What Makes a Great Teacher?

“What Makes a Great Teacher?” by: Sonia Nieto, Joseph Semadeni, Johanna Mustacchi, Pete Hall, Deirdra Grode, Terence Clark, Renee Moore, and Linda Nathan

Educational Leadership asked several top educators what makes a great teacher. These are their answers:

1. Great teachers know that humility is important so that they never quit learning, and so that they don’t limit the people from whom they glean knowledge. A first grader can teach us a lesson that is just as important as that which a college professor can teach us.

2. Great teachers must have passion for what they teach. Their excitement trickles down to the students. If we want for our students to be motivated and eager to learn our content, we must demonstrate passion for what we do. It will rub off on the students.

3. Great teachers have courage and the ability to use what students already know to help them apply the new things that they are learning. These teachers equip students to use the skills they teach the students not only when the students are in the classroom, but also when they are in “real life.”

4. Great teachers are always checking themselves and seeking ways to refine their practices. They practice self-reflection daily!

5. Great teachers seek constructive feedback in order to grow. They observe other successful teachers and model their effective practices.

6. Great teachers are prepared with intentional, essential questions. They don’t “wing” questions because they understand that the questions they ask develop the backbone of the lesson.

7. Great teachers don’t give up on students. They create an environment that emits trust, safety, and comfort. Great teachers use a variety of teaching methods so that all types of learners achieve success.

8. Great teachers are flexible in techniques and styles. One of the most important factors in being flexible is to have a sense of humor! Great teachers remain calm and do not engage in power struggles with the students.

Bibliography

Nieto, S., Semadeni, J., Mustacchi, J., Hall, P., Grode, D., Clark, T., et al. (2011, January). What Makes a Great Teacher? Educational Leadership , 68 (4), pp. 74-93.

Educational Leadership
The Effective Educator
December 2010/January 2011
Volume 68 NO. 4

“What Makes a Great Teacher?”

Five key characteristics were identified by prominent educators as being the most important quality of an effective teacher.

The first quality identified was humility. True humility is a quiet self-confidence. In teaching, it means understanding that one does not know everything, and there is always more to learn and improve on. It means acknowledging that one can learn from other professionals, as well as from peers, immigrant parents, or even first graders. It is an understanding that no one method is the “magic bullet” to teaching and learning.

The second quality identified was excitement about learning. Students are motivated by a teacher’s passion for the subject he or she teaches.

The third quality was making meaning. An effective teacher teaches students to process what they have learned. Teachers teach such processing by having students practice critical thinking and problem solving . It is also done through the practices of collaboration and communication.

The fourth characteristic of an effective teacher was reflecting on how you teach. To quote John Dewey, “It’s not the doing that matters; it’s the thinking about the doing.” An effective teacher selects, adapts, and refines every teaching move in a reflective, intentional, way.

Finally, the fifth quality of an effective teacher was a willingness to grow. Teachers must be eager to seek out support and corrective feedback from supervisors and peers and grow in their strengths as an educator to meet students’ changing needs. One way to do this is for teachers to receive feedback from administrators from evaluations and classroom observations, reflect on that feedback, and make goals for personal improvement. Through this practice, teachers will continually grow in their profession.

Following the practices of these five key qualities will enable teachers to be on track for effective teaching.

What Mentors Learn About Teaching
When an experienced teacher mentors a new one, does the veteran’s teaching life change?

This article tracked numerous teachers who were in a mentoring program of ne, first year teachers. The veteran teachers ranged in experience from 5 to 30 years of teaching. The mentor program was a pullout program that allowed the veteran teacher to mentor 3-5 teachers for 2-3 years. The mentors also attended weekly seminars and workshops and met several times a week with the other mentors to have collaborative discussions of how to be successful mentors to the teachers.
The findings of this study showed 3 main areas of growth for the mentors.
1. The mentors gained a broader perspective.
a. There was a “new awareness” between administrators and teachers.
b. The mentors were able to understand firsthand how everyone had to interact causing them to see the big picture of how things worked within the system.
2. The mentors gained a deeper understanding of professional development.
a. The mentors were able to teach each other what they had learned while teaching their new teachers.
b. “Continued meaningful interactions with colleagues can significantly alter an experienced teacher’s perspective (Hanson, 2010, p79).
c. Because the mentors met on a weekly basis, the collaborative learning was effective.
3. The mentors developed teacher leadership.
a. After being in the program, the teachers gained confidence in themselves that they had something to offer others.
b. As a result of this newfound confidence, the mentors were more willing to be leaders and teach in the next professional development meeting, the mentors were more willing to become the other teachers’ advocates to the administration.
Being mentors to others was a beneficial experience for both the mentor and the new teacher. Hanson (2010) found that the experienced teachers were strongly influenced by their work guiding new teachers and working in a professional learning community. By establishing such pathways, schools can encourage great teachers to use their potential to improve teaching and learning.

Hanson, S. (2010). What mentors learn about teaching. Educational Leadership, 67(8), 76-80.

Educational Leadership
November 2010
Volume 68 N0. 3

Gender-Friendly Schools
Kelley King, Michael Gurian, and Kathy Stevens

Do girls and boys learn differently? The Center on Education Policy released in March 2010 the report, “Are There Gender Differences in Achievement between Boys and Girls?” The center examined state test data from all age groups in all 50 states. The research found girls to be doing roughly as well as boys in math. In reading, however, boys are lagging behind girls in all states with adequate data, with gaps greater than 10 percentage points in some states.

Research has revealed that gender-related issues interfere with ability to achieve school improvement goals when educators look closely at test scores, grades, discipline referrals, homework completion rates, special-education placements, and student motivation. The areas of difficulty for girls included lower learning and engagement in science and technology classes, problems with self-esteem development in adolescence, and relational aggression in school and in cyberspace. Areas of difficulty for boys included lower achievement scores in most classes, lagging learning skills in areas such as note taking and listening, lower grades in all classes except some math and most science classes, and less motivation to learn and lower perception that the curriculum is relevant.

Some strategies used by teachers to close opportunity gaps between boys and girls are to add movement, build on the visual, and to incorporate student interests and choices. Movement helps increase brain activity and engages students in the learning process. Throwing a beach ball to a classmate to answer a question, or singing songs with hand motions are just two of many ways to get students moving. Using visuals, such as comic-strips, motivates students’ thoughts for writing. Allowing students to draw their ideas for a writing prompt can be helpful as well. Finally, students' motivation can be boosted by incorporating students' interests and choices. It is important to identify students' passions and integrate the curriculum around their interests. Sports may be a strong motivator for boys. Then, allowing students to choose the means of presentation, whether a report, or a music video, will motivate students and promote learning.

Closing gender gaps is not only essential for school improvement, but also reflects the deep humanity and love of all children and honors the uniqueness and differences in the way God created them.

Researchers studied what great teachers do differently than good teachers. They defined great teachers as teachers whose students began the year several years behind academically and ended the year caught up or ahead. Researchers found that Great Teachers:


1.Set Big Goals – “teachers know on the 1st day where they want their students to be on the last day. The goals create urgency, focus, and alignment of effort necessary to make tremendous progress”

Crystal Jones “rallied her 1st graders around the idea that by the end of the year they were going to “read, write, and do math like 3rd graders.””

“Meg Stewart challenged her students…to “double their learning” and demonstrate two years of academic growth in one year.”



2.Get students invested in learning – Their students entered the class thinking they were “dumb” and that no amount of hard work would change that. Exceptional teachers convince students that hard work makes all the difference.

These teachers deliberately create a welcoming environment where academic success is highly valued.

They infuse the class with messages supporting academic achievement and clearly communicate student’s academic progress to them.

They empower students with choice and responsibility in their own learning.



3.Purposeful Planning - The most successful teachers are backwards planners. They begin any endeavor, from lesson planning to classroom-management by asking, what result do I want? And How will I know I’ve gotten it?

Julia King’s students average gains of 2.4 – 1.7 years in math. She envisions exactly what her students will know and be able to do at the end of the year and then organizes the units for the year. Each week she looks at the objectives for the unit, writes 5 assessment questions per objective, and only then plans her lesson.



4.What does it mean to effectively implement instruction in the classroom?

“Effective implementation, they insist, is about the adjustments you make to the plan to ensure that you stay on track toward your objectives.”



5.Continually Improving – Teachers who are getting the greatest results treat their classrooms as laboratories

“…If they’re not mastering concepts they need to master, then I need to learn how to teach them more effectively.”



6.Working Relentlessly – dramatically effective teachers say, “If I take my big goals seriously, there is just not enough time in the day, not enough resources in the classroom, to get it all done.” Then, they go on to describe how they find more time and resources.

They have their students in class before and after school, at lunch, and on Saturdays...they do whatever it takes to ensure that students succeed.




Farr, S. (2010). Leadership, not magic. Educational Leadership, 68, 28-33.

2020 Vision: Experts Forecast What the Digital Revolution Will Bring Next

2020 Vision: Experts Forecast What the Digital Revolution Will Bring Next

What does the future of schools look like? That is what was asked of three top educational technology leaders to various experts in the field of education. Their answers were all the same: personal technology for every student. In 1993, surfing the net and wireless ability were scarcely common household terms. Now, wireless ability can even be found at the local McDonalds. According to these technological leaders, the two most important technological developments are the internet and mobility. When these two are combined, they will shape the future of education. Computers should be in the hands of every student, not in computer labs down the hall. Schools are behind the times when it comes to technology. Schools must combine “the use of these technologies that they [students] live in their private lives and make use of them for learning.” Not all of the technological advances have happened as leaders would have hoped. These three educational technology leaders hoped that the technology would personalize instruction to student’s individual needs and learning styles. This has not completely happened. However, instead of wasting money on research proving what we already know, students need to use the technology so that we can see if it is working or not. It becomes a trial and error process. By the students using it, the data is quickly gathered, modified, and then corrected. Technology can also be used in assessment to help students and teachers. Broadband must be funded to be used in the schools to support the technology. When asked what can be seen in the future? The response was, a digital classroom- no textbooks, social networking among students and teachers, smartphones and iPads.

THE Journal. (2010). 2020 Vision: Experts Forecast What the Digital Revolution Will Bring Next. Retrieved from http://thejournal.com/Articles/2010/11/01/Talkin-about-a-Revolution.aspx?p=1

"Teaching Skillfull Teaching"

Bob Ostrander

December - January Issue / The Effective Educator

What makes one classroom more effective than the rest?

Answer - (1st) Get students to reason and solve problems. (2nd) Try to get all students to achieve this outcome.

Understand this...teaching is complicated. We are required to share what we know well to those, so they can digest it clearly. Easier said than done.

Teaching is unnatural; how? - it demands you take apart what comes easily so others can understand it. It also requires you to help others SEE what they do not SEE. We must discern how to reach them before this can be accomplished.

Noticing the differences of how students learn is the challenge.

To be an effective teacher we are called to continually learn how to teach effectively. "Knowing" and "Doing"teaching are two different animals. It takes classroom experience, constant adapting and using what is proven to be effective.

KEY - Ask good questions!

We challenge the minds more when we respond to what students say - we engage...not just speak to.

When you get an answer - ASK WHY.

We adapt, we tweak, we constantly grow to be more effective...we TEACH!