Section archive - Professional Development

In this article, the authors propose cultural-historical activity theory as a framework for understanding the opportunities that arise for students and teachers from the presence of researchers in the classroom. They analyze three vignettes from their research in elementary mathematics classrooms for the purpose of illustrating a cultural-historical activity theoretic explanation of the interaction. Finally, the authors suggest that the “impact” of research can be increased at least locally when participants capitalize on the opportunities that arise for teaching and learning when researchers are present.

This article aims to guide language teacher educators to address novice teacher emotion systematically in the learning-to-teach experience. The authors used a scheme of a complete orienting basis of the action (SCOBA) to orient language teacher educators as they respond to novice teacher emotions in the activity of journal writing. This analysis demonstrates that emotional content is pervasive in this novice teacher’s journals, and that her emotions are tied to her perezhivanie and her thinking about and activity/outcomes of her teaching. The authors argue that the SCOBA highlights that teacher expression of emotion is intertwined with cognition and activity as part of the developmental process of beginning teachers, and can be addressed in mediation.

This article describes an authentic project-based learning. The article overviews the approach and impact of an online professional development course for those in education and training, including school teachers and their schools in New Zealand and abroad. The data show that practice with online and blended learning during this course appears to have contributed to participants’ rate of adoption of similar approaches in their own professional contexts. The authors argue that the design of this postgraduate course can be seen to enhance relative advantages of online and blended learning in each student’s professional work, while also reducing the complexity of these innovations.

This article focuses on a micro-political discussion related to everyday stakeholder interactions that are endemic to the lesson study process. The authors aim to investigate issues pertaining to power relations that exist between teachers and their students, teachers and their peers, and teachers and external consultants. Their approach is conceptual in nature; simultaneously, we present several detailed examples revealing key issues related to lesson study implementation in Asian countries such as Singapore, Vietnam, and Indonesia. The authors have demonstrated that a post-structural theoretical perspective can illuminate the complex nature of lesson study, in relation to key concepts of power, identity, and discourse that need to be reflected upon by practitioners, school leaders, and consultants alike.