Ed 3603 Social Context Paper

April 7, 2016
Peter Vooys
Dr. Darron Kelly

Professionalism: Acquiring and Applying Specialized

Knowledge
Professionals demonstrate and contribute to developing an esoteric and specialized
knowledge of their domain. (Kelly, 2016)
Hargreaves and Goodson, in their collection Teachers Professional Lives:
Aspirations and Actualities state that one of their criteria for a postmodern view of
teacher professionalism is a self-directed search and struggle for continuous
learning related to ones own expertise and standards of practice (Goodson &
Hargreaves, 1996). I am an aspiring professional drama teacher, and a practicing
artist. As a practitioner of the fine arts, I am driven by my passion to explore my
disciplines of choice to gain deeper knowledge and practical mastery. As a teacher
of the fine arts, it is my passion to share these disciplines with my students by
articulating and applying the most relevant aspects of my understanding, to
stimulate their growth as artists.
My knowledge of drama and other arts determines my potential resources with
which to teach. My ability to articulate and communicate the most relevant aspects
of this knowledge translates my specialized knowledge into potential student
learning. To use a metaphor, my body of knowledge is the well that I draw from, and
my ability to articulate this knowledge to students determines the size of vessel
with which I may draw from the well. This metaphor describes the rationale for the
acquisition and skilful application of specialized knowledge that guides my
development as a pre-service teacher. The Alberta Teaching Quality Standard for
Interim Certification states that the pre-service teacher must consistently
demonstrate that they understand
the subject disciplines they teach. They have completed a structured
program of studies through which they acquired the knowledge, concepts,
methodologies and assumptions in one or more areas of specialization or subject
disciplines taught in Alberta schools (Alberta Education, 2013)

During my practicum, I chose to monitor the results of the application of my

specialized knowledge in Voice, a curricular area of personal strength in Drama. I
also chose to acquire further knowledge in Voice over the course of my practicum
through collaboration with my TA, and through professional development in voice-
over acting training. We will approach this survey of my acquisition and application
of specialized knowledge in the order of events in which they most prominently
featured during my PS II practicum.
Application of Knowledge
The teacher must have at hand a veritable armamentarium of alternative forms of
representation, some of which derive from research whereas others originate in the
wisdom of practice (Shulman, 1986)
My experience as an artist is a key element that informs my teaching practice.
When I teach, for instance, a unit on Voice, I am drawing from a deep well of
experience, including professional theatre experience, singing lessons, acting
classes, and daily personal practice. This depth of experience increases my
potential resources for teaching my discipline. Lee Shulman defines these resources
as content knowledge (Shulman, 1986). My ability to articulate and apply key pieces
of my knowledge, in ways that my students understand, is the key element that
turns this professional artistic knowledge into professional teaching knowledge,
which is defined by Shulman as pedagogical content knowledge (Shulman, 1986).
I have spent a substantial amount of time working on my vocal warmup techniques
for singing and acting. Through exposure to a variety of different approaches to
warmups, Ive been able to develop a strong basic vocal warmup practice, with a
variety of alternative techniques and approaches. I was able to use these
techniques to prepare the actors for performance, in a play I assistant-directed for
Willow Park School during my practicum.
As part of my PS II practicum, I assistant-directed A Little Princess, my Teacher
Associates grade nine play, which was performed March 12-14, 2016. One of my
responsibilities as assistant director was to prepare the actors for the show by
leading them through a variety of warmup techniques in a nightly vocal warmup. My
approach included using metaphors in conjunction with physical warmup
techniques, which is effective in both warming up the actors physically and
engaging their imaginative processes. For instance, a particularly effective series of
neck stretches I learned from my Voice professor starts with:
Imagine your body as a candle and your head as a bead of wax. Let the
bead of wax drip down the side of the candle until your chin is resting by your
chest (McCaugherty, 2009)
I also learned several alternative techniques from my TA, with which the students
were familiar and comfortable. I replaced several of my techniques with my TAs in
order to optimize student engagement in the vocal warmup, through a blend of
novel and familiar techniques. Through exposure to a variety of techniques and the
observation and practice of these techniques, I am becoming better able to discover
the ways of representing and formulating the subject that makes it most
comprehensible to others (Shulman, 1986).
To confirm my observation of student engagement during vocal warmups, on April 8
I conducted a voluntary survey of the cast. Over half the cast took part in the
survey, with most of the principal actors represented. Several students were absent
on the day of the survey.
1. The warmups for A Little Princess helped me perform my best.

Strongly Disagree=0, Disagree= 0, Neutral=1*, Agree=4, Strongly Agree=5

2. I learned more about warming up vocally from the pre-show warm-ups.

Strongly Disagree=0, Disagree= 0, Neutral=3, Agree=7, Strongly Agree=1

3. I have a better understanding of the importance of vocal warm-ups.

Strongly Disagree=0, Disagree= 0, Neutral=3, Agree =4, Strongly Agree=4

4. I will use vocal warm-up techniques I learned during A Little Princess in my own future
practice.

Strongly Disagree=0, Disagree= 0, Neutral=1, Agree=7, Strongly Agree=3

*I disregarded the response of the assistant stage manager on this question. She responded
neutral, as she did not perform onstage.

This survey helped me to gauge the effectiveness of my warmups, and how I

explained them to the students. By combining the survey results with personal
observations, I can see that my content knowledge is solid, and my most crucial
area for growth is pedagogical content knowledge, or how I articulate what I know
to the students to help them learn. How can I maximize student learning while also
focusing on preparing the students mentally/physically in the brief fifteen minutes
before an evening performance? This provides an area for continuous professional
growth in my teaching practice. In this case, student learning about vocal warmups
may be supported by in-class review when we have more time to talk about the
techniques we use.
Acquisition of Knowledge: Collaboration
In my studies at the University of Lethbridge Ive learned that other teachers are
great sources for additional resources and alternative forms of representation.
This understanding has been nurtured by our Drama C & I professor Dr. John
Poulsen, who has fostered a collaborative culture within our class. John has
encouraged us to share our lessons, units, and games with one another to develop a
greater body of knowledge. This collegial spirit of collaboration has continued into
my PS II practicum.
My TA, Cameron Shank, commented that my warmups were highly effective, and
suggested that he would use some of my warmup techniques in the future. I also
plan to use several of his techniques to augment my own vocal teaching practice.
This is indicative of a collaborative culture where (professionals use) shared
expertise to solve the ongoing problems of professional practice, which is another
aspect of the postmodern view of professionalism espoused by Goodson and
Hargreaves (Goodson & Hargreaves, 1996).
As stated by Lee Shulman, research is a vital component of developing alternative
forms of representation, and my professional development as a Drama teacher has
been guided during this practicum by seeking out new knowledge and
understanding.
Acquisition of Knowledge: Professional Development
As part of my ongoing professional development and to acquire specialized, esoteric
knowledge, on March 17 I took a voice-over acting workshop from ToonVox,
Albertas premier voice-over training company. In the workshop, I learned a variety
of techniques for voice-over acting, and deepened my understanding of the voice. It
could be argued that cartoon voice-over acting is not a unit in the Program of
Studies, and that there are more effective forms of professional development.
However, I would point out that in addition to being a personal passion, cartoon
voice acting is a field that many students are interested in, and many of its
techniques are applicable to Drama units on Voice. This workshop helped expand
my holistic understanding of the voice, and has contributed to a more fulsome view
of the different aspects of vocal performance.
New knowledge I gained from the workshop included the techniques involved with
fitting dialogue to animated scenes, and the idiosyncrasies of the Canadian
accent. For instance, Canadians generally voice words like sorry differently than
Americans. The o sound in sorry is a diphthong, a vowel that consists of two
blended vowel sounds. The Canadian pronunciation of sorry is more of a 50/50
combination of ah and oh sounds, whereas Americans generally voice a 90/10
combination of the two vowel sounds. My deepened understanding of voice-over
acting will pay dividends in my future lessons on voice, and the training provided an
immediate benefit to my teaching practice, in the form of an engaging discussion
with a grade nine class.
Following the weekend ToonVox workshop, my TA and I discussed accents with our
class, and I was able to share some of my new knowledge about the quirks of the
Canadian accent. This fed into a fun and informative conversation with the
students, where we learned about regional dialects from my TA, and a Quebecois
student shared her extensive knowledge of French accents. By seeking out
knowledge and sharing it, I was able to help trigger a collaborative learning
opportunity for the students, my TA, and myself!
Conclusion
During my practicum, I was able to further explore Professionalism and how
esoteric and specialized knowledge is a vital component thereof. I was able to
apply deep content knowledge in an area of strength with my students, to monitor
the impact of this application, and find an area of potential growth. I was able to
further develop this area of strength through collaborative practice with my TA, and
I was able to seek out a professional development opportunity to acquire more
knowledge about this area. Ultimately, Ive found that the breadth, depth, and
quality of my discipline-specific knowledge will determine my potential effectiveness
as a teacher, and knowing how to optimally articulate and apply this knowledge in
lessons will be the ultimate indicator of my actual professional effectiveness.
I feel that my understanding of Professionalism has increased through this study, as
has my confidence in my ability to teach my students and my appreciation of the
imperative to continue the self-directed search and struggle to build my content
knowledge, the well of my expertise in my teaching practice. And, perhaps more
importantly, to build my pedagogical content knowledge, the vessel with which I
draw from said well.

Bibliography
Alberta Education. (2013) Teaching Quality Standard Applicable to the Provision of
Basic Education in Alberta. (2013, October). Retrieved April 7, 2016, from
https://education.alberta.ca/media/1626523/english-tqs-card-2013_3.pdf

Goodson, I., & Hargreaves, A. (1996). Teachers' professional lives. London: Falmer
Press. Ch. 1, pg. 21
Kelly, D. (2016). Teacher Professionalism. Class Notes from Powerpoint. University of
Lethbridge. January 11, 2016.
McCaugherty, D. (2009). Vocal Warmup from Advanced Acting Class. Class Notes.
University of Calgary. January, 2009
Shulman, L. S. (1986). Those Who Understand: Knowledge Growth in Teaching.
Educational Researcher, 15(2), 414. Retrieved April 2, 2016, from http://0-
www.jstor.org.darius.uleth.ca/stable/1175860