ABSTRACT
Those who study teaching as a discipline are well aware of the ironies involved in being a teacher of teachers. The act of teaching anything requires a teacher to balance the complex relationship between what is being taught (subject matter) and how it is being taught (instruction). Both the what of teaching and the how of teaching must be addressed for teachers to be effective. In teaching about teaching there is an even more complex layer that involves understanding how to make explicit this relationship between subject matter and pedagogy and to facilitate learning about this relationship. Simply being aware of this dual nature of teaching is not enough to make someone a good teacher or a good teacher of teachers. If only learning to teach were that simple! Assuming that someone will able to perform well after merely watching another’s performance rarely works in any arena. Modeling, as Loughran points out, is not enough to produce good teachers:
In focusing on our teaching behaviors, it is also important to recognize that simply modeling practice through the use of a range of teaching procedures (e.g. concept maps, Venn diagrams, interpretive discussions), or teaching about teaching by using engaging strategies, is in itself not sufficient in teacher education. There is a clear need to continually go deeper and to address the underlying features of teaching and learning.
