Learning to See Teaching Through New Lens
A British Economics Lesson
How a 57-minute video expanded my analytical lens for observing teaching
When I selected a 2006 video of Caroline Whitehead teaching Year 9 business concepts at Haydon School, I was looking for a lesson to analyze using reflective practice frameworks. What I found was an excellent example of constructivist teaching that allowed me to apply Johns' Model for Structured Reflection in ways that sharpened my observational skills and deepened my understanding of effective pedagogy.
Building on Previous Learning: A Constructivist Journey
This analysis represents a culmination of my graduate coursework exploring educational theory and practice. Throughout my studies, I've examined cognitive apprenticeship principles in biology education (McLeod, 2025a), delved into constructivist foundations for effective teaching (McLeod, 2025b), and designed comprehensive lesson plans integrating multiple learning approaches (McLeod, 2025c). Watching Caroline's lesson allowed me to synthesize these theoretical frameworks into systematic classroom observation.
As Illeris (2018) emphasized, effective learning involves simultaneous content, incentive, and interaction dimensions - all clearly evident in Caroline's approach. Her lesson provided a perfect opportunity to apply the analytical tools I've been developing through my coursework.
Initial Observations: Constructivism in Action
I'll admit I started with some bias. Business education for 14-year-olds seemed likely to involve dry lectures about economic concepts that students would passively absorb. My STEM background had me questioning the practical relevance before Caroline even began.
Within the first three minutes, Caroline had her students physically place product cards (PlayStation, iPhone, cornflakes, fax machines) onto a product lifecycle diagram without explaining what the diagram meant. No textbook definitions. No PowerPoint slides. Just students actively hypothesizing about where products belonged and justifying their reasoning to each other.
This approach exemplified what I explored extensively in my constructivism research: students don't passively receive information like empty vessels. Instead, they actively build knowledge through experience and reflection (McLeod, 2025b). Caroline was applying Jean Piaget's principle that knowledge construction happens through hands-on experience, combined with Lev Vygotsky's emphasis on social learning through peer interaction.
Applying Johns' Reflective Framework
Following Johns' (2017) principle of "bringing mind home," I set specific intentions for observation and began tracking my own thinking process while analyzing Caroline's teaching. This metacognitive awareness - becoming conscious of how your mind works while it's working - is a key component of reflective practice.
Initially, I focused on Caroline's teaching strategies, classroom management, and student responses. But I also noticed myself making cultural assumptions. When students engaged in peer assessment and gave each other constructive feedback, I attributed this to cultural differences rather than considering Caroline's deliberate culture-building.
This awareness shift changed how I observed the rest of the lesson. Instead of just watching Caroline teach, I was tracking how my professional experiences and previous coursework were filtering my observations and interpretations.
Recognizing Cognitive Apprenticeship Elements
Building on my comprehensive analysis of cognitive apprenticeship in biology education (McLeod, 2025a), I could identify sophisticated application of all six elements throughout Caroline's lesson:
- Modeling appeared when Caroline demonstrated business thinking at 00:06:30, asking, "Why did you place the iPhone in the introduction?" This connects directly to my emphasis that "modeling makes expert thinking visible through think-aloud, which verbalizes usually hidden cognitive processes" (McLeod, 2025a).
- Coaching occurred extensively during group work phases. At 00:19:25, Caroline provided real-time feedback: "You've come to a decision together. What do you think is maturity?" This exemplifies the targeted feedback I described in my research.
- Scaffolding was evident as Caroline systematically removed support as students gained competence, from open-ended product placement to structured group activities to independent peer teaching.
- Articulation happened constantly as students justified their reasoning. At 00:16:30, Andre explained his understanding of the product lifecycle, making the students' thinking explicit.
- Reflection culminated in the peer teaching/assessment phase (00:40:00-43:00), where students evaluated each other's explanations and their own understanding.
- Exploration emerged through extension questions and creative problem-solving about extending product lifecycles.
Discovering Embedded Life Skills Development
About halfway through the lesson, I recognized that Caroline wasn't just teaching product lifecycles - she was developing practical life skills that students would use long after the course ended, connecting to the authentic, real-world applications I emphasized in my ecosystems unit (McLeod, 2025c).
When students analyzed why PlayStation 1 was in decline ("because PS3 came out and replaced it"), they were learning consumer literacy about planned obsolescence and upgrade cycles. Understanding how companies extend product life through innovation gave students insight into corporate strategies affecting their daily purchasing decisions.
When students explored why businesses avoid product decline ("because they'll lose money"), they were developing analytical frameworks for understanding profit motives and market forces - skills for critically evaluating news, advertisements, and economic claims throughout their lives.
This observation challenged my initial assumptions about the rigor and relevance of business education. Caroline was teaching these students to be informed consumers and critical thinkers in a market-based society.
Examining Social Justice Implications Through an Equity Lens
My special education background has trained me to notice whose voices get heard in classrooms and whose get marginalized. As I watched Caroline's lesson unfold, I tracked participation patterns carefully, drawing on the inclusive practices I emphasized in my lesson planning (McLeod, 2025c).
Certain students - Perry, Jamie, Jack - spoke frequently and confidently. Others remained quiet. This dynamic exists in every classroom I've ever observed, regardless of subject matter or country. But Caroline was actively working to balance participation through strategic questioning: "Joanna, what could you say to build on that?" (00:12:30).
However, I also noticed potential barriers. The fast-paced activities might disadvantage students who need additional processing time. The product examples assumed familiarity with middle-class consumer culture. The verbal-heavy format could exclude students with language processing differences.
This observation led me to consider alternatives for identifying students falling behind: strategic positioning during group work, quick comprehension checks, peer buddy systems, and modified expectations for peer teaching - strategies I incorporated throughout my lesson planning framework (McLeod, 2025c).
Reflecting on Co-Teaching Dynamics
Watching Caroline facilitate this lesson solo made me think about collaboration, drawing from my extensive experience with collaborative teaching dynamics. As I noted in my reflective practice journey, facilitating this type of instruction would be extremely challenging as a special education co-teacher because you're technically not in charge and sometimes barely acknowledged (McLeod, 2025f).
The fast-paced, discussion-heavy format requires intimate knowledge of individual students and confident classroom management that comes from being the lead teacher. Caroline's lesson could be significantly enhanced through genuine collaborative planning where special education expertise informs initial design rather than retrofitted accommodations.
Connecting Theory to Practice Through Systematic Reflection
The readings about reflective practice provided analytical tools that helped me move beyond surface observations. Before studying Christopher Johns' work, I might have watched Caroline's lesson and noted good student engagement without recognizing the theoretical sophistication underlying her choices.
Johns' framework helped me identify how Caroline systematically applied constructivist principles I explored in my mini-lecture: knowledge building through collaborative interaction, guided discovery, and social construction of understanding (McLeod, 2025b). Del Carlo et al. (2010) emphasized using qualitative approaches to understand teaching phenomena, and having frameworks for systematic observation has enhanced my ability to recognize patterns.
This systematic approach to observation allowed me to see connections that validated the integration of learning theories I emphasized throughout my coursework.
Implications for My Teaching Practice
Caroline's lesson offers several insights for my continued professional development. Her confident application of student-centered methods demonstrated what is possible when teachers have both theoretical grounding and institutional support for pedagogical innovation, contrasting with resistance patterns I identified in my technology integration research (McLeod, 2025d).
This analysis has already influenced my thinking about instruction:
- Structured peer assessment with explicit criteria rather than avoiding collaborative evaluation, building on the feedback protocols I designed in my coursework (McLeod, 2025c).
- Discovery-based introductions to new concepts rather than direct instruction, reflecting the constructivist principles I explored extensively (McLeod, 2025b).
- Real-time responsiveness to student thinking rather than rigid adherence to lesson plans.
Most importantly, this experience reinforced that teaching involves understanding how learning occurs and creating conditions where that understanding can develop naturally, as I demonstrated throughout my graduate studies.
The Power of Systematic Reflection
Observing Caroline's work helped me recognize that reflective practice involves developing analytical tools for systematic observation rather than just occasional self-evaluation. The frameworks I've learned through my coursework - from cognitive apprenticeship (McLeod, 2025a) to constructivist theory (McLeod, 2025b) to inclusive lesson design (McLeod, 2025c) - provide structure for recognizing effective teaching patterns across different contexts and content areas.
This analysis demonstrates how theoretical knowledge, when systematically applied, transforms observation from a subjective reaction to a systematic understanding. Caroline's lesson wasn't just about product lifecycles - it was about human learning, social dynamics, and the art of facilitating knowledge construction.
Continuing the Reflective Practice Journey
As I continue developing systematic approaches to reflection through this coursework, I appreciate having frameworks that support deeper analysis of teaching and learning. Caroline's lesson provided an excellent opportunity to apply Johns' Model for Structured Reflection while observing constructivist principles in practice.
The experience reinforced the value of approaching classroom observation with specific analytical tools rather than relying solely on intuitive responses. My extensive coursework exploring educational theory has created multiple analytical frameworks for recognizing effective teaching patterns and understanding the complex dynamics of learning environments.
Moving forward, I will continue using these frameworks to examine teaching choices, theoretical applications, and inclusive practices across different educational contexts. The goal is not just to recognize good teaching when I see it, but to understand systematically why it works and how it can be adapted to serve diverse learners.
Most importantly, this analysis shows how my graduate studies represent a constructivist learning journey - building understanding progressively through experience, reflection, and connection-making across multiple courses and theoretical frameworks. Caroline's lesson provided a perfect capstone for demonstrating how theoretical knowledge transforms into practical analytical capability.
References
Del Carlo, D., Hinkhouse, H., & Isbell, L. (2010). Developing a reflective practitioner through the connection between education research and reflective practices. Journal of Science Education Technology, 19(1), 58-68.
Illeris, K. (2018). An overview of the history of learning theory. European Journal of Education, 53(1), 86-101.
Johns, C. (2017). Becoming a reflective practitioner (5th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
McLeod, J. L. (2025a). Cognitive apprenticeship in 9th-grade biology. CT-5003.V2: Principles of Teaching and Learning, Assignment 3, National University.
McLeod, J. L. (2025b). Understanding constructivism: The foundation for effective biology teaching. CT-5010 V.2: Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Strategies and Principles, Assignment 5, National University.
McLeod, J. L. (2025c). Student-centered 9th-grade biology 5-lesson plan canvas. CT-5003.V2: Principles of Teaching and Learning, Assignment 7, National University.
McLeod, J. L. (2025d). Westridge Academy's infrastructure and emerging technologies strategic integration plan. ED-5045 v.2: Technology and a Vision for the Future, Assignment 6, National University.
McLeod, J. L. (2025f). Finding my path: Reflective practice in the reality of teaching. CT-5011 V.4: Learning and Teaching Styles, Multiple Intelligences (MI), and Ways of Learning, Assignment 1, National University.
Whitehead, C. (2006). Business & economics - Product lifecycle [Video]. In Uncut Classrooms (Season 3). Glasshead Television and Web for Teachers TV/UK Department of Education. Academic Video Online. https://video.alexanderstreet.com/embed/business-and-economics (accessed July 7, 2025)
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