Angi Malderez: Systematic Informed Reflective Practice

IH ELT CONFERENCE, 2019

Angi Malderez: Systematic Informed Reflective Practice

Angi Malderez about to start her plenary

Dr Angi Malderez, Honorary Senior Fellow of The University of Leeds, UK, and independent education consultant.

In over 30 years of teaching Angi has taught EFL and teachers of EFL, as well as writing material and doing research in her academic field: principally the practices and processes for supporting teacher learning, e.g as co-director of the Becoming a Teacher research project (2003-2009, University of Leeds), and consultant on the Modes of Mentoring and Coaching (2010-12) and Mentoring and Coaching in Further Education (2013-2014) research projects.

Biodata adapted from the IH ELT Conference, 2019 website.

Talk summary

In the closing plenary of the IH conference, 2019, Angi Malderez introduced us to Systematic Informed Reflective Practice (SIRP). As an introduction, she explained the subtitles to her talk (see above slide). The idea of How to use conference ‘take-aways’ so that they work for you, made this talk relevant to the current situation (how often do you come away from a conference buzzing with new ideas and possibilities which are never implemented?), but the SIRP process could equally be applied to our teaching.

In the second subtitle A tool for teacher Learnacy, the use of the word learnacy (Claxton, 2004), Angi explained, was deliberately chosen to reflect the fact that the ability to learn and reflect on learning is a basic life skill akin to literacy (first introduced to the language in the 18th/19th century) and numeracy (introduced in the 1980s). Learnacy is the latest in a list of essential skills recognised by their introduction to everyday language.

Angi began by asking the audience to brainstorm a list of ‘conference nuggets’ we’d picked up over the last couple of days and then divide them into the following two categories:

The fact of merely taking time to identify and categorise what we’d learnt from the conference was in itself, actually quite an illuminating activity. Recalling and recycling in this way, as with any cognitive process, should prevent some of these ideas from disappearing before class on Monday.

The SIRP process encourages teachers to reflect on an experience (at a conference, in this case, or in class) through a five-step protocol of 5 ‘thinking steps’ for Professional Learning Development (PLD).

STEP 1

After an experience of teaching:

a) Identify how you feel /felt
b) Describe what you noticed that prompted this feeling

STEP 2

Think of as many possible interpretations of these feelings as you can (without judgement or censure)

STEP 3

What else do you know that might help you to decide on an interpretation?
a) About the students?
b) About the context?
c) About theories / ideas (e.g. from conferences)?

At this point, Angi provided a couple of examples of useful theories which may be used to interpret classroom practice and inform reflection. The first was Glasser’s five basic psychological needs:

- Security
- Belonging
- Success
- Fun

This theory suggests that EVERYTHING we do is to meet one of these basic needs. If we can ensure that all these needs are covered in classes, our students will be motivated to learn.

The second useful theory suggested by Angi, which may help us interpret an experience could be Csikszentmihayi’s ‘flow’ theory, which was discussed in this talk by Scott Thornbury. Flow is the optimal learning experience, which matches sufficient level of challenge to the learner’s current level of ability in order to ensure maximum learning:



Csíkszentmihályi's Flow theory

STEP 4

Taking all the above considerations into account, are you sure that your interpretation is robust?

STEP 5

Follow up - what next?

- For your teaching (consider new activity ideas from the conference)?
- For your learning?
- For your noticing?


BENEFITS FOR TEACHERS

Working within a SIRP framework can help you to
- Find contextually appropriate ways to use conference ‘take-aways’
- Develop your noticing skills
- Manage your own learning
- Stay happier as you ‘tinker’* (Huberman, 1992) – make small but effective changes in your practice based on informed reflection.

In Huberman’s Lives of teachers (1992), ‘tinkering’ is described as an essential component of teachers’ professional development. Making small, contextually appropriate changes in practice based on informed reflection, which can help to keep teachers motivated, satisfied and engaged. This provides a possible pathway for mid-career teachers, and staves off the potential ‘cynicism’: ‘I’m an experienced teacher – I know all I need to know’.


BENEFITS FOR TRAINERS / MENTORS

The questions on the following slide may help to guide PLDs within the first three steps:

 

To complete the cycle, for the following two steps (4 & 5), trainers and mentors can guide PLDs with the following questions:

- On reflection, which explanation seems right to you? Why?
- Ok, so if that’s right, what are you going to do about it?
- In the next class/next time you notice something similar? What choices do you have? (practical ideas from the last conference you went to?)
- What else might be important to notice next time, and how can you try to do that?
- Is there anything you feel you need to learn more about, and if so how/where could you do that?

The SIRP framework provides a practical, connected way of allowing teachers to develop, while not being as 'intimidating' as Action Research or Teacher Research.

BENEFITS FOR ‘THE SYSTEM’

Working to support the development of SIRP can benefit all the members of the institution by encouraging teachers to notice the feedback that students provide, hence developing teacher ‘learnacy’ (and agency). It also avoids the typical feedback cycle and ‘judgementoring’ and enhances teacher’s retention, and consequently their ability to ‘tinker’. SIRP helps an institution to move away from a traditional ‘performative’ culture and bridges the theory-practice gap, as teachers start to find the practical usefulness of the theories they hear about at conferences.

Angi’s slides are available on the IH ELT conference website: https://www.ihes.com/bcn/tt/conference.html


Her email address is

amalderez@googlemail.com

 

References

Claxton, G (2004) Learning Is Learnable (And We Ought To Teach It) In the National Commission for Education report Ten Years On, edited by Sir John Cassell

Csikszentmihali, M. (1988). Optimal Experience: Psychological studies of Flow in consciousness. C.U.P.

Glasser, W. (1998). Choice Theory: A New psychology of personal freedom. HarperCollins.

Hobson, A.J. & Malderez, A (2013) Judgementoring and other threats to realizing the potential of school-based mentoring in teacher education. International Journal of Mentoring in Education. Vol 2/2. Pps 89-108 

Huberman, A.M. (1992) Lives of Teachers. Cassells 

Malderez A. & M. Wedell (2007) Teaching Teachers: Processes and Practices London/NY:Continuum