For administrators, the answer is to provide more tools for teachers to better teach and to protect you from distractions created in the system. These tools can be PD on pedagogy, data processes on student achievement, or resources such as technology or space in which to effectively teach.
For teachers, the answer is to constantly look at your practice and ask, how effectively am I reaching all of my students? How do I know? What areas are strengths and weaknesses and what resources can I draw upon to improve in my growth areas?
One great resource which Mr. Wright, Ms. Gupta-Kagan, and I have in our offices is called The Skillful Teacher by John Sapphier. This book breaks down teaching into key skills that the best teachers need to master to be truly proficient. He then provides concrete strategies to improve in these areas and increase your repertoire of teaching strategies.
Below I will copy his Pyramid of teaching Skills and invite people to ask questions or make suggestions for training in any of these areas. Each month I will add a section to the Curriculum Connections and the blog on one of these areas. If you click on the triangle it will expand and be easier to read.
As one can see, the Triangle is built out of 5 main components, all of which are important. I will lay them out and provide commentary on each. There are whole chapters on each Section and its component parts.
1. Foundation of Essential Beliefs - The base of the pyramid is teacher beliefs. Without this piece in place, nothing else can be successful. Some of these beliefs that are crucial include:
a. What I do in the classroom can impact students' learning and lives?
b. I generally appreciate and want to know my students so I can better teach them?
c. All students can learn
2. The second level are parts of the Management Function of teaching - These are key skills because if these are not in place, then instruction cannot happen effectively. These skills include the successful use of strategies to deal with:
a. Space
b. Time
c. Routines
d. Attention Moves
e. Momentum
f. Discipline
These are the skills new teachers usually have the hardest time developing and often cause the greatest frustration. I am willing to help those who are interested.
3. The third level includes Instructional Strategies - The understanding of these strategies is central to your successful delivery and construction of knowledge to/with the students. These strategies include:
a. Clarity
b. Understanding the Principles of Learning
c. Models of Teaching
4. The next level includes the much discussed, but least understood area of good teaching - Motivation. As you listen to conversations in schools around the country, we hear many teachers bemoan "the lack of motivation of students" as if it is fixed and cannot be impacted by the teacher. This is far from the truth and is one of those beliefs that has to change if we are going to be able to move student achievement. I have seen many teachers who combine the three aspects of motivation:
a. Personal Relationship Building
b. Class Climate
c. Expectations (Clear and High)to motivate students to do superior work. If you ignore any of these three you might see even less buy-in from your students.
5. Last but not least is Curriculum Planning. This function helps you with all of the other layers since having clear daily and overarching objectives and a good curriculum design help with clarity, and will also include various models of teaching and will set high expectations. Daily planning makes sure that you are prepared when students enter your room with routines, space and time. Here are the key functions of Curriculum Planning:
a. Overarching Objectives
b. Curriculum Design
c. Planning
d. Objectives
e. Learning Experiences
f. Assessment - A special word about Assessment is necessary here as Truesdell moves to a process of using data more intensively to inform our decisions around curriculum and how to better teach students. Assessment does not only mean DC-BAS test and unit tests. It also means those daily things teachers do like read students' faces, exit tickets, questioning to check for understanding, etc. We cannot know as we teach how we are doing on clarity unless we assess their knowledge.
So once again, over the course of the year, I am willing to work with individual teachers or groups of teachers on any of these areas. All you need to do is send an email asking for more information or to set up a training on these skills. All these skills support the Strategic Learning Model for Engaged Instruction so they can help you in achieving your PPEP goals.
Mr. Sugarman
