{"id":764,"date":"2019-04-01T20:58:13","date_gmt":"2019-04-01T20:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/morelan\/?page_id=764"},"modified":"2023-09-06T19:08:10","modified_gmt":"2023-09-06T19:08:10","slug":"effective-teaching","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/morelan\/effective-teaching\/","title":{"rendered":"Effective Teaching"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In 2019-2020, many districts around the state conducted book studies of Mike Schmoker’s Focus – Elevating the Essentials to Radically Improve Student Learning<\/em><\/strong>.* Schmoker’s core message \u2014 simplify, simplify, simplify \u2014 is one I enthusiastically endorse. Former Arkansas Education Commissioner, Johnny Key, was a strong supporter of this approach as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Chapter 3, Schmoker outlines the Basic Elements of Effective Teaching<\/strong>. This link<\/a> will take you to the presentation slides I’ve used for workshops on this topic, providing a more in-depth look at these ideas. None of these elements are necessarily new or revolutionary … in fact, just the opposite! But together they form the kind of sound basis for classroom instruction that we seem to have forgotten over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you’ve reviewed Schmoker’s seven components of effective teaching, a great way to check your understanding is to watch this short video<\/a>, and see how many of them you can identify in action. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of practical application, here’s a Classroom Observation Form<\/a> that reflects Schmoker’s “basic elements” (in section one). In addition, the next two sections reflect Domains 2 and 3 of Danielson’s TESS model (and the rating system reflects TESS as well). This form can be a handy tool when seeking to implement both Danielson’s and Schmoker’s systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note: By accessing the Classroom Observation Form through this blog, permission is granted for your personal use only. Rights to create additional copies for sharing may be purchased through this link<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reference<\/strong>s:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arkansas Department of Education (2020). Teacher Excellence and Support System (TESS). <\/em>http:\/\/dese.ade.arkansas.gov\/divisions\/educator%20effectiveness\/educator-support-development\/teacher-excellence-and-support-system-tess<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schmoker, M. (2018). Focus: Elevating the Essentials to Radically Improve Student Learning<\/em> (2nd ed., p. 92). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disclaimer: Please note that I don’t necessarily agree with all of Schmoker’s conclusions in this book. For example, he’s somewhat dismissive of differentiated instruction, RTI, innovation, and technology … all of which can be highly effective if<\/strong> properly applied (which, unfortunately, is a huge “if”). Plus his thoughts on cold-calling students seems to run contrary to brain research on the importance of reducing cognitive stress for low-income students. That having been said, however, his core concepts about simplification and focused instruction are well worth considering.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2019-2020, many districts around the state conducted book studies of Mike Schmoker’s Focus – Elevating the Essentials to Radically Improve Student Learning.* Schmoker’s core message \u2014 simplify, simplify, simplify \u2014 is one I enthusiastically endorse. Former Arkansas Education Commissioner, Johnny Key, was a strong supporter of this approach as well. In Chapter 3, Schmoker […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":96,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-764","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/morelan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/morelan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/morelan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/morelan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/96"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/morelan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=764"}],"version-history":[{"count":32,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/morelan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2839,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/morelan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/764\/revisions\/2839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/morelan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}