Jeremy Phillips - Reflective teaching for the real world
Reflective teaching is hard work. Outside of structured training courses, it can be a challenge for working teachers to have the discipline, honesty and time for effective self-reflection. Moreover self-reflection tends to be a messy, disorganised process which does not always lead to tangible results. Opportunities for professional growth through reflective teaching also tend to be skipped for emotional reasons when teachers feel threatened by honest self-assessment.
This workshop presents a framework for kick-starting or improving reflective teaching methods to make them practical and results-oriented for ELTs working in diverse contexts. The aim is to make reflective teaching painless and effective by getting teachers to examine their own personalities and perspectives as a first step. Simple techniques for identifying teacher needs and wants for change in their professional practice through self-observation and experiential learning are presented for working teachers to try, alter and adapt. The vague, often elusive practice of reflective teaching will be demystified step-by-step through worksheets, suggested tasks and other concrete, specific, manageable steps. Participants will set aims for professional growth by increasing self-awareness and reducing self-consciousness.
Turning this reflection into action occupies the last stage of the workshop. General strategies for experimenting with new teaching techniques, finding resources and examining classroom practice are suggested. Some of these may be context or resource-base specific while others won’t.
About the speaker:
Jeremy Phillips is from Canada where he took his first degree at the University of Toronto. He has taught English at a middle-school in Korea, a language school in Prague (The Czech Republic), a private school in Toronto, a university in Ankara (Turkey), a community college in North York, a prefectural university in Hiroshima (Japan) and The Institute for Tourism Studies in Macau. He holds a Master’s degree from the University of Reading, a Certificate and a Diploma in English Teaching from the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate. His research interests include teacher-training, materials design, cultural studies, academic writing and travel-education.
Reflect on my teaching is a must because education now is different,online classes are part of our lives, so as teachers we need to learn and grow with this generation.