PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

The past month I have spent teaching one of my private students how to write articles. Even though the guy is not going to take any English exams, I thought that it would be a good idea to give him a try in creative writing, especially considering that he is planning to become a journalist.

We spent several lessons talking about the role of the audience, the purpose of writing, the ways of data collection and data analysis. Still, he kept on complaining that he found it impossible to get down to actually creating a text. He felt a kind of burden of numerous expectations he put on himself as a would-be-prominent-author.

When there finally came a moment for me to start a new page of field notes, I realised that the key to my narration lies in an ability to imagine you, my reader, looking through the pages, searching for something practical or insightful or at least useful.

I got so deeply involved in the process of picturing your posture while you are reading, the facial expression you have at this very moment, that I decided to devote this issue’s field notes to my readers, the reasons why you might be eager to open this very journal, and the motives that keep us, the authors, on the surface of professional writing and professional reading.

Moving forward, I realised that the broader topic standing behind our reading-writing experience is professional development – a challenging and, at times, risky path, which each of us has been following for a number of years.

The rationale for this text would not be complete without mentioning one more reason. I have suddenly realised that this issue is my first ‘anniversary’ – it’s been a year since I sent my materials to the journal for the first time.

I still remember thinking of the name for the column and my desire to finally create a space where a certain dialogue between readers and authors could happen. Though it is always an honour and pleasure for me to be writing for you, I still try not to give up the idea that one day one of you will send your response, or question, or maybe even a complaint and a professional dialogue will begin.

P for PROFESSIONAL

Being thinking, and in most cases critically thinking creatures by nature, we, the teachers, seem to be in a never-ending process of observation and evaluation. The need to assess our students enhances our abilities to notice, compare and make final judgements. However, at a particular moment each of us might start observing themselves and drawing conclusions about the state of one’s professionalism.

We may notice that one of our colleagues looks much less tired or worn out after a lesson with Year 5 students,

or we may notice that our own learners become less enthusiastic about our lessons. We may even notice in ourselves a slight loss of interest in the job. No matter what exactly each of us notices, I do believe that it is this very moment when we begin looking for changes, for our own professional development that we get down to reading or writing.

D for DOUBTS

Nowadays, the first step to satisfying the latest demand for something novel is to surf the net. Professional websites gleam with bright, ready-to-use ideas, that indeed might add variety to our daily teaching routine. They are rather time-saving and do not require much effort from our side.

Still, when the repertoire of printed handouts with thought-provoking activities exhausts itself and leaves us with the same rather unpleasant feeling that something should be done to breathe in life and ‘drive’ into our practice, we might consider taking an online course or even attending face-to-face sessions.

However, teachers’ reality in our country hardly leaves much room for serious professional studies: loads of prep work, working overload, and compulsory courses from the educational departments that seem an unavoidable and painful waste of time. All these create a gloomy outlook for an average teacher’s professional development. The same questions arise: why should I develop professionally? How to do that? And when to do that?

A for AWARENESS

The word ‘awareness’ has no direct translation in the Russian language. The Oxford dictionary suggests that this is ‘knowledge or perception of a situation or a fact’. In our teaching context, awareness can be understood as an ability to clearly understand what, when, how and why we are doing. This understanding helps us acquire an important feeling of control over what is happening in our professional lives (locus of control) and, what may be even more crucial, a locus of agency – the feeling that it is we who initiate the teaching/learning processes.

Raising awareness in any area of life is tightly connected with such mental processes as observation, noticing, and reflection. All these, of course need time, which we, the teachers, are always short on. Of course, we may try and allocate some time for solemn professional reflections

– some teachers have the consistency to write a reflective journal. However, I am inclined to believe that in the beginning, a teacher might need not only time, but support or even guidance, as well. And here is the moment when professional cooperation comes onto the stage.

C for CONTINUOUS

As I have realised quite recently, the idea that you are not alone in your doubts and worries about professionalism might turn out to be rather comforting. Indeed, if you feel that you are not unique in your professional crisis, and moreover, your crisis is, with very high probability, predetermined by the circle of professional development, the future as well as the present starts looking brighter.

As it is suggested by the experts involved in teacher training , on our professional way we may travel the circle of acquiring professional competence more than once or twice.

The picture above illustrates the process of acquiring professional competence. Everything starts with the feedback we get on our performance. In our teaching practice, as I have mentioned before, this feedback might not necessarily come from an observer. At times, our self-obser- vation and/or subjective feeling of dissatisfaction may be strong enough to get us out of our comfort zone and push towards changes.

The moment we realise that there is something we need to learn more about, is a turning point. What we actually take up having faced such a reality, will define what will happen in the following stages.

Though my speculations might seem rather abstract, I rather consciously spend valuable letters and words in an effort to persuade you, my reader, that the processes happening to you are very important and worth occupying not only space on a journal page but your thorough attention.

When you feel an urge for changes, don’t stop. Learning and development are lifelong processes. Do not deprive yourself of them.

The only thing that still keeps me worrying and, in fact, has inspired me to write this very text, is that teachers very often get trapped in the cycles of school life, and feel unable to leave the routine merry-go-round even for a short period of time, wander around not being aware that a solution should be looked for outside, not inside.

D for DEVELOPMENT

As I have mentioned above the market of teacher-train- ing courses in Russia is mostly dominated by governmental institutions aiming at informing actual practitioners about burning issues of their profession caused by recent educational reforms. Though intended for the good, these courses very rarely can satisfy the demand for professional development, though they may actually offer good professional training. The differences between these two notions are very well summarised by Penny Ur (see the table). This brings to the surface a very simple but useful idea: not every training promotes development, while development might not be rooted in training. Though at times these two lines may luckily coincide.

B for BREAKTHROUGH

My own teaching and teacher training experience makes me believe that finding an efficient and suitable way for professional development can be great luck. In my very case, real, conscious professional development started with an online course (TKT Essentials) organised by the British Council. It was for the first time in my teaching career that I could get engaged in meaningful professional

conversations (online forums) with colleagues from all over the world taking the same course. The effect exceeded all of my imaginable expectations. The moment I realised that the issues I faced in my classes, the questions I asked myself, the ideas and experiments I was thinking about – all these could be shared, understood, accepted, supported and complemented by peer professionals, and this very moment was a breakthrough. The fact that the actual course was in an online format promoted articulation of thoughts in written form, which was another insight, because, being a school teacher, I didn’t have much

– if any creative writing.

The rather secure learning environment of online studies, when you can choose the time and place for doing a particular task, turned out to be a great stepping stone for my professional development. When the course was over, I felt eager to make the next step and find like-minded people in real, non-virtual space. Thus, I started making more informed, more conscious choices of

events for EL teachers, and the whole process of sional communication grew much more meaningful

CPD for CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

As I realise now, reflective practice incorporated into online course activities I was initially doing

a good basis for professional writing and, consequent ly, for the articulation of my teaching beliefs and titudes. When it all was beginning with simple tion-answer Internet chats with colleagues, I hardly imagine myself writing texts for a professional journal. I lacked experience and confidence, and derstanding that this opportunity indeed existed.

Having to write the final lines for my text now, would like to invite you, my readers, to share your ideas, doubts, interesting or challenging cases re lated to your teaching practice on these very pages, so that we could discuss it together and maybe find a possible way out.

I also very much hope that after reading this article, you might find an hour or two to get down to reflecting on your present attitude to teaching English. Maybe you will find something you could share with us? I will be looking forward to your letters in our journal mail box at eng@1september.ru with the subject title ‘Field Notes’. I do believe that your contribution can be mutually beneficial for our Continuous Professional Development.

By Elizaveta Bogdanova

CPD. What a wonderful abbreviation. So promising and so inspiring. But why do so many of us give up in the middle of a long and so important journey called professional development?

There is a commonly accepted and widely spread belief that the problem lies in lack of time-management skills. This was what I thought before taking up an MA programme in Professional Development in Language Education (NILE).

Having never had any problems with organizing and scheduling not only my own but others’ educational and working processes, I easily accepted the challenge of half-online half, face-to-face study. Besides, it had been my ambition for many years and the level of my initial motivation left no room for doubt about sustaining it.

However, now, when there are ten months have past and there is still one more assignment ‘grinning slyly’ at me, I should admit that professional development studying at a mature age is not only about ability to get down to writing. It is some-

more.

One day, wearing a casual upset ‘don’t- -me’ look I entered our school canteen, when a colleague asked me why I looked so, to put it mildly, unhappy. And I confessed. Confessed in all my educational sins: ananalyzed data, fears, irritation. I even admitted that I reminded myself of my worst students who are brilliant at making unbelievable explanations for undone homework. Having listened to me as attenas possible, my wise colleague said: “I do any courses because I know that to

something, I need a clear mind.”

clear mind. That is the most difficult and a number one requirement for academstudies. At that very moment, I realized for the past ten months, I have been in constant, severe battle with my life, which seemed to have been mocking me, throwin more and more emotionally challengsituations which would evoke a strong affective response even in a cold-blooded nonjudgmental introvert. Presumably, as academics like putting it, my life has been the same for the past 30 years, but now, having developed a certain kind of self-awareness or at least learnerneeds sensitivity, I started noticing it (what a lovely term from the Language Awareness Approach). As every time I

STUDY ON,

a Reflective Learner

was sitting in front of my computer, feeling numb and literally paralyzed, not being able to type a word, a nev- er-ending fight began, I decided to take a closer look at the problem.

What I gradually realized was that without solving distractive affective problems, an adult like me can hardly concentrate on creative academic writing. You may have plenty of time and all necessary conditions, but if you are in a state of solving a life jigsaw-puzzle (a broken kitchen tap – where is the plumber? an unusually cheerful behavior of your favourite dog – has it stolen and hidden my shoes again? a gloomy look of your teenage child – is that just their age or has something happened worth a mother-daughter talk? etc), you will inevitably stick to the unsolved problem. Even though you may put all your conscious efforts into concentration, the only thing you can hope for is few poor lines that will hardly bring you a feeling of creative satisfaction.

A clear mind. Is it achievable? And are there any wellarticulated strategies for keeping your mind clear (neat and tidy), so that it can work properly at any time you need it?

In fact, now it seems to me that professional development unnoticeably brought an idea of general mental health which turned out to be the most important thing in sustaining the learning process and keeping it alive. Maybe I should have researched the educational market beforehand and taken up a vintage grammar-translation course – life would at least seem more structured and no disturbing questions would ever arise. But the word ‘reflective’… it’s so trendy and so tempting. Who wouldn’t like to wave to their friends from the pinnacle of Maslow’s pyramid? (for those who as like can’t see well through the clouds of daily routine, there is full self-actualization awaiting us).

Being a reflective learner means serious full-time reflection, which penetrates into everything that has been hiding so far in the peripheral corners of our consciousness. Moreover, as we know, high-quality reflection leads to action. If you are ready to face the music and deal with various affectively inconvenient obstacles that present you from working at full cognitive capacity, then you have chosen the right path. Different reflection-planning- action-experience circles will turn into gear-wheels, at first small, then bigger and more powerful. Things will start happening, as your locus of control and agency strengthens.

A lot of friends of mine, who gave up studying for different reasons, admitted that, at a particular point, their intense learning coincided with intense life changes (usually positively colored, like career growth or marriage),

Keep Calm and Carry On

A poster, made in 1939 by the British Ministry of Information to encouage the public to pull through the difficult times in

World War II. Although millions of copies were printed, the poster was never really used, and the original designer is unknown.

In 2000 a copy was found in a second-hand bookshop, and, since the copyright had expired, the posters slogan was allowed to be printed on to all kinds of merchandise including copies of the poster, hoodies, mugs, doormats and cusions. As a result, the slogan became very popular and now represents the British attitude to tough and stressful times.

and they, quite understandably, preferred living every moment to studying every moment. I used to listen and nod in a supportive way. But now I have developed a strong assumption that there are no coincidences, at least when we are talking about professional development.

The magic seems to be hidden in a relatively simple truth. If you dare to reflect well about something, reflect as devotedly and thoroughly as is required by the course evaluative criteria, showing evidence of independent critical thinking, a casual chain of changes will be set in motion.

These simple reflective questions ‘What are you doing?’, ‘Why are you doing it?’, ‘How are you doing it?’, and ‘What do you feel about it?’ will gradually creep from your laptop onto the desk, and then into the kitchen, asking ‘why haven’t you changed this tacky lamp, which has been irritating you for ages?’, through the corridor, doubting the dust-covered newspaper piles (untouchable grandparents’ heritage) to other parts of your house and your life, putting their curious and at times inquisitive noses to the places you were trying to avoid looking for many years. The questions will ask and, being switched into a reflective mode by your CPD studies, you will honestly try to find a suitable and truthful answer.

The above-mentioned questions (I should have returned to academic style) even managed to replace my culturally predetermined initial questioning matrix of Russian intelligentsia which consists of three questions, all of them quite rhetorical and asked just to emphasize the obscurity of the situation: Who is to blame for? What to do? And is it appropriate to eat chicken without using a fork?

So, when looking next time at an innocently attractive advertisement of a CPD course, beware. Once reflection begins there is no way back. Or at least I haven’t found one yet.

By Elizaveta Bogdanova