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Using
Mazes in a Teacher-Training Course
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This article will describe
the design of materials used in an in-service teacher- training course to introduce the
idea of reading mazes (Woodward 1991). I shall start by describing what a maze is and the
context in which a particular maze was used. I shall go on to look at the design process
and finally comment on the results of using the maze and its potential for EFL and
teacher-training classes.
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A maze is like a labyrinth
in that the person entering the maze is faced with a number of possible routes. Each route
will lead in a different direction. Some routes are blind alleys and have no exit. Others
will lead to further crossroads where yet another pathway has to be chosen. By choosing
certain pathways the exit is finally reached.
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In a reading maze, the
reader in a similar fashion is faced with different options. Decisions must be made, not
all of which will have positive results. Some paths may seem productive at the outset but
may, in fact, not fulfill their promise. Others will lead eventually to a more
satisfactory outcome.
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Reading mazes may be used
in a variety of situations, with participants working in groups. Woodward (1991) writes:
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The group must discuss
each situation as it unfolds, arrive at a common consensus on which paths to take, and
move on. If the texts are well written, the situations interesting, the decisions
realistic, and the exit solutions satisfying, then the work will go well. The trick is to
find a subject and set of choices that groups can identify with or become interested in.
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The maze I produced for my
trainees follows, together with a description of the design process. The aim was twofold.
In the first instance I wanted to give the trainees the experience of trying out a maze
and looking at the design procedure. (In this way we would be focusing on the process of
the activity.) Secondly, and perhaps of greater importance in the long run, I wanted the
trainees to consider carefully the situations they would encounter while doing the maze
(which was specifically concerned with the area of teacher development) and select those
which would be appropriate for a program of developmental activities within their own
university departments. (The focus here would be on the product of the activity.)
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The trainees were
attending a Diploma course in English Language Teaching (ELT), extending over 18 months
and partly distance-taught, in the southeast of Mexico. The course is for in-service
teachers of English at university language centers, many of whom have had several years
experience but no formal training. The aims of the course are to improve the teaching of
English at university level and to enhance the training capacity of Mexican teachers. It
is therefore hoped that many of the people graduating from these courses will, in turn,
become teacher trainers.
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In pursuing these aims we
encourage participants to find ways to solve problems and to conduct their own classroom
research; to consider not only the teacher and the teaching process but also the learner
and learning, the classroom setting, the roles and relationships that exist in the
classroom, and the evaluation, adaptation, and implementation of materials. In other words
we would like to think that we are starting the teacher on the path towards comprehensive
development of professional expertise.
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Development is an ongoing
process which requires further effort from the trainees themselves, as independent
learners, in order to remain enthusiastic about their jobs, and to achieve personal
growth. The idea behind the use of the maze was, therefore, to introduce some of the
possible teacher development activities in an innovative way as well as to focus on the
reading strategies and design processes.
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Writing a maze is a
complicated procedure and involves several stages of design, trial, and adaptation. The
different stages are outlined below, with examples from the maze specifically designed for
this group of teachers.
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Step 1:
State the situation which forms the starting point for entry to the maze. (See Figure 1 )
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Step 2:
Consider the routes, or options, that you want to be open to your own students and write
them, as succinctly as possible, on Card 1. These are the starting points for diverging
paths. The four options that I wanted the Diploma participants to consider were:
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- Using their recently acquired knowledge and skills in their
language classes; trying things out and reflecting on their success.
- Passing on their knowledge to their colleagues (the
teacher-training option).
- Continuing to investigate and do classroom research-the aim being
that they should continue to analyze the classroom environment, their students, and
themselves as teachers.
- Thinking about more training. (This was an important option for
cultural reasons, as several of the graduates were interested in getting involved in
planning curriculum design etc. and felt they would need a more academic qualification to
have any power within the national university system.)
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With these 4 starting
points I produced Card 1. (See Figure 2
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Step 3: The
next stage is to build up for each point a series of related ideas which will eventually
form the different cards in the maze. One of the easiest ways to do this is to construct a
"mind-map" in which points that are related to a central topic form a web of
ideas that can be further developed as new ideas occur.
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Step 4:
Transfer the points on the mind-map onto cards.
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Step 5:
After this has been done for each of the original main points, cross-reference and decide
which will be EXIT cards, i.e. those cards which will signify an outcome and will lead no
further.
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Step 6: Try
out all the possible routes yourself and correct any errors.
| Entry to Maze |
| You are about to finish the Diploma
in ELT and although this is the end of the course, you feel that it also marks the
beginning of a further period of professional development. For some of the options open to
you, READ CARD 1. |
| 1 |
a. You want to use
your new knowledge in your classes. MOVE TO CARD 2.
b. You want to pass on your knowledge to others—your colleagues, for
example. MOVE TO CARD 3.
c. You still have lots of questions for which you want the answers. MOVE TO
CARD 4.
d. You are thinking about further study! A trainer-training course or an MA.
MOVE TO CARD 5. |
| 2 |
You have a choice:
a. You liked some of the activities you did on the Diploma course so you try
them out exactly the same way with your own students. MOVE TO CARD 6.
b. You take certain ideas, adapt them to fit your situation, try them out
and adapt them again if necessary. MOVE TO CARD 7. |
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You want to share your new
knowledge with colleagues. How?
a. You devise a series of seminars/ workshops for your colleagues. MOVE TO
CARD 11. b. You decide to do a Needs Analysis to find out what they need and
want. MOVE TO CARD 12. |
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There are still lots of
questions to which you want to find the answers.
You can read about them in books. MOVE TO CARD 16.
You can do some classroom research. MOVE TO CARD 17. |
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You want to continue your
studies or training. You have a choice:
a. to do some teacher-training outside the university. MOVE TO CARD 24.
b. to take a trainer-training course. MOVE TO CARD 25.
c. to follow a more academic path. MOVE TO CARD 26. |
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| A lot of the ideas don't seem to
work as well in your classes as they did in the course. You've forgotten why you're doing
them and your class is stunned by the sudden bombardment of strange ideas. Confusion. Lack
of confidence. RETURN TO CARD 2. |
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a. The activities
work well. You gain confidence gradually as you adopt and adapt more ideas. Your classes
gain confidence as they find they can communicate more and more successfully in English.
Things are looking up. MOVE TO CARD 8.
b. They still aren't as successful as they should be. Is it your fault? Is
it the fault of the students? The materials? MOVE TO CARD 9. |
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Your techniques improve, your
classes improve. So, what now?
RETURN TO CARD 1 and choose another option. |
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Try getting help from your
colleagues by discussing it with them. You can do this . . .
a. informally in the staff room. MOVE TO CARD 10.
b. by bringing it up at a regular monthly teachers' meeting. MOVE TO CARD
13.
c. by reading more about it. MOVE TO CARD 16. |
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| You've managed to find five minutes
between classes to talk it over with one teacher but it's all rather hurried and besides,
you feel other teachers might have something to offer. MOVE TO CARD 13. |
| 11 |
| Your colleagues resent your new
knowledge and wonder whether you can really help them. They are suspicious and
argumentative. Try a new approach. RETURN TO CARD 3. |
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Your Needs Analysis shows
that teachers have problem areas. You have three choices:
a. Run a problem-solving session. MOVE TO CARD 13.
b. Get together two or three people for a team-teaching session. MOVE TO
CARD 14.
c. Have an activity-sharing session. MOVE TO CARD 15. |
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You run a problem-solving
session.
a. It goes very well. Teachers raised problems and everyone helped to find
answers. MOVE TO CARD 19.
b. It goes well but some of the problems still haven't been answered. MOVE
TO CARD 16. |
| 14 |
| This is easier than doing it alone
and saves time and effort. Maybe your untrained colleagues could also join the
team—they will have something to offer from their classroom experience. EXIT. |
| 15 |
| Teachers enjoy these—they're
all contributing ideas they know and use or ideas they've found in a book and would like
to try. MOVE TO CARD 28. |
| 16 |
You review some of the
literature on the subject. You have a good selection of books now—both theoretical
and practical.
a. You read about the subject yourself, and find some interesting answers to
your questions. MOVE TO CARD 18.
b. Get individual teachers to survey individual books. MOVE TO CARD 13.
c. You decide to investigate what you have read and extend your enquires to
the classroom itself. MOVE TO CARD 17. |
| 17 |
You're embarking on Classroom
Research! You try something out with a particular class.
Your own? MOVE TO CARD 19.
You need to observe another teacher's class? MOVE TO CARD 20. |
| 18 |
| Write it up as an article for an
ELT magazine. EXIT. |
| 19 |
The results are interesting!
a. You want your colleagues to know. MOVE TO CARD 29.
b. You want Mexican EFL teachers to know. You like writing. MOVE TO CARD 18.
You like speaking. MOVE TO CARD 21.
c. You really like this type of classroom research. MOVE TO CARD 26. |
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You'll have to be tactful if
you are observing another teacher's class. You have a choice:
a. Ask a teacher who studied the Diploma with you. MOVE TO CARD 22.
b. Ask another teacher. MOVE TO CARD 23. |
| 21 |
| Present a paper at a conference!
EXIT. |
| 22 |
| Fine! I'm sure s/he understands
what you're doing and why, but s/he may want to do the same in return! MOVE TO CARD 19. |
| 23 |
It's probably better to focus
on research of student activity rather than teacher activity.
Explain beforehand very carefully what you're doing and why. Offer the teacher the chance
to observe you doing the same with your own class. Discuss your findings afterwards. MOVE
TO CARD19. |
| 24 |
We're pleased that you will be
joining the group of teacher-trainers! Come up with a proposal and present it to your
university.
a. Maybe they'll accept it and give you the go-ahead. MOVE TO CARD 27.
b. Maybe the university doesn't want to get involved with teacher-training.
So why don't you consider getting involved in some way with other teacher-training
courses.1 MOVE TO CARD 25. |
| 25 |
| You'll probably need a short
specialized trainer-training course, to help prepare you for work on these courses. Put
your name down for one of the short courses that your trainers hope to be running later
this year. Your professional development is continuing. EXIT. |
| 26 |
| You want to know more. You like
research. Maybe you want to specialize in materials production, teacher-training,
administration etc. But you'll have to wait! There is unlikely to be an MA program in ELT
in Mexico until next year. Until then, RETURN TO CARD 5 and choose another option. |
| 27 |
| Congratulations! Now comes
the hard work but there's a lot of demand at secondary and high school level and we know
you'll be able to help them. EXIT. |
| 28 |
| Start creating a materials bank for
teachers to dip into. Put copies of your ideas/materials up on the wall or notice-board
for teachers' to see, and introduce them at the monthly teachers meetings. The sharing of
ideas is an important step towards the creation of a team of professionals. EXIT. |
| 29 |
| Bring up your conclusions at a
monthly meeting or problem-solving session. You might be solving someone else's problem as
well as your own. EXIT. |
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Step 7:
Pilot the maze, by asking others to try it out, individually and in groups. This will
provide further information concerning possible problem areas e.g. timing, ambiguities,
false options (where wording is such that it discourages choice of certain options),
possible re-routings, and suggestions for other paths.
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Step 8:
Adapt the maze in response to the feedback and pilot it again.
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Step 9: Make
any further alterations and transfer the final product onto cards. The cards on the
adjoining page form the final version of the maze for the Diploma teachers. (As this maze
was written with a specific group of teachers in mind, some of the options are relevant
only to the local context.)
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On completing the maze,
the group of trainees were encouraged to do the following:
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1. To plan a year's
timetable of teacher development sessions. This they did (all trainees from one university
together in one group) in the form of a poster which was then put up on the wall for other
groups to see. The trainees were asked to select one activity and commit themselves to
carrying out that activity at some time during the year by signing their poster.
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2. To investigate the
various steps in the design of the maze and discuss the procedure of implementation and
feedback in the classroom. This, they felt, would enable them to design mazes for their
particular groups of students.
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Discussion of the above
meant that we covered both the product (teacher development) and the process (the design)
of the activity. The teacher development content was seen as particularly relevant as
participants were at the end of their course and were keen to continue with professional
and personal growth but unsure what was available to them in the way of further
activities.
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With regard to the
process, one of the points that arose in the discussion was that designing a maze could be
time-consuming. Nevertheless, the group as a whole agreed that they had been very absorbed
in the activity precisely because it had been written for them and that the decisions they
faced were relevant and would occur in the near future. By cutting down on the number of
cards, the time spent in preparation could be reduced.
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Jill Cadorath is an English language teacher adviser for the
Overseas Development Administration in southeast Mexico, where she is coordinating the
Regional Diploma in English Language Teaching at the University of Yucatan. She has worked
in Portugal, Spain, Brazil and Malaysia. Her main interests are in-service teacher
training and course design. |
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Return |
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- Woodward, T. 1991. Models and metaphors in language teacher
training. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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Figure 1
| Entry to Maze |
| You are about to finish the Diploma
in ELT and although this is the end of the course, you feel that it also marks the
beginning of a further period of professional development. For some of the options open to
you, READ CARD 1. |
Figure 2
| 1 |
a. You want to use
your new knowledge in your classes. MOVE TO CARD 2.
b. You want to pass on your knowledge to others—your colleagues, for
example. MOVE TO CARD 3.
c. You still have lots of questions for which you want the answers. MOVE TO
CARD 4.
d. You are thinking about further study! A trainer-training course or an MA.
MOVE TO CARD 5. |
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