Excellence in Teaching = An Environment for Success
BY LINDA COWAN PSIA-NW TECHNICAL TEAM
 

What kinds of teaching environments foster learning? How do we challenge our student’s abilities, while inspiring them to build personal ownership for their learning? And how do we do all of this with both respect and grace? The goal of this article is to identify and share what qualities are exhibited in excellent teachers today.

Three factors that determine how each of us teach are:
    1. Our personality, background and attitudes;
    2. Our own experiences as students & athletes ourselves;
    3. What we learn as students of teaching.

Understanding that we bring the above factors with us when we teach is important information. In many ways, our own personal knowledge and past experiences help us greatly as teachers-and since teaching is a very personal profession-our own personality can make us very effective as teachers. The third factor, and often the weakest, is our current study of the craft of teaching and that is where this article will focus its attention.

Teachers who are truly accomplished, have at their command, a small repertoire of very powerful structures that help them organize their content, time, space, students and themselves so that learning can happen. The following is a compilation of 10 characteristics and environments identified with highly successful teachers.

1. HAVE HIGH EXPECTATIONS: They have and articulate high expectations of all students and do not offer an impoverished curriculum to particular groups of students. They create a sense that there are no limits to possible achievement.

2. VALUE STUDENTS: They respect students as individuals and value their experiences and backgrounds. They nurture positive relationships based on a sense of common purpose.

3. BUILD ON STUDENTS. STRENGTHS: They take time to find out students’ particular gifts and strengths. They build on these strengths to help all students identify and achieve their goals.

4. ENGAGE AND MOTIVATE: They recognize that students selfconcept and motivation profoundly affect learning. They use strategies that engage student’s interests and build their confidence. They harness the emotional dimension in a positive way for learning.

5. USE AN ARRAY OF TEACHING STRATEGIES**: They focus on gathering evidence of student achievement of curriculum goals, and they use an array of strategies** to assess what students know and can do.

6. NEGOTIATE ELEMENTS OF LEARNING: They give students a say in what they learn, how they learn and how they demonstrate their learning.

7. ALLOW STUDENTS TO CHALLENGE THEIR ABILITIES: They create a learning environment where students feel safe to challenge their skills and abilities.

8. PROVIDE REGULAR AND INFORMATIVE FEEDBACK: They use informal feedback as an integral part of practice so students understand their achievements and areas needing improvement.

9. FOSTER INDEPENDENT LEARNING: They help students set goals and support increasing independence in student learning.

10. EXPLORE THE UNKNOWN: They foster a sense of excitement and adventure in learning.

Excellence in teaching is first defined with the relationships and bridges that we build with our students. Teaching and learning is a very personal craft that requires trust and respect of both teacher and student and therefore connecting with our students is an essential foundation for learning to occur. In Part II we will look at what research has identified as ‘Best Practice’ teaching strategies** and how these strategies profoundly affect learning.