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ELT at a glance

A teaching partner: another way to boost your career as a Teacher of English

Andy Hargreaves describes the process of “Balcanization” at school. In the Balcans, countries have been divided into small little republics, isolated from one another. The same happens at schools. Teachers come and go with little or no time to talk to one another about professional issues. A couple of suggestions, yes, a little bit of complaining about certain difficulties in class or dealing with parents, ok, but how about trying to work out problems and obstacles together?, How about finding someone you can grow together in the teaching profession ?

The idea I want to introduce today is that of “the teaching partner”. Your “teaching partner” can work in your school or somewhere different, but he or she is going to be your professional support and companion. You may have a very good friend who is a teacher, and sometimes have a small chat about things going on in your institute, but it is not the same. You need to work with someone towards establishing a solid bond, and as from that bond, expand your teaching capacities. To achieve the latter you need to add some formal elements to your relationship:

Meet on the weekly basis:

Assign a day and a time to meet, at least once a week, and commit to make it come what may. This way, you have time to explore certain topics and bring them to your meeting for further analysis. It is very important to keep this commitment firmly so that you can organize and divide your tasks according to your needs, establishing a plan that contains objectives and due dates to achieve them.

Make it topic-oriented

You may meet and start talking about different concerns getting tangled into your own words and feelings. The best way to avoid digressions is to note down the topics you may need to find information about. Make them as concrete as possible e.g.: Classroom management, teenage psychology; young children learning process etc. These topics are a derivation from your current problems in class, areas you are curious about or anything you that may further your teaching profession.

Make it academic

Once you have decided to work on the topics set out to find information and bibliography about them. Of course you can use the internet but there are also interesting libraries or book stores you can also resort to. The more you have narrowed down the topic, the deeper you will be able to get into it and the more academic and professional your work will be.

Go from findings to application

Set a time limit to your research, a month or two a week, just the way you want. After that, decide on what concrete courses of action you are going to take, basically, of all the new concepts you have learnt, which and how you are going to apply them in class .

Keep a record of your findings.

After you have applied some of what you have learnt in theory draw some conclusions from your practice and keep a record of them that you can both have access to. None of the findings are definitely ended; you can go on discovering new elements of the topic and keep the circle going: Research, apply, conclude. By keeping a record you know you can use it anytime you are faced with a similar situation in which the topic is applicable.

Use peer observation

Sometimes if you teach in different schools you may not have the chance to observe each others´ classes. However, you can talk to your coordinators and ask for permission to observe your partner’s classes giving good professional reasons for doing so, and showing the benefit it can bring about to your class. When you observe your partner’s class he or she may want you to focus on certain aspects of his/her teaching, or receive a general opinion of the whole class to start exploring a point for improvement. It is advisable to make your feedbacks non-judgmental and descriptive at the beginning, and then if required by your partner, give your opinion.When you express an opinion on your peer’s class always make it on the bases of something you have learnt in your training or something you have read. Avoid “if I were you I would do this and that…” without any professional grounding.

Spread the word

I have had a teaching partner for several years. I can guarantee it is a very rewarding experience because you very soon notice how much you grow as a teacher. So spread the word! There may be other teachers willing to experience the same or perhaps willing to get together and group out. There may be times when our profession ceases to be stimulating, however, with the help of colleagues we can bring all the interesting aspects it has to offer back to our professional lives.

Prof. Carlos Galizzi
info@wise-elt.com