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

volunteered their answers. Some children did mention that they had had to change (lower)
their prices as the day proceeded. John did not take discussion on why this had happened
at that point in the lesson but did say that pupils should think about why that had happened.
He indicated that they would get back to that issue later in the lesson. He then changed his
line of thinking and decided to pursue the issue by asking questions as to why certain people
had to change their prices.
During the post lesson observation reflection session John explained that he had chosen
that option because the purpose ofthe lesson had been to establish the price-quantity
relationship embodied in the concept 'demand'. This relationship is affected by changing
consumer behaviour. He indicated that from the answers he had received to his initial
questions, his pupils had begun to hint at this relationship. Although he had not planned
for the lesson to proceed along those lines, he had realised that it was a line ofthinking
that was worth pursuing in order to establish the concepts he wanted his pupils to learn.
From the extracts that follow, it becomes evident that John's decision was in fact valid as
he proceeded to systematically engage pupils with the price-quantity relationship that
underpinned the concept 'demand'.
This was a noteworthy occurrence in that it indicated that John had developed a
sufficiently deep understanding ofthe concept 'demand' and was able to make a
thoughtful and meaningful shift in his approach to teaching the concept. He had also
developed the confidence to make such an adjustment.
John:
Pupil (Ravi):
John:
Pupil:
Why do you think, Ravi and Kreolin had to change their prices?
Sir, we were selling spinning tops and bouncing balls and ... we had to lower
our price because some other people were also selling tops. There were two
other people also selling bouncing balls too. We thought we could sell at R2 a
top, but they were selling at Ri,50 so we had to drop our price.
John: Okay and you Kreolin?
Pupil: (Kreolin): Sir, I was the only one selling pop ups (fireworks), but in the beginning, no
one wanted to buy them. I had to sell them for lower than what I bought
them sir.
(class laughs)
(smiles and settles the class) What did you learn from this Kreolin?
Sir, my father said that I shouldn't have sold them just after Diwali because
everyone was tired of them. If it was before Diwali, maybe I could have sold
more.
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