1. Effective Teaching Methods: Research-Based Practice
The Effective Teacher
Adapted from Effective Teaching Methods: Research-Based Practice by Gary D. Borich, 2007 Provided by Region 4 Education Service Center, Houston, Texas

2. What Characteristics Determine Effective Teachers?
Personality
Attitude
Experience
Aptitude
Achievement
Historically, individuals have determined teacher effectiveness by factors that are not research-based.
Personality tests have provided few insights into the positive social behaviors that may be needed for effective teaching even though building a cohesive learning culture in your classroom is critical.
Attitude assessments have failed to forecast what a teacher who has a particular attitude actually does differently in the classroom, and more importantly how the teacher relates to individual learners. Research has shown little correspondence between a teacher’s attitude toward the tools of learning and his/her interactions in the classroom.
Experience related to general biographical data about an individual does not directly correlate with job success. A teacher’s experience with a specific grade level, curriculum and type of learner has been more predictive of actual classroom performance than general information.
Aptitude and Achievement related to achieving good grades may indicate enthusiasm for teaching and a promise of good classroom performance but there is no guarantee that this will translate to strong classroom instructional practices.
Adapted from Effective Teaching Methods: Research-Based Practice by Gary D. Borich, 2007
Provided by Region 4 Education Service Center, Houston, Texas

3. Effective Teacher Key Behaviors
Lesson Clarity
Exhibits clear instruction to students who may be at different levels of understanding
Explains concepts in a logical step-by-step order
Demonstrates an oral delivery that is clear, concise and audible to all students in the class
According to the research, there are certain key behaviors that teachers exhibit that indicate their effectiveness. The first one is lesson clarity and this is exhibited in the following ways:
Exhibits clear instruction to students who may be at different levels of understanding
Explains concepts in a logical step-by-step order
Demonstrates an oral delivery that is clear, concise and audible to all students in the class
Teachers vary considerably on this behavior and not all teachers are able to communicate with clarity and directly to their students.
Adapted from Effective Teaching Methods: Research-Based Practice by Gary D. Borich, 2007
Provided by Region 4 Education Service Center, Houston, Texas

4. Lesson Clarity Example
Science Experiment
Auditory explanation of the activity
Visual demonstration with the students
Written steps to be completed in the experiment
Hands-on experiment
Here is an example of how to establish lesson clarity for students. The teacher would provide all these different modalities to make sure to reach all the children including the following:
Auditory Explanation of Activity: Provide a verbal discussion of what will happen to the students for your students that like to hear the instructions given verbally.
Visual Demonstration of Activity: Provide a step by step visual of the science materials being used at each step of the process so people use picture cards to do this.
Written Steps of Activity: Provide a step by step written guide for the experiment on individual sheets or on chart paper or the board for the whole class.
Hands-On Experiment: The actual hands-on experiment will provide engagement for your tactile students.
Adapted from Effective Teaching Methods: Research-Based Practice by Gary D. Borich, 2007
Provided by Region 4 Education Service Center, Houston, Texas

5. Effective Teacher Key Behaviors
Instructional Variety
Demonstrates using a wide variety of materials, equipment and displays in different learning contexts
Exhibits flexibility of delivery of instruction
Demonstrates knowledge of different questioning techniques
The teacher’s ability to vary instruction and provide different tools for different portions of a lesson including using different materials is critical. The following are some considerations that the instructor needs to make related to this topic:
Demonstrates using a wide variety of materials, equipment and displays in different learning contexts
Exhibits flexibility of delivery of instruction
Demonstrates knowledge of different questioning techniques
Adapted from Effective Teaching Methods: Research-Based Practice by Gary D. Borich, 2007
Provided by Region 4 Education Service Center, Houston, Texas

6. Instructional Variety Example
A Visual Representation
A Challenging Question
A Startling Statistic
A Personal Example
Tell a Story
An example of instructional variety is providing different types of openings to lessons that get the students hooked so that they want to hear more about it. Here are some things that you can do to capture their attention.
Tell A Story: Chose a book or short-story that could introduce the topic that you are going to cover with the students. “I Never Saw a Butterfly” are stories written by children in the concentration camps during the Holocaust. If you were going to be doing a unit on that portion of history this may be a way to personalize it.
A Visual Representation: Chose a piece of artwork or several pieces of artwork that depict the Renaissance period in Italy. Tell students that the works come from this time period and just based on that information what do they think the meaning of the art is to that time frame in history.
A Challenging Question: There has been a great deal of debate about Global Warming and its impact on our ecosystems across the world. What is your take on that topic and what proof do you have to back that position up?
A Startling Statistic: Provide the students with an amazing statistic like the Bubonic Plague that hit Europe between 1347 and 1351 wiped out one half of Europe’s population and changed the course of history. What implications do you think that had on Europe’s history?
Adapted from Effective Teaching Methods: Research-Based Practice by Gary D. Borich, 2007
Provided by Region 4 Education Service Center, Houston, Texas

7. Effective Teacher Key Behaviors
Teacher Task Orientation
Demonstrates focused instructional activities for students
Exhibits high level questions, reflection and engagement
Demonstrates using effective formal and informal assessments and adjusting instruction based on those assessments
This behavior refers to how much classroom time the teacher devotes to teaching an academic subject. The focus is on how much time is delegated to materials presented, learned and assessed not on procedural matters such as taking attendance and distributing handouts. Some examples of this include the following:
Demonstrates focused instructional activities for students
Exhibits high level questions, reflection and engagement
Demonstrates using effective formal and informal assessments and adjusting instruction based on those assessments
The research shows that subject-specific content has a much stronger research connection to learning than does devoting large amounts of time to the process and materials needed to acquire the content.
Adapted from Effective Teaching Methods: Research-Based Practice by Gary D. Borich, 2007
Provided by Region 4 Education Service Center, Houston, Texas

8. Teacher Task Orientation Example
Assessment
Alignment
Instruction
Texas Essential
Knowledge &
Skills
The example for teacher task orientation revolves around the Texas model. Our curriculum has been written and determined by the state of Texas and is called the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). Every teacher is to follow this curriculum when designing their lessons. The curriculum drives everything that the teacher does in the state of Texas so that the Instruction is built from the TEKS and the Assessment is put in Alignment to the TEKS and the Instruction and if it is out of alignment than the system will break down.
It would be like learning how to drive a car on an 18 wheeler truck manual and be assessed on a motorcycle to get a car driver’s license. This is not aligned and our student’s need aligned instruction.
Adapted from Effective Teaching Methods: Research-Based Practice by Gary D. Borich, 2007
Provided by Region 4 Education Service Center, Houston, Texas

9. Effective Teacher Key Behaviors
Engagement in the Learning Process
Exhibits the amount of time students are actively engaged in the learning process not detached or mentally disengaged from the process
This refers to the amount of time that the student devotes to learning in the classroom. A teacher could be task oriented and providing information to students while the student is still disengaged and not learning. The process is defined in the following manner:
Exhibits the amount of time students are actively engaged in the learning process not detached or mentally disengaged from the process
Adapted from Effective Teaching Methods: Research-Based Practice by Gary D. Borich, 2007
Provided by Region 4 Education Service Center, Houston, Texas

10. Engagement in Learning Example
Instruction
Versus
Procedures
Interesting
Assignments
Abundant
Resources
Teacher
Monitoring
Rules &
Routines
Learning
Engagement
There are some things teachers can do to increase the likelihood that students will be successful in their learning and be engaged in what is happening in the classroom: Instruction Versus Procedures: Teachers can spend an inordinate amount of time on procedures that have nothing to do with instruction with the students. Set up routines at the beginning of the year and practice so that important instructional time is not wasted in this area.
Rules and Routines: If you establish rules for the students which is never more than five rules and then set up the rest in routines. Students will have a high degree of success in what they do in the classroom.
Teacher Monitoring: You cannot sit behind your desk and monitor student success, you have to be walking around, asking questions and checking student work regularly.
Abundant Resources: Providing many different ways to access information including the internet, books, magazines, articles that give students options to get things done.
Interesting Assignments: A wide variety of options for students so that they do not only have one choice in what they do with the materials.
Adapted from Effective Teaching Methods: Research-Based Practice by Gary D. Borich, 2007
Provided by Region 4 Education Service Center, Houston, Texas

11. Effective Teacher Key Behaviors
Student Success Rate
Demonstrates understanding and completion of exercises and assignments given by the teacher
Engages in thinking, learning and working through content
Teachers need to yield between moderate and high success rates to impact learners effectively. This provides the foundation for students to apply what they have learned and to reason, problem-solve and think critically and independently about the content provided. Examples of this include the following:
Demonstrates understanding and completion of exercises and assignments given by the teacher
Engages in thinking, learning and working through content
Adapted from Effective Teaching Methods: Research-Based Practice by Gary D. Borich, 2007
Provided by Region 4 Education Service Center, Houston, Texas

12. Student Success Rate Example
Student Engaged Time
Teacher’s Instructional Time
School Allotted Time
Here are the factors that you need to consider when examining student success rates including the following:
School Allotted Time: Each school district provides guidelines for the amount of instruction in each of the content areas provided.
Teacher’s Instructional Time: This is the actual amount of time that the teacher is actually teaching the math or science content in the class.
Student Engaged Time: This is the amount of time that the students are engaged in the content being provided to them.
Student Success Rate: The amount of time that the students are actually engaged in instruction and being successful doing it.
Adapted from Effective Teaching Methods: Research-Based Practice by Gary D. Borich, 2007
Provided by Region 4 Education Service Center, Houston, Texas

13. Helping Behaviors Impact Key Behaviors
Using Student Ideas and Contributions
The Art of Questioning
Structuring
Probing
Teacher Affect
Teachers need to adopt other behaviors to help implement the five key behaviors in the classroom and these are referred to as helping behaviors.
Using Student Ideas and Contributions: Critical skills for teachers include being able to acknowledge student responses, modify them, apply what they are doing, compare ideas and concepts and summarize concepts taught.
Structuring: Structuring provides scaffolding steps to assist in bridging the gap between what they are capable of doing with help and what they cannot do without assistance.
The Art of Questioning: There are two types of questions, content questions which are directly related with the content taught. Approximately 80% of questions are content ones that are lower level and are more redundant in nature. As compared to process questions which are encouraging higher level thinking and mental processes to problem-solve and move the questioning to a higher level plane of thinking.
Probing: Teacher statements that encourage students to elaborate on an answer, either their own or another student’s response.
Teacher Affect: The relationship building portion of teaching making the connection to the students that is beyond the content being taught.
Adapted from Effective Teaching Methods: Research-Based Practice by Gary D. Borich, 2007 Provided by Region 4 Education Service Center, Houston, Texas

14. Helping Lower SES Populations Achieve Success
Teacher Affect
Student Responses
Content Organization
Classroom Instruction
Individualization
Teacher Affect: Providing a warm and encouraging classroom climate by consistently letting students know help is available
Student Responses: Encourage an initial response before moving to the next student.
Content Organization: Present material with opportunity to practice what has been learned immediately afterward.
Classroom Instruction: Emphasize applications before teaching patterns and abstractions. Monitor each student’s progress at regular intervals. Maintain structure and flow between activities to maintain momentum.
Individualization: Supplement standard curriculum with specialized materials to meet the needs of individual learners.
Adapted from Effective Teaching Methods: Research-Based Practice by Gary D. Borich, 2007 Provided by Region 4 Education Service Center, Houston, Texas

15. Helping Higher SES Populations Achieve Success
Correcting
Thinking and Decision-Making
Classroom Interaction
Verbal Activities
Correcting: Check right answers by requiring extended oral or written reasoning
Thinking and Decision-Making: Supplement curriculum with individualized material and assign homework and/or extended projects that require original sources of information
Classroom Interaction: Encourages student-to-student and student-to-teacher interactions in which learners take responsibility for evaluating their own learning.
Verbal Activities: Consistently engage students in verbal questions and answers to go beyond text and workbook content.
Adapted from Effective Teaching Methods: Research-Based Practice by Gary D. Borich, 2007 Provided by Region 4 Education Service Center, Houston, Texas

16. Professional Teaching Standards
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards
Interstate New Teacher Assessment & Support Consortium
Texas State Board of Educator Certification
The slide provides the national board of standards, the interstate assessment support system and the Texas State Board of Educator Certification standards. These are the website links to those major standard bearing organizations.
Adapted from Effective Teaching Methods: Research-Based Practice by Gary D. Borich, 2007
Provided by Region 4 Education Service Center, Houston, Texas

17. Transition to the Real World of Teaching
Survival Stage
Focused on their own well-being not the teaching task of learners
Teaching Task Stage
Focused on how best to deliver instruction to students
Impact Stage
Focused on the impact of teaching on learning
The three stages that teachers go through begin with the survival stage to the teaching task stage and finally the impact stage as the individual teacher moves through a hierarchy of strategies to improve their teaching strategies as their comfort level improves in their career path.
Adapted from Effective Teaching Methods: Research-Based Practice by Gary D. Borich, 2007
Provided by Region 4 Education Service Center, Houston, Texas