What makes great teaching? – expert views | Teacher Network | Guardian Professional Popular teaching methods, such as lavishing praise on pupils and grouping students by ability, are not based on evidence and can harm student development, a report has found. The Sutton Trust examined 200 pieces of research on what makes great teaching, concluding that some common practices have no grounding in research while other less popular approaches can be effective. The report found that the two most important elements of great teaching were the quality of instruction and how well a teacher knew their subject. Different methods for evaluating teaching were also examined, including lesson observations and getting students to rate their teachers. Let’s praise children – low self belief is a cancer in the classroom The report has some excellent advice for teachers as they continue on that never-ending journey of professional development. Low self-belief is like a cancer in the classroom; if left unchallenged it will grow until it seems almost incurable.
McVey Innovative Learning Center – That’s an ILC student. A phrase we commonly hear from adults when describing a student in Hilliard is, “That’s an ILC student”. Typically this phrase is accompanied by a conversation regarding a student that isn’t the round peg, round hole type. A year and a half ago you could make that statement and nearly 100% of education professionals would go directly to describing a credit recovery student that needed “a last chance to make it”. I always found it so interesting that people would even describe the ILC as the online recovery building. If I am being completely honest the first year or so of hearing this spread a multitude of emotions through me. Anger, frustration, helplessness, and even defensiveness. But, did they know any different? So now, when we hear someone say “that is an ILC student” we can all reply with one of the following. What type of ILC student are you referring to? - The college bound student who is currently earning 32 credits towards their college degree?
30 Habits Of Highly Effective Teachers Editor’s Note: We often look at the qualities and characteristics of good teaching and learning, including the recent following pieces: How A Good Teacher Becomes Great What You Owe Your Students Ten Secrets To Surviving As A Teacher The Characteristics Of A Highly Effective Learning Environment How To Be A Mediocre Teacher So it made sense to take a look at the characteristics of a successful educator, which Julie DuNeen does below. 25 Things Successful Teachers Do Differently by Julie DuNeen If you ask a student what makes him or her successful in school, you probably won’t hear about some fantastic new book or video lecture series. What students take away from a successful education usually centers on a personal connection with a teacher who instilled passion and inspiration for their subject. Are teachers reaching their students? 1. How do you know if you are driving the right way when you are traveling somewhere new? 2. We can’t all be blessed with “epic” workdays all the time. 3. 4. 5.
4 Reasons People Don’t Blog and Ideas to Help Change Their Mind A lot of work that I do is not only showing people how to do “stuff”, but more importantly, trying to help them embrace change. One of the most powerful ways to not only change the teaching profession as a whole, but also as individuals, is through the act of blogging. One of my favourite articles on the topic of blogging is from Dean Shareski, which he shares how he believes blogging makes better teachers. Thousands of other blogging educators could echo similar words. In fact, I’ve yet to hear anyone who has stuck with blogging suggest it’s been anything less than essential to their growth and improvement. I’ve no “data” to prove this but I’m willing to bet my golf clubs that teachers who blog are our best teachers. Yet fear of the unknown is a powerful thing. 1. So here’s my plan. It is easy to criticize something you have never done (all of us our guilty of this, including myself), but to me, a viewpoint is not truly valid unless you have experience. 2. 3. 4. I get it.
What Makes Teachers Great, From The Perspective of a 10th Grader This article was written by Noa Gutow-Ellis, a high school sophomore in Houston, Texas. She’s passionate about all things related to the Arab Spring and 21st Century Education. As an 8th grader, Noa gave a TEDx talk about the power of social media. Everyone can think back to their years as a student and recall at least one teacher that stood out as a truly outstanding teacher. We’ve all had that teacher at some point in our lives. 1. Whether cheering for us on the field or applauding our curtain call, students appreciate teachers that show us they not only care about how we’re doing in their class, but out of it, too. 2. The best teachers are not always the ones teaching the core classes. 3. My 6th grade Life Science teacher was an incredible teacher. 4. I had an unforgettable teacher during my freshman year of high school. In the end, the best teachers aren’t always the ones doling out the best grades.
Your Words Matter. I had a teacher who once told me I would most likely be a college dropout. Her words mattered. When I told my wife I wanted to write a book and she said without blinking an eye, “Do it.” I told my daughter the other day how proud I was of her for writing a full sentence! My words mattered. And when I hear back from the teachers and parents that read this blog, I know my words matter. “Learning how to use language effectively will be the most valuable skill you will have to use for the rest of your life.” Woah. Want to get a job? Want to get married? Want to sell something? What Are We Teaching Our Children About Their Words? The problem I see across the board in schools and in the workplace, is that most people rarely think about the power their words have to make a positive impact. DON’T use your words to bully another person (important). or DON’T use contractions (not that important). And we often “de-value” our word power through writing tasks that are meaningless or menial.
The 49 Techniques from Teach Like a Champion The Blogs below continue the chapter "Setting and Maintaining High Behavioral Expectations." Technique 39: Do It Again. This technique is perhaps the only negative consequence that truly works. When students fail to meet your standards, you ask them to "Do it again." They model the appropriate behavior, but are eager not to have to do it again. Technique 40: Sweat the Details Building on the "broken window" theory of policing, Lemov notes that maintaining high standards will have positive effects across the classroom environment. Building Character and Trust Technique 43 Part 1: Positive Framing. Teach Like a Champion is an excellent resource for teaching, especially for middle school and high school students.
Hilliard City Schools: Secondary eSchool: Links for Learning Gr 7-12 students - Did you know you have Gmail in your Google Apps for Education account? What's my email address? Typically, your email address will be- firstname.lastname@hilliardschools.org But, if more than one student in the district has the same first and last name, there may be a number after your last name. The best way to find your email address is to login to Google Apps for Education. You will see your email address on the right side of the browser window. Please note that inappropriate language is not permitted in email in your Google Apps for Education account. GO TO Google Apps for Education Home Access for students and parents All primary guardians and parents have been assigned a username and password for Home Access. All Aboard! Educational Resources for Students, Teachers and Parents You can also access these great resources from your home computer. Whatever you're learning, researching or thinking... think InfOhio INFOhio
8 Characteristics Of A Great Teacher 8 Characteristics Of A Great Teacher by Ian Lancaster What makes a teacher strong? What differentiates the best from the rest? 1. Confidence while teaching can mean any number of things, it can range from having confidence in your knowledge of the material being learned to having confidence that your teaching acumen is second to none. It’s the confidence that you know you’re in the right spot doing what you want to be doing and that no matter what transpires, having that time to spend with those young learners is going to be beneficial both for them and for yourself. 2. Having some life experience outside the classroom and outside the realm of education is invaluable for putting learning into context and keeping school activities in perspective. 3. Just as each student has a different set of interests, every student will have a correspondingly different set of motivators. These students run the risk of disengaging altogether. 4. Yes, all teachers are heroes. 5. 6. 7. 8.
The Ten Worst Teaching Mistakes by Richard M. Felder, North Carolina State University and Rebecca Brent, Education Designs, Inc. Reprinted from TOMORROW'S PROFESSORsm eMAIL NEWSLETTER You may download a PDF version of this document. Like most faculty members, we began our academic careers with zero prior instruction on college teaching and quickly made almost every possible blunder. We've also been peer reviewers and mentors to colleagues, and that experience on top of our own early stumbling has given us a good sense of the most common mistakes college teachers make. Mistake #10. You know what happens when you do that. Mistake #9. You stop in mid-lecture and point your finger abruptly: "Joe, what's the next step?" Mistake #8. It has become common for instructors to put their lecture notes into PowerPoint and to spend their class time mainly droning through the slides. Mistake #7. Mistake #6. All students and instructors who have ever been involved with group work know the potential downside. Mistake #5. Mistake #4.
8 Essential Skills for New Teachers This summer, Teaching Channel will be helping beginning teachers countdown to their first year of teaching. We’ll walk you through the steps you’ll need to take before the first day of school. Before getting a classroom of my own, I spent two years student teaching in the classrooms of veteran teachers. I had gone to professional development sessions and seen experienced teachers share their amazing practices. But I had never seen a beginning teacher in action before. Often times we learn from master teachers, but it can also be helpful to see what the beginning teacher experience looks like. 1. Grades 9-12 / ELA / Lesson Planning Please enable Javascript to watch this video 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Watching these videos gives insight into the new teacher experience, but also act as a testament to the power of mentoring. What did you learn from this series? Lily Jones taught K/1 for seven years in Northern California.
To Help Students Learn, Appeal to What They Value A Hunger for Recognition Greg was among my toughest students in a tough year of teaching high school. Physically he attended class, but academically he was missing. He was a freshman invested in his image with older students he deemed cool, and academic achievement was not a group value. He was disruptive and disengaged. His face smoothed in surprise. The start of Greg's visible respect for school was simultaneous with my visible respect for him as he wanted to be seen: wild, misunderstood and in need. To know why it is important to understand what students value, I encourage everyone to reflect on how they feel -- and perform -- when a school leader knows and acts on what is important to team members. Now think about when a leader ignores or disrespects team and individual values. I have learned this: discovering and appealing to what students value has the power of a "return on investment" of their eagerly engaging in and owning their learning. Getting Inside Their Heads 1. 2. 3.