Documents that Regulate Planning, Teaching, and Guiding (1)

The first teaching day in Room number 3

Oh did I say 3? WRONG. Number 4. I stayed almost for 5 minutes in a wrong room until Janne the teacher came to drag me to the room which I was supposed to be.

Competence goal 1  

You are familiar with the documents that regulate planning teaching and guiding.
The main questions provided for each group were:

Group 1: How do the official documents and regulations affect the planning of the teaching in your vocational field? Where can you find all this information?  

Group 2: What are the views of learning and how do they affect the planning of the teaching in your particular vocational field and in competence-based education? Choose at least one view that you use in your teaching task!  

 
Group 3: How does student centered approach, personalization and competence-based system affect the planning?

Group 4: What is a pedagogical script? How can that help you promote learning in a classroom, on the job learning and virtual settings?

Group one representative started her presentation:

Question 1: How do the official documents and regulation affect the planning of the teaching in your vocational field? Where can you find all this information?

​She stated all the objectives clearly and I could see easily what we will conclude in the end. I think, by saying the purpose of the lesson directly and clearly, students’ mind will have a better chance to be grounded and settled on the topic so the reflection and discussion do not deviate from the main topic, especially if the time of the teaching is limited. This was exactly my own mistake in my very first online teaching. I noticed it, when after passing almost half of the session, one of the students asked: Ok, what is the main topic? Of course I had prepared the lesson plan and all the objectives of the lesson two days before teaching, but I should always bring it clearly in form of a title or objective goals on the beginning of my for example Power-point slides.

In this teaching the idea of going through the web pages to find a reliable source for checking regulation documents in Finland was interesting and practical; I really like practicality. However, giving the specific detail like find the source on German language was a little bit demotivating. I think, if we were asked to find the regulations on our own field of study and profession or more general, on the vocational education, we would have been more motivated.

I really liked it, that she was asking questions to make sure everything is clear and we all are on the same page. Something that most teachers forget and students do not even care enough to ask.

I always appreciate it when teachers ask questions related to our real life experiences in regard with lesson’s subject. I believe that if you want to motivate adults to listen carefully and be interested in the topic, just ask them to talk about themselves. :) Adults love to talk about their experiences and their ways of doing things. This is also what I most of the times do when I have adult learners. Our classmate (teacher at the moment) wanted to know if we had any issues regarding following the regulations in our teaching career. If yes, how did we handle them? I remember that, in my country I had to always follow the rules and there was less chance to change or substitute anything. I always was rebellious and tried different methods, materials, and courses. Of course, because of that I was most of the times in trouble. I really believe that freedom of choosing materials, methods and techniques based on the needs of the students is teacher’s responsibility. When I see teacher does not care about some regulations, because she does not think it is good for her students, I surely want that class for my own children. 

Right at this time, I was informed by Janne that I am both in room number 3 and 4 😅 (Still learning how the Teams platform works!)

We also were asked to find answers to some questions based on the provided references. These are important questions which every teacher needs to answer before even choosing the profession of teaching in any environment and condition, since not only creativity and freedom in choosing methods, approaches and materials need to be taken into consideration, the main structure of the education which is founded based on various scientific researchers are also important. Here are the questions:

1. What matters the most in quality of education?​

2. To what extent teacher’s responsibilities are limited to? ​

3. What new role of a teacher is emphasized in current vocational teaching?​

4. When the vocational educational and teaching was recently reformed in Finland?​

5. Up to which age, compulsory education is extended in Finland?​

6. What can be done to maintain equality in vocational education?​

7. When does National Reforms in Vocational Education and Training and Adult Learning come to force in Finland? ​

8. How can you make your teaching effective?​

9. Do legal and ethical issues mean the same in teacher´s profession?

In the end, we were given to-the-point and important information about the policies and current practices in vocational education. There are four main factors influencing regulations which are:

1. Quality and Equality​

2. Right to learn development​

3. Reform of continuous learning​

4. Access and admission of students to vocational education program, public notification (Group 1 presentation)​

Quality and Equality:

• Standard , related to work life , understand current knowledge in the field, hands on training
• Gender, Minority, Handicapped (considering unique instrumentation and tools)

Right to learn development programs and Basic disciplines:

• Orientation, bridging programmes, coaching
• Implementation of practical based learning
• Following legal issues (both teachers and students)

Reform of continuous learning and timetable:

• Being aware of reforms

*This reform updates the entire vocational education and training (VET) by 2018 in Finland. While planning the course, it is equally important to take into consideration the facts that determine the viability of the course. For example, whether the course can be completed in time and the course workload complements the time duration given to the students or otherwise.

Access and admission of students to vocational education program, public notification:

• Continuous admission
• Public notification about course modules, admission,

Before getting to the conclusion for this presentation I thought it is good to give a definition of what teaching documents are:

"The documents which are used by the teacher in the preparation, implementation and evaluation of teaching/learning process. They include schemes of work, lesson plans, records of work and progress records. They are meant to make teaching and learning more effective." (Wikieducator)

This is important to mention that, there is also common education documents which include:

• Admissions forms
• Financial aid paperwork
• Student records
• Personnel records (helpsystem)

And at upper level there is official government documents: 

"Generally, a government document is any publication produced by a government agency. Government documents are issued by all branches of government, and may be available in a variety of formats, including print, microfiche, CD-ROM and electronic." (Ministry of education and culture)

In conclusion, I believe in order to ensure that the student is given clear and precise instructions, it becomes necessary to align instruction with standards. However, in the end this is the teacher who is in close contact with students and can change or manipulate things in order to meet the students’ needs. But generally, there always need to be standards. Standards ensure better accountability – holding teachers and schools responsible for what goes on in the classrooms (Tomlinson, 2000). The practice of aligning learning to standards also helps ensure that a higher level of learning is attained, guides teachers in the process of assessment and helps keep them on track (Brandt, 1998). 

Here is the update to this section of blog where I share more about the documents and regulations' impact on planning, teaching and guiding. 

Based on Finnish Education Database, “Finland has a proven track-record as the home of world-class education.” This is something which I used to hear about Finland, as the utopia of education system! Until I started my teaching practice firstly in a comprehensive school for eight weeks, and then in a vocational school which still is going on. And guess what? Finland deserves to have the track-record of world-class education. Even in the first day of school we will see the system has been built on the equality and quality principles. Consequently, the learning gap of the weakest and the strongest students (in a same mental, physical, and environmental situation) in Finnish schools is one the narrowest in the world.

As Burg (2018) states, “Finnish invest less time in school and more time in personal and professional development, curriculum planning, and various school improvement initiatives.” 

The focus of the Finnish education is students’ needs and is not what the government wants. That is why the documents and regulations give general instructions on the learning theory, teacher's and learner's autonomy. 

As I noticed so far in my teaching practice sessions, the reformation into competency-based and learner-centred approach has changed teachers' role more into a guide than teacher; however, this change has not made them demotivated. Teachers are still important soldiers on the field! To my opinion, this is ironic and softly complicated. As Randi Weingarten the president of American Federation of Teachers organization says:

“Finnish educators believe that teachers should be at the center of a child-centered education system. They work to ensure that teachers have what it takes to accomplish the task of educating a country.”

The feeling that I had during the first session of the teaching practice in English course, which was fully integrated with technology learning technique and the required competence in the business setting, was Trust. I felt the energy of trust between learners and their teacher. This feeling was felt in all the Finnish educational settings that I have attended so far. I can surely say that trust is the quality of teachers. Trust is given to teachers to decide their own methods of teaching, the teaching material and assessments methods. This trust means that these are the teachers who decide what is the best for their students.  Essentially, this trust is given from government to teachers, and consequently, from teachers to students. This circle of trust has increased the quality of the Finnish education. When I shared my understanding with teachers in OSAO, I was introduced to this program called "Developing equality and quality in vocational education and training".

This program has been founded by the Ministry of Education and Culture together with the Finnish National Agency from 2020 and will continue until 2022. This program's aim is to make sure that vocational education and training has high quality and tries to encourage the progressive development of quality along side with effectiveness objectives and policies of the Quality Strategy for Vocational Education and Training. This three years old program also aims to reduce and prevent differences in learning and learning outcomes related to gender, socio-economic background, place of residence or need for support. This, in turn, advances equality and non-discrimination in vocational education and training. The program is vast and detailed which I refer you to the main page to learn more about it. Reading the objectives and agenda of this program made me think of the influence that the government has in the Finnish educational system, even though the teacher's autonomy is still highlighted. This brings back again the integrated circle of trust among all sectors of the educational system and how smooth this engine is moving forward by researching, reforming, regulating, applying, assessing, and again reforming...

I have explained in details the effect of objectives and regulations on planning in my field of study and profession that is teaching English as a foreign language here. 

Here are the related links to vocational education ACTs. 

The Ministry of Education and Culture

Finnish National Agency for Education

Vocational Education Decree

Vocational Education ACT in Finnish

European Framework for Language Teaching

Oulu Vocational School

Key Legislation on General Education

Act on Vocational Education and Training

Question 2: What are the views of learning and how do they affect the planning of the teaching in your particular vocational field and in competence-based education?

Second group representative presented a general category of teaching approaches into two categories of learning based and content based approaches. 

When we put more emphasis on learning, we will see how our planning and teaching method changes in a more learner-centered approach. For example, the content is not anymore just educational materials which teachers provide in the classroom; students' previous experience and knowledge is also part of the lesson content. When students relate new knowledge to their own life experiences as the prior knowledge or schemata, they will learn effectively and their cognition structures the knowledge faster; therefore, the learning happens faster (Hudson, 1982). Students in content based learning are more passive waiting to receive first the plan and then the knowledge. But in learning based approach, students are involved in the planning of the lesson content which is mostly based on collaboration and team working activities. They feel more motivated and energetic and of course more responsible in their own learning. Handbook for Teachers                 

Learning–based approach	Content–based approach
Student needs, earlier knowledge, and expectations form the premises of planning.	The teacher’s own points of interest form the basis of planning.
Students are asked to participate in planning, where possible.	The teacher creates a detailed schedule with no room for flexibility.
Plans are not too detailed.	The teacher also plans the course content independently.

In the end we were presented a table with 4 categories of different levels in teaching methods. 

Very Easy Supplementary, reading, summaries, Assembling a knowledge base, Learning cafe, Cumulative group–snowball, Brainstorming, Discussion group, Pretest	Easy Independent works, stimulating writing assignments, Group work, Cross-over groups, Presentation walk, Reading circle, Presentations (lecturing), Panel discussion, Participants teach
Average Exercises, Mnemonics in teaching, Collaborative learning, Teaching walk, Step-by-step discussion, Symposium, Seminar, Interview, Web-based learning	Demanding Mind map, Learning diary, Inquiry teaching, Teaching discussion, Debate with argumentation, Fishbowl, Problem-based learning (PBL), Case teaching, Project work, Learning by doing, Role-playing, Games, Creative work, Drama pedagogy, Dialogue with oneself

My method of teaching is mixed-method. I believe every skill, every student, and every situation need special method, and sometimes the best method is No method. We can easily wait for the moment and see what students need and let them decide on the method. This is pure learner-centred approach, when teacher is a ghost. After all, this is the main purpose of learner-centred approach Right? :))) 😂

I also liked the retrospective task in the end of the lesson, where we were asked to think and discuss about the teaching method which teacher used. To my opinion, it was mostly lecture with the help of PowerPoint and also group discussion. I really liked this idea that the teacher provided different related supplementary materials in each PowerPoint slide to receive further information. I should consider that also next time in my lesson plan.

Here is the update to this section of blog where I share more about the views of learning in my field of study and profession. 

Learning theories are conceptual theories on the ways that human beings learn (Lavadenz, 2011). These include behaviorist, cognitive, and sociocultural perspectives.

Learning theory	Origination	Definitions and instructional implications
Behaviorism	US c. 1914; influenced by European empiricism	Learning as a response to environmental stimuli and can be manipulated, observed, and described (Watson; 1919, Skinner, 1938). Teaching thus is through practice, repetition, and rewards.
Cognitive Constructivism	1950s to present	Learning can be explained as deep, complex psychological phenomena such as motivation, schemas, and processes for learning (Bruner, 1996; Piaget, 1974). Teaching occurs in phases with gradual complexity
Sociocultural Constructivism	1970s to present	Learning is influenced by social, cultural, and historical factors. Learning takes place within social interactions (Vygotsky, 1978; Wertsch, 1991). Teaching occurs through meaningful interactions between experts and novices.

Behaviorism

The influence of behaviorism in English language teaching (ELT) can be seen in method like audio-lingual.

When the World War II started, armies needed to be orally skilled in the languages that their enemies and their allies speak as fast as possible. That is the reason this language initially was called the Army Method and later Audio-lingual Method. In this method, which was under the influence of Skinner's Behaviorism theory, correct behavior receives positive feedback, while errors receive negative feedback up until the right response is automatic (Rao, 2018).

In this method, the emphasis was not on the understanding of the words but the acquisition of structures in common everyday dialogue, which I have seen these days in my teaching practice session in vocational school. The teacher does not teach the structure or grammar in a separate format but students actually acquire them through practice and repeating for themselves in the form of dialogues specially made with the context of their course which in this case was business. Here is an example of one of the lessons in International business class.

However, in the reformed principle of education in OSAO, teachers have decided not to use books as materials anymore; since students are more prone into using digital materials which has been designed with the same approach in English teaching. Although, I heard from some teachers that their students prefer books and feel more competent using the book as a guide in acquiring the language. 

To my opinion, this was against the idea of personalization system in teaching, in which different learning styles are appreciated and taken into consideration.

Getting back to Audio-lingual method, some characteristics of this method are:

• Drills are used to teach structural patterns

• Set phrases are memorised with a focus on intonation

• Grammatical explanations are kept to a minimum

• Vocabulary is taught in context

• Audio-visual aids are used

• Focus is on pronunciation

• Correct responses are positively reinforced immediately (TJ Tylor Language Academy)

To my opinion, this method can still be used in a modern way. For example, in early stages of teaching English language to the learners we need drilling to enforce the right pronunciation, and in my experience this has been the most successful method in pronunciation part of language teaching. Of course, learning the structure of language i.e., grammar in the form of repetition, as I witnessed in OSAO, is helpful as long as it is kept as a part of individual lessons rather than as a method for the whole lesson.

The main shortcoming of this approach was that, it did not take into account the role of context and previous knowledge, and also later, the scientists found out that language is not acquired through a process of habit formation. (Vygotsky, 1962)

Cognitive constructivism

Cognitive constructivism stems from the work of J. Piaget. He conceives learning as a “holistic, ‘bottom-up’ process” (Dimitriadis & Kamberelis, 2006). In this theory the individual learning process and how s/he construct knowledge through experience is taken into account. Firstly, brain rejects the new knowledge, since it does not have any related previous knowledge or experience close to it. This is called disequilibrium phase, or the challenge, and when the brain receives more and more knowledge (input) the same as the new knowledge from the outside world, it tries to reform it and adapt it and this is when the learning happens. Actually this cognitive change is learning. This mechanism that promotes change in cognition is equilibrium, which happens as soon as the learner adopts the new knowledge. 

Regarding the language development, Piaget and Inhelder (1959) believed that cognitive development and language acquisition are closely interrelated processes. In Piaget's view, the cognitive knowledge about the world does not develop, if the language development does not happen. It means that the development of language forms is controlled by cognitive growth.

Influencing Piaget's Cognitive theory of learning, some basic teaching English language techniques covers activities like problem-solving learning, discovery learning, project-based learning etc.

In Problem-solving learning, the students come up with a problem, they search and find the solution, then they analyse and evaluate, and Finally, the draw the conclusion. 

         Traditional and Problem-based (solving) Learning

Traditional Learning	Problem-based Learning
The lecturer decides the problem. The lecturer presents the information and prepares the materials.	The students decide their own problem. The students look for the information and relevant materials.

I personally, see weaknesses of this approach in my English classes boldly compared to the strengths, especially in the elementary levels of language learning. learners do not have a good command of English yet, they struggle to find the right words and phrases let alone the grammar construction. And it is also time consuming. Still, I believe this approach works well in more advanced levels. It is perfectly applicable in all four language skills of speaking, reading, writing and with some challenges listening tasks. 

I witnessed using this method mainly in vocational schools in finland. For example, in my first day of teacher training, the customer service students were given a real dirty car to do the interior cleaning. the problem was obvious and the solution was needed to be decided. The way the students think of the materials for cleaning and the team work was great. Teacher just showed them the car and stood aside to observe and if it was necessary gave some guidances. English was the language of communication. Those who did not have a good command of English were listening carefully to those who were fluent and this peer pressure made them to use the same words and structure while doing the main task which was cleaning the car. All those special words and phrases and the required structure was already practiced before in their special digital material with all the included tasks. Again, not such a big role for English language teacher. S/he is there always to give teachings in case students feel they need to know more about, for example a structure or ask for a new word. Teacher is actually a communicator, guide, supervisor and supporter. 

Okay, let's get back to cognitivism. Later, Perry (1970) while validating Piaget's learning theory, presented that most men and women have logical approach with objective analysis and argument to build their opinions. Palmer (1983) stated that this objective knowledge, also named separate knowledge, intentionally removes the personal experiences and feelings from the logical analysis. However, he also mentioned that some men and women have different approach. This approach which is an empathic reflection to divergent views is called connected knowledge. People using this approach, try to understand the reasons for another person's way of thinking. They believe that the truth might not be what they say, but maybe what the other person does. However, personally I believe the truth is somewhere in between!!! (enough with philosophy :D)

I am in favor of this complementary section of Piaget's theory from Perry. In teaching anything, both feelings and though are important. These two should not be separated from learning. In language teaching field, researchers realized that, only by focusing on linguistic factors, the human interests, background knowledge, and motivation are disregarded (Pishghadam, Tabatabaeyan & Navari, 2013). To support this idea, the concept of emotioncy was coined by Pishghadam (2015) a psycholinguist who believes that our emotions have a great role in building the knowledge.

Inspired by Greenspan’s (1992) developmental, individual-differences, relationship-based (DIR) model of first language acquisition which places emphasis on the affective domain of human behavior, Pishghadam (2015) introduced emotioncy as the missing link in shaping human cognition. The amount of experience which people have with some objects or concepts has effect on the level of their understanding and also learning. I refer you to the main article for getting the details. Emotincy

This was an introduction to my opinion on the language teaching methods which are applied in Finnish vocational school. As I mentioned previously, the cognitive and sociocultural constructivism is boldly applied in this system and various teaching methods and techniques put the learners in the center and each one of the students are taken into account and their feelings, learning styles, personalities are also taken into consideration. But the only issue which I noticed is that how do we teach them the connection between their mind and their feelings? Why the materials used in the classes are far from emotional challenges which we experience every day in real life? In one of the sessions in my teaching practice in OSAO, one of the teachers asked the students to do the hands-on-the job method for learning a skill. He told me students like it more and become more close to each other when they do that. Then I was thinking how about the language classes? When the learners have the chance to feel and learn? Of course, it is always easier for hard skills to touch the materials and equipments and get connected and hold the emotioncy, but for soft skills like language it is problematic to put the learners in authentic context and engane their feelings. This has been always a challenge for me and I expressed this in this article regarding emotion based language teaching. Emotion

Socioculturalism

The sociocultural approach towards learning is holistic. In this theory meaning has given more value in any teaching and states that knowledge and skills must be taught in all its complex forms, rather that isolated concepts (Turuk, 2008).

The sociocultural perspective of language acquisition originates in the work of Vygotsky (1962). He includes the premise that second language teaching and learning occurs when the social interactions of the learners with more skilled others happen (K+1). He was mainly looking for the cultural and historical influences on learning (Wertsch, 1991). This theory shows that children's language acquisition is attained through everyday conversation which they have with adults such as naming objects. It can be said that kids learn about the world and the appropriate behavior through adults.

Tenets of Sociocultural Theory: 

• Learning precedes development.

• Language is the main vehicle (tool) of thought. 

• Mediation is a central concept of learning. 

• Social interaction is the basis of learning and development. Internalization is a process that transforms learning from the social to the cognitive (individual) plane. 

• The Zone of Proximal Development is the primary activity space in which learning takes place.  (Lavadenz, 2011)

*Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) is defined as the distance between the child's current level of cognitive development and the potential level of development (Lavadenz, 2011).

In the area of language teaching, one of the methods influenced by sociocultural learning theory is Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). 

CLT followers considered communication as the ultimate goal of language learning which is achieved through the interaction with others. This approach is still applied in vocational education system in Finland in language classes, where the most focus is on acquiring the language through communication with teacher and other students. As I observed in teaching practice sessions so far, language teachers engage students in meaningful and learner-centered activities in all four languages areas. As the most widely used method for language teaching, CLT focuses on all four skills of language— listening, speaking, reading, and writing—and does not specify a prescribed grammatical or structural sequencing. As an example, the students, who were studying customer service competency, in a role play task, communicate verbally with teacher as a customer who wants to change a product which she had bought before. And now the student as a salesperson communicate in English or Swedish language with the teacher as customer. The same way is practiced for writing skill, when the students write in English or Swedish an e-mail to an imaginary customer about for example an appointment. I could see how the teacher puts her focus on meaning through contextualized interaction over form.

The last teacher was from Amazing team. Interesting name 😉 I am wondering why my team doesn’t have a name yet!

The topic was presented on the first PowerPoint slide:

Question 4: What is a pedagogical script? How can that help you promote learning in a classroom, on the job learning and virtual settings?

We started by sharing our opinions on these questions:

We all believed that teachers’ having a pedagogical script has an important role in learning quality. As one said the pedagogical script clear pacing and order of teaching activities and learning activities help students understand what teacher does and what student does. In addition, I also believe that having a well-thought-out pedagogy can improve the quality of our teaching and the way students learn.

Regarding the second question, I think lesson planning can help the teacher to be well prepared and be aware of what he/she intends to do. And every teacher has their own style and interest. The educational context is not just about learners. It is a two way road. When the personality and interests of students need to be always taken into consideration, the teachers’ personality, preferences and experiences are also really important, therefore, having a common tailored and engineered pedagogical script for all the teachers is not a fair idea. However, this is what Janne the teacher believed: I think some kind of script is in the background - even very loose and maybe not conscious script - but Listen a lecture - talk about it with your group to understand the lecture... that's a very basic and loose script. But hopefully the script is more thought through.

The question related to learning environment sounds a little bit too general. I believe that, the aim is to create a total environment for learning that optimizes the ability of students to learn. There is no single optimum learning environment. As Janne stated, “In face-to-face settings the scripts flow more easily. But in online setting they have to be pre-planned much more. On the job learning requires these moments of pause, reflecting in order to learning take place. Just work, work, work... is not great for learning. It needs teaching and learning activities as well.”

I  enjoyed this idea of presenting the root of the word “pedagogy”:

Pedagogy terms comes from greek word “paidagogia” formed by “pais” that means pupil and “ago” that means conduct. Amazing group presentation

Then we got to the different learning theories, which is the most repeated subject for me during all the years of my study at university. We were so into knowing about all these models and theories. We used to make a list to remember all the names of all the figures and scientists, remember all the chronological dates of each models birth and fading out time and being replaced by another theory.  We all seemed like masters in teaching at that time when we were students at university, calling ourselves “Educationalists”  :)  Then, I started my real teaching hour with real students. And there, I was not an educationalist anymore. I was a mad teacher who was just yelling and running after kids to make them listen to me. :)) So, after the first session, I was imagining Skinner, Pavlov, Piaget or Vygotsky’s faces in the real class situations. Were they ever in a real classroom situation, except their labs or discussion rooms?

And now after all these years this funny memory came back, so I thought I share it here!

It was interesting to know about Kolb’s learning cycle (Kolb, 1984). (The presented diagram is not the one shown to us in the teaching slide, I actually prefer the charts and diagrams to be colorful; since they attract more attention and they are not that boring anymore. :)

(CE)RO=Reflective observers AC= Abstract conceptualization AE=Active experimentation

CE= Concrete experience

In my opinion, Kolb's learning theory can be associated with Competence-based model. 

When students are faced with abstract conceptualization, as in Kolb’s theory, they have unconscious incompetence (Flower, 1999), meaning that, they don’t know what they don’t know. This makes them feel like they have no interest and they feel sometimes even indifferent. In second phase of Kolb’s theory students start doing try and fail until they know what they don’t know; this is conscious incompetence which is the intermediate stage of learning, where the learners reach after some familiarity with the new skill that they are learning. In the next level of Kolb’s learning theory is the concrete experience, where the learners do and do to become skilled. This is where the competence theory states the conscious competence phase. In this state the learner knows what s/he knows. And my favorite phase in competence theory is the last one i.e, unconscious competence, where you are at the mastery stage of learning. I think, the difference with last stage is that performing at a high level is now much more intuitive, and no longer requires much conscious effort on your part. Maybe, the last phase of Kolb’s theory sets somewhere between conscious and unconscious competence. 

Here is the update to this section of blog where I share more regarding pedagogical script and their effect on learning's quality in a classroom, on the job learning, and virtual setting.

It's better firstly define what is a pedagogical script?

Simply put, pedagogical script asks teachers to write down what they are going to say and do before they say and do it. To have an effective script, teachers require to make conscious decisions about the best choices of tasks and instructions to have the desired result. In the beginning of my teaching career I used to argue that preparing a pedagogical script for a class is waste of time and feels mechanistic and it kills the authenticity of students' responses. But, later after doing a few scripts before each teaching session, I found out that actually it helps teacher to plan in detail the best way to do something, and then to deliberately practice it. Specifically having a pedagogical script is beneficial for new teachers to have enough control on their teaching with a staged, clear instructions and strong trust building classroom routine. Not just new teachers, but also experienced ones benefit form scripting to improve the way they define a complicated concept or connect the separate activities to promote learning.

Here, is a simple example of what pedagogical script works. It is a deliberate selection and sequencing of learning activities both in and out of the classroom to best support the achievement of the learning outcomes. Planning

AS it shows in this visual script, the focus is on an educational video which is implemented as a learning material.

To know exactly how, where, what, why, and when this for example video can be implemented in our teaching hour, we need to make a plan beforehand. The next evaluation table shows an example of educational video implementation in a tng class.

In this  Pdf you will find out various quality check questions related to this example with details from different perspectives such as, educational value, artistic quality, technical merits etc. 

To make it more specific, a teacher always needs a lesson plan, since it gives a road-map for the course and clear view on what the outcome of the course will be. It helps to organize the lesson into manageable sections which are called units of instruction.

However, it is not only the course outcome which needs to be taken into consideration. The supporting outcome is also important in the planning, which can be both in module level and lesson plan level. 

Having a pedagogical script in virtual classrooms is even more important compared to face to face classrooms. In F2F setting the script moves more easily. But in online classes, script needs to be much more pre-planned with plans B, C, D... 😁. In school or educational institutions, there is also one general lesson plan templates or script for teachers which can be easily and fast filled in and used. But in online teaching, you will have to come up with templates yourself, and need to consider all the components of online teaching. However, since this online teaching is finding its way more and more in education, we learn everyday new online management, teaching, presentation, digital and many other skills.

The core of every pedagogical script is the objectives of the course or lesson. I believe the most practical and easy to follow instruction in writing lesson objectives is SMART introduced by Doran (1981).

According to SAMRT,

• Specific goals are direct, detailed, and meaningful.
• Measurable goals are quantifiable and can be tracked to monitor progress or success.
• Attainable goals are realistic and require employees to have the tools or resources to achieve them.
• Relevant goals align with your company mission and will push a business forward.
• Time-based goals have a definite time frame and a completion date..

* There is also SMART goal setting template available here.

The biggest challenge so far for all teachers has been holding students' attention in virtual classrooms. How to keep them interested, and what tricks to use to give them enough motivation to participate in the discussions and doing the group activities. According to statistics 93% of students do not stay in online classes.

The reasons might be classes are too boring, unstructured, only presentation method, not engaging activities etc. However, I believe that with a structured and detailed script and lesson plan we can solve these issues and keep the students in front of their computers or any other digital equipments which they prefer to use.

After searching and studying literature reviews I found Hunter Model of lesson plan, which give in depth and detailed structure for lesson planning. In addition, I believe that the lesson plan in any setting is like a flashlight in a dark road for students. They will follow the lesson easily when they have clear image of what is going to happen in their class. I usually try to make this lesson plan available a day before the class starts to all students. It is also worth mentioning that, interesting presentation of the lesson plan can also help to keep the students motivated especially younger ones; as I considered this factor in presenting my own lesson plan for the first session of teaching in this course.

On the job learning also requires pedagogical script since there are many activities involved and the learners need also to pause and receive new updated knowledge. There should be also structured lesson plan for on the job learning for the times when the students need to attend the actual class once a while and do some learning activities; and also teaching activities need to take place. For example, as a teacher when I started my higher education, I made a detailed and structured lesson plan with my supervisor. This helped me to stay focused on the objectives and develop my abilities, and have an organized timetable to be able to do both my job and study at the same time. This helped me also to finish my studies faster and also attain practical knowledge which I needed at the same time to apply in my teaching profession. I do not believe without the big picture pedagogical script and lesson plan I would have been able to get the required outcome.

Cover photo source:

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-hybrid-virtual-classroom-a-relatively-new-learning-space-to-synchronously-connect_fig1_348951542

Diagram reference:

https://effectiviology.com/the-stages-of-learning-how-you-slowly-become-more-competent-at-new-skills/

https://marcr.net/marcr-for-career-professionals/career-theory/career-theories-and-theorists/experiential-learning-cycle-david-kolb/

Reference:

Brandt, R. (1998). Powerful teaching. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Burg, A. (n.d.). Finnish education in the 21st century: Paradoxes and visions. Inquiry in Education, 1(8).

Dimitriadis, G., & Kamberelis, G. (2006). Theory for education. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.

Doran, G. T. (1981). There’s a SMART way to write management’s goals and objectives. Management review. 70(11), 35-36.

Flower, J. (1999). In the mush. Physician Executive. 25(1), 64–66.

Greenspan, S. I. (1992). Infancy and early childhood: The practice of clinical assessment and intervention with emotional and developmental challenges. Madison, CT: International Universities Press.

Hudson, T. (1982).The effects of induced schemata on the “short circuit” in L2 reading: non-decoding factors in L2 reading performance. 32(1), 1-33.

Kolb, D., A. (1984) Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development, PrenticeHall, Englewood-Cliffs, NJ.

Lavadenz, M. (2011). From theory to practice for teachers of English learners. The catesol journal. 22(1).

Palmer, P., J. (1983). To know as we are known: A spirituality of education, Harper Collins, San Francisco.

Perry, W., G., Jr. (1970). Forms of intellectual and ethical development in the college years: A scheme, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York.

Piaget, J., & Inhelder, B. (1959). The growth of logical thinking from childhood to adolescence: An essay on the construction of formal operational structures (Vol. 84). Routledge.

Pishghadam, R, Tabatabaeyan, M. S., & Navari, S. (2013). A critical and practical analysis of first language acquisition theories: The origin and development. Iran, Mashhad: Ferdowsi University of Mashhad Publications.

Rao X. “Learning Theories that Impact English Teaching and Learning”. In: University English for Academic Purposes in China. Springer, Singapore.

Suharno, S. (2010). Cognitivism and its implication in second language learning. Parole (1).

Tomlinson, C, A. (2000). Reconcilable Differences? Standards-Based Teaching and Differentiation. Educational leadership, 58(1). 6-11.

Turuk, C., M. (2008). The relevance and implications of Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory in the second language classroom. ARECLS, 5, 244-262.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1962). Thought and Word. In L. Vygotsky & E. Hanfmann, G. Vakar (Eds.),Thought and language. (p.119–153). MIT Press.

Wankat, P., C., & Oreovicz, F,. S. (2015).Teaching Engineering, Second Edition (2^nd Eds). Purdue University Press. Retrieved from https://www.perlego.com/book/1600591/teaching-engineering-second-edition-pdf

Wertsch, J., V. (1991).Voices of the mind: A sociocultural approach to mediated action. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

 

Handbook for teachers