REVISED STANCE ON QUALITY TEACHING 1

Revised Stance on Quality Teaching

Melissa Anderson

Michigan State University

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Revised Stance on Quality Teaching

Over the course of the semester we have studied what quality teaching looks like in the

21st century classroom. This stance on teaching may look very different from teaching of the past

as teachers today strive to incorporate as much technology and interaction between students into

their lessons as possible. These interactions bridge the gap between school and the workplace,

where students will be expected to be able to effectively communicate and work with others and

be able to use the plethora of technology that this generation benefits from. Quality teaching is

something that all teachers strive to achieve but only a few do. This level of teaching involves a

high level of engagement and growth shown by students, students actively participating in the

lesson and being prepared for class, technology being integrated when applicable, lessons being

relatable to students lives, having strong classroom management skills, being able to show your

students that you care about them, and a high level of reflection by teachers. All of these things

make a quality teacher, but what each of these concepts looks like may look and sound different

in different classroom settings and with different teachers.

The first thing teachers worry about and the backbone of quality teaching is the

teaching itself. Teachers are so often questioned about choices through evaluations that it may be

difficult for teachers to be able to make firm decisions about the best way to engage our students

in a lesson and ensure that they learn the material necessary and show knowledge growth by the

end of the year. Growth to me is that they may start out knowing the basics of a concept at the

beginning of the year and make some sort of movement towards mastery of that subject. As

Henry Giroux said in his article Teachers as Transformatory Intellectuals, More specifically, the

narrowing of curricula choices to a back-to-basics format and the introduction of lock-step, time-on-task

pedagogies operate from the theoretically erroneous assumption that all students can learn from the same
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materials, classroom instructional techniques and modes of evaluation, teachers are struggling against a

pushback from politicians who are trying to standardize education into a one size fits all community. But,

that is not the case. Students are real people who learn differently from one another, they have bad days

and good days that affect their focus and energy level. Quality teaching involves navigating these

different learning styles in order to create quality and engaging lessons and activities for students to learn

from and work with the material, not just figure out the how to of the standardized test like Giroux says.

Quality teachers differentiate lessons in order for all our students to achieve and grow to the best of their

abilities and become more educated people and not just robots who can repeat the answers to a

standardized test.

Quality teachers in the 21st century need to embrace and integrate a certain set of skills into their

classrooms. 21st century skills include creating innovative problem solvers, teaching them to think

critically, being resourceful learners, knowing how to collaboratively communicate with peers, and have

digital fluency. Technology integration is a big key. Students are digital natives and most students are very

fluent in technology. This is how they communicate with their friends and is a huge part of their lives, so

teachers need to incorporate these skills into their curriculum. We need to use the most up to date

technologies and be fluent in it ourselves in order to be a quality 21st century teacher. We also need to

think of activities were students have the opportunity to problem solve, communicate, and think critically

with their peers. Les Foltos discusses this in his TEDxTalk Peer Coaching-21st Century Teaching Skills.

He says that we need to change the way that teachers teach and kids learnthey need to have critical

thinking skills and the ability to collaborate more collectively and they also need creativity. We need to

emphasize these concepts in our lessons and our classrooms to get students more comfortable with them

in the future. This is vital to their success as individuals in this new and innovative century where
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students will be expected to be fluent in these skills. Quality teachers not only value students education

will they are in their classroom but also how teachers may be preparing them for the future.

This class reaffirmed my belief that relatability is one of the most important things that

quality teachers possess. We need to show students the value in what they are doing in their

room. What is the point of it all to their future lives? Educators need to show students that what

they are doing in the classroom will be worthwhile in the future and is teaching them a skill that

employers want and will lead to success. Making lessons relatable and fun for students increases

engagement and excitement for your class. I believe that relatable lessons transpire into the

caring aspects of teaching. If you show students the value behind it, and teach them why its

important to know or be able to do, then they dont think youre trying to trick them. It becomes

that you care about them and their future. This can be as simple as making a reference to

something that students are always talking about (i.e. a band or television show) in contrast to

what you are talking about in class. If students think that you care about them, then they are more

willing to follow you wherever you take them in their educational journey. In the video What

makes a good teacher from week one of the class, the students in the video discuss how quality

teachers make learning fun, allow them to work with their peers and encourage us to do

better. These things are a key part to making a lesson relatable. If they are having fun with a

lesson and engaged and gaining knowledge from the lesson through fun, interactive, group

activities, you are teaching students more than you know. This is quality teaching.

Quality teachers possess all of these things and exhibit them every day in their classrooms. They

make kids curious about the lesson through demonstration and questioning. Flipping the classroom or

lecturing isnt enough, they make kids want to go home and still continue to talk about the lesson.

Ramsey Musallam says the three rules to get this spark that quality teachers have are curiosity comes
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first, embrace the mess, practice reflection. We need to make students curious about what they are

learning, and continue to fuel that drive for education. Quality teaching may be messy, loud, and out of

control, which may make some teachers scared to try certain activities. But in my experience, days where

I feel my class is completely out of control are usually days that my students remember and I walk away

feeling like they are my best lessons. And finally, the piece I havent discussed yet, reflection.

Reflection is a way for both teachers and students to think about the lesson and learn from it.

Students should be reflecting on the lesson to see what they took away from it and what they learned that

day. Teachers reflect on lessons in order to better their teaching practices from day to day and year to year.

Reflection is key to being a quality educator as these reflections or peer coaching sessions can allow you

to think past self-deprecation and into improving your practice for the future. According to A Definition

of Peer Coaching, Pam Robbins confirms that these reflection times and peer coaching meetings should

not be in connection to evaluations or teacher performance, merely they are meant for teachers to work

together to reflect on current practices; expand, refine, and build new skills; share ideas; teach

one another; conduct classroom research; or solve problems in the workplace. These meetings

and reflective times are times for teachers to grow and develop through discussions with one

another and to grow their own teaching methods and learn from other quality teacher colleagues.

So in conclusion, quality teaching involves many different aspects that teachers need to

balance in order to create the perfect storm of teaching. These include making lessons engaging

and relatable, creating curious learners, preparing students with 21st century jobs, teaching them

critical thinking skills and learning to collaborate with one another. Quality teachers reflect on

their practices and are trying to continually improve their practices and truly care about their

students. It is through these practices that we can truly be called quality teachers and improve the

quality of our curriculum and the development and learning of our students.
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Works Cited

Foltos, Les. Peer Coaching- 21st Century Teacher Skills. TEDxManitoba. (2011). Retrieved
December 14, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXtT7p0UJ_U
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Giroux, H. (1985) Teachers as transformatory intellectuals. Social Education, 49(5), 376-379.

http://documents.mx/documents/teachers-as-transformatory-intellectuals-by-henry-giroux.html

Musallam, Ramsey. 3 rules to spark learning TED (2013). Retrieved December 14, 2016, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsYHqfk0X2A

Ramirez, Sheri (2014). What Makes a Good Teacher.Retrieved December 14, 2016, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEYHLNbC7X8

Robbins, Pam. Chapter 1. A Definition of Peer Coaching. Retrieved December 14, 2016, from
http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/61191149/chapters/A-Definition-of-Peer-Coaching.aspx