Research Article #2

Ask not only what our students can do, but also what we can do for them.

We all have our philosophies, strengths and ideas about teaching. Often times we can become stuck in those ideas, not realizing that it may be hindering and not helping our students. We can also become judges of our colleagues work and our student’s progress in relation to our differing teaching styles. But are we looking deep enough? As teachers, we should be willing to look at our own beliefs and practices over time and be brave enough to make changes to better serve our students.

In the literacy journal, Reading Research Quarterly, the article "Supporting Change in Literacy instruction in Malawi", discusses how teachers can learn to change their instructional beliefs or modify them to help the community in which they are working. However, this article has many strategies that can help domestically as well as internationally. One concept in particular is their subtopic, "Teachers beliefs and practices in the change process."

This portion of the article discusses how teacher’s beliefs and practices can greatly influence how effective we are in the classroom. Without getting into personal belief and politics, I took away from this article the idea that we should continually self-reflect and always make sure our instruction fits the students of whom we are currently teaching. It is helpful to know that there a many ways to move this idea along. For instance, teachers have the option to attend professional conferences, periodic teacher gatherings, and student-teacher conferences. All of these options and more are available for teachers to tap into their curriculum beliefs at a deeper level.

Another point is that we, as teachers, feel that we know what school should look like since we spent so much time in it in the beginning of our lives. Where this assumption has a foundation, it is important to understand that all classrooms did not look like but could have been effective in their own way; further, that classroom needs change as we grow as a society.

Our love for teaching may have come from our extensive time in classrooms or maybe we enjoy helping children. Wherever this passion comes from, it is still something that needs to be nurtured, reflected on and customized for the very people we are trying to reach: our students.

Supporting Change in Literacy Instruction in Malawi

1. Misty Sailors,
2. James V. Hoffman,
3. P. David Pearson,
4. Nicola McClung,
5. Jaran Shin,
6. Liveness Mwale Phiri and
7. Tionge Saka

Reading Research Quarterly, Volume 49, issue 2, pages 209-23, April/May/June 2014