Week 2 Investment: Effective Teaching

Weekly Essential Question: 

How can we facilitate and design excellent teaching and learning?

Key Questions:

What is effective teaching?

What is learning?

How do we decide what and how to teach?

Key Takeaways:

Top 10 Characterisitcs of Effective Teachers

1. clarity

2. variability

3. enthusiasm

4. task oriented/business like behavior

5. positive reinforcement

6. student opportunity to learn

7. avoided criticism

8. structuring comments

9. effective questioning

10. humor

All of these characteristics can be learned by any teacher. The teacher must work hard in order to obtain these characteristics and they must work hard if they want their students to work hard and learn.

• Clarity was the first one on the list and I thought I came through in my first lab lesson with clarity on the content that I needed to teach. I could have been more clear by stating the objectives.
• I need to seriously work on my enthusiasm and humor; I know my lessons can be dry and part of that was my nervousness. The other points not mentioned are ones that I have a handle on but just need to figure out how to express more clearly.

"People who do things right are efficient; people who do things right over and over again, consistently, are effective."

"The Effective teacher Affects lives"

• I absolutely love these two quotes. I really don't know how to explain my thoughts on these except for they are motivating me to work on improving myself in the 10 Characteristics of Effective Teachers. I want to affect lives so I should strive to achieve those characteristics to be the best that I can be.

Four Stages of Teaching

1. fantasy

2. survival

3. mastery

4. impact

Obviously, impact is where a teacher needs to be.

• That's why I'm doing what I'm doing. I want to impact student lives and watch them grow in all that they do.

"Discipline has very little to do with classroom management." The article also said well ordered environment + positive academic expectations = an effective classroom.

• A teacher should go in on the first day of class and start off business like. They will most likely gain respect from the student and therefore, be able to better manage their classroom.

"The beginning teacher must perform the full complement of duties while learning those duties."

"The beginning teacher is expected to assume the same tasks and responsibilities as the most seasoned teacher on the staff."

• These last two lines above made me realize that there is a reason why we are getting thrown into this and a reason as to why some of us feel completely clueless right now. When we get a job, there may be very little training before we actually start. We need to get into a school district that has some kind of training program, even if it is over several years.

"Teaching does not take place in a vacuum."

Teachers must make decisions on what and how to teach by knowing their audience and subject matter.

• Teachers must constantly be looking to change things and to adapt to what the world is becoming. Real life example: we have to make sure that we incorporate technology into our lessons because if we don't, our students could be clueless.

"Occupational decision making is a process, not an event."

• That takes me back to when we were applying for our cooperating centers. It took a lot of time for me to decided what to do. This is the precursor to my life career and I was a bit freaked out about that.
• decision making isn't just about general ideas or jobs; for teachers, it is the things like how do I want to teach this lesson, what exactly do I need to teach....

"You are the only person on the face of the earth who can use your abilities. It is an awesome responsibility."

• This is absolutely powerful! It is amazing to think of how unique you are in this huge world. You can do whatever you set your heart to, so go out and do it!! You never know the people you will meet or the differences that you can make!

References

Newcomb, L.H., McCracken, J.D., Warmbrod, J.R., & Whittington, M.S. (1993). Methods of teaching agriculture. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall. 

Vaugh, P.R. (n.d.) Effective teaching: Notes for the Beginning Teacher.  Retrieved from http://www.casnr.unl.edu/aps/teachman.pdf 

Wong, H.K. & Wong, R.T. (2009). The first days of school: How to be an effective teacher (4th ed.). Mountain View: Harry K. Wong Publications, Inc.