Great Teachers, Great Teaching

1
Great Teachers,Great Teaching

• With Jeff Bertrandt

2
Survey Says . . .

• Every survey conducted since 1968 by Phi Delta
  Kappa, the professional organization for
  educators, has shown that Americans worry about
  the lack of great teachers.

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Gallup Poll

• In 2002, Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Study found that
  73 of Americans said that one of the most
  serious problems facing education is the lack of
  good teachers.

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A Reason to Worry

• Teachers have a greater effect on students, and
  ultimately our society, than anyone other than
  parents.

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• What makes a great teacher?

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Great Teachers

• All great teachers are alike in a key way they
  use their natural talents to the utmost, whether
  they are aware of it or not.
• Great teachers dont waste time on their
  weaknesses if those weaknesses dont interfere
  with their teaching. They manage weaknesses if
  they must.

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Talent Scout

• When good teachers understand their talents, they
  build on those talents to create strengths, they
  become even better with students.

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What goes wrong?

• Bad advice by college practicum professors that
  are out of touch with the best teaching
  practices.
• They will tell teachers, to be a good teacher you
  must focus on the things that come harder to you.
  Things you like less or dont do well.
• The easy stuff will take care of itself you need
  to be well-rounded.

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Bad Advice

• The theory is counterproductive and destructive.
• Fixing weaknesses simply doesnt work.
• At best, hard work and devotion will allow you to
  become mediocre in those areas.

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Wasted Effort

• When you attempt to fix weaknesses it distracts
  attention and draws effort away from what you
  naturally do well.
• It prevents many teacher from seizing the
  opportunity to be great.

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What you need to know!

• This misconception leads thousands of teachers to
  waste their talents by trying to fix weaknesses.
• The Result
• Generations of students are being taught by
  teachers who are struggling to be well-rounded
  instead of maximizing their talents.

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The Power of Talent

• Teaching is more than a job, its a calling.
• Teaching with strengths makes teachers happier,
  more productive, likelier to stay in the field,
  and more productive in the classroom.
• The influence of teaching with strengths on
  students has a dramatic long term effect.

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About this Class

• Focus
• Teaching with Your Strengths

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Part 1

• The Unorthodox Behavior of Great Teachers

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The Impact

• Teachers influence on students is second only to
  that of their parents.
• One of the first things to understand is great
  teachers, in the best way, are unorthodox.
• What does that mean?

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Unorthodox Teachers

• They dont operate like other teachers.
• They dont believe everything they are taught and
  are told.
• Great teachers methods and intuitions are
  different.

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Instinct

• They work by instinct, sometimes more than they
  even know.
• They have worked out the strategies and
  approaches that succeed for them in reaching
  different students.
• Their instincts lead them to the results they
  want better educated students.

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Innate Talent for Job

• Great teachers have something that less effective
  teachers dont Innate talent for the job.
• That talent is natural and individual and it
  spurs great teachers to behave in ways unique to
  them.
• They recognize that some of what they have been
  taught about teaching is misinformation.

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Sifting through the Junk

• Great teachers know that a lot of what they
  learned about teaching is tremendously useful,
  but some of it isnt, and they can tell the
  difference.
• The distinction is important.

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2 Essential Feeling Common to Great Teachers

• Love Love of students, learning and teaching.
• 2. Exasperation of educational nonsense,
  conventional wisdom about teaching that is, in
  fact, misinformation.

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• Some students are inherently lazy, rebellious,
  or difficult.

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National Education Association

• NEA survey, Status of the American Public School
  Teacher 2000-2001, asked teachers if they
  intended to stay in the profession, and if not,
  why.
• Of those that said they will leave teaching if
  they can

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Results

• 57
• said working conditions and low salaries will
  drive them out.

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Results

• 8
• said its Administration

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Results

• 5
• said they couldnt stand the parents

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Results

• 4
• Only 4 said their desire to leave teaching is
  related to their students

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2002 Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Survey

• 76 of American adults said that lack of student
  discipline is a serious problem facing schools.
• A lot of people seem to
• think that young people
• are just plain troublesome.

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The Disconnect

• The state requires young people to attend school
  until the age of 16.
• Some people think that students are a captive
  audience, and should follow the orders and
  direction
• of teachers
• unquestioningly.

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What Teachers Know

1. You cant force someone to learn.
2. Students essentially are volunteers.
3. Students must be emotionally engaged to learn
   effectively.
4. Emotional engagement is a process that starts
   with a psychological connection and it cant be
   mandated by the state.

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The Trick

• The one thing we have going for us is that
  students are innately curious, and curiosity is
  the first tool we can use in making that
  psychological and emotional connection.

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The Ripple Effect

• Students who are disengaged
• Get labeled lazy
• They get so bored they act out and get
• labeled rebellious
• those that are so disengaged refuse to
• participate at all and get labeled
  difficult

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Great Teachers

• Know it is harder to reach some students than
  others.
• That its possible to engage almost any young
  person.
• If you can get the least compliant and hardest to
  engage kid in the class on your side the rest of
  the class will follow.
• Winning over noncompliant students is
  tremendously rewarding.

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How do they do it?

• They dont try to force, coerce or trick
  students.
• They tap into students innate interests and
  needs to help them learn.
• The side effect
• Building caring, trusting
• relationships with students.

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The Science

• Human beings need stimulation
• No one wants to look at a wall for 8 hours a day
• Everyone is naturally inclined to learn
• Between the ages of 1-25, new neurological
  research shows, our brains are developing neural
  pathways and connections we will use the rest of
  our lives.

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Implementation

• Great teachers use their students needs,
  interests, and curiosities and turn them toward
  the curricula.
• Its about captivating
• them, not entertaining
• them.

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What really burns me

• Anyone can teach.

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What it Takes

• Teaching demands talents for teaching natural
  abilities that require cultivation and hard work
  to master
• Assuming anyone can teach breeds mediocrity, just
  as surely as thinking anyone can be a lawyer,
  architect, a doctor, a police officer would
  foster unremarkable performance in those
  professions.

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A Bad Assumption

• Not-so-good teachers spend their careers trying
  to do something they wont ever excel at, that
  never gets easier, and that is increasingly less
  rewarding.
• Exceptional teachers are forced to compromise
  what they know is right to fit in with the pack.

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A Bad Assumption

• Outstanding teachers rarely get the recognition
  they deserve
• They are pressured to assume models that arent
  meant for them and lead to mediocrity.

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The Results

• Thinking that teaching requires no more innate
  ability than driving a car or making toast leads
  to mediocre teachers and worse mediocre students.

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More Educational Nonsense

• The more education or experience, the better the
  teacher.

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The Truth

• Seniority doesnt necessarily equal excellence.
• Experience doesnt translate into exceptional job
  performance in teaching or any other field.
• The positive effects of experience on job
  performance wear of pretty quickly, in most
  professions they wear off in 5 years.

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The Teacher

• The first 2 years of a teachers career provide
  constant education on what they didnt cover in
  college about real world teaching.
• Experienced teachers and mentors can be a
  lifeline to new teachers and help others become
  great teachers, but not every teacher will be so
  helpful.

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Meta-Analysis

• The mathematical and statistical study of the
  combined results of several studies, has
  uncovered the five-year fade out effect.
• That is that someone teaching for 6 years has all
  the benefits of experience, as they relate to job
  performance, that a 30-year teaching veteran
  possesses.

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Frank Schmidt, Ph.D(Leading Meta-Analyst)

• Initial learning on the job is pretty steep
  during the first five yearspeople have learned
  about as much as they are going to learn about
  how to do that job after the fifth year. The
  difference you can attribute to experience will
  fade away and no longer affect performance. What
  will become important will be mental ability,
  personality, and conscientiousness personality
  traits. These traits do not fade away. That is,
  their predictive ability (for job performance)
  continues. (Schmidt, 2004)

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What does that mean?

• Its the people with the personality traits for
  the job who keep getting better, year after year.
• Some teachers have the right personality traits
  and some dont, no matter how long theyve been
  in the classroom.
• Thats why some veterans are so helpful to
  students and young teachers and some arent.

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Experience vs. Talent

• 2 totally different things
• Students dont respond to seniority or
  post-graduate degrees.
• Students respond to teachers who have passion for
  their work.
• Educator experience has less influence on
  students than simple good teaching.

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Over-Educated

• Half of all teachers have a master of science
  degree in education.
• That degree is more
• important to the teacher
• who holds it than it is to
• the student being taught.

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Still Worth It

• Many teachers find them personally rewarding.
• Learning more about the work you love is
  beneficial
• Get exposed to new ideas and practices
• Get to work with other motivated teachers who are
  as excited about teaching as you are.

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Financially Speaking

• On average, teachers over 3,000 a year on their
  advanced education.
• Professional Benefits
• 48 of teachers say they
• earn more money by getting
• more licenses and certifications,
• including advanced degrees.

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An Important Note

• Dont expect a higher education to turn a
  mediocre teacher into a great one.

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More Nonsense

• Keep a professional distance.

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Image is not Everything

• Great teachers.
• Find the image of the hardened disciplinarian
  disturbing and
• distressing.
• The get tough position suggests that you are at
  war with the students.

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Do you know this teacher?

• Give them an inch and they will take a mile
• Do it because I said so
• Uses threats to coerce
• respect because they cant
• earn it.
• Only uses threats and
• punishment to manage classes.

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That Teacher . . .

• Those methods are the result of poor classroom
  management.
• Uses threats and intimidation to maintain order.
• Leads to greater disrespect
• Kills learning
• Eventually corrodes the teacher

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What Great Teachers Know

• Its all about relationships
• Respect has to be earned
• Respect is not a quality that can be assigned
• Students need to respect their teachers before
  they can respect themselves and believe their
  work in school is important.
• Teachers have to be the ones to reach out and let
  the students meet you half way.

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• Kids can spot fakers and posers instantly. They
  dont see why they should listen to you if you
  dont really care about them.

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How Great Teachers Do It

• Win students over, sometimes subtly, sometimes
  actively
• Do it by building positive, not punitive
  relationships.
• Learn names quickly
• Find out personal interests
• Learn what they care about
• Use that as your hook

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What Everyone Wants

• Real human interaction helps you excel
• Students want caring teachers and classrooms
• Adults want workplaces where their managers care
  about them and their opinions count.

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Another Misconception

• Set high expectations.

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Setting the Bar

• Great teachers dont set high expectations, they
  set the right expectations for each student.
• Talented teachers have an innate sense of what
  those expectations should be.
• They then tailor them to individual classes or
  students.

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Standard Fare

• Every teacher sets and enforces basic rules
• Come to class on time
• Be prepared
• Pay attention
• Participate

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Rules are Expectations

• Rules can directly relate to what students can
  achieve.
• We package them as goals.
• Student input on goal setting means they are more
  likely to achieve them.

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Realistic Expectations

• Teachers however need expectations to be
  realistic. C-A, Athletic Champion
• A high expectation is a hope, the right
  expectation is a plan.

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Problems with High Expectations

• High expectations can be mistaken for impossible
  standards, even by educators and especially by
  students.
• Rather than inspiring students to greatness or
  encouraging them to achieve, those impossible
  expectations doom students to failure.

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Problems with High Expectations

• Not conducive to learning
• Can erode students self esteem
• As students get older they
  begin to stop trying to meet impossibly
  high expectations, which can mean
  they have given up trying to win
  their teachers approval.

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The Worst Part

• Students stop being able to distinguish the
  difference between exorbitant expectations and
  the ones that are within their reach.
• Every lofty expectation
• looks impossible.

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Low Expectations

• Low expectations are thought to boost self-esteem
  because they provide successes.
• After the first couple of
  successes even young people can recognize hollow
  victories when they see them.

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Low Expectations

• Suggest subtly that students arent capable of
  doing better.
• Stall students
• Dont help them stretch
• or exceed present abilities
• Does not encourage them
• to develop new skills
• Inspire mediocrity

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Importance of Expectations

• Expectations are important and the right
  expectations for an individual student are
  critical.

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• Public praise gives students a big head, and
  public rebukes keep them in line.

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Great Teachers . . .

• Love to see young people learn
• Get very real and personal satisfaction out of
  student success
• Happily voice that satisfaction in class

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Recognition

• Recognition is neither benign or destructive
• Recognition is a powerful motivator
• More so when given publicly
• Especially when it is for an achievement the
  student is truly proud of.
• The research shows that the more public the
  praise, the better.

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• A magic curriculum, method, or theory will work
  for everyone.

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Really?

• We have been burned before
• Can barely finish one mandated
  initiative before they introduce
  the next brilliant method
• Great teachers think the magic method is
  nonsense.

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Why?

• We know that every student is different and
  learns differently
• Fortunately for us that human brains are similar
  enough that education doesnt have to be
  reinvented for each child.
• Someone should tell an administrator that.

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Magic Methods

• No one method can accommodate the difference in
  the aggregate and yet speak to the differences in
  every individual.
• They also dont and cant account for the
  differences among teachers.
• What works for me might not work for you.

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How does it work?

• Different methods work for different teachers and
  different methods work for different students.

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Whats the Solution?

• Great Teachers cherry pick among the theories,
  methods and curricula.
• They take what looks productive and leave the
  rest.

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Get Ready to Laugh

• Teachers must
• love students all
• the time.

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Great Teachers

• Love their students just not every single
  minute
• According to the NEA survey Status of the
  American Public School Teacher 2000-2001 73 of
  teachers got into the field to work with young
  people.

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The Reality

• Great Teachers love learners
• Love being part of a someones development
• Love knowing they played a significant role in
  someones life
• They love being remembered for their
  contributions to someones education
• Love building the relationships

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Why Teachers Do It

• Great Teachers respect and admire students for
  the work they do.
• They become teachers for the young people but
  stay in it for the learners.
• Even the best teachers, however, know that no one
  can like every student all the time.

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• So why do we consider Great Teachers to be
  unorthodox?
• Because sometimes doing what conventional wisdom
  considers the right thing is actually doing the
  worst thing betraying the education of a child.

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3 Things Great Teachers Do Wrong

1. Create flexible structures
2. Share control
3. Express Emotions

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Create Flexible Structures

• Though Great Teachers tend to be well organized,
  they dont always stick to the plan.
• They create new lessons on the fly.
• They dont treat every student the same way.
• They dont teach all their class the same way.
• But they arent chaotic

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Go With the Flow

• Great Teachers teach the moment.
• They establish boundaries and standards.
• They are able to flex to the situation even if it
  means throwing the prepared lesson out the window
  sometimes.

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Share Control

• Great Teachers dont try and rule the classroom
  with an iron fist, they encourage and invite
  participation.
• Making students part of the classroom management
  helps students assume responsibility and
  authority over their learning.
• Students become dependable and reliable by being
  given responsibility for their own learning.

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Express Emotions

• Great Teachers show their pride in and care for
  their students using words and actions.
• Show pride in student accomplishments
• Are personally invested in their students growth
  as people.

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The Power of Emotion

• Emotions are very powerful and transmit easily
  young people respond to them quickly.
• Emotion is part of being alive so suppressing
  them or removing them deliberately restrains the
  art of teaching.
• Be human

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The Power of Emotion

• You can gain a lot more trust by showing emotion
  than by holding it back.
• Students learn more from teachers who laugh with
  them, cheer with them, and sometimes, cry with
  them.
• When students see real emotion coming from a
  teacher, they realize that a real person is
  teaching them, and that creates a personal,
  powerful presence in the classroom.

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• What was the name of the
• best teacher you ever had?

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• 2. What misinformation did
• that teacher reject?

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• 3. What unorthodox
• behavior did that
• teacher manifest?

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• What made that teacher so memorable to you and
  influential on your education?
• Why do you still remember that teacher?

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• 5. What did that teacher do that youve never
  seen another teacher attempt?

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• 6. How did that teacher make you feel?

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• 8. Do you use any of that teachers methods,
  sayings, or behaviors in your own classes?