Blog Post #2

Chapter 1 & 2 in Kumar's Beyond the Methods discussed teacher acts and the concept of method. What I liked about chapter 1 was that it talked about the role of teacher. I think a lot of textbooks dive right into suggested methods and things of that nature, but I haven't read a lot of textbooks that define the different roles teachers take as well as defining what jobs, vocation, work, careers, and profession are. It's important to know what these terms mean before I can delve into what the book is trying to tell me. It's interesting to see how Kumar has divided teachers roles into three distinct groups: passive technicians, reflective practitioners, and transformative intellectuals.
Teachers as passive technicians are primarily focused on content knowledge. These teachers are given the content knowledge to pass onto to a privileged group of students. Teachers are viewed as "apprentices whose success is measured in terms of how closely they adhere to the professional knowledge base , and how effectively they transmit that knowledge base to students" (Kumar 8). Viewing teachers as passive technicians is a more traditional view and is still a view that is held in different parts of the world.
Teachers as reflective practitioners are not seen as "passive transmitters of received knowledge but as problem-solvers possessing 'the ability to look back critically and imaginatively, to do cause-effect thinking, to derive explanatory principles, to do task analysis, also to look forward, and to do anticipatory planning" (Kumar 10). Instead of the passive teaching, this role of the teachers demands that teachers think and be problem-solvers in their profession. Teachers use reflection-on-action that can occur before and after a lesson, so that teachers can plan their lesson and evaluate the effectiveness of their teaching acts afterward. Reflection-in-action is also used and this occurs during the lesson, when teachers monitor their teaching acts. They identify any problems that arise and make adjustments on the spot.
Lastly, we have teachers as transformative intellectuals. By requiring teacher to be sociopolitically conscious and assertive in acting upon their sociopolitical consciousness, their roles as a teacher go beyond the borders of the classroom. These teachers not only strive for educational advancement, but personal transformation as well. For educational advancement, they form a community of educators "dedicated to the creation and implementation of forms of knowledge that are relevant to their specific contexts and to construct curricula and syllabi around their own and their students' needs, wants, and situations" (Kumar 14). These teachers form a group to work together to become better teacher for their students. And to achieve personal transformation, these teachers try to "educate themselves and their students about various forms of inequality and injustice in the wider society to address and redress them in purposeful and peaceful ways" (14). I think that personal growth in students is just as important as educational advancement for students.
Overall, I think that these three categories that Kumar has sort of divided teachers into is very interesting. I feel as though teachers shouldn't be confined to each of these roles, but they should exhibit a little bit from each role and find a way to be a more effective teacher.