Successful Teaching

1. Successful Teaching It’s a Frame of Mind

2. Content + Process = Good Classroom Management • Content and Process are equal components and together create good classroom management. • The two should be married they get along so well! • But… this requires skill and knowledge on your part.

3. Demands of the Content • Some kinds of content are best taught by example. • Some by experience. • Other kinds are best understood when discussed and worked on collaboratively. • Other kinds need individual reflection and analysis. • In addition to content demands, learning needs of individual students must be acknowledged and taken into consideration.

4. The Best Teachers: • Have at their disposal a repertoire of instructional methods, strategies, and approaches that continually grows, as their content knowledge develops • Never underestimate the power of the process to determine the outcome. • With this understanding, content is not a barrier

5. Successful Teachers: • Are open • Are positive • Have a passion for what they teach

6. Understanding What You See • Students communicate important nonverbal messages through: • facial expressions, • body postures • how they say what they say, and • what actions they do or the skills they attempt to perform.

7. The Four Featuresof Understanding • The following are four features that distinguish how expert teachers see what transpires in class. • The good news is the ability to see and respond to this kind of feedback can be learned and will help you tremendously with classroom management.

8. 1. Focus on the Relevant Expert Novice • When an expert teacher looks at what students are doing, he or she focuses on events and information relevant to the decisions that must be made as a teacher as pertaining to what is being taught. • Novice teachers notice secondary details like what the students are wearing, whether they look like they are enjoying the activity, and if they are talking to other students.

9. 2. Deduce From Observations • This is a learned skill • Observe or shadow someone who does it well! • Compare notes with an “expert” … communicate and compare what you see.

10. 3.Tuning into the Out of the Ordinary Expert Novice • If an individual student or a group of students responds differently, expert teachers automatically tune in to what’s happening with those students. • This is true whether the student is struggling or excelling. • If a student learns something with great ease, the expert is aware that this approach might benefit others. • Novices develop expertise through explicit attempts to understand how and why something works for students. • With deliberate practice you can make better sense of instructional situations and become adept at finding potential in the unusual.

11. 4. Develop a Critical Eye • Use your observations to make improvements • Expert teachers are relentless in their efforts to improve, and this comes innately • Schempp & Johnson (2006) say, • “To improve in teaching, teachers must deliberately practice their teaching skills.” (p. 32) Teachers are not born understanding what is happening as students attempt to learn. Moreover, they can see something happening time and again, but that does not mean they will come automatically to understand it. The effort must be deliberate. The effort is work making because, “Unless you understand what you see, your class might as well be invisible.” (p.29)

12. Four Features • Focus on the relevant • Make conclusion from your observations • Tuning into the atypical • Developing a critical eye and make changes

13. References • Content Knowledge: A Barrier to Teacher Development By Maryellen Weimer, PhD. In Faculty Focus, Special Report: Effective Strategies for Improving College Teaching and Learning