I know it has been quite some time since my last post, but I am currently in graduate school to attain a degree in Teacher Leadership, in hopes of getting my dream job: I want to teach part-time high school science and then be a part-time instructional coach or work as an instructor in the Dept. of Education at Emporia State University to prepare young teachers for this incredible career. I feel like if I just keep saying it out loud, it is bound to happen!
I recently read an article, “The View from the Seats” by Tracy Crow in Journal of Staff Development, December 2011 (Vol. 32, #6, p. 24-30), http://www.learningforward.org, and I'll briefly summarize it here. In the Gates Foundation’s Measures of Effective Teaching Project, Ronald Ferguson and Rob Ramsdell reviewed student perceptions of their teachers based on the “Seven C’s”: care, control, clarify, challenge, captivate, confer, and consolidate. They found that when a teacher was doing these seven things well, students were generally doing better academically and were a happier, more engaged classroom. The article went on to debate if the student ratings should be shared with their teachers or be apart of teachers’ evaluations. Ferguson found that it was actually one of the most valuable kinds of reflection and professional development a teacher can have. He did clarify though that what students say about their teachers should be a driving force of input for professional development instead of being apart of a teacher’s evaluation. The project also focused on teacher teams looking together at student work, analyzing it with questions related to the feasibility of the task and the focus of the students.
An instructional coach might use the “Seven C’s” information when working with an individual teacher or a group of teachers who are open to using student input as a point of reflection upon their own practice. Teachers must be open to the foundational belief that they too are life-long learners. None of us are teaching at our full potential – it is a work in progress and an instructional coach is a partner in helping them to reach that potential. If they are afraid to ask what their students think, they are afraid of learning and improving their practice, and are missing out on another very valuable partnership in developing their craft.
Several years ago, I began to use this in my own classroom with a reflection and customer evaluation at the end of each of my units. Students are able to reflect upon their own work, as well as their peers, and then finally are able to let me know how things are going in my classroom: what worked for them during the last unit?, what didn’t work?, how I can help them further?, etc. I am able to adjust and use their input to improve our time together every 2-3 weeks. I tell them to be honest and that “I am a big girl, I can take it,” and they are honest....sometimes brutally. ;) I asked for it though. Sometimes the hardest things to hear are the truths about yourself, but I am certain that it is in facing those realities that I have had my greatest moments of growth as an educator.
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