What Makes An

Excellent Teacher?

Re-imagined by

Sarah Stephenson

and Darren Ng

Kudos (Acknowledgments)

Sarah Stephenson Darren Ng My tech buddy, “Tenacious D” Soli Deo Gloria!

(and props to my wife and Sarah for their ubber patience) The late-night bus driver for

getting me home safe tonight!

1. The Problem Meet Bill and Ted

Mr. F‟s “Heinous” Ultimatum:

EA Rufus to the rescue

2. The Help Socrates—“Know thyself”

Jean D‟Arc—Effective Instruction

Abraham Lincoln

RULE!

—Educational Leadership

3. D

ifficu

lt W

ords

(Glo

ssary

)

4. Stealing IS BAD!

(Bibliography)

1. The Problem

They are best friends

who dream of becoming

international rock stars.

Meet Bill Esquire and

Ted Theordore Logan.

(Except right now, they play more air guitar than real metal)

To Bill and Ted, school is boring,

especially Mr. Ryan’s History class.

Frustrated Mr. R gives the boys an ultimatum:

“Give an oral report on Teaching Excellence.

If you fail this, you‟ll fail the year and won‟t graduate!”

“ If you don’t graduate,

I’ll send you to Oat’s Military Academy! ”

Bill and Ted scramble

to the library

and try to research

with little success.

Ted has trouble

concentrating.

He keeps thinking of

what his father said:

Ted tries to come up with

his own definition of

“teaching excellence” and

comes up with two ideas

Bill finds two different ones from a pile of dusty books

in the library. He writes them on his Post-It Notes:

Teaching excellence:

Teachers who are

n’t boring +

don’t give m

uch homework!!!

Teachers who have an extensive understanding of how students learn and an instructional repertoire that allows them to respond meaningfully to what is known and how and what students must learn. (Bennet +Rolheiser, 2001)

Three Conceptions of Teaching Excellence

Technical: excellence is achieved through exemplary test scores

Personal: excellence is reached through self actualization

Social: excellence is demonstrated through social responsibility

Bruno-Jofre, 2011

Ted looks at Bill’s paper.

He asks, “Do you have any clue what that means?”

“Not the faintest,” Bill replies.

“We are in serious trouble!” Ted exclaims.

2. The Help

Just then, their confusion, is interrupted by a strange visitor. Appearing out of nowhere, a time-travelling

telephone booth suddenly appears.

The booth door opens.

From inside emerges….

Whoa!!!

...Rufus, the time travelling Educational Assistant.

“I have come to help you!” Rufus encourages.

“Greetings most excellent ones!”

Rufus explains:

“I am going to lend you a time machine for your assignment. Instead of reading about excellent

teachers, I want you to meet them yourself!

Or perhaps as Mr. R might put it,

„Put some enaction into action!‟”

Excellent! But how?

Bill responds curiously.

Bill and Ted don’t waste any time. They jump into the

booth and travel to ancient Greece, to meet Socrates.

From him the boys learn about some of the personal qualities that make great teachers.

Socrates explains, “An excellent teacher is...

...Self Reflective Excellent teachers are reflective practitioners that

seek to “know thyself” (and others) well.

These people view teaching as their vocation, their

life’s work ,and are consequently highly motivated to

serve their students well.

Reflective teachers are...

...willing to connect with both the mind and heart of all students

...have a strong belief in human potential and the ability to be empathetic

The teacher‟s understanding and acceptance of themselves is the most

important requirement in any effort to help students get to know themselves

and gain healthy attitudes of self-acceptance (Grant, 2006)

“Not everyone who wants to be a

teacher should be allowed to pro-

ceed through the program just

because they have a desire to

teach or have the necessary grade

point average. Teaching is hard

and you need a unique stamina

to survive.”

(Grant and Gillette, 2006)

Who

Am I?

This is a test

Quote

Why settle for

billions when

you can have

millions?

A Teacher‟s Personality

The average teacher has a personality type of ESFJ:

Extroverted- focuses on the outer world

Sensing- focuses on information rather than interpretation

Feeling- focuses on people and individual circumstances

Judging- continually making firm decisions

Myers Briggs Personality Traits (Rushton, 2007)

“Enthusiasm is

a contagious.

Be a carrier”

-Susan Rabin

Quote

Why settle for

billions when

you can have

millions?

...Enthusiastic!

DID YOU KNOW...

...ENTHUSIASM is one of the most frequent answers

people list to the question, “What are the qualities of

a great teacher?” (Bennet +Rolheiser, 2001)

Enthusiasm in teaching is bringing about a

state of absorption in the material or topic

being studies, and it operates as an intellec-

tual force presumable by focusing attention

and engaging the student in a willing pursuit

This is a test

Quote

Why settle for

billions when

you can have

millions?

What Other Qualities?

Creativity

“Education is not filling a bucket but lighting a fire”

Creative individuals

[especially teachers]

are remarkable for their

ability to adapt to any

situation and make do

with whatever is at hand

to reach their goals

(Csikszentmihalyi, 1997)

Engaging These teachers create an exciting atmosphere in their

classroom provoking student participation and students

in the learning process (Simpson, 1994)

Wiggins, 2007

-William Butler Yeats

Excellent Teachers Are...

...Humble Humility requires

courage, self confi-

dence, self-respect,

and respect for

others…

...Loving

Lovingness, without which teachers’ work

would lose its meaning…

not only towards the stu-

dents but also towards the

very process of teaching.

...No one knows it all; no one is ignorant of everything.

We all know something; we are all ignorant of something.

Without humility, one can hardly listen with respect.

Freire, 1997

After their session of Socratic Questioning is over,

Bill thanks Socrates for his help:

“Thanks for helping us take a

deeper look at ourselves!”

Bill says appreciatively.

Next stop, France, 1424.

There, our two heroes meet Jean D’Arc.

Ted asks, “So what else makes a teacher excellent?”

Excellent Teaching Practices

she gently replies. Jean explains:

“ It’s not only about who you are as a teacher,

but also what you do ”

This is a test

Quote

Why settle for

billions when

you can have

millions?

Excellent Teaching Practices

Excellent teachers keep their students engaged with

purposeful learning activities.

-Wiggins, 2007

Activities must always be a means to important learning ends, not ends in themselves.

1. My job

is to cover

CONTENT.

This is a test

-Wiggins, 2007 3 Common Teacher Misunderstandings

“When teachers maintain that they are required to march

through texts and syllabi (irrespective of degree of

student understanding or learning results) they often cite

external supervisory pressures.”

Yet have you ever seen a teacher’s contract in North

America that specifies, “Your job is to cover a textbook”? 2. My job is to keep students

BUSY! Critical questions to consider before an activity:

Are the learning outcomes clearly identified and em-

bodied in the work? Do they reflect important “big ideas in the disciplines”

Can students explain the purpose behind the various activities?

Have students shown they can understand and transfer their learning in meaningful ways?

3. My job

is to cover

Teach to the

TEST

This is a test

-Wiggins, 2007 3 Common Teacher Misunderstandings

The use of high-stakes accountability tests has un-

wittingly led to a misconception that a teacher’s job

is to teach to the test and “get the scores up”.

Critical questions to consider:

Must we sacrifice more effective and engaging forms to teach instruction to raise test

scores? Is passive and fragmented teaching more or less likely to maximize student interest and

performance? Do we have teach worse to get higher test scores?

Worst Case Scenario:

curriculum = test prep regimen of practicing test-like items and learning test-taking strategies

This is a test

Pedagogical

Content Knowledge

-teachers need a depth and

breath of content knowledge

and pedagogical strategies

-teachers must stay current

in their field

Excellent Teaching Practices Excellent teachers view teaching as a craft to be mastered.

They are constantly developing...

Intellectual

Responsibility

-teachers must have a desire

to learn new things and the

willingness to become

absorbed in their education

task

Reciprocation of Teaching a Learning

-Teachers have a responsibil-ity to grow as practitioners, stay current in their field, and continually evolve as professionals

-Polk, 2006

...and demonstrate Culturally Responsive Teaching

A pedagogy that acknowledges, responds to, and celebrates all

students and their ability to learn and achieve regardless of cultural

differences (Grant and Gillette, 2006)

This is a test

Excellent Teaching Practices Excellent teachers understand their role in the classroom

-Wiggins, 2007

There is no ONE “BEST” approach!

Excellent teachers know how to choose the most appropriate pedagogical method based on what kind of help and experience their learners need.

Effective teachers demonstrates

skill in all three roles and

understand when they should

be used, in what combinations,

and for how long.

Having learned two new things about

teacher excellence, the boys decide to make one final stop, America 1860, in the presidential office of

Abraham Lincoln.

There’s one more quality needed for

excellence!

This is a test

Teachers Are Leaders!

-Wiggins, 2007

Excellent teachers help their schools discover their mission.

“What matters is not the leader‟s charisma.

What matters is the leader‟s mission.

Therefore the first job of the leaders

is to think through and define the mission of

the institution.” -Wiggins, 2007

School leaders practice community networking.

-Developing a knowledge base about the community.

-Building and fostering relationships with students, families, and faculty.

-Use technology as an effective tool to enhance learning and communication

home, school, and the community.

This is a test

1. School Mission

and Learning

Principles

-take a lead role in creating an

actionable mission for the entire

education institution.

-a mission based school is driven

5 Responsibilities of Teacher-Leaders

3. Curriculum

-keep the mission in the

foreground so that it does

not become a formal

obligation of the job.

-be aware of how the

curriculum and assessment

system can correlate with

the mission.

2. Results -Foreshadow potential curricula and assessment gaps in achieving the mission and proactively deal with them. -Establish a process for systemically recording teachers’ observations of student difficulties in learning and their suggestions for addressing those problems. 4. Personnel

-Clarifying the job

expectations of personnel

under their direction and

providing the necessary

training, supervision, and

evaluation guided by mission-

related and results-focused

criteria.

5. Positive School Culture

-Core values of collegiality, performance, improvement that

engender quality, achievement, and learning for everyone.

-Positive beliefs and assumptions about the potential of stu-

dents and staff to learn and evolve.

-A widely shared sense of respect and caring for everyone.

Having learned a great deal about teacher leadership, Bill and Ted say goodbye to their new friend.

He leaves them with some final encouragements:

Be excellent to

one another…. ...and party on

dudes!

Bill and Ted return home feeling more confident

in their understanding of teacher excellence.

Not surprisingly, they

receive an A+ on their

assignment.

Impressed, Mr. R says,

“Thanks for helping me

think about how I can be

excellent teacher too!”

The End.

Ted replies, “Thanks for helping me escape military college!”

Together, they all laugh about their most excellent adventure.

Bill and Ted‟s Excellence Quiz

-Easton, 2011

“Excellent” Documents

BCCT Standards for Education

(http://www.bcct.ca/documents/AboutUs/Standards/edu_stds.pdf)

Difficult Words

(Glossary)

Difficult Words (Glossary)

Difficult Words (Glossary)

Stealing Is Bad

(Bibliography)

Stealing Is Bad! (Bibliography)

Stealing Is Bad! (Bibliography)

Hey Ted! Bogus

proofreading dude!

BE EXCELLENT

TO EACH OTHER