Effective Teacher Training
Dr. Karla J. Smith
Who is an effective teacher?
Prepared
Recognizes students learn in different ways
Clear and fair expectations
Positive attitude
Patient
Assesses teaching regularly
Adjusts teaching strategies to fit students and materials
Manages class
well
Ongoing monitoring of students’ learning
Interactive learner centered
Effective means
Dictionary definition:
“successful in producing a desired or intended result”
Synonyms: useful, helpful, valuable
We need to ask teachers, “What do you think is effective teaching?”
Then ask ourselves, “What is effective teacher training that enables teachers to be successful?”
Teacher Training
Many practical considerations when arranging
Need to fit the context:
Pre-service and In-service Training
Pre-service: Focused, Practical
New concepts and presenting new materials
In-service: Focused, Practical, On-going, Tailored to each teacher’s needs
Needs Assessment
What are teachers’ perceptions of effective teaching?
What do they feel they need to learn
NEED TO HAVE MATERIALS PREPARED
NEED TO HAVE MATERIALS PREPARED
NEED TO MAKE MATERIALS�
Teachers need
Basic understanding of teaching and learning theories and how to apply them
Teachers need to know
When doing teacher training need to teach the: how to do - using the what
The What
- Ties to the How [method]
Teachers need to learn and apply
For themselves
Critical thinking including Problem solving, Communication, Collaboration
and then to teach their students
“Students must also learn the essential skills for success in today’s world, such as critical thinking, problem solving, communication and collaboration”. Partnership for 21st Century Skills Framework (2011)
Teachers need to know and implement
Classroom management: structures and routines
Cognitive development and socioemotional skills
Teachers need to learn
Interactive and Learner centered
Move away from teacher as the only one with the knowledge
Understand how to actively involve the students in learning; teacher-student and student-student interactions
Use techniques such as open-ended questions, discussion, role-playing, investigating, creating, small group work
Spaced or distributed learning (repeating new concepts and practicing over time)
Teachers need to learn and implement
Language and education in multilingual settings
Most places today are multilingual
During Teacher Training
Teacher Training
�Have Fun Indoors�
�Have Fun Outdoors�
Materials
MATERIALS
KNOW HOW TO STORE AND TAKE CARE OF THEM
Training
Monitoring and Evaluation
Formative (daily and weekly)
Summative (end of the term or semester)
How to measure their students’ learning on an ongoing basis – to know if they are learning and what are they learning;
if not, what needs to change, what support is needed?
Teacher Review and reflection of Classroom practices What am I used to doing? What went well today? What do I need to change?
Monitoring and Evaluation
Monitoring and Evaluation
Monitoring and Evaluation��For on-going teacher development
Teacher trainers need to visit and observe teachers
School leaders need to observe the teaching and learning process
Observations lead to focused, specific in-service
Classroom Observation tools (TEACH tool is an example)
TEACH
TEACH is a free classroom observation tool.
Developed by a World Bank team for low and middle-income countries
Holistically measures what happens in the classroom, not just time on task learning but also teaching practices.
Can be adapted to fit your own context
�Challenges�
Training the trainers
Finding the right people
Need for commitment, patience and ability
Training on the job
when possible
Timing of training too short many times
New Concepts and Materials to be learned
Challenges�Time
Requiring teachers to make major changes in how they were taught, in their behaviour, needs time
Teachers need to see new methods can work to improve students’ learning
Making time to practice new methods must be done daily during the Teacher training with feedback and help given
Caution: be careful of teachers sharing ‘old’ ways and reinforcing what is not good practice.
�Challenges�
Working and learning together
Classroom practices are different, just like people are different
“Frequently, the result is that teachers either assimilate teaching strategies into their current repertoire with little substantive change or they reject those suggested changes altogether.” W. R. Penuel, B. J. Fishman et al.
Trainers and Teachers �Reflecting
During training and also in their classroom practice they need to think and talk about:
What went well?
What were the challenges?
What do they think needs to change in what they do?
TEAM
Teacher expectations and pressures are so high it takes a team of teachers and school leaders to meet the needs of all students. Teachers are among those professionals that face the greatest amount of pressure in their work. At present, teachers are being pressured mainly by their work, role conflict, role ambiguity, relationships with students, relationships with colleagues, work overload, long working hours, and high work intensity.
(Yu, Wang, Zhai, & Dai, 2015, p. 708)
GREAT REWARDS:��STUDENTS LEARNING!�
Kurami
Terima kasih
Sapa rau
Thank you
Sanggibu a Salamat
Kounsapatan
Obrigada
References
Partnership for 21st Century Skills
http://www.21stcenturyskills.org.
Ethnologue
https://www.ethnologue.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/how-many-languages-map-hires-title.png
TEACH
W. R. Penuel, B. J. Fishman, R. Yamaguchi, and L. P. Gallagher, “What Makes Professional Development Effective? Strategies That Foster Curriculum Implementation,” American Educational Research Journal 44, no. 4 (2007): 929
Yu, X., Wang, P., Zhai, X., Dai, H., & Yang, Q. (2015). The effect of work stress on job burnout among teachers: The mediating role of self-efficacy. Social Indicators Research, 122(3), 701–708. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-014-0716-5