Professional Wisdom:
Just What Is It?
How Do I Access It and How Do I Judge It?
by Federico Salas-Isnardi, TCALL Adult Literacy Specialist
I am sure that, as an experienced English as a Second Language (ESL) instructor, at one time or another you have made a decision about what to teach to a group of ESL students based on your experience, your sense of what works and does not in your class, or simply because you “know” your students better than the administrators, the state, or the federal government. You benefit from the wisdom you have gained through experience. You may have explained that decision to your colleagues or administrators saying something along the lines of: “I based my decision on my professional wisdom.” A colleague in another community, with just as many years of experience as you have and facing a similar situation, may have made a different decision and also claimed that it was based on their professional wisdom.
Now, I am a third teacher; I am new to adult education, inexperienced, and in desperate need of some wisdom. Whom do I believe? Do I listen to you? Do I trust our colleague elsewhere who would have taught a very different lesson based on her own experience and comfort level? How come both of you claim your actions in the classroom are based on professional wisdom if your wisdom is different? Just what is professional wisdom? How do I judge which “wisdom” to apply to my circumstances?
The definition most commonly used today is G. Whitehurst’s (See Ken Appelt’s article.) and it has been adopted by the U.S. Education Department. According to this definition, Professional Wisdom is:
- The judgment that individuals acquire through experience
- Consensus views
- Increased professional wisdom is reflected in numerous ways, including the effective identification and incorporation of local circumstances into instruction
www.ed.gov/nclb/methods/whatworks/eb/edlite-slide004.html
Each of us acquires different experiences throughout the course of our professional lives. In addition, each professional will have a different perspective or understanding even of the same experience based on our own personal views, philosophy, and knowledge. That is why our personal judgment alone cannot constitute professional wisdom. We must arrive at a consensus upon the careful consideration of the views of many professionals and respected colleagues. This consensus view takes into account local circumstances to adapt instruction to specific contexts.
Dr. John Comings, former director of the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy, in a 2007 online discussion of professional wisdom (wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Professional_Wisdom), talks about consensus and suggests that professional wisdom should be judged by a peer review process in much the same way as research is reviewed. He maintains that a jury of peers evaluating professional wisdom should include practitioners and researchers. He suggests that the best way to share professional wisdom among colleagues is through online resources that not only allow access to the wisdom shared but also include a review by peers and a synthesis of the research and wisdom.
What follows is a brief list of such electronic resources for sharing and accessing professional wisdom. The list is extremely limited but it contains some very useful sites that should be a good start for any teacher, new or experienced.
ALE Wiki
The ALE Wiki is probably the first resource adult educators should familiarize themselves with. Created by Dr. David Rosen and maintained by a number of professionals who actively contribute content and expertise, the Literacy Wiki is a significant source of Professional Wisdom. Anyone can access the wiki but in order to add your own content or edit topics, you have to create an account, log in and introduce yourself to the community. These steps keep people who are not professionals in the field from adding irrelevant material. If you are not familiar with the ALE Wiki, take some time to familiarize yourself. The resources are extremely helpful. Evidence-Based Education and Professional Wisdom are two of the many topics.
If you are an ESL teacher, you will want to visit the ESOL page at wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/English_for_Speakers_of_Other_Languages
Center for Adult English Language Acquisition (CAELA)
The CAELA Network is a project of the Center for Applied Linguistics, funded by the U.S. Education Department. This center’s website includes resources for ESL practitioners and researchers including bibliographies, books, briefs, reports, and a searchable database of ESL resources. The research section includes a wealth of statistical information on ESL measures that should be very helpful to anyone doing research.
California Adult Literacy Professional Development Project (CALPRO)
One of the premier professional development projects in the nation, CALPRO offers an immense wealth of resources to teachers and other professionals including publications, research digests, and resource guides. A New ESL Teacher Resource Guide helps teachers, new and experienced, to navigate the ESL classroom. It includes tips to integrate workplace basics into your ESL class.
National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL)
Arguably, NCSALL is not a source of Professional Wisdom but rather the depository of the most serious research conducted in our field in the last ten years. The funding for this research center ended in 2007 but the resources are still available at
Visit this site to access some of the most influential research done in our field in the recent past, including the Equipped for the Future Study. Download articles from the quarterly publication Focus on Basics or from the Review of Adult Learning and Literacy. There are teaching resource guides and a section on connecting practice, policy and research.
National Research and Development Center (NRDC) for Adult Literacy and Numeracy
Another wonderful resource, this one from the United Kingdom, the NRDC lists as one of its objectives to ‘build research capacity, reflective practice and career development through the systematic engagement of teachers and other practitioners in the centre.’
Visit the page of Practitioner Resources where you will find a wealth of reports and practitioner resources such as guides and handbooks.
Downloading full reports is free to teachers courtesy of the NRDC in London. If you press the tab for the Practitioner-Led Research Initiative you will be able to download a short report on the impact of teacher led research.
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