Teaching is an endeavor that transcends the mere dissemination of knowledge. It is a complex, intricate, and highly demanding profession that requires a well-structured approach to lesson planning and execution. Unlike many other professions, teaching is inherently unnatural, as it necessitates the careful design of lesson plans tailored to the unique needs of the content and its reception by students. This blog explores the multifaceted nature of teaching, its impact on both educators and students, and the high leverage teaching practices that can enhance the educational experience.
The Unnatural Work of Teaching
Teaching is not an innate skill but rather an acquired one that involves meticulous planning and execution. It is unique to the content being taught and how it is received by the students. This profession is part of the broader “human improvement” domain, aiming to foster intellectual and personal growth in learners. The complexity of teaching lies in its requirement for educators to translate and explain difficult concepts, define objectives, formulate strategies, locate and evaluate materials, manage time, motivate others, evaluate performance, and collaborate effectively.
The Benefits of Teaching for Educators
Engaging in the profession of teaching offers numerous benefits for educators. It hones a variety of essential skills, including:
- Translating and Explaining Difficult Concepts: Teachers develop the ability to break down complex ideas into simpler, more understandable components.
- Defining Objectives and Formulating Strategies: Educators learn to set clear goals and devise plans to achieve them.
- Locating, Retrieving, and Evaluating Materials: Teachers become adept at finding and assessing the quality of educational resources. They often have to create their own materials to integrate the resources and meet the specific needs of a group or students.
- Abstracting, Summarizing, and Organizing Materials: The ability to condense information and present it in an organized manner is a critical skill for educators.
- Managing Time: Effective time management is crucial for balancing the various demands of teaching.
- Motivating Others: Teachers play a key role in inspiring and encouraging their students.
- Evaluating Performance: Assessing both their own performance and that of their students helps educators improve continuously.
- Collaborating and Cooperating: Working with colleagues and students enhances the collaborative spirit essential in education.
The Role of Educators in Universities
Within the university setting, the primary function of educators is to facilitate the intellectual development of students. It is not the responsibility of teachers to entertain, coddle, or bore their students; rather, they must contribute uniquely to the students’ general intellectual growth. That’s why in many, if not most, universities the study of foreign language is a general education requirement. By requiring a foreign language, the university is stating that such courses do indeed contribute to the overall education of the individuals enrolled in them.
“An approach to teacher education and professional development that emphasizes carefully deconstructing fundamental instructional practices that are complex and often not visible through observation, definition, or brief explanation.”
(ACTFL.org)
Eileen Glisan and Richard Donato have deconstructed these “fundamental instructional practices” in their monograph, Enacting the Work of Language Instruction: High Leverage Teaching Practices (The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, 2017), where they define and elaborate on six key High Leverage Teaching Practices:
- HLTP #1: Facilitating Target Language Comprehensibility
- HLTP #2: Building a Classroom Discourse Community
- HLTP #3: Guiding Learners to Interpret and Discuss Authentic Texts
- HLTP #4: Focusing on Form in a Dialogic Context through PACE
- HLTP #5: Focusing on Cultural Products, Practices, and Perspectives in a Dialogic Context
- HLTP #6: Providing Oral Corrective Feedback to Improve Learner Performance
In our next blog, we will focus on High Level Teaching Practice #2, Building a Classroom Discourse Community.
By Elvira G. Di Fabio, Ph.D.
Honorary Associate
Director of Language Programs (2016-2020)
Romance LGs & Lits, Harvard University
co-author of Parliamo italiano!: Parliamo italiano! 5e.
