Making Each Other Better

I had a great opportunity this week to conduct a walk-through of my school.  I wanted to put to use some of what I had learned in my class for my Iowa Evaluator Approval.  I did not know what I was going to see but I had a hunch that most of it was going to be good.  I am thrilled to say, I was right in my prediction. 

Developing my own walk-through form, I decided to look for what I had identified as key indicators: classroom arrangement, student engagement, instructional method, assessment techniques, and the Iowa Teaching Standards I felt were being met.  While I only observed for five minutes at most, I felt I got a pretty clear picture in each classroom of how the instructional time is spent.  I saw: large group, direct instruction; individualized instruction; collaboration with peers; use of technology- not just using Word, by the way; and best of all...some higher order thinking skills.  Now I don't want to say that every class was perfect...but in the majority of classrooms, kids were engaged, adults were sharing the stage, and learning was taking place.

I had an opportunity that too often we don't afford our teachers: the chance to see what good teaching looks like.  In our departmentalized world of education, it becomes increasingly simple to stick to our old way of doing things because it has "worked" for us.  Just because it works for us, as content specialists, doesn't mean it works in any way for our students.  If we have visual learners or kids who need to have their hands busy, daily lecture is leaving your kids behind.  Oh and just a reminder...WORKSHEETS AREN'T THE ANSWER!

I was lucky to see what good teachers do and how good instruction benefits the students in those classrooms.  Let's face it, we can spend all the money we want on new textbooks, new technology, new playground balls, new whatever...but if the instructional strategies and delivery of instruction is awful or even marginally okay, we are doing our kids and ourselves a disservice.  No new item can replace effective instruction.  Knowing how to teach effectively, manage a classroom, assess for learning, and teach so that each kid gets it...that is what matters. Some teachers will refuse to change to be the best possible version of themselves.  However, I want to steal a great quotation that I heard from a principal of another school: "Teachers won't be replaced by technology.  But teachers who use technology will replace those who don't."  I would amend that slightly to be, "Teachers who understand effective instruction and assessment will replace those who don't."  And they should.

We can make ourselves better and our weakest teachers better by getting out of the safe classrooms we call home and watching other rock-star teachers do their thing.  If you don't have time to invest in being the best possible teacher around...consider what you would do if it were your child, your niece, your cousin, your neighbor kid, sitting in your classroom getting the lessons you teach.  Would you pass the test?

Kids should know what they are expected to do, how they are going to be assessed, and how it applies to their lives once they leave the classroom.  Here's to another great week of school up ahead!  Get out and see what there is to see!