This past week I was honored to be a presenter at the New Teacher Assistance Workshop at Southeast Missouri University. There were about 100 new teachers from southeast Missouri school districts in attendance. This workshop satisfied the state New Teacher Assistance Program required for the PC 1 Certification.  These teachers listened to presentations throughout the day concerning different topics pertinent to new educators.  The topic of my session was Quality Teaching is the Key to School Improvement.  Since my session was an hour in length I narrowed my topic down to a few key areas that I feel are important to being a quality teacher.  These areas are: Classroom Management, Teachers as Learners, Rigor & Depth of Knowledge, Creativity and Data Analysis & Collection.  While I don’t claim to know everything, I was happy to pass along a few tips or ideas that have worked for my students and me and who knows, perhaps there might be an idea here that even a veteran teacher could take away. 

Quality Teaching is the Key to School Improvement on Prezi

I began with classroom management because it is the backbone of instruction and something that cannot be glossed over if a teacher wishes to have a classroom atmosphere conducive to learning.  My personal classroom management style is one that I call seamless or invisible.  I believe in taking the time to make sure that students thoroughly learn procedures and expectations so that our classroom can function productively and autonomously.  I recommended ideas to the new teachers from Rick Smith’s book, Conscious Classroom Management.  One of the many ideas I learned from Rick when he spoke to a group of S.T.A.R.R. ( (Select Teachers as Regional Resources) teachers a few years ago was to use rubrics to curb behaviors. It makes perfect sense, we use rubrics for assessing other concepts, why not behaviors?  For instance when it was necessary for my students to line up to go to another destination in the school building, I would say, “Show me a 1 Line” and hold up my hand to indicate the number 1.  They would line up facing forward.  To get this rubric started with my students I asked them to model a “1 Line”, with 1 being the perfect line.  I took a picture of the “1 Line”.  Then I asked them to show me a “2 Line” with a couple students facing the back of the line and I took a picture.  Then I took a picture of students modeling a “3” and “4 Line”.  From then on, all I had to do was to hold up my hand to show the number 1 and students would know what I meant. I didn’t have to say anything. This rubric idea also worked with other classroom areas.  I used it for messy desks and took pictures of different stages from messiness to neatness.  Students loved the modeling of behaviors and no one could ever argue that they didn’t know how to behave well. In fact students began to police each other.  Having procedures in place allows teachers to have student-centered classrooms, literature circles and reading groups with ease and makes room for doing fun things while learning like playing music for transitions.  I love music and played it throughout the day.  When we had our silly moments together sharing a joke or funny story, a simple tug on my ear meant that we were to get back down to business.  Many procedures are silent actions like that which students understand. Classroom management cannot be underestimated, particularly; if you want to have an engaging, student-centered learning atmosphere.

The next subject I talked to the new teachers about was the importance of being a learner. I advised them to make time to learn and expand their thinking about the field of education.  I encouraged them to be a teacher who does more than just study the textbook to learn the material to pass along to students, but to do as we tell students to do, take their learning into their own hands. Students need to view their teachers as learners. I love the following quote by Todd Whitaker,  “A GOOD teacher has a love of teaching.  A GREAT teacher has a love of learning.”  I explained to these teachers the power of Twitter, a PLN and that they could be a part of a group of learners from across the globe and have access to the best professional development.  I shared some of my PLN’s resources that could help them as new teachers, such as; Cybrary Man’s site and Hashtag page,  the Educator’s PLN website, Lisa M. Dabbs’ New Teacher Bootcamp and new teacher chat (#ntchat).

The third theme I discussed was rigor and Depth of Knowledge. NCLB requires that states choose an alignment tool and Missouri uses Norm Webb’s Depth of Knowledge or DOK.  I displayed a version of my DOK poster that I created for my former fourth grade students.  Once I learned about Depth of Knowledge, I couldn’t help but think how powerful it would be in the hands of my students if they, too, understood the levels of rigor.  I taught them the four levels and soon they had an understanding of rigor in assessment questions that they had not had before.  The transformation in their understanding was phenomenal. Students typically think about assessments in terms of them being “hard” or “easy.” “Hard” meaning they didn’t know the answer and “easy” meaning that they knew the answers.  Learning DOK helped them think about the complexity of questions and how much thinking was required.  I showed the new teachers how I taught my students the three different question types and how to write questions.  Students who can write complex questions about a topic or subject can also answer questions about that subject.  I showed them an example of a couple of the first questions my students wrote about a chapter in Missouri history. I explained how I soon began choosing students’ questions to use on our assessments.  This practice was powerful in many ways from students learning questions types and the way to answer questions differently to thinking about writing good questions to the positive self-esteem of having their questions used on an assessment.  I also discussed the importance of moving away from traditional study guides where students look up short answers and fill-in-the blank-style questions only to regurgitate the answers on a similar test.  I encouraged them to teach note-taking and making students responsible for their own learning for it is the students’ education. 

I also touched on the matter of Creativity and allowing students the freedom to think and use their imaginations. I showed them one of my favorite commercials from Sherwin-Williams where paint sample cards morph into all types of things.  I always think about the creative minds that came up with that idea.  Many of the jobs our students will have do not exist yet.  If these new teachers stay in the profession for thirty years it will be around the year 2041.  Can you imagine the jobs that will exist in thirty years?  Students must be prepared to be able to think creatively and to be problem-finders and solvers.  I reminded these teachers that it’s important to model thinking and to show students that it’s ok to change your mind in the creative process and that mistakes are important learning opportunities.

The final area I discussed was the importance of Data Analysis and Collection.  In these days of accountability there is no lack of data available.  I urged these new teachers to do something with their classroom data, as well as, their state assessment data.  Many times data is collected, filed and forgotten.  In order to determine students’ strengths, weaknesses and to assist them in improving skills, teachers have to analyze data and then make a plan about how to go about assisting students.  Data has no value if it’s not used to help teachers and students’ improve.  I suggested using Google Docs to maintain their classroom data, and LiveBinders to collect and store classroom resources. I showed them a sample of how to collect reading data for students in grades K-6 and explained how powerful data over time for a student could be.

As the session closed, I expressed to them what an awesome responsibility and honor it was to be a classroom teacher.  I advised about the importance of how a word from them could change a student’s life and how rewarding it is to have a student return to you years later and tell you that you made a difference.  There’s so much I wanted to tell those bright new teachers about the education profession, but that would have taken much more time than an hour or a few hours.  I know they will learn just as many of us have that it’s the best profession in the world, with benefits that far outweigh the stress and along the way they will learn as much as their students do.

 


Comments

ChrisC
09/26/2011 03:40

I really enjoyed reading this, Pam. I'd really enjoy working with you!

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Nicki Lepold
01/29/2012 09:41

I enjoyed reading this. Could I have a copy of your DOK classroom poster/handout you gave to your students? I have one, but not sure it is the same as yours.

Reply
Nicki L.
01/29/2012 09:42

I saw the link, got it thanks. Same one I have:)

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