Deliberately Improving Teaching Ability

An article over at Study Hacks about the traits and practises of good teachers entitled “On Great Teachers and the Remarkable Life: A Deliberate Practise Case Study“. Reporting on the Teach for America program and an associated article in the Atlantic called  “What Makes a Great Teacher“, there are a couple of things that I found interesting. Some of them were specific techniques such as:

• getting students to write answers onto cards that are simultaneously held aloft so that no student is embarrassed if their answer is incorrect, but also the students who are struggling can be noted by the teacher and given extra support,
• a variation on peer learning that splits the class into small groups to work on new material – with the role of team leader frequently rotating. The aim of this is to build upon the natural tendency of students to listen to their peers
• passing an answer to a question to the teacher on the way out of the door so that there is another opportunity to see which students might need more support.

Just as important were the traits that are identified as most important for high-performing teachers. High performing teachers are those who:

• set big goals for their students,
• continuously look for ways to improve their effectiveness through evaluation & modification,
• obsessively focus class time on student learning,
• exhaustively & purposefully plan,
• relentlessly work towards goals (no matter how hard it becomes),
• keep students involved in the process.

It suggests to me that by cultivating these traits as instructors, by deliberately focussing on ourselves, our abilities, our methods, and the structure of our classes, we can’t help but succeed.