What are the traits of effective teachers?

[Demetri Orlando]

In addition to acknowledging that an effective teacher is the key to students' success (more than the curriculum or the school), an interesting article in The Atlantic outlines researchers' conclusions on the traits of effective teachers. They defined effective teaching as resulting in significantly raising student achievement, as measured by students' test scores. They looked at particularly successful teachers in the Teach for America program, and identified common traits:

1. Great teachers tended to set big goals for their students.
2. Great teachers constantly reevaluate what they are doing.
3. They avidly recruited students and their families into the [educational] process.
4. They maintained focus, ensuring that everything they did contributed to student learning.
5. They planned exhaustively and purposefully by working backward from the desired outcome.
6. They worked relentlessly.
7. They have "grit"—perseverance, and a passion for long-term goals.
8. They establish well-executed classroom routines.
9. They typically score high on "life satisfaction."

The researchers found some predictors of being an effective teacher include having overcome adversity, having made achievements and/or leadership with measurable results, having attended a selective college, and holding a high GPA, especially for the last two years of college (they discuss GPA in the context of overcoming adversity.) Holding a master’s degree in education was not a predictor of being an effective teacher.

I'm curious, based on your own experience of teaching or working with teachers, what you might add to this list? I feel like many of my best teachers were ones who "knew" all of their students, and had a very open social-emotional affect. Perhaps this is part of #3. I also feel like they were passionate about their subject, and were content-experts. Two other things that resonate with me are having a good sense of humor and a performer's instincts.¹

An article in Science News discussing the research of Christopher Day quotes him as saying, "Effective teachers create a positive climate for learning by challenging pupils’ ideas, inspiring them, being more innovative in their practice, and differentiating amongst pupils according to their abilities and interests where appropriate so that pupils have more control over and engagement in their learning and more opportunities for success.”

Also see: Malcolm Gladwell's article in the New Yorker.

[Jim Heynderickx]

Great link and analysis, Demetri.

The closing of the article notes that one of the main teachers referenced is already thinking of leaving the classroom after only 3 years of teaching. He wants to be an administrator.

One could say that is good (a leader who knows how to teach) or bad (great teachers may choose to leave teaching after 3-4 years). Not all great teachers have to teach for 30 years straight, but only 3-4 years seems brief.

[Sarah Hanawald]

I'm with you Jim--if we use the calculation of 10,000 hours to be an expert, and we think about a school year 180 days then each year provides 900 hours of active teaching, experience and practice and about 900 hours of practice grading and planning. I don't know how many hours it takes to become an expert at lunch duty, but I expect it's less than 10,000. Same for carpool duty. I could go on. . .

I've just gotten the book--Teaching As Leadership: The Highly Effective Teacher's Guide to Closing the Achievement Gap Is anyone else interested in a book discussion?
Sarah

[Demetri Orlando]

I guess there is a difference between being an expert teacher and an effective teacher, especially when the context is measurement by standardized testing. I just like the idea of trying to tease out the identifiable behaviors of our best teachers. It provides good food for thought. Thanks for commenting on this :-)

[Ruth Huyler Glass]

Middle schools students with whom I have worked over many years agree that their most effective teachers are "firm, fair, and funny." Clearly there is more to it than that, and the best ones undoubtedly understood and utilized the 9 components to effective teaching described above. Students probably can't define those traits; they see them in the 3 Fs.

[Jim Heynderickx]

Nice post, Ruth. I'm going to encourage all teachers to achieve 3 Fs at school!

Hey, wait a minute.... :)

[Demetri Orlando]

Just found a recent post by Gordon Rode [scroll down on page] on this same topic. He identifies three qualities of great teachers: subject-matter knowledge, knowing/empathizing with one's students, and communication/linguistic skills ("being able to explain something six different ways").

[Jim Heynderickx]

Thanks for the update, Demetri. Do you think "relationship" also fits in at some level? I was at a conference recently where four "from the working world" reported their most important school experience. All four reported a personal relationship with a single teacher ended up being a pivotal point in their lives-- sometimes it was being recognized for having some ability, and sometimes it was just being listened to or acknowledged as having worthwhile ideas.

[Demetri Orlando]

Jim, you're onto something here. Effective teachers are good at making students feel that there is a connective relationship between them. Rather than a "personal relationship" I'd rather call it an authentic relationship. Or do you mean personal relationship? Waldorf teachers "loop" with their students so that the same teacher can stay with students over a number of years. Perhaps that is a personal relationship. I'm thinking back on a pivotal professor I had as an undergrad, and I felt a sense of relationship in the sense of his truly caring about his students and about us doing well with the subject matter . I do think effective teachers are more likely to have this trait. Perhaps this is the same thing that Gordon is talking about and characterizing as interpersonal knowledge.

[Demetri Orlando]

Another interesting article in the Times this week: Building a Better Teacher describes the work of Doug Lemov of Uncommon Schools. The article discusses his Taxonomy of Effective Teaching Practices which apparently identifies the mechanics of classroom management (the book comes out in April). A nice quote from the Times article: “Teaching depends on [understanding] what other people think, not what you think.”