T-Tess and What is good teaching anyhow?

In our return to school today we spent time learning more about T-Tess–the new appraisal system for teachers in Texas (replacing PDAS).  I’m actually pretty excited about it.  It really lends itself to more of a coaching model within schools, and hey…this instructional coach here is happy about it!

It is divided into 4 Domains: Planning, Instruction, Learning Environment, and Professional Practices and Responsibilities.  Read more about it here: https://teachfortexas.org/

The training was heavy on information, but had a few activities built in:

  • Small group talk about what makes a lesson an effective lesson. Teachers wrote down their thoughts individually and then had to come to a consensus as a table.
  • Rubric breakdown involving the differences between each level (Distinguished to Improvement Needed) and what that really means and looks like in the classroom.

To reflect on T-Tess, on those activities, and on learning, I want to think more about:

What is good teaching?

What does it look like?

What makes it effective?

Education is full of buzzwords, and sometimes you read articles, hear stories, talk with colleagues and it all sounds great, but what does it really look like in the classroom? What does effective teaching look like? What characteristics can you observe?

I’m working on a list that covers both individual characteristics of effective teachers as well as observable characteristics of effective teaching:

  • energetic and positive
  • encourages independent thought
  • accepts criticism
  • reflective on quality of their own teaching
  • organized and strong time management skills
  • able to use wit and humor
  • respectful and caring of all students
  • frames the lesson and closes the lesson
  • uses a variety of instructional techniques
  • lessons and assignments are planned purposefully and students can articulate their purposes when asked
  • connects learning to concrete, real-life examples
  • engages students in critical thinking, research skills, writing skills, and internet safety
  • provides frequent feedback to students on their learning
  • uses feedback from students (and other professionals) to reflect upon teaching and adjust methods

What is on your list?

I don’t believe that effective teachers just happen.  Effective teachers are working constantly to improve their practices–through continued learning, coaching cycles, feedback from students, feedback from colleagues, twitter, and more!

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#ObserveMe

Have you heard about the #ObserveMe idea? It started about a month ago, posted on a blog from Robert Kaplinsky.  I saw it on twitter and retweeted it to the other Instructional Coaches on my campus. I’m at a high school and we have 4 instructional coaches: Math, Science, ELA, and Social Studies.  Other Instructional Coaches around the district started tweeting and emailing about it as well and it has grown!

I could not be more excited about teachers being vulnerable, opening their doors, taking risks, and working on goals to improve their teaching!

Here are a few examples:

 

observe-me-example2observe-me-example1

So far, a lot of teachers are putting their goals as the instructional focus for our campus, which I think is great! We have a strong campus instructional focus this year on:

  • Small Group Purposeful Talk
  • Writing Critically
  • Framing the Lesson (we took the phrasing/terminology from the Fundamental Five).

For me, in Social Studies, this means there is more time for the students to interact with their learning (to analyze, think, process, question, create, and more) and less time for the teacher to be the giver of information.  Many of the teachers on my campus are already working well with more student focused lessons. Physically writing their goals and displaying them on the #ObserveMe sign outside their classroom door is enabling more opportunities to grow and practice. It is also giving them more feedback from others on those goals and growth.

I am so excited that teachers are embracing #ObserveMe. I love that they are making goals on what they are working on improving!  If you follow any Steve Barkley, you have probably heard him say that Teaching is a team sport and Teaching needs to be a public act.  I think #ObserveMe helps connect both of those!

What about you? Have you opened your door?