Commonwealth Education Trust Being a Teacher Dr Dennis Francis Commonwealth Education Trust

Foundations of Teaching for Learning Course 2: Being a Teacher Week 1: What is a Teacher? Lecture 1.2: What makes a Teacher Effective?

Who Dares to Teach? “It is what teachers know, do, and care about which is very powerful in this learning equation.” (Hattie, 2003)

Characteristics of an Effective Teacher Is Organised Is Welcoming Provides Feedback The time you take in planning and preparing will pay off for your students. Do you remember what it was like when you started in school? What made you feel welcome? Your students will want the same feelings. This is where students learn a lot. They want to know what you think about how they are doing; what they are doing wel,l and what they need to improve. Not everyone learns in the same way. You may need to do more direct teaching and modeling with some students and more facilitation with others. Is aware

Characteristics of an Effective Teacher Has enthusiasm It’s infectious – if you are keen on teaching, your students will be keen on learning. We all do better when we know what is expected of us. Effective teachers expect their students to do well and let them know this. You don’t have to know everything, but you have knowledge and experiences your students do not yet have. There’s no better role model for a student than the teacher who says, “I don’t know the answer to that one, let’s see if we can find it out together.” Has high expectations Is knowledgeable Is open to learning

What do Effective Teachers do? ‘Within their classrooms, effective teachers create learning environments which foster pupil progress.’ (Hay McBer:2001)

Who are My Students? A strategy for finding out Survey (ask them about their lives). Test (their knowledge of the world around them). Share (what they know and can do with others). Incorporate (new material into what they already know). Reconcile (different values, opinions and views). Identify options (for learning authentically).

Teaching for Learning If students don’t learn the way we teach them, let’s teach them the way they learn. (Kenneth Dunn)

Teach others/ Immediate Use The Learning Pyramid The more active students are in their learning, the more they remember what they have learned. If we lecture them, they are likely to remember only around 5% of what we said. If we do some of the other things shown in the pyramid they will remember more of what they has been taught. Lecture 5% 10% Reading 20% Audio Visual 30% Demonstration 50% Discussion 75% Practice Doing 90% Teach others/ Immediate Use

Helping Students to Learn How to Think Mental processes we use to do things such as: Think about thinking. Draw on a range of ‘intelligences.’ Think divergently: create new ideas. Develop problem solving strategies. Weigh up different possible options and decisions. Brainstorm questions. Organize information.

An Effective School is one… In which everybody believes that all students can learn. Where the people in the school know where they are going and know how to get there. Where students DO learn to high levels. Where there is not a great deal of variation between the best students and the worst students. Where school leaders, teachers, parents and students all work together to improve the school. Where the school evaluates how well it’s doing on a regular basis and makes adjustments where necessary for the future.

Things to Do Next… Discuss with your colleagues how they build positive relations with their students. Think of the class in which you were most successful. What did that teacher do to help you be successful? Read some of the articles that are in the extended reading list. Make your own list; what do you think are the characteristics of an effective school and an effective classroom? Discuss your list with your colleagues. Do they have similar ideas?

Foundations of Teaching for Learning Copyright Notice Week 1, Lecture 2 Slides © Commonwealth Education Trust. All Rights Reserved. 1, 2, Images: © schoolsonline.britishcouncil.org 3 Images: © Microsoft Clip Art 9 Image: Courtesy of Professor Dennis Francis