Sometimes it is very difficult to determine the effectiveness of one's teaching methods or of the curriculum and materials being used. As teachers, we ask ourselves almost daily whether what we are doing in our learning environments is meeting our expectations, the students needs, and/or the outcomes of a prescribed curriculum. Guidelines have been developed by many researchers to help teachers ask themselves the important questions about their own teaching practices. Examples of these sorts of self or peer assessments have been included as part of this newsletter.

For second language (SL) teachers one of the more helpful self-assessment guides to come out in recent years has been the Professional Development Plan for French as a Second Language developed by a team of educators under the direction of Roger Tremblay. Many SL educators have attended sessions related specifically to these modules which cover a range of topics from written production to student/teacher interaction. Other teachers have been exposed to ideas from these self-analysis guides through other workshops or courses. The essence of the Tremblay modules is taking a careful look at current teaching practices, reviewing current and effective SL methodologies and then reflecting on ways one can change, adapt, improve or enhance teaching methods.

At the Centre, these modules have been used extensively in the education of future teachers and in the context of other workshops and professional development sessions. One of the particularly notable ways these materials have been used is in the context of the Estonian Language Training Project. Permission was granted to translate these modules into the Estonian language so that they could be used in summer institutes given to SL educators in that country. We have found that the principles advocated in these guides are indeed universal in terms of SL education.

Teachers can indeed be successful in evaluating their own teaching but it may also prove helpful to have colleagues share in the process. In Hopkin's (1985) book on classroom research, he suggests peer observation as a helpful technique toward self improvement. He states that by pairing up with a colleague whom you trust and respect, you both make what may seem at first to be a threatening activity one of mutual support and collaboration. His reference to this sort of observation is in the context of teacher research but observations of this kind can be done from time to time as a more informal activity. Teachers may wish to simply have a colleague look at one aspect of their teaching; student participation, for example. They may also want to look at a particular lesson in a more global sense in order to determine if certain characteristics of good SL teaching are present. Whatever the case may be, these sorts of peer collaborations can be a helpful tool for teachers wishing to gain more insight into their own teaching.

Striving to improve one's teaching is not an activity which should suggest to you or to your colleagues that you are having difficulties in your profession. Rather, self-analysis with the aim of improvement, shows your dedication to teaching as well as your desire to make the learning experience a positive and effective one for your students. Looking critically at one's teaching practices is one way to develop as an educator.

Professional development activities whether on classroom, school, district, provincial or national level are a means to keep up to date with innovations in their field as well as an opportunity to reflect on current pedagogical practices. Teachers should feel challenged, not threatened, by these sorts of endeavors. Sometimes they may reveal little that is new or interesting but more often than not, educators come away from the experience with at least one piece of insight to make their classrooms a more effective place for learning and teaching.

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Last Update: 1998/11/21
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