TE 807 Dana Schrauben

Initial Stance on Quality Teaching

Quality teaching is always being sought after by those in the profession, “But what makes a good
teacher? There have been many quests for the one essential trait, and they have all come up
empty-handed.” (Green, 2010). Attaining quality teaching is an ongoing process as there is not a
one size fits all approach to teaching. However, quality teaching can be described as, facilitating
student learning in such a way that real-world phenomenon is being explored while students do a
majority of the questioning and progression of their own knowledge acquisition. In a phrase,
quality teaching is giving students autonomy to be the driving forces of their growth. It pushes
students to face the unknown, and tackle their fears and reservations head on, all while
understanding that mistakes, ultimately, are cause for new learning to take place.
There have been instances in my educational career in which I was forced to explore a concept
and think very deeply about it. For example, the rule of multiplying by the reciprocal was one I
accepted as fact as a student, but did not ever understand the why behind it. Upon being forced to
reason, debate and speculate with my group members during a task focused on this rule, I found I
had attained a much deeper understanding, not only of the rule, but also of the mathematical
“why” entwined with this idea.
In a classroom which quality teaching is occurring, you will see all students are engaged in the
task at hand and questioning each other with very little to no interjections from a teacher. The
teacher in the space could be described as a guide on the side as opposed to a sage on the stage.
It is an environment in which students are encouraged and expected to analyze, amend and
revisit both their own ways of thinking, as well as, those ideas of their peers. In this space,
students are not being explicitly told answers and walked through singular solution paths or ways
of thinking. Rather, they are discovering rules and patterns, analyzing varying perspective and
mistakes to ultimately formulate a conclusion based on critical thinking, logical arguments and
through listening to others’ perspectives.
In order for quality teaching to ensue in the classroom, there needs to be both high expectations
and supports from the school. In school environments where quality teaching is taking place,
there is a very clear measure of what excellence in teaching looks like, sounds like and feels like.
It sets aside time for teachers to collaborate to improve, reflect and enhance their own
educational pedagogies in turn to best assist students in their learning. While the quest for quality
teaching may never be complete, I think overall, it encompasses taking note of those moments in
a classroom in which you can feel students fully engaged and passionate about their learning and
recreating those as much as possible.
Reference:
Green, E. (2010, March 02). Building a Better Teacher. Retrieved September 10, 2018, from
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/magazine/07Teachers-t.html