Ani br I dge

The tasks in this book are designed to give teachers:

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  a 'way in' to discovering the classroom from a perspective other than that of the person actually teaching;
  
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  a way of observing that provides both focus and clarity;
  
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  a means of collecting classroom-based data and information about teaching;
  

— a meta-language: a language to talk about classrooms and the various processes related to teaching and learning;

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  raised awareness of classroom realities and a reservoir of informa­tion and experience that will serve them in discussing and reflecting on the classroom;
  

— greater understanding of teaching and learning to enable their own classroom decision-making to be more informed and systematic;

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  increased skill in interpreting and understanding data;
  
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  understanding of the relationship between theory and practice and a means of forging personally meaningful links between theoretical
  

knowledge about teaching and experience of the classroom. Some­times this involves the top-down application of theory to the class­room; more often perhaps, it is the bottom-up recognition of theory emanating from practice (Lindstromberg 1990);

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  a means towards building relationships with colleagues based on mutual respect and support;
  
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  respect for the classroom as the laboratory of language learning; respect for data-driven, principled approaches to teaching; a healthy scepticism about unsupported claims.