Smith Rebolledo (2018). handbook for Exploratory AR (1)
C. Teachers didn’t do anything to solve or understand
the situation.
Commentary Acting quickly is an essential teacher skill, but it might also
be important to consider whether you’re acting ‘right’,
especially for the most important decisions. In example 1
above, the teacher decided to use videos, probably in the
belief that videos would be motivating in themselves. But
what if students’ lack of motivation was more related to the
fact that they weren’t allowed to be active in class rather
than the type of materials? The teacher didn’t ask the
students about this before deciding on using videos.
In fact, one teacher in the Champion Teachers programme
in Chile was also interested in increasing students’
motivation but the data she gathered made her realise that
her focus should change to how to give her students more
opportunities to speak English in class: “The information I
collected told me that I was not giving them enough time to
practice. I was only giving one speaking activity per class or
once a week.” So in her case, an intervention related to
technology would not have solved the situation.
In example 2, the teacher asked students to work in groups
to increase speaking in class but what if students were not
speaking out because they didn’t have the language
needed to communicate or weren’t interested in the topics
being discussed in class? The teacher didn’t check their
speaking abilities or interests before asking them to work
in groups, or whether they would feel comfortable with this
new format.
Read the following dialogue, which has been adapted from
a real conversation between two teachers talking about
a solving a puzzling situation.
A: Last year, I had to choose the titles for my class graded
readers and I didn’t know which ones to choose.
