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Flickr Photo by Piulet / Daniel |
Betsy Gross Just posted a comment on this blog post I wrote almost a year ago. I thought that she did such an amazing job of summing things up that I was inspired to tweak it just a bit, adding a little of my own spice to her writing.
My additions are italicized:
..I believe effective educators must be creative thinkers with an ability to inspire and empower all learners. They must be compassionate, understanding and unwilling to give up on a child. They must be explicit and systematic, yet generously flexible, in their instruction. They must be knowledgeable of subject matter as well as the technologies of the day’s prevailing information landscape. They must be observant of student behavior to identify what each student does and does not understand, and how they can apply what they understand. They must be able to read and understand test data and read the faces of their learners. In short, teaching is a very difficult job and requires many characteristics to meet the needs of diversified learners. Teachers are also among the most powerful people on the planet.
Thanks again for inspiring me, Betsy…
It is a very good definition. I would clarify one part – reading/understanding data. To a degree I do need to understand data – but the volumes of number crunching that has become “data-driven” instruction is beyond reason and not what I signed up for as an educator, and most importantly, does not improve my effectiveness as a teacher. The job of my administration is the do the number crunching down to the most important and telling stats that will help me guide instruction effectively for each student.
Hellen,
I agree with your sentiments about data, and our seeming worship of the concept. Data is important and it can tell us a lot. But it can’t tell us how important the data is. It is short term and and says little about the human being that the child has the potential to become.
Hellen,
We do live in a Data Driven society in Education!! We are constantly testing and assessing our students. My thoughts differ some from yours though!! I believe that understanding the data presented from the assessments is very important in the teaching profession!! I do not believe that the testing is going to diminish any time soon, so why not use the data to help guide your students? In our school we do the MAPS assessment in the Fall, Winter and Spring! I analyse this data throughly and am able to see the areas I need to focus on when instructing! I also am able to break my students into groups and teach the skills they need! I have been doing this for two years and feel that my instruction has been more beneficial for students. I do get burnt out on all the testing, but using the data to guide my teaching makes it worth it!
I understand why you chose to re-post this as it fits very well at this time of year as the first report cards come out and so many teachers and students are tired and may be discouraged by the results. Its a good reminder of the standard we as teachers should set for ourselves. She’s right of course that with the power we are entrusted goes a huge responsibility.
Yes i do agree that teachers need to have a lot of perseverance to be successful.Visit US
This is such a great post and inspiration for teachers that strive to be “effective”. Although I understand the reason of including such things as data comprehension it really is a distraction compared to the rest of the items. When you think about the “power” of a teacher I do not see the connection to data collection. I would even go so far as to say that it is not even critical to be focused first on academics. The best teachers in my life were strong academically but the reason they were effective was that they knew how to engage and connect and most importantly they showed they cared about me as a person long before they saw me as a student of a given subject.
So much of what you added is dead on, however, I am not in agreement of the idea that they must be able to read test data. Although being able to read data is part of the business of education, it is not essential in being a good teacher. A teacher can be a life-changer without ever having to read a single piece of test data.
The “demands of diversified learners” are increasing as different cultures blend and merge in the educational world. Betsy Gross offers wonderful insight into just what it takes for a teacher to truly perform the job she/he is entrusted to do.
The “demands of diversified learners” are increasing as different cultures blend and merge in the educational world. Betsy Gross offers wonderful insight into just what it takes for a teacher to truly perform the job she/he is entrusted to do.