What Teach for America Has Learned About Highly Effective Teaching
In this Educational Leadership article, Steven Farr of Teach for America describes the key findings of his organization’s study of exemplary teachers. “Our most effective teachers show that great teaching is leadership,” he says. “In every highly effective classroom, we find a teacher who, like any great leader, rallies team members (in this case, students and their families) around an ambitious vision of success. We find a teacher who plans purposefully and executes effectively to make sure students reach that vision, even as that teacher also continues to learn and improve.” Here are the key elements:
• Setting big goals – For example, Crystal Jones focused her first graders on reading, writing, and doing math like third graders, and Taylor Delhagen got her high-school history students working toward applying for and succeeding in college. This contrasts to the vaguer and less ambitious targets set by less successful teachers – “I want my kids to learn as much as they can each day.”
• Getting students invested in learning – Highly effective teachers create and maintain a welcoming environment in which students can take risks, build strong relationships, use role models, and strive for academic success. They get students to abandon the idea that they’re “dumb” and commit to working hard. When Farr asked one fifth grader what she was learning, she said politely, “Can you ask me later? I’m kind of busy.”
• Planning backwards – Exceptionally successful teachers are clear about exactly what their students need to know and be able to do by the end of the year, divide the year into units, plan a logical sequence of skills, plan assessments for each unit, and then prepare lessons. They also systematically manage student behavior and use every minute of classroom time.
• Executing effectively and making on-the-spot adjustments – When great teachers see that a lesson isn’t working, they analyze the situation and use a repertoire of skills to make mid-course corrections and get to their objective.
• Continually improving – Exemplary teachers push themselves to do better and analyze their mistakes, even reviewing videotapes of lessons to tweak elements that aren’t working. “Teachers who are getting the greatest results treat their classroom as a laboratory,” says Farr.
• Working relentlessly – The best teachers find ways of increasing instructional time and getting more resources. They work with students before and after school and on Saturdays. They apply for grants and scrounge extra resources.
From his analysis of Teach for America’s most effective corps members, Farr draws several conclusions:
- Much higher performance is within reach for many teachers. The practices of the best teachers can serve as a road map for their colleagues.
- “Certain mindsets and beliefs are necessary for success,” says Farr. These include a willingness to take responsibility for students’ learning and unwaveringly high expectations.
- Great teaching by itself will not solve educational inequity. Teachers can make an enormous difference, but for systemic and long-range change, they need support from the school and the community.
“Leadership, Not Magic” by Steven Farr in Educational Leadership, December 2010/January 2011 (Vol. 68, #4, p. 28-33); Farr is available at steven.farr@teachforamerica.org; article at
http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/dec10/vol68/num04/Leadership,-Not-Magic.aspx.
Farr’s book, Teaching as Leadership: The Highly Effective Teacher’s Guide to Closing the Achievement Gap (Jossey-Bass, 2010) has a companion website with videos of teachers in action and other helpful resources: http://www.teachingasleadership.org.
Thanks for posting this great article. Although I have been introduced to these core values by TFA, this post serves as a great reminder for me going into the next semester. I plan to reflect and actively strive to improve my current instructional practices going into the break.
ReplyDelete-Mrs. Campbell
Mrs. Campbell,
ReplyDeleteI am so glad that this article was useful to you. I was wondering if our TFA would relate to anything mentioned in it. It helped me to rethink about coaching teachers. The idea of teachers being leaders in the classroom. It is really what we are. We lead our students through experiences. If we are only teaching the content, we are not leading them anywhere. We have to teach the students what they need. We have to take them on a journey to where they can go while they are with us.
Well, I have certainly been teaching the content. We must sit and chat about the kinds of experiences we can plan for our students so they can go somewhere. This teaching thing is a journey, sometimes I wonder if it's a profession more suited to single folx and childless people because as the article stated exemplary teachers work with and for students before, and after school and on saturdays. I come to school and begin work early, leave late, take my work home with me and work weekends. Sometimes it seems like thats not even enough. There's still something not done, some deadline not met. Some strategy not used enough. Maybe we could discuss strategies to prevent burn out of well meaning teachers - like how to work smarter, how to prioritize, etc.
ReplyDeleteContinually improving – Exemplary teachers push themselves to do better and analyze their mistakes, even reviewing videotapes of lessons to tweak elements that aren’t working. “Teachers who are getting the greatest results treat their classroom as a laboratory,” says Farr.
ReplyDeleteI need to focus on this one the most it seems.
Mrs. Cusheer,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your willingness to examine your practice. It says something about you as a person that is willing to grow and be better. You hit the nail on the head when you mentioned working smarter and prioritizing. There are very few days when I leave work with IT "all done". I make a checklist in the morning and prioritize tasks. I highlight 3 things as must do's and 1 area to focus on. For one week, "The Academy was my focus". My "to do's" were things that I had to do to make it work. My checklists contained many other tasks in the building. I must admit that for 3 of the 5 days, my checklists went undone. I caught up one evening and on Saturday. When I was teaching, my focus was always my students. For one week at the start of the year, the focus might be on the first 15 minutes of class. I had to perfect that. My daily must do's centered around adjusting my weekly lesson plan for the next day, grading assignments given, and preparing for "the show" which was what I called my classes (to myself). I often fell behind with paperwork, but I made sure that I was always ready for the show and that quizzes and tests were returned so that my students felt the value I placed on performing well.
Teaching is not for everyone, but it can be for parents. Make a schedule and stick to it. Make time to work and time to leave it at work. Spend time with your family. Until you get it right, please JOURNAL. Have you started to reflect daily? THAT IS VERY IMPORTANT. You have to know what you did well and what you didn't. JOURNALING helps to put things in perspective for you. Lock the door and take 10 minutes at the end of the day. DO IT. It will help. Make a working schedule and journal. We can still talk about the experiences for the students.