How to identify and replicate great teaching?
The Teach for America program has been quietly studying this question for years--and has some surprising results. Read the excellent article in the January/February 2010 Atlantic Monthly by Amanda Ripley.
For years, the secrets to great teaching have seemed more like alchemy than science, a mix of motivational mumbo jumbo and misty-eyed tales of inspiration and dedication. But for more than a decade, one organization has been tracking hundreds of thousands of kids, and looking at why some teachers can move them three grade levels ahead in a year and others can’t. Now, as the Obama administration offers states more than $4 billion to identify and cultivate effective teachers, Teach for America is ready to release its data....
Some findings:
- Teacher quality tends to vary more within schools—even supposedly good schools—than among schools.
- Great teachers set big goals for their students. They were also perpetually looking for ways to improve their effectiveness.
- Great teachers avidly recruited students and their families into the process; they maintained focus, ensuring that everything they did contributed to student learning; they planned exhaustively and purposefully—for the next day or the year ahead—by working backward from the desired outcome; and they worked relentlessly, refusing to surrender to the combined menaces of poverty, bureaucracy, and budgetary shortfalls.
- Great teachers frequently check for understanding: Are the kids—all of the kids—following what you are saying?
- Great teachers have grit. They are people who persevere, who overcome obstacles.
- Great teachers constantly question their methods and try to improve.
- Great teachers score high on "life satisfaction". They are not complainers, but doers.
It is interesting to note that neither years of experience nor a masters in education had any impact on teaching performance. Far more important was a record of leadership, attitude and the quality of perseverence in the achievement of a goal.
To read the article, click here.
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