Donald R. Cruickshank,
Ohio State University, Columbus Deborah Bainer Jenkins,
State University of West Georgia Kim K. Metcalf,
Monroe County Community Schools
ISBN: 0072982071 Copyright year: 2006
Book Preface
The decision about what content to include in this book on teaching derives from several sources: work done at Educational Testing Service (ETS) to determine what a competent beginning teacher should know and be able to do; work done by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards to determine what a competent experienced teacher should know and be able to do; the advice of persons engaged in the preparation of beginning teachers; and our personal experiences as teacher educators and scholars.
What is a competent beginning teacher? Here we looked at both the recommendations made by ETS researcher Reynolds (1992) and the ETS Praxis III standards.
Reynolds reviewed the research literature on learning to teach and on the act of teaching itself. She concludes that on entering their first classroom, novices must have a thorough knowledge of what they will teach, a desire to find out about their students and their school, a solid grasp of instructional methodology, and a firm intention to reflect on their teaching actions and the behavior of their students.
Soon thereafter, they should be able to plan and teach lessons that help students relate new learning to prior understanding and experience, develop rapport with students, arrange the physical and social conditions of the classroom in ways conducive to learning, assess student learning using a variety of measurement tools and then adapt instruction accordingly, and show improvement in their ability to reflect on teaching.
The Praxis III™ standards, or criteria set up for beginning teachers, require novices to become familiar with students’ background, knowledge, and experience; articulate clear and appropriate learning goals; understand the connections among the content to be learned, content learned previously, and future content; be able to select teaching methods, activities, and materials appropriate to lesson goals and students; be able to create or select proper evaluation strategies; create a class climate that promotes fairness; establish and maintain rapport with students; communicate challenging learning expectations; establish and maintain consistent standards of student behavior; ensure a safe environment conducive to learning; make instructional goals and procedures clear; make content clear to students; encourage students to extend their thinking; monitor student understanding and provide corrective feedback; use time effectively; reflect on how well instructional goals have been met; demonstrate a sense of efficacy; build relationships with others; and communicate with parents and caregivers.
What is a competent experienced teacher? The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) was established to set “high and rigorous” standards for experienced teachers. In order to do so, committees were set up composed mostly of distinguished teachers and complemented by experts in child development, teacher education, and subject matter specialists. Subsequently, standards have been developed for early childhood, middle childhood, early adolescent, and adolescent and young adult teachers.
For example, the standards for teachers of middle childhood (7 to 12 year-olds) expect teachers to know and/or be able to do the following: understand their students’ abilities, interests, and aspirations; make sound decisions about what is important for students to learn; establish a caring, inclusive, stimulating, and safe community of learners; help learners respect differences; develop and use a rich, varied collection of learning materials; help learners integrate knowledge across subject fields and understand how what they study relates to the world around them; know and be able to use a range of generic instructional alternatives so that students are provided with multiple paths to learn; understand the strengths and weaknesses of different assessment methods; create positive relationships with caregivers; regularly reflect on the quality and effectiveness of their practice; and work to improve schools and to advance education knowledge and practice.
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2006 McGraw-Hill Higher Education