Identifying Effective Teaching

To describe what effective teacher’s do in the classroom, Levine and Ornstein have reviewed 10 years of
research and hundreds of research studies. The research reviewed deals primarily with low-achieving students in inner-
city schools but it applies to many other student types and many grade levels and subjects.

1. Classroom management. Effective teachers develop good managerial techniques. They make sure students
know what they expect; they make certain that students know what to do if they need help; they follow
through with reminders and rewards to enforce rules; and they do not respond to discipline problems
emotionally.
2. Direct instruction. Effective teachers have a clear, systematic method of teaching, called direct instruction or
explicit teaching. They proceed in small steps provide ample review and explanation before proceeding to
the next step, ask questions and check for understanding, and provide systematic feedback and correction.
3. Time on task. Effective teachers provide students with relevant academic activities and see to it that
students spend an adequate amount of time actually engaged in these learning activities.
4. Questioning. Effective teachers ask appropriate questions in a manner that ensures participation and
facilities mastery of academic content. Questioning focuses on both facts and abstract thinking.
5. Comprehension Instruction. Effective teachers emphasize independent learning and learning to learn. They
teach students to apply concepts, solve problems, and monitor their own comprehension.
6. Level of Cognitive Instruction. Most instruction for low-achieving students emphasizes mechanical rote
learning. Effective teachers try to move toward high order thinking skills and independent learning by
motivating students to learn and by using appropriate materials and activities.
7. Grouping. Effective teachers are able to group students for individualized and small group instruction. They
are able to work with more than one student or group at a time.

In general, there is a relationship between effective teachers and effective schools. Teachers, to be effective,
need a supportive and positive atmosphere. This includes (1) a mange able class size, (2) available and suitable
instructional materials, (3) high stage expectations for student achievement, (4) an orderly school climate, (5)
systems for monitoring student progress, (6) a strong and supportive principal and (7) a school spirit or identify
that is felt in the classroom.

Strategies For Effective Teaching

This chapter first briefly addresses issues related to teaching: reasons for teaching, vies of teaching, determining
whether teachers make a difference in student outcomes, improving the quality of teaching and characteristics of
effective teaching. Next, classroom activities and academic tasks are discussed in terms of instructional variables and
time spent in school. We also consider the school’s responsibility in transmitting moral knowledge and values. Finally,
we look at different kinds of cognitive processes that students can learn – learning to learn, critical thinking and creative
thinking.

ISSUES REELATED TO TEACHING

There are many ways to start chapter on teaching and learning. To paint a balanced picture of what teaching is, we start
with some general comments about teachers then more precise discussions about teaching. The object of the chapter
and text is to develop teachers, not only teaching strategies. We begin with motives for choosing a career in teaching.
Those who are entering the teaching profession, or even those who are already teaching, should ask why they wish to
teach.

Reasons for Teaching

There are many reasons why people choose teaching as a career. One strong motivation for many teachers is
their identification with adult models - parents and especially teachers – during their childhood. Research indicates that
women are influenced by their parents slightly more than by their teachers in their decisions to become teachers. Men
are influenced by their teachers more than twice as often as by their parents.

The data suggest, further, that parents encourage their daughters to become teachers more than their sons.
Perhaps this is due to the wider range of professional choices that have been available for men in the past and the
traditional view that teaching is a respected occupation for women but does not hold similar status for men. Although
job opportunities for women have increased recently, females still made up 68 percent of the public school teaching
force in 1988. More than 80 percent of the elementary teachers and 45 percent of the secondary teachers were
females. Moreover, these percentages have not changed much since the mid 1960’s.

The view that the choice of teaching as a career is based on early psychological factors has been explored by
many researchers. For example, Wright and Tuska contend that teaching is rooted in the expression of early yearnings
and fantasies. Dan Lortie holds that early teaching models are internalized during childhood and triggered in adulthood.
Although these two investigations have different theoretical bases, both hold that to a considerable extent the decision
to teach is based on experiences that predate formal teacher training and go back to childhood. You might ask how
accurate this is in your own care.

Views of Teaching

The kind of teacher you become is to a large extent influenced by how you view teaching and the teaching
profession. The questions below are designed to explore your views. The questions are open-ended and subjective;
there are no right answers.

What are you reasons for teaching? Which are positive and which are negative?
Is teaching a profession or a semi-profession? Is it an art ort a science?
What degree of autonomy or input should teachers have in making decisions about curriculum? About text
purchases?
What professional knowledge or content is most important in preparing teachers? What pedagogy or teaching
strategies should be part of the teacher’s training? Are there general principles of teaching that are applicable to most
students? What grade level? Subject?
Should teachers focus on the whole child or should they focus on academic skills? How much time should content
teachers spend on teaching reading skills?
Can we define good teaching? Who should define it? Students? Parents? Teacher? Administrators? Taxpayers?
What is the difference between good teaching and effective teacher? Should teachers be held accountable? For what? To
whom? How should teachers be evaluated? On merit or objective criteria (such as experience and education)?
What should prepare teachers? Hire them? Evaluate them?
What philosophy of teaching is best for teaching students?
What theories of learning are most conducive to students’ learning?
How do teachers maintain their mental health from year to year? What teaching organizations should teachers
join? How can the working conditions of teachers be improved?
What changes would you make in schools if you were asked to make them? Why?
Teachers Make a Difference

A good deal of well-publicized research has promoted the idea that teachers and schools contribute little to
student- achievement; that IQ, family life, peer groups and social class are the most important variables; and that all
other variables are secondary or irrelevant. Although we cannot precisely define or measure the effect teachers have,
research over the last 15 years does indicate that teachers and schools do make a difference.

The teacher effectiveness research, exemplified by the words of Davild Berliner, Jere Brophy, Walter Doyle,
Carolyb Everstson, N.L. Gage, Thomas Good, Barak Rosenshine and Herb Walberg, has shown, mainly through
correlational studies that teacher behaviors and teaching methods consistently relate to student achievement. (Most of
this research will be discussed in Chapter 11.)

The problem is, however, that many teacher behaviors and teaching methods that seem to have an effect in one
situation may be ineffective and inappropriate in another. Different teacher behaviors and methods have different

effects on different students, grades, subjects and classroom groups and school settings. Compounding the
problem is the fact that variables such as socio-economic status, personality traits and human behaviors mean different
this to different researchers. Also, it is often difficult to isolate teacher effects from the effects of other agents (parents,
peer groups and other teachers) and we are unable to assess accurately changes in learning in short-term intervals.

Despite these and other measurement problems the findings clearly show that teachers can make a difference
(positive or negative) Teachers and schools influence achievement. And if they did not make a difference, then there
would be (1) minimal need for teacher preparation, since there would be of little value in well-prepared teachers; (2)
minimal concern about teacher competence, since it would not matter much and (3) little justification for holding
teachers accountable for student performance.

Demands for improving teacher quality and for holding teachers accountable for student achievement have
increased over recent years. Some educators and policy makers claim that we need to identify indicators of
effectiveness and to evaluate schools and teachers on the basis of these indicators. A growing number of educators and
policy makers believe we need to raise school standards for teacher certification and performance. In general, many
parents’ expectations for their children‘s educations have not been met. The tax payers, who want to keep the lid on
school spending and want to know where their money is being spent, want to hold educators responsible for outcomes
of instruction. Moreover, if teachers do make a difference, as the recent literature claims, then they should be
accountable for the outcomes of instruction, whether the outcomes are positive or negative.

According to a recent NEA nationwide survey involving more than 2,132 parents and 2,107 teachers, Table 1.1)
the strategies for improving the quality of teaching most favored by the public are: (1) requiring students in teacher
training programs to meet specific graduation requirements (82) percent), (2) requiring teachers to pass rigorous exams
assessing their knowledge of the subject they wish to teach (7) percent), and (3) requiring teachers to complete and
internship (76) percent). Teachers show strong support for two of these strategies. As many as 85 percent of teachers
favor an internship program and 78 percent favor specific graduation requirements. Their third highest ranking strategy
(72) percent is requiring candidates for teaching programs to meet specific admission requirements. Among the general
public the attitude is stronger than among the teachers that the six measures listed in the table would help improve the
quality of teaching.

A number of educators maintain that undergraduate teacher preparation is the gate keeping process for the
teaching profession. Prospective teachers must be able to demonstrate a specified level of competence by the end of
the pre-service stage in order to be allowed entry into the profession. Other educators advocate the delaying judgment
until the end of a two-or three-year internship under the tutelage of experience teachers. They would permit beginning
teachers to learn on the job, but would require a demonstration of competency at an early stage in their career.