Star educators are leaders. They are the educators who fearlessly take on diversified instructional practices that lead us beyond the limitation of traditional instruction! All star teachers have a coherent vision for what it means to teach equitably. Today's educators must have a multidimensional understanding that can flexibility conceptualize the connections between concepts.
To be effective, a skillful teacher must be versatile enough in their level of knowledge to instantaneously identify errors, comprehend non-standard metacognitive approaches, scaffold student misconceptions, effectively present the logic behind content processes, and facilitate meaningful dialogue.
A significant amount of content knowledge, skills, habits of mind, and insight are required to perform these tasks efficiently. However, this level of knowledge is not addressed in teacher preparation courses and years of experience does not necessarily lead to such capacity. Therefore, we are faced with an insufficiency to adequately present equitable pedagogy. Measures must take place by educational leaders to repair the deficit displayed in our nations instructional capacity in order to address the demands within our evolving educational system effectively. Overcoming these inadequacies, requires an overhaul of teacher preparation courses and adequate professional development opportunities.
“No school can be better than it’s teachers” (Haberman, 1995 p. 777). Rivkin, Kain, and Hanushek (2005) advise that appointing effective teachers to a class of disadvantaged children, for five years, could close the achievement gap between these students and their privileged peers.
As an educational leader, we understand the power teacher effectiveness has over student success.
We need to get to the point that professional development on instructional practices catches up to the rapid advancement in education, documented by research; ensuring that all educators have a significant amount of Horizontal Content Knowledge (HCK) and effective Specialized Content Knowledge (SCK) is key to pedagogical success (Ball et al., 2008).
The longer we enable ineffective practice to go without swift actions, our nation's achievement gap will widen.
To be effective, a skillful teacher must be versatile enough in their level of knowledge to instantaneously identify errors, comprehend non-standard metacognitive approaches, scaffold student misconceptions, effectively present the logic behind content processes, and facilitate meaningful dialogue.
A significant amount of content knowledge, skills, habits of mind, and insight are required to perform these tasks efficiently. However, this level of knowledge is not addressed in teacher preparation courses and years of experience does not necessarily lead to such capacity. Therefore, we are faced with an insufficiency to adequately present equitable pedagogy. Measures must take place by educational leaders to repair the deficit displayed in our nations instructional capacity in order to address the demands within our evolving educational system effectively. Overcoming these inadequacies, requires an overhaul of teacher preparation courses and adequate professional development opportunities.
“No school can be better than it’s teachers” (Haberman, 1995 p. 777). Rivkin, Kain, and Hanushek (2005) advise that appointing effective teachers to a class of disadvantaged children, for five years, could close the achievement gap between these students and their privileged peers.
As an educational leader, we understand the power teacher effectiveness has over student success.
We need to get to the point that professional development on instructional practices catches up to the rapid advancement in education, documented by research; ensuring that all educators have a significant amount of Horizontal Content Knowledge (HCK) and effective Specialized Content Knowledge (SCK) is key to pedagogical success (Ball et al., 2008).
The longer we enable ineffective practice to go without swift actions, our nation's achievement gap will widen.
|
|
Learning ToolsPart of ensuring that a school’s learning environment effectively empowers all learners, requires diversified educational interactions. Access to educational resources is a very simple, but overlooked fundamental component.
|