Page 141 - The SpeakTeach method - Esther de Vrind

innovation, but they do not discuss how such a learning route can be achieved and supported in a development trajectory.
This study proposed and tested two interrelated principles in order to create adaptive learning routes: modularity and self-evaluation by the teacher. These principles not only enabled teachers to relate an innovation to their current teaching practice, they also provided a way to implement the innovation. Kennedy (2016a) identified four pedagogies used to facilitate teachers to implement an innovation in their teaching practice, namely: providing prescriptions; providing strategies accompanied by a rationale that helps teachers understand when and why they should implement these strategies; providing insight; and presenting a body of knowledge. The approach in this study added a fifth pedagogy to the four distinguished by Kennedy; namely creating adaptive learning routes by means of modularity and self-evaluation in order to support teachers to implement an innovative teaching approach. Instead of developing an innovative teaching proposal in detailed prescriptions or more generic strategies, insights and knowledge base, the innovation is presented in recognizable building blocks −or modules of lesson segments – similar to the building blocks that teachers already use. This use of modularity allowed targeted self-evaluation and enabled teachers to see differences between their current teaching practice and the desired teaching practice. By recombining and adapting new and existing building blocks, teachers were able to expand their existing teaching practice. This study showed that an adaptive professional development trajectory based on modularity and teacher self-evaluation enabled teachers to follow their own learning routes working toward their own goals, which fit into their teaching practice, but were also aligned with the goals of the innovation.
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