69 | What shall I change? 7.3 Planning a change Here is a reminder of the different sources of change we
identified in 7.1 above (of course there may be others!):
As we know, without the need for further action, classroom
change can occur through …
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a teacher’s change in understanding
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students’ change in attitude due to you requesting
their opinions and ideas
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students’ change in attitude due to you sharing
findings with them
The above can all come about through exploratory
research, without the need for new action. With new
action, classroom change can occur through:
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implementing students’ suggestions
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implementing your own ideas
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implementing others’ ideas
Change that occurs through such actions can be
evaluated through Action Research. So, let’s consider
how you can plan new actions for bringing about change
in your own classroom.
Task 7.2 Where do your new ideas for teaching tend to come from?
Tick all those that apply to you:
Implementing students’ suggestions When offered responsibility, students can be very
perceptive about their needs and preferences, and about
challenges and problems in the classroom.
In Chapter Six we met Daniela, who investigated why
students didn’t seem to speak much in class. As well as
finding that this was partly a result of her behaviour as
a teacher, she also got some useful suggestions from the
learners for relevant activities to improve their speaking
skills, such as games, debates, drama or role play, and
using songs and movies. Suggestions from students are
particularly useful, as they are more likely to succeed than
ideas ‘from outside’, and they also provide the learners with
a shared interest in making them successful. This was
