Becoming an Effective Teacher What does effective teaching

Becoming an Effective Teacher What does effective teaching mean?

Effective Teaching • Effective teaching – teaching that maximizes learning for all students ▫ It’s the essence of being a professional • Sounds simple – IT IS NOT • Requires: ▫ Hard work ▫ Careful planning ▫ Sophisticated skills

• How would you describe your “best” class – remember – best is not favorite –

Student Motivation and Effective Teaching • Motivation – the energizing force behind all forms of learning ▫ Extrinsic motivation – receive an incentive ▫ Intrinsic motivation – self motivated ▫ Powerful influence – student achievement • Both types can exist at the same time

Motivated Students • Study & learn more • Participate more in classroom learning activities • Have more positive attitudes toward school & work harder • Persist on difficult tasks and cause fewer management problems •

Motivation: Increasing Students’ Interest • • You can do a great deal as a teacher Quickly learn names Get to know your students Create learning experiences that are challenging Can reward effort and grade fairly Attracting & Focusing Students’ Attention Personalizing Content through Real World Application • Involving Students – the extent to which students are actively participating in a learning activity (questioning & group work)

Planning for Effective Teaching • Planning – Important ▫ It makes us more effective as teachers �Effective teaching doesn’t just happen ▫ Good planning help relieve the anxiety that inevitably comes with our initial teaching efforts �You will still be nervous, but planning does help ease your nerves

Planning for Effective Teaching • Good teaching begins with planning �Decisions, decisions ▫ Select topics �What is important ▫ Standards ▫ Specify Learning Objectives (Targets) �What you want students to know or be able to do �Bloom’s Taxonomy

Planning for Effective Teaching • Prepare and Organize Learning Activities ▫ Creating/finding high quality examples or problems to illustrate the topic ▫ Sequencing the examples to be the most meaningful to students �High quality examples – representations of content that ideally have all the information in them that students need to learn a topic • Create Assessments ▫ Assessments – process we use to gather information and make decision about students’ learning • Effective assessments answers 2 questions: ▫ 1. How will I know if my students have mastered my learning objective? ▫ 2. How can I use assessment to increase my students’ learning?

Planning for Effective Teaching • Ensure Instructional Alignment ▫ The match between learning objectives, learning activities and assessments ▫ Essential component • Planning in a Standard-Based Environment ▫ Standards – statements that describe what student should know or be able to do at the end ▫ Essentially statements of learning objectives – written with varying degrees of specificity