CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD TEACHER


 1.                 Knows the subject matter.

a.     Regularly reads books and professional journals on the subject.
b.     Maintains an up-to-date file.
c.      Takes classes, in-service training, and other opportunities to learn about the subject matter.

2.                 Is prepared for class.

a.     Has a detailed outline for the year.
b.     Prepares weekly class outlines.
c.      Allots preparation time.
d.     Periodically evaluates use of class time.
e.      Avoids frequent irrelevant anecdotes and departures from the subject (a sure indication of lack of preparation or interest in the subject).
f.       Plans useful homework and assignments.

3.                 Acquires and maintains excellent teaching skills.

a.     Explains ideas clearly.
b.     Asks fellow teachers to offer suggestions.
c.      Swaps ideas with other teachers.
d.     Attends seminars or classes on teaching techniques.
e.      Makes the subject interesting.

4.                 Has good relationships with students.

a.     Is courteous and fair to all students regardless of intelligence or social class.
b.     Avoids sarcasm or humiliation.
c.      Knows students personally by name and background.
d.     Does not attempt to establish a buddy relationship, but maintains appropriate professional distance.
e.      Likes students; talks with them easily.
f.       Finds means of obtaining student feedback or suggestions and makes use of them.
g.     Allows for individual differences.
Recognizing and Identifying
Instructional Strategies


v Lecture/presentation:  Teacher talks almost all the time.  If students participate verbally, their interaction is minimal with questions and responses that are either very short obvious answers.

v Problem modeling: Teacher demonstrating or modeling how to solve a new problem.

v Student presentation:  e.g., student lecture, demonstration.

v Lecture with discussion:  Teacher talks most of the time.  This differs from Lecture in that students participate by answering questions that generally require more than a one-word answer.  This differs from class discussion in that there is almost no student-to-student communication.

v Teacher demonstration:  Teacher shows how something works or how to do something.  This differs from Problem Modeling in that it involves the use of some type of equipment or materials.

v Class discussion:  Almost all student-to-student talk in full class setting.

v Writing work:  Writing individually on worksheets, lab write-ups, journal entries, or other writing assignments, or combined with Small Group Discussion.

v Reading seatwork:  Reading their textbooks or other written material.

v Small group discussion:  Students (2 or more) engage in conversation with each other about subject matter in small groups.

v Hands-on activity/materials:  Students participate in an activity that involves manipulating materials.

v Cooperative learning:  Structured Small Group Discussion with individual roles, group accountability, and group processing.




v Learning center/station:  Students working at various stations related to particular topics.  This may occur in elementary classrooms or in laboratory classes.

v Teacher interacting with students(s):  Teacher moving among individuals or groups of students and talking to them.

v Utilizing digital educational media and/or technology:  e.g., unique use of computers, calculators, videotapes, or other types of technology, not adding, multiplying, viewing overhead projections, or word processing.

v Out-of-class experience:  e.g., field trips, intersections with other classrooms, concerts.

v Assessment:  e.g., quiz, think aloud, problem set, exam, informal observation.

v Administrative tasks:  Teacher and students take care of nonacademic business, i.e., taking attendance, collecting homework, etc.

v Interruption:  e.g., unexpected announcements, visitor, student disruption.

















Directed Teaching Model
Steps in Executing the Process


Motivation
This portion of the lesson aims at establishing a state of readiness for the instruction and at relating the lesson to previous learning.  The time allocated for this phrase should probably not exceed ten minutes allowing just enough time to get students in a receptive frame of mind.  Reserve the major portion of the time for instruction related to the current lesson’s objective.

State the Objective
State the purpose of the activity.   Tell what the students will learn.

Model/Explain the Learning
Explain to students as if they do not know anything about what you are teaching.  Provide examples, demonstrate the learning, use questions to guide the learning.  If this is a discovery lesson, let the students arrive at the answer inductively.

Check for Understanding
Provide feedback and reinforcement; ask questions and answer questions.  Encourage students to express confusion/misunderstanding and to ask for examples.

Guided Practice
Give directions for the activity; identify materials and their use; determine the means of collecting and reporting data.  Provide continuous feedback and reinforcement.  Make corrections.  Monitor and make contact with all students.  Give learning cues.  Reteach areas of confusion.

Summary
Summarize main points.  Review and reemphasize main points.  Pull information together.  Ask students to give the main points.

Independent Practice
Students work independently.  Time limits should be set.

Evaluate
Check to see if the objective has been met.  Provide enrichment for those who master the objective.  Reteach using different strategies and materials for those who do not master the objective.



Key Strategies for Discipline in the Classroom


ü Teachers can mean business without being mean.
ü Be tough but fair.
ü School control begins in the classroom.
ü Forcing compliance is not always required to be in charge.
ü Contact parents before something negative happens.
ü Respect all students.
ü Use positive intervention.
ü Be assertive.
ü Allow the students to help make the rules.
ü Teach the rules and review the rules.
ü Teach procedures the first day of school.
ü Tough love teaches a lesson.
ü Make each child feel loved and secure.
ü Teach procedures, practice them, and review them.
ü Set limits.
ü Don’t major in minors.
ü Manage your consequences and be consistent.
ü Don’t take students misbehavior personally.
ü Avoid power struggles, arguments, and negotiating.
ü Don’t accept anything but the students’ best.
ü Explain it if you expect it.

What are Best Practices?

v Best practices are teaching strategies proven to be effective in the classroom.

v These are quoted from (Best Practices:  New Standards for teaching and Learning in America’s Schools, Zelman S., Daniels H., Hyde A., Heinemann, 1998).


Defining the Best Practices

Ø Student Centered – Students investigate own questions/teacher facilitates
Ø Authentic – Rich, real, and complex ideas or materials
Ø Experiential – Active, hands-on
Ø Social-Interactive classrooms
Ø Holistic – Main focus is the whole idea of a topic
Ø Collaborative – Students working in small groups
Ø Expressive – Fully engaged ideas, construct meaning through art, music, poetry, writing and drama
Ø Cognitive – Using high order thinking skills associated with various fields of inquiry and through self-monitoring of their thinking
Ø Developmental – Activities should fit the developmental level in their lives
Ø Reflective – Looking back on what has been learned
Ø Challenging – Students learn best when they are faced with real challenges and choices
Ø Democratic – Students get to choose their own projects and special assignments
Ø Constructivist – Children can re-invent or re-create as they deem necessary or encounter situations








WHAT READING STRATEGIES DO STUDENTS NEED?
 




It is essential that students receive explicit instruction in strategies that are appropriate for processing informational text and plenty of time and opportunity to apply and practice them.

These strategies include:
§  Making connections between existing knowledge and experience and the sources of information in texts
§  Interpreting photographs, maps, diagrams, charts…
§  Integrating information from visuals and written text
§  Constructing meaning and arriving at deeper meaning by predicting, checking, monitoring, amending and confirming from multiple sources
§  Using appropriate strategies to decode new or specialized vocabulary in context
§  Skimming, scanning, browsing, rereading, adjusting reading pace according to the reading purpose
§  Questioning the author, the text and themselves
§  Using organizational features quickly and efficiently
§  Using oral and written language and visual information to formulate, communicate and reflect on ideas and insights
§  Summarizing information
§  Making inferences
§  Setting purposes for reading
§  Distinguishing important information
§  Analyzing and synthesizing information
§  Noticing and using text structures



ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT


Ø Portfolios

Ø Writing

Journals

Problems Solving Notebooks
Explanations
Justifications
Reflections

Ø Teacher Observations

Formal

·        Checklist
·        Comments Cards
·        Summaries

Informal

Mental Notes
Students Communication Techniques
Manipulatives
Group Interactions

Ø Students Presentations
·        Oral Presentations
·        Oral Explanations
·       Projects / Investigations

Ø Questioning
High Level Open Ended Questions
Oral / Written
Interviews

Comments