Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK):
PCK goes beyond knowledge of subject matter per se to the dimension of subject matter knowledge for teaching – Shulman, 1986
This article (Van Driel & Berry, 2012) I found talks about integrating PCK into teacher’s professional development. It mentions that PCK is not stable and is very specific to the topic, person and situation so there is no one ideal way to teach or be a teaching expert. This resonates with me with what David Jones (our course examiner) has said with “Everything works somewhere, and nothing works everywhere” (I will need to find the reference later). So I am presuming the best place to start is knowing what is content knowledge is specific to my ‘somewhere’. Then connect that to the pedagogy associated with my ‘somewhere’.
Another article (Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards NSW, 2016) talks about a study that was performed with two groups of teachers: one group trained only in English content and not teaching, and the other trained in teaching English. They found significant differences in student results and engagement with English content. The biggest difference was how the group that had pedagogical content knowledge engaged the students by relating the texts to their lives. I am considering doing my unit plan for assignment two for English class so I could take on board that I definitely need to relate the texts to the students to engage them and hopefully that will leave them more engaged and with deeper understanding of the text. Turns out another student also found this article useful – great mind think alike!
Specifically referring to literacy, this article mentions the importance of the teacher’s knowledge of the development of children in reference to their reading progression. Just one example of how PCK is important. The authors also mention the importance of understanding student sociocultural influences. I love this quote:
An understanding of sociocultural influences on the learner and learning make it possible for teachers in diverse classrooms to recognise and extend students’ cultural repertoires, and identify and validate available funds of knowledge and skills (Moje et al., 2004) – Carney & Indrisano, 2013
From my reading on PCK I will need to make some notes about pedagogical practices relating to my chosen subject area such as sociocultural perspectives, the learner’s developmental stage in relation to reading and writing, the learner’s interests etc.
I’m having a hard time finding blogs from other students about PCK. Not sure if I’m missing them!
To the drawing board!
Jasmin
teacherintransitblog 