Innovating in the Language Classroom
By: Heather Kretschmer
Chances are you’re an innovator at heart. After all, you’re reading the MindBrainEd Think Tank. Maybe in one of your classes, you tried out an idea informed by neuroscience that you learned about in an earlier Think Tank issue. Perhaps you’re thinking back to a previous class that was a disaster and wondering what would have happened if you’d taken a risk and gone down a different route. Maybe you’re dissatisfied with something happening in a current class, so you’d like to try out something new. All these musings are a clear indicator that you’re an innovative teacher.
Eh – What’s that you say? You don’t have time to innovate? You’re worried your creative juices have dried up? Your job has siphoned out all your innovative ideas? Well, join me as we dip into the varied ways teachers can be innovative.
What is innovation in education?
In the Main podcast episode, Martin East defines innovation in education as “any new development or tweak that a teacher might make with a view to enhancing learners’ educational experience.” He differentiates between bottom-up and top-down innovation.
Bottom-up innovation occurs when the impetus to innovate stems from teachers. Teachers might be motivated to innovate when something isn’t working well in their classes, or when they encounter new, unfamiliar ideas for teaching and learning from colleagues, professional development activities, or further reading.
In contrast, top-down innovation occurs when teachers are told to change something in their teaching by someone in a higher position, for example a school leader or a manager. Top-down innovation generally happens when new educational ideas are spreading through an educational system, and someone higher up in the hierarchy decides to find out how these ideas might play out in actual classrooms.
Teachers can innovate their practice in different ways. In the Main podcast episode, Kasia Brzoska mentions three. First, teachers can improve on what they are already doing. For example, teachers might improve on the way they prepare their lesson plans. Second, teachers can transfer what they do well in one context to another context, for instance from a digital context to a face-to-face context. Third, teachers can solve new problems. For example, a teacher who notices that students are using generative AI to do their homework might think of ways to help students develop their critical thinking skills by experimenting with generative AI. As Brzoska points out, humans enjoy solving problems. So, when dealing with a problem, teachers have really good ideas and are generally best placed to figure out solutions to the problem.
Ways school leaders can support innovation
School leaders and managers can support innovative teachers in various ways. Also in the Main podcast, Kasia Brzoska encourages leaders to organize professional development activities for their teachers. In addition, leaders can cultivate a collegial working environment where teachers can share innovative ideas with each other. Finally, leaders can celebrate those teachers who innovate, thereby acknowledging the courage required to try out new ideas in the classroom.
Martin East adds that different kinds of support may be necessary, depending on whether the innovation is bottom-up or top-down. In bottom-up innovation, teachers who try out innovative ideas may feel isolated, so school leaders can encourage these teachers to share their ideas with them, thus helping them feel less lonely. In top-down innovation, some teachers may not be terribly keen on making changes to their teaching. In this case, leaders should show their teachers they support the innovation. And leaders should be open to listening to teachers’ worries. Moreover, giving teachers the resources they need to integrate innovative ideas into their classes is very important. Resources include materials, equipment, and time to plan the innovation and evaluate it afterwards. Finally, leaders need to encourage teachers to work together to develop innovative ideas.
Martin East leaves listeners with some key takeaways. In his words:
- Innovation is here to stay.
- Innovation takes time.
- Teachers need to be willing to take risks.
- Teachers must be willing to learn from what did not work and not give up when things don’t quite work out as they would have liked.
- Teachers need support—with encouragement, time, and resources.
Forging ahead with digital innovation
Presumably, many of us abruptly shifted to online spaces in early 2020. And two years later at the end of 2022, ChatGPT impinged upon our awareness and classrooms. Although not all of us work in digitally infused teaching contexts, it’s still worth thinking about how we can use the affordances of digital innovations to impact students’ learning in positive ways. In the More podcast episode, Gwyn Ortner outlines how she does this when teaching German to undergraduates at the University of Cape Town in South Africa.
Gwyn Ortner has crafted a blended learning experience for her students by combining their onsite classroom experience with online components on her university’s learning management system (LMS). According to Ortner, pedagogy and learning goals help her determine what technology she selects for her students. She reflects deeply on which skills and content students should focus on in the classroom and which ones students can work on online. Ortner believes that grammar resources, vocabulary lists, quizzes, and listening materials are well-suited for the online learning phases. In addition, some interaction tasks work well online, too, such as online sessions with native German speakers. In a flipped classroom format, Ortner makes the online materials visible prior to class sessions so that students can familiarize themselves with the content before they engage with it during class sessions. She clearly explains to students how the online and onsite components fit together, which motivates students to engage with the online materials.
Since it’s easy for students to click away from online learning resources on the LMS, Gwyn Ortner thinks carefully about how she organizes resources on her LMS. This involves making the resources accessible and easy to navigate. In addition, she finds it important to show students, during class, where resources are located on the LMS and how to use them. And she doesn’t just want her students to take advantage of the resources on the LMS. She also gives them guidance as they develop digital literacy skills.
Gwyn Ortner reminds us that we can’t ignore online resources like Google Translate and ChatGPT. She feels that part of her job involves teaching students how to use digital media as language learners and think critically about online resources. For Ortner, digital literacy goes beyond language learning and into the realm of teaching students how to be lifelong learners.
So many small ways to innovate our practice
When we think of innovation and innovators, we tend to think of mind-shattering, paradigm-shifting ideas and extraordinary individuals like Leonardo da Vinci. To be clear, a radical change to your teaching practice that takes a herculean effort to implement is probably not the best way to innovate. In fact, Martin East and Kasia Brzoska both urge teachers to try out small changes to their practice. Innovation also doesn’t need to involve technology, and teachers can infuse innovative ideas into any aspect of teaching and learning.
And as Gwyn Ortner points out, the new, innovative idea is probably not going to work out exactly as you wished the first time. She encourages teachers “to be brave and try things out, and you’ll surprise yourself with what you’re able to do.” You can always fine-tune an innovative idea that doesn’t go as expected, and try again. Without doubt, teachers are innovators, so read on to discover lots of different ways Think Tank readers and authors have embraced innovation. Use their ideas as inspiration for your own innovations.
Heather Kretschmer teaches English at the University of Göttingen in Germany. Trying out small innovative ideas with students is one of the best parts of her job.