3.  Job – a repetitive activity that provides both
sustenance and survival.
 Vocation – provides sustenance and
survival, but also guarantees personal
autonomy and personal significance.
 Career – long term involvement in an
activity, but doesn’t necessarily provide
fulfillment.

4.  Occupation – an endeavor within society’s
economic, social and political system, but
may not entail a sense of calling.
 Profession – emphasizes the expertise and
social contribution to society, but not
necessarily a calling for personal fulfillment.

5.  To create optimal conditions for desired
learning to take place in as short a time as
possible.

6.  Hats off to teachers for their many roles:
› Artist and Architect
› Scientist and Psychologist
› Manager and Mentor
› Controller and Counselor
› Sage on the Stage
› Guide on the Side

7.  Teachers as Passive Technicians
› Conduit
 Teachers as Reflective Practitioners
› Facilitator
 Teachers as Transformative Intellectuals
› Change Agent

8.  Primary focus of teaching is content
knowledge.
 Simply use “teacher-proof” packages.
 Professional experts create the knowledge
base and teachers pass it on to students.
 Leads to disempowerment.
 Passive form of teaching.

9.  First proposed by John Dewey:
› Teaching is not just a series of predetermined
and pre-sequenced procedures.
› Teachers are problem solvers.
› This is a holistic approach that emphasizes the
creativity, artistry, and context sensitivity.
 Don Schon added:
› Teachers bring perspectives that cannot be
matched by experts who are far removed from
the classroom.

10.  There are 2 types of Reflection:
 Reflection-on-Action:
› Reflection-on-action – can happen before and after a
lesson as teachers plan for a lesson and then evaluate the
effectiveness of their teaching acts afterward.
 Reflection-in-Action
› Happens during the teaching act when teachers monitor
their ongoing performance, locate unexpected
problems, and adjust instantaneously.

11.  Kenneth Zeichner and Daniel Liston say that
to be considered reflective, teachers must:
› 1. examine frames and attempt to solve the
dilemmas of classroom practice.
› 2. be aware of and question the assumptions and
values of his or her teaching.
› 3. be attentive to the institutional and cultural
contexts in which he or she teaches.
› 4. take part in curriculum development and be
involved in school change efforts
› 5. take responsibility for own professional
development.

12.  Focuses on the teacher alone, not on
learners, colleagues, planners, and
administrators.
 Focuses on what teachers do in the
classroom and not the sociopolitical factors
that shape a teacher’s reflective practice.
 Contributes very little change to the reliance
on established professional wisdom.

13.  Developed by critical pedagogists.
 Empowers teachers and learners.
 Takes seriously the lived experiences that
teachers and learners bring and teach
according to student needs and wants.
 Requires teachers to be sociopolitically
conscious and to be assertive in acting on it.
 Dual Task – strives for educational
advancement and personal transformation.

14.  Inquiry oriented
 Socially contextualized
 Grounded on a commitment to world making
 Dedicated to an art of improvisation
 Extended by a concern with critical self and
social reflection
 Shaped by a commitment to democratic self-
directed education
 Committed to action
 Concerned with the affective dimension of
human beings

15. Teachers as Teachers as Teachers as
Transformative Reflective Passive
Intellectuals Practitioners Technicians

16. Theory and Practice Should
Inform One Another

17.  Professional Theory –  Professional Theory –
created and unique to each
perpetuated within the person, developed
professional culture. through testing
professional theories.

18.  Technical Level: Concerned with effective
achievement of short-term, classroom centered
instructional goals.
› Passive Technicians
 Practical Level: Concerned with
assumptions, values, and consequences of
classroom activities.
› Reflective Practitioners
 Critical or Emancipatory Level: Concerned with
the wider ethical, social, historical and political
issues.
› Transformative Intellectuals

19. 1. This chapter gave several different synonyms
and definitions for the act of teaching
(job, vocation, career, etc.). In thinking about
yourself and your own teaching
philosophy, which do you feel is the most
relevant? Why?
2. What are the obstacles you may face in carrying
out the responsibilities of a reflective teacher
and how might you overcome them?

20. Kumaravadivelu, B. (2003). Chapter 1: Conceptualizing Teaching Acts (p. 5-22).
Found in: Beyond methods: Macrostrategies for Language Teaching.