Study effective teachers

For the past several weeks, I have been spending around three hours each Tuesday in two different classrooms at West Noble High School. Each teacher implements different strategies in order for their teaching to be most beneficial to their students. I have paid particular attention to how the classrooms are set up and how each teacher deals with discipline. I have also spent sometime thinking about how my classes here on campus are set up.

At West Noble High School, both of the classrooms that I am in have all of the chairs in rows facing the front of the room. One teacher allows his students to move into groups when doing their homework or even work on the floor. That room has a much different environment than the other teacher who has his students work on their homework alone and would rather that they remain quiet. Even after completing almost 11 hours of observation, I have not seen many students misbehaving. The most serious infraction has been talking in class, which was simply solved by a simple intervention by the teacher.

Inclusive Schooling is set up in a semicircle which is appropriate for the interactive, discussion-driven class that it is, but the semi-circle still directs attention to the front of the room, generally towards our professor. Introduction to Women's Studies is set up in a similar manner, but we actually manipulate the tables and chairs into a full circle for most class periods. Class discussion is led by a group of students each week; therefore, our direction doesn't need to be directed to a centralized authority at the front of the room. A circle also just seems more conducive to sharing our thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Both of my math classes are set up with rows of tables and chairs facing the front of the room, focusing on the professor, the chalkboards, and the pull-down screen. In high school, my math classes were set up with desks grouped into four; this promoted group work and made it hard just to ignore the influence of our peers. I generally prefer math classes that are set up in that manner. My Oral Communications class is set up with columns of chairs all facing the presenter, although in this class, the professor does not play as big of a role because we are all presenters at various points in the class.

In talking to others about what kinds of things make a teacher effective, I have heard that teachers need to relate the material to something practical and show students that they are confident in their knowledge of the material. A good teacher should be flexible and have presence in the classroom that indicates a balance of concern for the students' well-being and authority over the classroom. An effective teacher is also able to exhibit connection with their students. In a study of characteristics of bad teachers, one resounding answer was when teachers are not prepared for class, which is most apparent when they read directly off of Power points and exhibit a poor knowledge of the material covered in that class period. Other answers included when teachers do not return assignments for a long time and those who are poor lecturers.

I also interviewed my mother, who taught eighth grade for several years before moving on to teach high school, and now is the Director of Curriculum at Christopher Dock Mennonite High School. I wondered what kinds of things she concentrated on in order to be an effective teacher when she was teaching and if those things changed when she began to do more teacher observation in her current administrative role. She responded that she focused on knowing the subject material and one way that she increased her confidence in her knowledge base was to take graduate classes towards her masters' degree. Another thing that she still feels is important is to build relationships with students; she strove to find ways to engage students in dialogue both in and out of class. This made it easier to view students as a whole person rather than just a high school student and to respect their life journey. Now that her role includes more teacher observation, she has found that students respond well to teachers who are passionate about their subject material. She gave the example of a teacher who mainly lectures, but students can sense his passion, which in turn causes them to be more passionate about the class.

From the combination of my observation of classroom dynamics in my classes here and in my field placement and receiving input from peers and my mother on effective teachers, I am looking forward to being an effective teacher. I strive to set up my classroom so that students can learn most effectively and my expectations for them are clearly set out. I feel that I will be able to utilize the tools available to me so that I can be confident in my subject material and that I will be able to use my interest for math to show students how it is relevant in their lives.