The Five Awarenesses of Expert Teachers: Exploring Individual Social-Emotional Cognitive Processes

• In Event: 53.081 - Roundtable Session 21
  In Roundtable Session: 53.081-11 - Social and Emotional Support in Schools: Student, Teacher, and Staff Perspectives

Abstract

Teaching is a social-emotional cognitive skill. Using a dynamic systems and social-emotional cognitive lens, this study employed structured cognitive interviews to elicit expert teachers’ reflections on their teaching processes, as well as to illuminate the interactive nature of these processes and the factors that influence the teachers’ capabilities. Five themes, or awarenesses, emerged from the interview data: (a) awareness of learner, (b) awareness of teaching practice, (c) awareness of context, (d) awareness of self as a teacher, and (e) awareness of interaction. Within each theme, several categories were identified that characterized the teachers’ reflections on the individual social-emotional cognitive processes employed during teaching. These data show that expert teaching leverages a complex, social-emotional cognitive framework to achieve learning goals.

Author

• Vanessa Rodriguez, New York University