Lesson 2

This lesson is about teachers and teaching as well. We were to listen to a podcast by Anita on the importance of teachers and answer the questions that followed.

Think of a teacher you had who influenced you. What made this person a good teacher?

When I think of a teacher that has made an impact on my life. My U.S History teacher Dr. Mayes pops in my head. I reflect back on the days in her classroom where she not only taught me and my peers the text but she taught us the necessary skills needed to make sound decisions and grow into young productive adults. She encouraged us to never give up and set life goals which includes those easily obtainable and challenging.

Students often identify teachers who were not very personable or approachable as among their most effective teachers. Is it possible to be personable, caring and effective? When would it be a liability to be personable or approachable? When would it be an advantage?

Yes it is possible to be personable, caring and effective. It would become a liability when either the teacher or student lose focus of their roles, which can easily be done if clear intentions and direct respect is not set at the beginning. It is an advantage when the foundation is set and everyone gain the outcomes expected from the relationship.

Podcast questions:

What does Anita describe as the goal of educational psychology?

Anita describe to go beyond the personal experience and study to teaching and learning systematically and scientifically. When teaching you have to find the best possible and most effective way of teaching so that the students are capturing what is expected and perform well classwork and also tests.

Anita mentions some compelling research. What was the research and how did it affect the students?

During a study in Tennessee studies show that when researchers followed students in grade 3-5 for 3 years they found that the students performed at 96 percentile when taught by effective teachers. When on the other hand students that were taught by less effective teachers in the same grade taking the same math test scored only at 44 percentile. This goes to show that you must use the most effective tactics to get the best results.

Anita describes 8-10 methods teachers could employ to help create student success. These methods help to foster what she describes as the single most significant predictor of student success. In your opinion, describe 2 or 3 of the most important methods she mentions in her Podcast.

Summary: Using the most effective teachers brings about the best results and higher performing students.

Research Question: How does effective teachers impact a student’s life?

Analysis: There is a huge amount of research literature concerned with what constitutes 'effective teaching'. This research has sought to identify from the students' perspective what aspects of a lecturer's teaching makes the most difference to what students learn.

Notably there are some aspects of a lecturer's teaching that students say they like, but they do not actually make much difference to what they learn. However, some features of their teaching make quite a difference to how much students learn, to how hard they study, to their grades and to their desire to continue to study the same subject in subsequent courses. Teachers should concentrate on those features that actually have an impact on learning.

Reference: http://www.rand.org/education/projects/measuring-teacher-effectiveness/teachers-matter.html