Reflections 2012 and Beyond

Quality of teaching influenced by:

• class size
• the quality of the curriculum
• the resources available
• the time available to prepare instruction
• Support teachers receive from colleagues

Most important factor – qualities that the individual teacher brings to the classroom.

Teachers need to improve because they can be even better, and when they do their jobs better, their students live on get, are healthier, and contribute more to society.

Observation criteria:

• Clear, valuable learning intentions for lesson
• Success criteria understood by students
• Students chosen at random
• Questions that make students think
• Students, not the teacher, dominate discussions
•  At least 80 percent of students involved in answering questions
• All-student response system used
• Teacher waits three seconds after question
• Students support each other’s learning
• Teacher gives oral formative feedback
• Evidence of comments that advance learning
• Teacher finds out what students learned
• Teaching adjusted after data collection

Exempalry practice

Good practice

Seen, but weak

Nonexistent

Used inappropriately

 

Scaleability requires:

depth

sustainability

shift in reform ownership

My Teaching Partner – coaching system focused on 3 aspects of teaching:

emotional support for students 9positive relationships, teacher sensitivity, and regard for adolescent perspectives)

classroom organisation (behaviour management, maximising learning time, and effective instructional formats)

instructional support (content understanding, analysis and problem solving, and quality of feedback)

 

 

Focus on video  – tacit knowledge visible

Video more useful than rubrics to explore high-quality performance. Rubrics could be a valuable starting point, but won’t necessarily improve practice.

Professional development must be job embedded, practice focused, and continued over a substantial period of time.

 

Research shows that expertise in teaching is similar to expertise in other areas.” This in turn suggests that the vast majority of teachers could be as good as the very best if their leaders provide the right learning environment for those they lead – creating a culture in which all teachers improve so that all students succeed.”

Analogy of the riderand the elephant – along a path.

Direct the rider

Find the bright spots – volunteers rather than conscripts, strength based practices

Script the critical moves – highly structured meetings (1. Intro and learning intentions for the meeting 5 min, 2. Warm-up activity 5min, 3. Feedback session 25-50 min, 4. New learning about formative assessment 20-40 min, 5. Personal action planning 15 min, 6. Review of the meeting 5 min

Point to the destination – All students proficient

Motivate the elephant

Find the feeling (emotional impact) – Moral imperative

Shrink the change (break down into manageable chunks) Small steps

Grow your people – All teachers can improve

Shape the path

Tweak the environment (default positions) Create time for teacher learning

Build habits (plan action triggers) Create routines and structures

Rally the herd (create a group ethos around practice) Make new mistakes