The Complexity of Teaching

We have all undoubtedly encountered those teachers that seem to have a knack for really connecting to kids and run classrooms we would love to clone. Some do it with humor, some are more stoic, some have bustling rooms with lots of physical movement, some keep the kids in the chairs; but they all have one thing in common - kids learn.

So what is it that makes these environments rich examples of the best teachers? Well, it isn't just one thing - teaching is complex. It's complex because we are dealing with human behavior, and as one teacher put it "people are messy". What works for one teacher might not work for another - there are just too many variables; course content, class climate, teacher and student personalities, even time of day.

I think Marzano Research Laboratory (MRL) has hit on something that makes sense - teaching is complex, so let your model of instruction be complex - or "robust" as they put it. The key is that every teacher doesn't have to do everything, just get a little better at things in the model they think will help their kids. They have a nice way to look at the broad expanse of what teaching entails and have put it into the 10 design questions many of you are familiar with from the Art and Science of Teaching:

1. What will I do to establish and communicate learning goals, track student progress, and celebrate success?
2. What will I do to help students effectively interact with new knowledge?
3. What will I do to help students practice and deepen their understanding of new knowledge?
4. What will I do to help students generate and test hypotheses about new knowledge?
5. What will I do to engage students?
6. What will I do to establish or maintain classroom rules and procedures?
7. What will I do to recognize and acknowledge adherence and lack of adherence to classroom rules and procedures?
8. What will I do to establish and maintain effective relationships with students?
9. What will I do to communicate high expectations for all students?
10. What will I do to develop effective lessons organized into a cohesive unit?

So, how do we expect teachers to be proficient on all 10 design questions?  The answer is -we don't! As has been stated in previous blogs, it takes about 10 years (or 10,000 hours) to master anything, so our focus should be on continuous improvement on just a few of the myriad of things that make good teaching.  I believe this is why supervision models that rely on checklists of static criteria are insufficient to really capture the complexity of teaching - and improve teacher performance.  Rather, we have the opportunity to try and capture a model of quality teaching behaviors and let teachers focus on incremental improvement. 

We then open the door for truly differentiated professional development - teachers can focus on the areas identified for improvement.  Rather than train the entire faculty on the use of physical movement in the classroom, why not train those that have identified a need in this area?  Let those that already have good movement and transitions improve on other areas of the model based on their needs.

It's like the old adage - "How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time."  Why not have an elephant that represents quality teaching and improve instruction through small, yet intentional bites?

Toby