand them.
• Think about professional development. How do you keep on learning and evolving,
so that you make sure you are not just repeating yourself?

All these concepts and guidance might help you develop as a teacher and write your
teaching philosophy statement. Keep them in mind and hands on!

MIDIATECA

Access our midiateca for this unit, which talks about Guide to TPS.

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 NA PRÁTICA

Have you ever been in a job interview abroad? If not, be aware that they might ask you
what your teaching philosophy is, if they do not ask you to hand in a formal Teaching
Philosophy Statement – TPS. That is why it is important to have yours ready in case
you need it. But remember, it is also helpful for your understanding of who you are
as a teacher.

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Resumo da Unidade 4

This unit talks about important issues that show the difference between someone who
works as a teacher and someone who is working as a teacher. Good real teachers report,
work with research, develop best practices and have a teaching philosophy. There is no
way you can develop and evolve without these concepts. Let us take a look at them all
carefully so that you make sure they will help you develop your professional skills.

CONCEITO

Teaching might have different concepts for different people. That is why each teacher
has a different teaching philosophy based on his/her experiences, principles and
beliefs.

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Referências

WEILLARD, W. Carnival rides: an account of beginning teacher-research. In: FREEMAN,

D. Doing teacher research: from inquiry to understanding. New York: Heinle & Heinle
Publishers, 1996.

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