Page 108 - Pedagoška vizija / A Pedagogical Vision
P. 108
Anja Pirih and Silva Bratož
and reported in reflective discussions as well as in the survey was making the
lessons suitable for asynchronous online teaching. The format of the MTL is
intended for independent learning of young learners, as young as six, which
presented a significant difficulty for most participants and can be linked to al-
most all reported challenges. Namely, the majority of participants explained
that they found several aspects of TEYL, like giving instructions and using
scaffolding strategies, even more challenging because the format excluded
the physical presence of a teacher. One participant wrote that the major chal-
lenge he faced was ‘to design a lesson for independent work, with no help
of an adult.’ In simulations and observations in the previous term, they ob-
served the teacher or fellow colleague in action, when the focus was on their
reactions while teaching, and not on the planning phase. With the MTL they
needed, as one of them explained, to ‘remove the teacher from the picture
and let the PowerPoint lead the pupil through the lesson on its own; in a
way it seems that the teacher works through the PowerPoint,’ which moved
the focus onto the lesson planning and lesson designing phase. Another ob-
served: ‘This type of activity is definitely better if we compare it with exer-
cises where the teacher only writes or gives instructions and exercises. Here
the pupils have the feeling that the teacher is somehow with them.’
At the same time, they were aware that a teacher figure was important
for young learners whose ability for abstract communication is still limited.
This concern was reflected in the attempt of several participants to find a
solution for the absence of the teacher figure. They explored different op-
tions, such as using photos of themselves, creating teacher avatars or us-
ing a child figure in the role of instructor (see figure 1). One of the partici-
pants also deliberately tried to create an avatar who would resemble herself.
The fact that the perception of the role of the teacher emerged as an im-
portant theme partly evokes the objectives of personalistic reflection (Valli
1997), which puts a strong emphasis on the teacher’s relationship with their
students and implies the perception of the teacher as a caretaker rather than
merely an information giver. We would like to argue that by considering the
presence/absence of the teacher in the MTL for asynchronous online teach-
ing,thestudentswerefacedwith theissueofteacheridentity,contemplating
their self-image as future teachers as they tried to envisage the teacher fig-
ure in the MTL. We may conclude that the teacher’s self-perception and the
way they act in their roles as teachers in different learning environments is
central to any discussion of reflective practice (Beauchamp 2015; Bratož and
Pirih 2022).
The participants often reported that knowing they would not be able to
108