Kass: What Makes Great Teachers Tick?

Premium content from Business First by Linda Stern Kass

(Original Publication Date: Friday, January 13, 2012)

The economic condition of a city, state or nation directly correlates with the level of schooling of its citizens. A recent analysis by Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce found more than 60 percent of U.S. jobs will require post-secondary education by 2018, yet 25 percent of Ohioans have a four-year degree – 4 percentage points below the national average.

If we hope to increase the number of students performing college-level work, effective learning and teaching in our primary and secondary schools matters a great deal.

Students with the most effective teachers learn three times as much as those with the least effective, according to several national studies. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan thinks finding talented teachers is more important than reducing pupil-teacher ratios. Public education reform advocate Michelle Rhee, when asked what five factors are most essential to a child’s education, answers there is really just one: "Have a good teacher three years in a row."

There’s no question a great teacher can make a huge difference in a student’s achievement. This is the first of three columns that will look closely at effective teaching. While the focus of this column is on teaching as a complicated and human art, subsequent columns will examine the challenges to effective teaching and the culture necessary to support learning.

In simple terms, the quality of a teacher is described as the extent to which he or she can communicate knowledge and inspire students to learn. But what does this mean? Can we drill down to understand what makes up an effective teacher and what effective teaching looks like?

Bill Gates was intrigued enough by this question that his foundation is funding a project, at a tune of $335 million over five years, that examines whether aspects of effective teaching – classroom management, clear objectives, diagnosing and correcting common student errors – can be systematically measured. The effort involves collecting and studying videos of more than 13,000 lessons taught by 3,000 elementary school teachers in seven urban school districts. Many agree we need a better sense of what that art of teaching looks like and what feeds into its success.

Seventh-grade social studies teacher Tim Dove was the 2011 Ohio Teacher of the Year. When recognized by the state Board of Education, Dove’s efforts were said to have embodied the motto of Worthington schools where he is a 30-year classroom veteran: Absolute Excellence, Exponential Impact. Dove was one of the architects on the "dream team" that helped create Phoenix Middle School, a learning environment that would be their ideal school, one that is right for kids. Dove and his colleagues created a school with a lengthened day that includes mastery grading, a wellness program, parent forums, an independent reading program, a global cultures class, a student forum, advisory groups and discovery days.

Dove has been described as passionate, exceptional, someone with a natural desire to learn and the effortless ability to lead people. He wants to teach children to develop an understanding of who they are and how their relationship with the world impacts where they live. Dove and his brother grew up with expectations to learn about civil rights, social justice and global perspectives and how we can relate them to our everyday life. He tries to inspire his students and his own children to approach life with passion and perspective.

"The classroom must feel safe to allow students to feel comfortable in risking their ideas," Dove says. "I want my kids to risk their ideas and their vocabulary in their writing as well."

In many ways, an effective teacher is, first, a master learner who has intellectual capacity and intrinsic curiosity for knowledge combined with the insight and empathy that allow him or her to know how a student feels and thinks. Subject knowledge alone doesn’t make an effective teacher, so skills preparation through internship is a critical second ingredient. Communication skills, organizing a classroom and presenting lesson plans, maintaining discipline and collaborating with colleagues are skills that must be modeled and practiced.

Finally, the environment weighs into the effectiveness of a teacher, from the school’s mission, to the resources and structures and policies that support the teacher in the classroom, to the community and families, to what the student brings to the relationship in that classroom.

Teaching is skills, knowledge and disposition, says Rebecca Kantor, former director of the School of Teaching and Learning at Ohio State University.

"We almost have to look into the black box of teaching because it seems like a mystery," Kantor says. "Watching the very best teachers, the task seems effortless. Yet, each day is different and improvisation is embedded in their work. There are many strategies and considerations the teacher orchestrates in the classroom, and most of us lack the appreciation for all the buckets he or she draws from that build successful teaching. Each teacher must find his or her own way."