Universal Recipe For Great Teaching and Learning
I recently read an article comparing great teaching to a delicious meal: oftentimes you have a general idea of what ingredients are used, but the exact proportions remain elusive. I liked the metaphor -- as someone who enjoys cooking, I like to try to replicate delicious dishes I encounter, copying recipes word for word and painstakingly following directions. Yet, disappointingly, my results often don’t measure up to my memory.
When it comes to great teaching, I know a few ingredients are absolute must haves and the heart of the dish: in-depth knowledge combined with an absolute passion for the subject matter, and a genuine concern for the well being of your students. Then there are a myriad of others that must be folded in: curiosity, patience, perseverance, flexibility, open-mindedness, inspiration and practicality. I once read that a great teacher is reflective and reflexive -- think thoughtful, adaptive, intellectually nimble, and quite willing to repeat and revisit, if necessary. Great teaching involves a heartfelt commitment to life-long learning, and the humility and grace (and smarts) to recognize those one’s students and colleagues teaching some of your most useful lessons.
The list of ingredients doesn’t end there. Throw in a generous amount of communication skills, because a teacher needs to effectively communicate with students who increasingly speak a first language other than English. There is also the technology issue – if a teacher isn’t going to keep up with technology and consider it as an important and useful tool, students will call them out on it. Sometimes the commitment to teaching means facing your fears, overcoming your complacency, or recognizing and addressing your stubbornness. Great teachers know they must continually change if they are going to best meet their students needs.
In short, great teachers are managers, diagnostic experts, data analysts, team members, conductors, negotiators, students, coaches, and community members. They are caring, optimistic, enthusiastic and resilient. They encourage their students to be all they can be, because they see the potential in every student who walks though their door.
Editor’s note: the very best teachers realize some outside factors lay beyond their control. Nevertheless, we must do everything possible from our end to motivate, evaluate, engage and impart critical thinking skills. Students’ home lives and relationships are often chaotic and stressful; in turn, when we encounter such a student our job is to be empathetic, interested, and supportive. Great teachers resist the urge to beat themselves up (as much as possible!), but brush both themselves and their students off and get right back at it.
Outside factors that may shape the performance of our students include increasingly diverse ethnic, cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. Families today take on many different, non-traditional forms. Modern culture hard sells a lifestyle of unabashed materialism and sexuality. Social media has fueled peer pressure and taken bullying to new lows. Admittedly, being an adolescent has always been difficult -- you’re neither a child nor an adult -- but today’s challenges are beyond difficult. They are downright pretty much impossible to overcome emotionally unscathed.
Considering all of the challenges against today’s students, one central theme emerges: every individual has potential. Some students are born with economic advantages and healthy family units and community relationships, and have a smoother academic experience. Other students must deal with language barriers, family traumas, substance issues, and poverty. Some students have parents who lack education and are unable or simply uninterested in seeing their children thrive academically. These are major problems our country as a whole faces, and make no mistake, no single teacher can make these problems disappear, no matter how great a lesson plan is, no matter how passionate or enthusiastic or determined he or she is. However, a teacher can introduce the student to the concept that he or she holds the power to individual success. If a student fully comprehends that they is in charge of their academic performance, that student takes ownership for himself, pretty powerful stuff.
Students have an immensely vast range of abilities, interests, experiences, dreams, strengths, and weaknesses. Some are naturally curious and self-motivated, others defiant resentful, and emotionally wounded. Yet, all students can learn. Paces will vary and the routes will differ, but all can move forward if they want to. Those who do not want to need to learn that they hold the key to their performance.
Peter Dewitt in his Education Week blog “Finding Common Ground” referenced this quote by Todd Whittaker: "The best thing about being a teacher is that it matters. The hardest thing about being a teacher is that it matters every day" (2012) That sentiment is so simple but profound I had to borrow it! At the end of the day, what matters more than our collective future? Our students are all of our futures. We all have the power to change the future. The realization of that concept itself is truly what makes both a teacher and a student truly great.
Work Cited Dewitt, P. (2012, June 6). Finding Common Ground: What Makes a Great Teacher. Retrieved January 5, 2013, from Education Week: http://blogs.edweek.org
When it comes to great teaching, I know a few ingredients are absolute must haves and the heart of the dish: in-depth knowledge combined with an absolute passion for the subject matter, and a genuine concern for the well being of your students. Then there are a myriad of others that must be folded in: curiosity, patience, perseverance, flexibility, open-mindedness, inspiration and practicality. I once read that a great teacher is reflective and reflexive -- think thoughtful, adaptive, intellectually nimble, and quite willing to repeat and revisit, if necessary. Great teaching involves a heartfelt commitment to life-long learning, and the humility and grace (and smarts) to recognize those one’s students and colleagues teaching some of your most useful lessons.
The list of ingredients doesn’t end there. Throw in a generous amount of communication skills, because a teacher needs to effectively communicate with students who increasingly speak a first language other than English. There is also the technology issue – if a teacher isn’t going to keep up with technology and consider it as an important and useful tool, students will call them out on it. Sometimes the commitment to teaching means facing your fears, overcoming your complacency, or recognizing and addressing your stubbornness. Great teachers know they must continually change if they are going to best meet their students needs.
In short, great teachers are managers, diagnostic experts, data analysts, team members, conductors, negotiators, students, coaches, and community members. They are caring, optimistic, enthusiastic and resilient. They encourage their students to be all they can be, because they see the potential in every student who walks though their door.
Editor’s note: the very best teachers realize some outside factors lay beyond their control. Nevertheless, we must do everything possible from our end to motivate, evaluate, engage and impart critical thinking skills. Students’ home lives and relationships are often chaotic and stressful; in turn, when we encounter such a student our job is to be empathetic, interested, and supportive. Great teachers resist the urge to beat themselves up (as much as possible!), but brush both themselves and their students off and get right back at it.
Outside factors that may shape the performance of our students include increasingly diverse ethnic, cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. Families today take on many different, non-traditional forms. Modern culture hard sells a lifestyle of unabashed materialism and sexuality. Social media has fueled peer pressure and taken bullying to new lows. Admittedly, being an adolescent has always been difficult -- you’re neither a child nor an adult -- but today’s challenges are beyond difficult. They are downright pretty much impossible to overcome emotionally unscathed.
Considering all of the challenges against today’s students, one central theme emerges: every individual has potential. Some students are born with economic advantages and healthy family units and community relationships, and have a smoother academic experience. Other students must deal with language barriers, family traumas, substance issues, and poverty. Some students have parents who lack education and are unable or simply uninterested in seeing their children thrive academically. These are major problems our country as a whole faces, and make no mistake, no single teacher can make these problems disappear, no matter how great a lesson plan is, no matter how passionate or enthusiastic or determined he or she is. However, a teacher can introduce the student to the concept that he or she holds the power to individual success. If a student fully comprehends that they is in charge of their academic performance, that student takes ownership for himself, pretty powerful stuff.
Students have an immensely vast range of abilities, interests, experiences, dreams, strengths, and weaknesses. Some are naturally curious and self-motivated, others defiant resentful, and emotionally wounded. Yet, all students can learn. Paces will vary and the routes will differ, but all can move forward if they want to. Those who do not want to need to learn that they hold the key to their performance.
Peter Dewitt in his Education Week blog “Finding Common Ground” referenced this quote by Todd Whittaker: "The best thing about being a teacher is that it matters. The hardest thing about being a teacher is that it matters every day" (2012) That sentiment is so simple but profound I had to borrow it! At the end of the day, what matters more than our collective future? Our students are all of our futures. We all have the power to change the future. The realization of that concept itself is truly what makes both a teacher and a student truly great.
Work Cited Dewitt, P. (2012, June 6). Finding Common Ground: What Makes a Great Teacher. Retrieved January 5, 2013, from Education Week: http://blogs.edweek.org
"Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them become what they are capable of becoming." -- Goethe
Personal Theory of Learning -- Reflection Post Twenty Hours
After spending time with middle-school students tutoring and observing, my initial thoughts about teaching have only been reinforced – teachers need to be flexible, adaptable, and nimble thinkers. I witnessed a teacher’s lesson plan fail during her first period class; her instructions for an exercise were vague, students were confused over their responsibilities, and she failed to achieve her lesson objectives. Between periods, we chatted about what we thought went wrong – I advised her that her instructions were ambiguous – and she replaced the exercise with another, this time carefully providing explicit directions. The students in second period thoroughly enjoyed the exercise; they reflected on passages they read, shared their responses with classmates and, consequently, a productive and successful class dialogue ensued. I keep thinking about that teacher’s particular mantra –- “I’m nothing if not flexible”. She admitted that her lesson plans almost never turn out as expected, and that she constantly modifies them as necessary. From what I observed, such adaptations and fine-tuning dramatically improve the learning process and are an integral part of successful instruction.
I look forward to spending more time in the classroom and teaching my own lesson plans. Not only will I be well aware of the need for revisions, modifications and adaptations, but now, more than ever, I am acutely aware of the need for a solid classroom management plan. I observed a mismanaged class with constant chatting, wandering, and negative reinforcements of minor misbehaviors. I know I will face similar challenges, and will work to promote an atmosphere where instruction takes center stage and management of misbehavior does not consume vital classroom time.
Having an awareness of the classroom atmosphere is imperative. For example, I observed in one period that special education students sat on one side of the class; they were given no modifications or adaptations and did not participate. I observed that the electric pencil sharpener is a convenient excuse to get out of your seat and kill a few minutes, regardless of the fact that no pencils were required during the lesson (personally, I’d have a rule that there is no pencil sharpening during class). I was aware that the teacher texted during class(!), that some students essentially refused to do work and that the teacher often retreated or gave up. I’m certainly not saying that I won’t have my own frustrations – I know I can count on them – but I am saying that I need to be sensitive to the following facts: 1) all students learn differently; 2) all students have the potential to learn and 3) all students deserve to learn. Establishing and maintaining a positive classroom atmosphere – one that is safe, nurturing, and engaging, one that welcomes differences and one that communicates academic and behavioral expectations of all students –is my priority. I am tremendously excited about my teaching career, and plan on using all of my experiences in Field II to better prepare me for what lies ahead.
I look forward to spending more time in the classroom and teaching my own lesson plans. Not only will I be well aware of the need for revisions, modifications and adaptations, but now, more than ever, I am acutely aware of the need for a solid classroom management plan. I observed a mismanaged class with constant chatting, wandering, and negative reinforcements of minor misbehaviors. I know I will face similar challenges, and will work to promote an atmosphere where instruction takes center stage and management of misbehavior does not consume vital classroom time.
Having an awareness of the classroom atmosphere is imperative. For example, I observed in one period that special education students sat on one side of the class; they were given no modifications or adaptations and did not participate. I observed that the electric pencil sharpener is a convenient excuse to get out of your seat and kill a few minutes, regardless of the fact that no pencils were required during the lesson (personally, I’d have a rule that there is no pencil sharpening during class). I was aware that the teacher texted during class(!), that some students essentially refused to do work and that the teacher often retreated or gave up. I’m certainly not saying that I won’t have my own frustrations – I know I can count on them – but I am saying that I need to be sensitive to the following facts: 1) all students learn differently; 2) all students have the potential to learn and 3) all students deserve to learn. Establishing and maintaining a positive classroom atmosphere – one that is safe, nurturing, and engaging, one that welcomes differences and one that communicates academic and behavioral expectations of all students –is my priority. I am tremendously excited about my teaching career, and plan on using all of my experiences in Field II to better prepare me for what lies ahead.