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

From the above extracts and discussion, we see evidence of substantial development in
Debbie's 'content knowledge' and 'pedagogical content knowledge'. In fact her vastly
improved content knowledge and her new found confidence allowed her to 'experiment'
with pedagogy that was a distinct departure from traditional approaches to teaching and
learning. Relative to other participants, Debbie had shown significant development in the
content knowledge ofthe EMS learning area. Graven's proposed fifth component of
learning, namely, 'confidence' (Graven 2002) that manifests itself in learning as
'mastery' has relevance for Debbie. While Debbie could not be described as having
mastered the content knowledge in the EMS learning area, indications were that she was
certainly heading in that direction.
An analysis ofthe style ofthe lesson follows.
6.3.3.2.2 Commentary on the pedagogic approach to the lesson
In this lesson, we see that the quality of 'pupil involvement, 'teaching resources' and
'questioning and rapport' had changed profoundly. Debbie had explored an approach to
teaching, which she had not tried before. She projected herselfas a resourceful and
innovative teacher who was beginning to explore alternative approaches to teaching and
learning. Her improved content knowledge ofEMS had begun to influence her pedagogy.
She effectively used music to introduce her lesson and to create an interest in the lesson.
Through the use ofsong transcripts, she was able to engage her pupils on economic
issues that she wanted them to become aware of. Debbie had also begun to ask more
open-ended questions, allowing pupils to present alternative solutions to some ofthe
issues that were raised. There was a distinct shift in the quality ofengagement that took
place between Debbie and her pupils in the second lesson observation as compared to the
first. Written work in this lesson took the form oftwo letters. The task was designed so
that pupils were forced to present issues from different perspectives.
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