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, 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