Giving Effective Teachers the Opportunity to Be Effective

I read something this morning in the book The Quality School by Dr. William Glasser that really struck me. He was commenting on why magnet schools are successful--and I would add charter schools. He said the power of innovation is not that it increases the number of effective people, but that it gives effective people a better chance to demonstrate their effectiveness. He went on to say that effective teachers are effective in any school setting but they can be even more effective if they are in a setting where they are managed in the way they manage their students.

Being True to One's Core

For educators who truly want to make a difference it is critical that he or she act from one's own core rather than external mandates. To know one's core I would suggest that each educator buy a journal and then take the necessary time to answer the following questions:

• Why did I become an educator?
• What do I stand for as an educator?
• What do I think is important in education?
• What are the gifts that I bring to my work?
• What do I want my legacy as an educator to be?
• What can I do to remember my own heart?
• What do I value most?
• What do my strong interests and passions tell me about my purpose in life?
• What opinions do I have about education that I passionately care about?
• What is my vision of a quality school? What would I specifically be doing in such a school?
• What behaviors would I never engage in if I were in a quality school?
• What kinds of things would I say to all the different stakeholders in a quality school?

Ideas for these questions came from the book Inspiriting Quality in Your School by Robert A. Sullo and Failure Is Not An Option by Alan Blankstein.

Educators: Always Be Engaged With Learning

All the educators (and many times other stakeholders, too!) must stay constantly engaged with the body of knowledge about what works for Hispanic students. This knowledge can come from numerous sources:

• Membership in national and local organizations--and reading the journals and other publications from those organizations
• Subscriptions to journals specifically related to Hispanic learners
• Attendance at national and local conferences, workshops, seminars, classes
• Reading books and articles by the experts in the field and then provide "cliff notes" for others
• Collaboration with others within the school as well as outside of the school
• Mentors and networks
• A personal reflection journal
• Participation in teacher action research projects
• Writing articles for different publications
• Participation in a blog
• Visits to others classrooms and schools
• Choose an area of expertise and spend 10 minutes every day learning about that topic
• Videos and DVDs
• Participation in cognitive coaching

Some of these ideas can be divided amongst staff members. For instance, each staff member can join a different organization and then share what is learned with other staff members and stakeholders. Each teacher should develop his or her own professional development plan that is shared with the principal and other staff members. The idea is to be continually learning AND applying what is learned so students are constantly provided with the best we can give them.

Student Voices Provide Insights

Student voices provide insight as to what makes an effective teacher:

• The teacher is deeply interested in students and the materials being taught
• The teacher conducts class discussions and doesn't lecture much
• The teacher is able to relate to them on their level
• The teacher doesn't use coercion--threatening and punishing
• The teacher makes an effort to be entertaining by using humor, drama, and a variety of teaching methods

Teaching Methods to Meet the Needs of Hispanic Learners

It would be beneficial for educators who are serving Hispanic learners to become very familiar with the following:

• Thematic teaching: Susan Kovalik
• Brain based research: Eric Jensen and Susan Kovalik
• Multiple intelligences: Howard Gardner
• Cooperative learning: Spencer Kagan
• Differentiated instruction: Carol Ann Tomlinson

When attending trainings on these topics it's important to keep in mind how they can be adapted to specifically meet the needs of Hispanic learners as well as students in general.

The Risk A Quality Teacher Wanabee Faces

When I first started to teach a veteran teacher admonished me, "Quit working so hard. It makes the rest of us look bad." I was shocked.

Not only do teachers who want to be quality teachers get criticized for working hard but also for caring too much. They are told that too much personal involvement is unprofessional. To give no heed to these criticisms is important, especially when working with the Hispanic population. Hispanics as a whole hold teachers in very high esteem and they tend to invite them to many of their special family events such as weddings, baptisms, birthday parties, confirmations, baby showers, quinceañeras, etc.

One of the ways teachers can combat the unpopularity they may face for what they belief and do is to intentionally befriend their critics. They can do this by asking their critics for their opinion or advice about something or ask them to lunch or dinner. But whatever these quality teacher wanabees choose to do it is extremely important not to let the critics' negativity rub off on them.

Make the System Work for Them

Effective teachers learn how to make the bureaucracy serve them rather than vice versa. They become personally acquainted with people in the bureaucracy so those people are aware of their passion for children and their classroom success stories. They know that when people in power positions know you are successful they tend to leave you alone. Success in itself is powerful.

Having this personal connection also makes it easier to become savvy about which rules and policies must be obeyed and which can be ignored. This way teachers can do the very least that is required in order to devote their time and energy to their students.

Also, the teachers who are personally connected to the people in the bureaucracy they tend to get more "favors" from those people to help them better serve their students. In other words, they have learned how to make the system work for them instead of against them.