Embedding improvisation in teacher education

Abstract

When I was training to become a teacher I was expected to prepare a lesson plan for every class I taught. Tutors expected these lesson plans to be compiled in a file and a satisfactory pass in Teaching Practice was partly based on this collection of lesson plans as well as on my ability to adhere to what was included in them. Despite the value of the lesson plan in encouraging me to think about my decisions prior to the lesson and in guiding me through the lesson in a structured manner, sometimes I felt like an actor being chided by the director for not repeating the lines in the script exactly as they were meant to be recited. Given the impossibility of doing another take when teaching a class, I came to believe that a pre-service teacher who deviates from the lesson plan might risk failing their Teaching Practice. While lesson planning is very important for pre-service teachers as it helps them “navigate a safe path through the jungle” (Thornbury, 2012), one thing many teachers are not trained for is how to deal with the unpredictability and spontaneity of the classroom by thinking on the spot and improvising a course of action.