Effective Teaching

EFFECTIVE TEACHING

·                What does it mean to be a qualified teacher?

Being a qualified teacher means you care about your students and are continuously finding new ways to engage and motivate your students.  Just having a degree does not make you a qualified teacher.  Being a qualified teacher means you create your lesson plans in a way that reach all of your students.  You are continuously finding new ways to stimulate your students and ensuring that they grasp the material.  It is not enough to just care about test scores. 

·                How do you assess qualification?

Typically, qualifications are assessed based on a students’ grades regarding the work that they complete.  However, I feel a more efficient way to assess qualification would be to observe a student and teacher interacting within the classroom.  It is important to see the different ways a teacher tries to reach his/her students through differentiated instruction.  It is important to utilize many different strategies within the classroom.  Not every student can be reached in the same way, therefore a qualified teacher will do whatever is necessary to do so.  A great teacher will do whatever his/her student needs in order to grasp the material.

·                What is good teaching and how is it measured?

A great teacher designs his/her lesson plan to reach each and every student.  It Is important to differentiate your lesson plan so that all students can understand the material.  Each student grasps the materials at different times.  Not all students are on the same working level as one another.  Good teaching should be measured on the way the student understands the material based on the way the teacher presents it.  Work should be tailored to fit the needs of each student, no matter what their learning level is.

·                How do qualified teachers make a difference? What knowledge/skills do they have that unqualified teachers do not have?

Qualified teachers make each and every student feel important within the classroom.  They show empathy and understanding to all of their students.  Qualified teachers present information in a way that all students can grasp the material.  They are also continually learning new ways to engage their students and making sure that their students stay on task.  Qualified teachers use lower and higher level thinking skills and apply them to strategies being taught within the classroom.  Unqualified teachers do not care about the needs of their students and do not differentiate their instructional strategies.  As a result, many of their students will fall behind or fail.  These students are less engaged and can easily fall behind.