What do they want of us?

Christian teachers want to be effective professionals. We need to understand what ingredients make up a “great teacher” like Jesus. Mediocrity is not for us. We aspire to more. In terms of character we understand that our calling is the high one of being Christ like. We are to offer our lives as a model for living and be recongnised for our spiritual qualities and close relationship with God.

The craft of teaching is not just something that some people get as a gift within their genes. Research costing millions of dollars has gone into trying to answer the question of what makes for a great teacher.

A good place to start is with our students. They seem to discern what makes for a successful teacher as distinct from one who is trendy and popular. In fact students repeatedly state they don’t want a laissez faire classroom where the more dominant students can hold the floor and interfere with learning. An orderly, fair and predictable classroom comes up as a requirement that is the optimal platform for learning, but that does not mean a boring bureaucratic classroom.

Superior teachers inspire students; they are like coaches fanning the flame to learn. While motivation has to ultimately come from within and students are compelled to be in the lessons, the role of the teacher is still critical for most pupils. The top teacher/coach is demanding and won’t accept good performance when they are pushing for the best. The master teacher holds high expectations, but achievable ones, of each student.

The top achieving teachers are caring and make each student feel valued. They add humour to the lessons and are passionate about what they are teaching. Students quickly grasp that teaching in not just a job, the means of earning a wage for the professional who is leading them.

“Conversations with our students over the years have provided valuable data for every teaching professional to consider. Students have consistently recounted stories about teachers who exhibit similar characteristics. These twelve characteristics—displaying fairness, having a positive outlook, being prepared, using a personal touch, possessing a sense of humor, possessing creativity, admitting mistakes, being forgiving, respecting students, maintaining high expectations, showing compassion, and developing a sense of belonging for students— center around the theme of caring. “ Thompson, Greer and Greer http://www.usca.edu/essays/vol102004/thompson.pdf Look at this brief on line video of teachers giving frank feedback on what in their eyes makes for a great teacher: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHapv0Tv7vM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcKgUXmxgUI Ian Robertson’s response http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0fJKvdjQgs&feature=related motivational video on our craft http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXaLGt460e4&feature=fvsr 30 minutes recent USA report, mostly primary oriented

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnfzZEREfQs Bill Gates of Microsoft makes a TED presentation on the topic And the second part: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-v70fPDfjBM&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bIQ4-3XSxU&feature=related ABC news show on great teachers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SisXbT7CWWs John Hattie speaking on seeing learning through the eyes of students

Articles worth looking through, some simple lists and a few academic essays:

http://humanities.byu.edu/elc/teacher/bestteacher.html list of best teacher attributes by a lecturer http://www.greatschools.org/improvement/quality-teaching/79-what-makes- a-great-teacher.gs great schools http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr387.shtml education world http://www.teqjournal.org/backvols/2002/29_1/w02_walls_nardi.pdf teacher journal article based on research http://www.educationcorner.com/characteristics-of-top-teachers.html list from an educational site http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/education/ed0476.htm recent Catholic article with faith dimensions at it’s conclusion

Visible Learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. J Hattie

 Publisher: ROUTLEDGE  Published: 18 November 2008  Format: Paperback 392 pages  ISBN 13: 9780415476188 ISBN 10: 0415476186

His book is a culmination of 15 years of research incorporating more than 50,000 studies and over 800 meta-analyses involving millions of students and represents the largest collection of evidence-based research into what actually works in schools to improve learning.

http://www.acer.edu.au/documents/Hattie_TeachersMakeADifference.pdf Hattie’s meta analysis of research data is arguably the best research on the topic, his recent books are well worth studying.

http://www.slideshare.net/sozio/visible-learning slide show summarizing a lot of Hattie’s findings

Read this comment on the book and discuss your reactions to the quote.

The overall message in this book is the importance of “visible teaching” and “visible learning”. Hattie suggests that visible teaching and learning occurs when learning is the explicit goal: when there is feedback given and sought and when there are active, passionate, and engaging people, including teachers, students, and peers participating in the act of learning.

Hattie points out that the main feature of the research evidence is that the “biggest effects on student learning occur when teachers become learners of their own teaching, and when students become their own teachers”. This allows students to show self-regulatory attributes that are most desirable for learners, such as self-monitoring, self-evaluation, self-assessment, and self-teaching. The research evidence supports another important message: “what teachers do matters”, particularly those who teach in the most deliberate and visible way. These teachers intervene in calculated and meaningful ways to alter the direction of learning in order to attain the desired goals. They also provide students with a range of learning strategies, including direction and re-direction and maximising the power of feedback from the student. Hattie suggests that teachers need to deliberately intervene to enhance teaching and learning, particularly when the content is not understood.

Hattie argues that successful classrooms have visible teaching and learning, where there is great passion displayed by the teacher and learner, and where there is a variety and depth of skill and knowledge by both teacher and student. Teachers must know when learning is correct or incorrect; learn when to experiment; learn to monitor, seek and give feedback; and know how to try alternative learning strategies

A key message of his book is “the more the student becomes the teacher and the more the teacher becomes the learner” the more successful the achievement outcomes.