Personal signals in spontaneous teaching practice
- 1 January 1989
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education
- Vol. 2 (1) , 25-39
- https://doi.org/10.1080/0951839890020103
Abstract
When experienced teachers respond at the moment to situational complexities, it is a complex phenomenon of adaptation. At a surface level these spontaneous actions can be described as immediate responses to cues [from the students, the teachers, or elsewhere in the environment]. An in‐depth examination of spontaneous teaching practice, however, reveals how complex and personal is this phenomenon of adaptation. Examples of spontaneous teaching practice and excerpts from two teachers’ explicated understandings are used to delineate each teacher's uniqueness in personal theory and practice, and to illustrate how these teachers implicitly work to maintain a sense of “rightness” in their teaching. The notion of a signal, as a personal cue acting at the belief level, is developed to explain what it means for a teacher to “just know” when something is or is not working or does or does not feel right.Keywords
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