Liuone's+Session


 * 101 Tools and Techniques to improve Teacher Quality**
 * March 24, 2011**
 * 1) 1 - Why do we need good teachers?
 * 2) 2- How do we know a good teacher when we see one?

Key area for teachers to be considered as a profession we must;
 * Have a body of knowledge
 * Be able and willing to manage our own ranks; be able to differentiate between good and bad evaluations.

What factor is a strong predictor of student achievement? Class size? Classroom heterogeneity? School resource?

It's the teacher!

Novice teachers will struggle the most. Affirm that it takes anywhere between 4-10 years before a teacher is fully qualified and may plateau.

Years 1-3 + Years >3 - Grades specific * between year 3-10 plateau.

Three ways to solve having ineffective teachers: 1. Don't hire ineffective teachers; evaluate your hiring protocols and processes 2. Help them to grow and develop. 3. If they cannot get better over their first 3 years, get rid of them.

If we were to remove ineffective teachers out of the classrooms ALONE, our schools would improve 7-8 % growth in achievement.

Classroom management and teachers interest with their students are probably the two most important factors in student success.

What factor is strong predictor of student experience?
 * experience
 * teacher level of education
 * teacher certification

While important neither of the above is correct. In fact, 97% refers to other teacher characteristics.

Discussed NBCT and its correlation between teacher effectiveness. Lecturer mentioned that it has marginal impact to teacher effectiveness.

Verbal ability & effective teachers.


 * Eliminate obstacles
 * Clear intention
 * A conversation
 * Engaging style
 * Story telling
 * Good questions
 * Student talk


 * Golden nugget:** Three years of having ineffective teachers can have significant impact to the student learning by 30-50%. Note to self; may need to be sure we look at our student's enrollment to ensure that is not happening.


 * Teacher as a person:
 * Used cooperative learning
 * gave great tests
 * maintained control of the classroom
 * had a major in mathematics
 * cared about me
 * made learning fun
 * pushed to succeed.

The teacher as a person
 * Caring
 * Fairness and respect
 * Attitude
 * Reflective Practice

Qualities of effective teachers Background - pre-requisite and the person Job Responsibilities and practices - classroom management & instruction, implementing instruction, organizing for instruction, and monitoring student progress and potential.


 * March 25, 2011**

Debriefed yesterday's session and highlighted "gems" from the day.


 * Why teachers leave the profession?** Lack of support they receive from administration and the burden they feel when things are not working. In addition, compensation is not very "rewarding" for new teachers.

Teachers need to feel that they are valued and appreciated. Instead of sharing what is not working in our profession, we ought to be sharing why we got into teaching and the highlights of being a teacher.


 * Focus Tool: Interviewing and Observing for caring**

Classrom management and organization: Proactive discipline, maintain momentum, monitor and respond, teach students desirable behaviors, high student engagement, and positive respectful, and supportive.

Reviewed video clips and evaluated interview: Group rated her at a 1.5 of a 3.0 scale. We based on our decision on Albert Clipper failed to provide specifics in her response, did not share some of the strategies she used or how she was able to measure her effectiveness.

What is the purpose of the observation? What is the tone of the interaction? (Positive, neutral or negative)

Its difficult to quantify caring, so what conclusion could you draw into the data we see provided in handout?

What doesn't work with interviews? Most interviewers make their quick decision within the first 3-5 minutes: 74% (3-5 minutes), 17% (6 - 60 minutes), and 9% (> 1 hr.). What does work well?
 * Uninstructed interviews
 * Yes/no questions
 * Situational Questions
 * Confirming first impressions
 * Good bones (structured interview)
 * Good questions
 * Good answers (rubric anchored around **planning, teaching, and assessing**)
 * Good note-taking
 * Effective training
 * Planning and Organizing**
 * Plan with the end in mind......
 * Thinking about instruction
 * Planning for instruction
 * example used was a novice teacher is planning for the day or week while a seasoned teacher will be planning for the entire school year.

Maximizing instructional Time
 * mastery curriculum - How is instructional time spent?
 * organic curriculum - Non-instructional activities 30%
 * and Enrichment curriculum - Instructional activities 68%

Why focus on essential knowledge and skills? 20% vs. 4% based on content versus cognizant levels. Curriculum (standards - What we intend for students to learn) - Assessment (How students demonstrate their learning) - Instruction (What students engage in to learn). Implementing Instruction Questioning techniques Analysis Chart
 * Content coverage is a significant predictor of student achievement
 * Content and cognitive level of instrucion explains more of the differences in class achievement than content alone.
 * Effective instructional strategies - good pedigree
 * Clear communication
 * Student engagement
 * Questioning skills

Monitoring Progress and Potential IF teacher is 50%, then student is 50%. If the teacher develops his/her skill to 84% then the student will increase to 60%. is this worth the development of teachers? Absolutely! Why do we assess? Do we assess too much? Some people believe we are. Based on assessments, we make inferences and on inferences we take action. We take action and provide feedback.
 * Test - teach - test
 * Feedback
 * Expect a lot! Have high standards, you'll get results.....be surprised by them.
 * Golden nugget:** If they (assessments) are not made well, we are making bad decisions. Caution: Poorly made assessments lead to erroneous inferences.....
 * 1) Determine needs
 * 2) create specific learning goals based on pre-assessment
 * 3) Create and implement teaching and learning strategies

Statement of an indtended outcome ofy our wori: Student learning

Distinct from strategies

Benefits: Provides focus and direction of the student's progress, provides a student baseline data and plan for improvement, focuses on students and their individual growth.
 * What do yoiu see as the benefits and challenges of student achievement goal setting?**

Challenges: Now you have the data, what do we do with it? It requires a lot of work.