This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog thing going…
To understand teaching as a socio-cultural practice is to understand the importance of theory, no fact/opinion comes without theory. You got it your not the first to think of it, chance is there is some sort of long standing historical literature to support your bright ideas. Theory supports research and teaching reflective practices. It is at the core of teaching and student learning.
Teaching? Teaching is professional, in order to teach effectively one must understand ones stance, aims, hidden curriculum, philosophy, values and who and what makes them who they are.
Socio-cultural practice? The socio-cultural jigsaw by Bell best explains this. Its complex, like a jigsaw it interlocks, each piece interrelated having a place in the bigger picture. Made up of 9 concepts, Relational, Social, Cultural, Emotion, Caring, Ethical, Embodied, Spatial and Political.
I wont discuss all 9 concepts but some that resonate with me, relational, social context? Teaching is not something we as teachers do by ourselves, who do we teach; students, therefore it is very much a social act. Interaction in teaching between students and teachers is a social practice. The essence of teaching is building relationships, without relationships between student and teacher teaching would be difficult, that is probably an understatement. In order to be inclusive we look to collaborate in partnership, construct knowledge together further building these relationships, thus is relational.
During my time on placement and like my 2 year old son often configures his puzzles, life and teaching isn’t like a perfect puzzle. Yes every piece may have a place to form some perfect image. One size does not fit all, it may have a certain shape and look like it fits in that certain area but who are we to say it actually goes there. My son often argues with me that his purple circle goes on top of the pinkish purple area, I often correct him that it goes on the darker purple one, the one I deem correct. But in actual fact people see things in different ways and that puzzle piece may fit there but in fact it makes sense in the world I have constructed thus its important to understand whom we are as teachers.
I don’t correct my son now, he said to me the other day when I passed him a lolly jet plane, ooh mum that is a dinosaur foot. And I stopped to think and said to my son yes it is, we see the world in different ways and teaching is very much a socio-cultural practice, it consists of many pieces which we must construct our own knowledge and meaning from in a ever changing world.
Diary of the beginner teacher... 
Thank you Anna for this awesome insight. I love how you use the analogy of your son and the shapes, and it is true. There are many pieces in our lives that consists of different shapes and sizes which we are constantly putting together day by day. I have a son, and in the past, he used to play with different shapes to put them through this cube puzzle where the shapes would slide through the hole with the same shape. One day he had a semi-circle, as I looked at him attempting to put it through the oval shape I told that it’s not for that shape. Then what he did next was that he turned the semi-circle sideways and slotted it within the oval-shaped hole. Here I stood, not only dumbfounded but was outdone by a 2-year-old. Sometimes a social-practice may require us to think outside the box. Students are like the pieces, they have hidden potential to do great things but it may take the perspective of the teacher to see the bigger picture. Its the same with our children, it’s our job to guide them with oversight even if this means they teach us a thing or two as a parent or a teacher.
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