Teacher Learning in a Community of Practice: A Case Study of ...

moves to a discussion and analysis ofhis teaching after approximately eight months of
participating in the programme.
5.4.1 Observation of John's teaching early in the TEMS project (12 February
2003)
5.4.1.1 A description of the lesson
John had a large room, with seating for 60 pupils. He had 54 pupils in his class. There
was a large chalkboard at the front ofthe class and several charts (mainly English
language) hung from the walls. Pupils were seated in rows.
John had planned to teach the concept 'work' to his grade seven Economic and
Management Sciences class. It happened to be the week in which Valentine's Day had
fallen and John decided to make use ofthis opportunity to get his class to make
Valentine's cards and gifts.
Extract from observation report (12 February 2003):
John began the lesson in a lively fashion. He explained that in that lesson, they would
proceed with the topic 'work' and he wrote the word 'work' on the board. He began by
quoting a line from a song· Money, money, money in a rich man's world" and mentioned that
the song implied that money meant nothing to very rich people. He described a movie in
which people lit cigars using hundred dollar bills.
Went on to say that ·work is very important", mentioned that even the seven dwarfs left a
very valuable possession and went off to work singing, "Hey ho hey ho it's off to work we go"
(John actually sang this line). This brought big smiles to the children's faces.
Although John had tried to create an interesting introduction to the lesson, it was
somewhat confusing. He had begun by talking about work and then proceeded to relate a
song about affluent people and their disregard for money. He had then suggested that
even in fairy tales, work was important. What was missing was a conceptual link between
money and work.
The lesson continued with John asking several questions on the concept of 'work' and
'unemployment'. The following is an extract from this lesson
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