This is not a trick question: when you have a class eating out of the palm of your hand, do you know why you are so effective in that moment? Would you be able to pass it on to a colleague eager to replicate your success?
I used to have various visitors passing through my classroom, scribbling notes at the back as they attempted to capture the essence of what they were observing. Yes, they could jot down what I said and record what I did, but they often remained largely oblivious to the things I noticed and sensed, and how I weighed them in an instant to make intuitive decisions that enriched my lesson plan. Even if I could unravel the deep tacit knowledge I had acquired to provide the essential ingredients, there was never enough time for me to explain.
I embarked on my research to address these missed opportunities for effective professional learning. That's when I created Lesson DnA. This series of coherent, well-crafted prompts would enable skilled practitioners to Deconstruct-Notice-Articulate what they did in light of their intentions. It allowed teachers like me to document the shared experience from my perspective, thus shedding light on the version a visitor might construct.
But, here's the twist: while DnA served the purpose of passing on expertise, I didn't realise that it would also allow me to explore another dimension of professional learning – my professional learning!
You see, it would have been relatively easy to have given a contrived account - after all, I was the 'expert'. I could legitimately have referred to this or that pupil to illustrate the impact of my approach. More so, if I knew in advance which students were of interest.
No doubt I would be naturally tempted to pick student A when they had their hand raised or pop over to check on how student B was doing. *But, by waiting until the lesson was complete before logging in and randomly selecting a learner from the group, I shifted from providing a polished account to one that was a dynamic enquiry. Because I had no idea which name would come out, during the reflective exercise, I genuinely questioned and probed the effectiveness of my performance.
This ensures the benefits of the exercise are two-fold. The visitor is better able to appreciate the rationale for the encounters they observed, but also get a glimpse of my quest to continuously learn and improve as I chart my next steps in light of the findings from my reflection. The beauty of this method is that as I exercise my memory and subject it to rigorous scrutiny, it has the potential to generate 25 different, authentic versions depending on who the random pupil is.
Lesson DnA has been designed, in the first instance, to be a vehicle for reflection. But, as illustrated, it also has the rich potential to stimulate professional dialogue.
Visit the DnA page to find out more and review a lesson that is still vivid in your memory:
https://teachersreflect.online/products/lesson-dna
#expertise #innovative