(Published in my Tumblr account March 2013)
A recent post appeared in ASCD Smartbrief and I agree with everything. Well, everything except for what’s missing.
ASCD compiled seven statements and asked “What makes an effective teacher?” The idea was to vote for your favorite and they would compile the data and share the “order of finish.” I love informal surveys, but this
one got me thinking about my experiences in the classroom and I couldn’t vote for just one. My thoughts are in blue.
1. They create and maintain supportive and safe learning environments
The classroom and school culture is vital to effectiveness and student success. Administration designs and develops tools for teachers to impact the lives of the students and their families regularly. Teachers typically adapt those tools to their unique classroom demographic that has a history of dynamic change. Community is often overlooked.
2. They belong to learning communities
It’s truly an incredible time to be a teacher. There are more established and emerging locations for teachers to develop relationships that grow themselves personally and professionally. I sat in a twitter online learning community the other night and could not help but smile at the sharing and the professional accountability of the group.
3. They think systematically about their practice and learn from experience
Systematic thought has many definitions. Factors include the environment – input – process – output – feedback mechanisms – and more! The real key to this is the ability to adapt professionally as you evaluate your skill set. Your experiences make you a better educator and those experiences never stop. Step back and look at your career from 30,000 feet and then again from 3 millimeters and then do it again and again.
4. They take responsibility for managing and monitoring student learning
Accountability for learning is, at this moment, high risk. The biggest partners in education are parents and the community culture that surrounds the students outside of our classrooms. That should completely change our role to include the home, family and community. I’ve seen many great teachers stumble over this thought because the ever-changing social dynamic of our culture moves quickly and can easily distance the educator from the student. Think about how different your learning experience was from student to qualified teacher and then think again how many times teachers must re-condition themselves to new, unknown cultural shifts. A business comparison might be well received – the corporate world is traditionally 10 to 15 years behind the curve. Education and high-tech manufacturers must push the limits of the curve to educate tomorrows leaders. The battle is beyond our schools and that’s a battlefield that we need many levels of support to conquer.
5. They are leaders
Seems like common sense, but we’re not talking about the kind of leader at the head of the line, or one leading from behind. I believe that leaders are passionate about service and modeling leadership for students and others so that they take the extra time to make sure that they do hard things. The make choices that hold themselves to honor of the profession, without any ego.
6. They are committed to students and their learning
See the above five traits and share with me how this isn’t just another way of saying all those things?
7. They know their subjects and how to teach those subjects to students
I’ve witnessed educators who have very little ability in their subject area and every student learns. Excellent teaching does have direct correlation to the subject matter, but a good teacher is just that…a good teacher. One would assume then that early childhood educators, who obviously know their curricula well, would be the “best” teachers. Put an excellent high school physics teacher in that early childhood classroom and I’d be tempted to wager a high level of frustration for the students and the teacher, and vise versa. (I actually did this once and was so wrong…)
So what which attribute would you vote for? It’s difficult because while these traits may make for effectiveness there is just something intangible missing. For me I knew a good teacher when I saw it, experienced it, and lived it. Being a student gave me a sixth sense to identify excellence as it affected me. As a parent and as a school administrator I pray I kept the same sense. The student that lives in me looks for passion and a love of learning that translated into my effectiveness scale. I wanted to see one last trait – the effective educator is a life-long learner. Mine certainly were.