What is effective teaching... Post 1

What does effective teaching look like?

As the school year begins to wind down, and the summer begins, we have been discussing how the year went.  For us, this really begins with whether we are engaging in effective teaching all year round.  Effective teaching applies to not only our courses, but also the workshops and institutes and any professional development we are a part of.

So the question is what is effective teaching?  Our main cornerstone in the Math Center, is that effective teaching is about asking the right questions and providing the right atmosphere in the classroom.  An effective teacher knows that in order to engage a student, you cannot just show them how to answer a problem or to solve an equation, but that you must probe that students thinking so that they answer the question or solve the equation.

Rather than give my own definition, I asked our faculty to share what they thought.  For the next couple of weeks, I will be posting what they see as being an effective teacher.  Today, however, I thought I would share two important pieces of advice given to me as a new teacher.

“The person holding the pencil is the person doing all the work.” 

All too often, when a student asks me a question, I find myself reaching for a pencil to work out the problem.  In my head, I am thinking we are working together, however as we work through the problem, I am the only one writing.  One time as this was happening; the lead teacher walked by and made this statement.  At first, I have to admit, I was little taken aback.  However, I put down my pencil (and sat on my hands) and asked guiding questions instead.  It was crazy, but the student became more confident and actually went from a struggling student, to the one who generated the formula first.  Every time I pick up a pencil, I hear this in my head and put it down, and instead ask the student to work through it.

“Never say anything a student can say.”

This has been said over and over again.  This might be the most singularly important piece of advice ever given to me.  It has revolutionized the way I think about teaching.  However, this is the hardest advice to follow.  I find myself constantly rethinking how to approach a concept without telling.  Asking ten questions to a student to have them come up with the answer, when I just want to say here it is!  It’s hard to untrain myself, to question rather than tell.  To come up with lessons that do not start with “here is how we…” and change them to “how would you…”  The more I speak with other teachers, the more I hear how easy it is to fall back in the “I do, we do, you do” model of teaching when you are stuck.  However, I also hear how much more rewarding it is to have your students develop their own understanding, it sticks when they get it much more than we they are told.  

Every couple of days, I will post advice from our faculty and what they see as effective teaching.  Please post your questions or what you think effective teaching is as well!