Chapter 9Effective Teachers and the Process of Teaching

Themes of the chapter Thoughtful learning can be fostered by high-

quality teaching Teachers’ knowledge of the subject matter

they are teaching and their beliefs about themselves, their students, and the processes of learning and teaching have important influences on classroom practices and problems

Guiding Questions

Why are teachers’ beliefs important? How do teachers’ knowledge of subject

matter understanding and general knowledge of teaching translate into ways to teach specific material to students?

How do expert teachers differ from novice teachers?

(See next slide for more questions)

Guiding Questions (continued)

What are some general teacher-centered approaches to teaching?

What kinds of teaching tactics can teachers use?

How can teachers use homework effectively? How can teachers plan to meet the needs of

students who have special needs? How can teachers develop the expertise

necessary for working in culturally diverse settings?

What Is Teaching?

Expertise in the subject matter being taught Belief in one’s ability to teach and students’

abilities to learn Sensitivity to the needs of different kinds of

learners Planning and organizational skills Interpersonal and leadership skills A great deal of hard work

Teaching

The interpersonal effort to help learners acquire knowledge, develop skill, and realize their potential

An Integrated Model of Child/Teacher/Curriculum

Sources of Teacher Beliefs

Personal experience – activities, events, and understandings of everyday life

Experience with schooling and instruction – experiences when they were students

Experience with formal knowledge – knowledge from academic subjects and pedagogical knowledge from teacher education programs

Example of Inaccurate Teacher Beliefs

Preservice teachers believing in student autonomy

First year teachers becoming more controlling Custodial – a term that refers to an

approach to classroom management that views the teacher’s role as primarily maintaining an orderly classroom

Content, Pedagogical, and Pedagogical Content Knowledge

Content knowledge – knowledge about the subject matter being taught

Pedagogical knowledge – knowledge about how to teach

Pedagogical content knowledge – knowledge about how to make subject matter understandable to students

Expert Teachers View classroom as collection of individuals Plan more globally and for longer periods Have a more complex view of instructional options Run a more smoothly operating classroom Evaluate students more often and in ways closely

related to content of instruction Attribute failure to problems with planning,

organization, or execution Hold complex ideas about the role of students’

existing knowledge and make use of it during instruction

Phases of Development of Expertise

Decreased focus on self-as-teacher; increased focus on the needs of learners

Enhanced knowledge about learners Automation of classroom routines and

procedures Growth in problem-solving skills

Teachers’ Self-Efficacy

Self-efficacy – one’s judgment of how well he or she will cope with a situation, given the skills one possesses and the circumstances one faces

Teaching efficacy – a teacher’s judgment of, or confidence in, his or her capacity to cope with the teaching situation in ways that bring about desired outcomes

Developing Self-Efficacy

Verbal persuasion, personal history, and vicarious experience

Opportunities to experience successful coping

Observation of other teachers and imitating their behaviors

Self-Efficacy and Learners with Special Needs

Teachers with a high sense of self-efficacy are less likely to refer students for evaluation than are teachers with a low sense of self-efficacy Referral – educators’ shorthand for the

recommendation that a child be evaluated

for possible special education classification

Working in Culturally Different Contexts How teachers can relate to students with

different backgrounds from their own How to create an environment in which students

work well together and care about each other How to work with students in poverty and whose

parents are not present at home How to work with students who do not speak

English How to work with students with special needs

Developing a Multicultural Curriculum

Create learning goals and objectives that incorporate multicultural aspects

Include a wide variety of ethnic groups in curriculum materials in variety of ways

Introduce different ethnic groups and their contributions

Include examples from different ethnic experiences to explain subject matter

Show how multicultural content, goals, and activities intersect with subject matter standards

Planning

Instructional goals Using goals in classroom teaching Translating goals into plans

Instructional Goals

A statement of what is being worked for or desired in instruction

Behavioral objectives – statements of goals for instruction that clearly set forth what a student will be able to do as a result of the instruction

Educational objectives – explicit statements of what students are expected to be able to do as a result of instruction

Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives Taxonomy – a classification of objects

according to a set of principles or laws Knowledge Comprehension Application Analysis Synthesis Evaluation

Your Turn

Choose an instructional topic and compose a question on that topic for each level of Bloom’s Taxonomy

Two Frameworks for Objectives

Bloom Knowledge Comprehension Application Analysis Evaluation Synthesis

Anderson/Krathwohl Remembering Understanding Applying Analyzing Evaluating Creating

New Approaches to Goals

Standards – comprehensive set of educational objectives organized by subject matter and grade level

Achievement targets – well-specified statements of what teachers want to accomplish in a particular lesson or set of lessons

Products – student creations that reflect their skills as well as their ability to create something new

Stiggins’s Taxonomy

Knowledge Reasoning Skills Products Attitudes and dispositions

Translating Goals into Plans

Setting objectives or goals Choosing a way to achieve those goals Making decisions concerning the details of

the approach Making changes as the plan is carried out Evaluating the plan after it has been

carried out in order to be better prepared the next time around

Planning on and Planning for: Instructional Time

Block scheduling – an approach to scheduling at the middle and high school levels that allows for larger blocks of time to be schedules for subjects, usually with fewer blocks per week

Levels of Planning for Instruction

Plan for the year Make seasonal plans for the year Plan instructional units Have daily lesson plans

Lesson Plan Evaluation

What is the teacher trying to accomplish? What assumptions does this plan make about the

students? How does the lesson plan view students as

learners? Could I teach this lesson from these plans? Would I

want to? Are the assessment procedures adequate? How likely are students to respond positively to this

plan? Is the level of detail too fine or too broad?

Lesson Study

Team of teachers who are teaching the same curriculum work together to think about how best to approach the lesson

One member of the team teaches the lesson while others observe and collect data

Together, they analyze the data They refine and reteach the lesson

Approaches to Teaching

Promoting meaningful learning Discovery learning Direct instruction

Promoting Meaningful Learning

Reception learning – learner acquires knowledge of the structure of knowledge set forth by the teacher

Discovery-based learning – students work on their own to grasp a concept

Expository teaching – teacher provides an exposition of how a particular set of information is structured and organized

Expository Learning

Advance organizer – broad introductory statement of the information that will be presented in a lesson

Comparative organizer – broad statement that reminds the student of what he or she already knows

Expository organizer – broad statement of what is to be learned in a lesson

Discovery Learning

Inductive reasoning – abstraction of a general principle from a variety of examples

Guided discovery – students work under the guidance of a capable partner to grasp a concept or understand a lesson

Direct Instruction

A systematic form of instruction that is used for mastery of basic skills and facts Review the previous material Present new material Provide guided practice Provide feedback Provide independent practice Review weekly and monthly

Teaching Tactics

Providing explanations Providing feedback Asking questions

Providing Explanations

Common explanations – how to do something Disciplinary explanations – from specific

disciplines and formal in structure Self-explanations – explanations you can

rehearse to yourself to make sure you understand something

Instructional explanations – provided by teachers, texts, or other materials

Your Turn

Write an example of each kind of explanation. Tell how they are different and how they are alike. How might these different explanations influence student learning?

Providing Feedback

Feedback can enhance: Response learning – tasks in which the

learner provides a simple response to a stimulus

Concept learning – learning a new rule for classification by generating the rule from examples

Skill learning – acquiring a new procedure

Asking Questions: Five Procedural Prompts that Assist Students

Signal words like who, what, where* Generic questions or generic question

stems* Main idea Questions that vary in complexity Story grammar categories like setting

*Most effective prompts

Taxonomy of Homework

Homework based on material taught in class - review, practice, rehearsal

Homework based on new material – preparation, experience

Homework that expand on and extends beyond the classroom learning – exploration, learning experience, expression

Developing Homework Policies

How much homework will I assign each night?

When and how should students hand it in? What will I do when students do not do

homework? How will I respond when students hand in

homework late?

(See next slide for more questions)

Homework Policies (continued)

What kind of help can the student seek with the homework?

What is the proper role of the parent with regard to homework?

What help can students expect from me? How will I evaluate the homework? What should students do if they often

have difficulty with homework?

Getting Homework Done

Tactics to increase rates of homework completion: Purpose Policy Design Support Feedback

Homework Strategies for Student with Disabilities

Give clear and appropriate assignments Make home work accommodations Ensure clear home/school communication Teach study skills Use a homework calendar

Homework: Cultural and Socioeconomic Differences

Economic difficulties Extended, blended, and other types of

families need to be considered Language differences can hinder

communication Cultural differences can go hand-in-hand

with language differences

Guiding Questions Revisited

Why are teachers’ beliefs important? How do teachers’ knowledge of subject

matter understanding and general knowledge of teaching translate into ways to teach specific material to students?

How do expert teachers differ from novice teachers?

(See next slide for more questions)

Guiding Questions Revisited (continued)

What are some general teacher-centered approaches to teaching?

What kinds of teaching tactics can teachers use? How can teachers use homework effectively? How can teachers plan to meet the needs of

students who have special needs? How can teachers develop the expertise

necessary for working in culturally diverse settings?