Explaining teachers brains

Well the theme of this blog is appearing to be “how do the PD readings I am encountering whilst undertaking an epedogy paper at Auckland uni fit with my current work?”
So with that in mind I have been intently reading the work of Harris, J. Mishra, P. & Koehler, M. (2009). This has formalized my notions of how teachers think and learn.
As an ict facilitator I spent some of my time last year engaged in “Demonstrations of sample resources, lessons and projects.” because, “teachers often demand classroom-based and student-tested examples of appropriate technology use. (Harris, J. Mishra, P. & Koehler, M. 2009, p394.)
I was becoming concerned however about the effectiveness of this, as all I felt it was proving was that I was an effective teacher, capable of integrating elearning at a range of levels.
The focus has been far more pedagogical and supported peer teaching of elearning integration trials. I have found that an approach that has positive change, has been when I have assisted in planning a lesson / unit with the teacher. they are the professional who knows the class. This is important rather than just retro fitting an of the shelf lesson. I have been in the room to assist, if needed, as this strategy is trailed.
This reading has made sense of the approach that I fluked in response to staff questions. I was asked to create a table similar to that used in this article were direct suggestions and correlation's are listed between lesson content / learning pedagogy / the possible elearning idea. This type of ideas chart has proved a huge hit with staff, but I wasn't sure why? It all seemed so obvious to me.
Harris, et-al (2009) describe this as TPACK, “TPACK is a form of professional knowledge that technologically and pedagogically adept, curriculum-oriented teachers use when they teach.” (p401) Harris, et-al (2009) further explain this, “TPACK emphasizes the connections among technologies, curriculum content, and specific pedagogical approaches, demonstrating how teachers’ understandings of technology, pedagogy, and content can interact with one another to produce effective discipline-based teaching with educational technologies.” (p396)
I consider this to be a critical reading for anyone involved in providing pd to staff. the explanation of the 3 main areas of knowledge and the impact of the areas of overlap for teaching and learning are simple clear and will give insight into the mysterious world of what is happening in an effective teachers brain at any given moment during a lesson.

Harris, J. Mishra, P. & Koehler, M. (2009). Teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge and learning activity types: Curriculum-based technology integration reframed. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 41(4), 9-4.9-4.