10 Teaching Essentials and Pitfalls
In writing this, I’ve been thinking about two sets of teachers. Firstly, I’ve been thinking about various very strong teachers I’ve known, including those who taught me, to consider what ‘essentials’ they might have in common. (Something I’ve done many times before e.g. in this early post: What makes a great teacher?). Secondly, I’ve been thinking about how to support early career teachers to improve and to use their time wisely to support their professional learning. The purpose of this list, as with any other, is to promote self-reflection: 10 essentials to work on – alongside avoiding the 10 pitfalls!
In addition to trying to deliver on the 10 Essentials, I’m suggesting that teachers should seek to avoid these pitfalls. To some extent, the two lists mirror each other – positive and negative ways of expressing the same ideas – but, not entirely. Most feedback I give teachers about how to improve their practice includes something from this list:
Essential 1. Model expertise
I was going to call this ‘Command Respect’ or ‘Project Authority’ or ‘Give Confidence’ – but I only mean those things in the sense that the teacher knows their subject, their material, their course. They give their students a sense of security that they’re in the hands of someone with the expertise needed to help them succeed. Modelling this is part and parcel of every lesson: confident answers and conspicuous depth of knowledge of the subject that models the value that is placed on learning it. Actual expertise matters more than simple enthusiasm. There is no short-cut here: study the subject continually, know your stuff, get ahead. Don’t wing it or teach off the cuff, guessing your way through. Would you get an A Level A* in your subject? Or least 100% in the students’ tests!?
Pitfall 1. Questioning ineffectively Weak questioning might include some or all of the following:
Only asking one student a question: ‘John, what’s the answer’ – as opposed to asking everyone and then, after some thinking time, ‘Ok, John, what do you think?’
Asking the whole class a question but extrapolating from this one answer a sense that everyone else also understands and then moving on.
Taking ‘hands up’ responses from the same few students and never asking the ‘hands down’ majority to contribute.
Creating ‘blood out of stone’ silences with whole class questions instead of using strategies like think-pair-share to overcome inhibitions and involve everyone.
Receiving an incorrect answer from a student, moving onto someone else but not returning to that first student to check that they’ve now understood.
To read the full text of the Teaching Essentials visit: https://teacherhead.com/2016/10/26/10-teaching-essentials/
To read the full text of the Teaching Pitfalls visit: https://teacherhead.com/2016/10/26/10-teaching-pitfalls/