Return-Path: <nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id hA7FFqV20624; Fri, 7 Nov 2003 10:15:52 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 7 Nov 2003 10:15:52 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <20.1bdec81c.2cdd0f65@aol.com> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: MWPotts2001@aol.com To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-4EFF:2603] The quality of teaching X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas X-Mailer: AOL 5.0 for Mac sub 39 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Status: O Content-Length: 2608 Lines: 73 Colleagues, As I read this excerpt from the PEN Weekly Newsblast for November 7, 2003, I had in front of me The EFF Teaching/Learning Cycle. It seems to speak to the issue discussed below--the quality of teaching. As the article emphasizes, *To make a dent in the learning experiences for most students, educators must find a way to improve the quality of instruction in the average classroom. * (Does this mean adult ed as well as K-12?) I think so. I have witnessed the difference, a before and after sort of thing, when adult ed teachers shift their thinking from *activities* to the full cycle, adopting the T/L methodology of preparation, planning, carrying out the plan, and reflection in purposeful and contextual formats. The cycle is explained in detail at http://cls.coe.utk.edu/efftlc/ All the Best, Meta Potts, Moderator 4-EFF List THE NEW HEROES OF TEACHING From PEN Weekly Newsblast, November 7, 2003 Identifying a few excellent teachers and hoping others will copy their methods has not improved teaching in the average American classroom. Teaching, as most students experience it, has not changed for decades. Why? Because the average classroom is not affected much by what the few celebrity teachers do. To make a dent in the learning experiences for most students, educators must find a way to improve the quality of instruction in the average classroom. Even slight improvements in the average classroom, accumulated over time, would have a more profound effect on students around the country than recruiting a hundred more Escalantes into the classroom, according to a commentary by James Hiebert, Ronald Gallimore, and James W. Stigler. In their thinking, to achieve small and continuing improvements in the average classroom requires a major shift in educators' thinking -- from teachers to teaching. Rather than focusing only on evaluating the quality of teachers, the educational community must begin examining the quality of teaching. What kinds of methods are teachers using now and how could these methods be improved? Tackling this deep-seated problem begins with opening the classroom door. The process starts by learning to analyze the details of ordinary classroom instruction, with all its warts and foibles, and then learning to see more effective ways of teaching. But to do this, to even begin down this path, teachers must be willing to open their doors. They must be willing to allow others to use their lessons as data that can be examined and discussed over and over. http://www.edweek.com/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug=10hiebert.h23
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