I’ve been reading (and re-reading) an excellent article about excellent teaching. It’s in the February issue of Educational Leadership, which has the theme For Each to Excel. The collection of articles by prominent researchers and expert practitioners considers some key questions about the work of teachers (see this editor’s note: The Teacher-Proof Myth.) I’ll share just one here: Which ways of teaching are best in getting students to learn better?
I was immediately drawn to the article “Teach Up for Excellence” by University of Virginia researcher Carol Ann Tomlinson and her colleague Edwin Lou Javius, founder of EDEquity. I think Tomlinson’s understandings of effective teaching are always spot-on, and I love her ability to challenge teachers to improve practice while conveying her great respect and empathy for the complex work they’re expected to perform effectively.
The article is not currently available to the public in its entirety, so I’m going to share some highlights here. If you’re not an ASCD member, you might seek out the February 2012 issue of EL in your school or purchase it for $3 here. Or join? A one-year online membershipis $29 and includes access to all issues of EL and to the vast ASCD Online Library.
The subhead for the “Teach Up for Excellence” article is: All students deserve equitable access to an engaging and rigorous curriculum. And the article’s teaser reads: Seven principles for creating classrooms that give students equal access to excellence. Tomlinson and Javius explore each of these “teaching up” principles in some detail. They include:
1. Accept that human differences are not only normal but also desirable.
2. Develop a growth mind-set.
3. Work to understand students’ cultures, interests, needs, and perspectives.
4. Create a base of rigorous learning opportunities.
5. Understand that students come to the classroom with varied points of entry into a curriculum and move through it at different rates.
6. Create flexible classroom routines and procedures that attend to learner needs.
7. Be an analytical practitioner.
My Big Take-Aways
These principles immediately make me think of Alabama’s Lighthouse, Blue Ribbon and “Dispelling the Myth” schools. I recently visited Mobile’s George Hall Elementary, a winner of all three awards, to facilitate a panel discussion among teachers, principal Terri Tomlinson, and the current Leadership Alabama class.
During our conversation, someone asked about the secret of Hall’s tremendous success in serving a high needs population of students in one of the city’s most depressed neighborhoods. Terri said: “Hard work, a sense of urgency, collaboration, and the absolute belief that all of our students can learn at very high levels.”
At George Hall and dozens of other Alabama schools that defy the odds and dispel the myth, principals and faculties would have no difficulty grasping the concept of “teaching up” as described by Carol Tomlinson and Edwin Javius. Here is some excerpts:
“Teachers who teach up provide students with clear learning targets, guidelines and feedback, as well as a safe learning environment that supports them as they take their next steps in growth…Through words, actions, and caring, the teacher conveys to students: ‘I know you have the capacity to do what’s required for success; therefore, I expect much of you. Because I expect much of you, I’ll support your success in every way I can. I’m here to be your partner in achievement’.”
“Teachers who teach up consistently reflect on classroom procedures, practices, and pedagogies for evidence that they are working for each student –– and modify them when they’re not. They are the students of their students.”
“Teachers who teach up also ensure that students develop the skills of independence, self-direction, collaboration, and production that are necessary for success. They commend excellence as a way of life and demonstrate to learners the satisfaction that comes from accepting a challenge and investing one’s best effort in achieving it.”
Teachers who teach up “know that when tasks help students make sense of important ideas, are highly relevant to students’ life experiences, and are designed at a moderate level of challenge, students are willing to do the hard work that is the hallmark of excellence.”
“Teaching up means monitoring student growth so that when students fall behind, misunderstand, or move beyond expectations, teachers are primed to take appropriate instructional action. They guide all students in working with the “melody line” of the curriculum—the essential knowledge, understanding, and skills—while ensuring ample opportunity for individuals and small groups to work with “accompaniments”—that is, scaffolding for students who need additional work with prerequisites and extending depth for students who need to move ahead.”
“Teaching up is not about hope. It’s about purposeful instructional planning that aims at ensuring high-level success for each student.”
Finally, Tomlinson and Javius point to the book Wounded by School, written by Kirsten Olsen (2009), who concludes that perhaps the deepest wounds schools inflict on students “are wounds of underestimation.” They summarize:
“We underestimate students when they come to us with skills and experiences that differ from the ones we expected and we conclude they’re incapable of complex work. We underestimate students when they fall short of expectations because they don’t understand the school game and we determine that they lack motivation. We underestimate them when we allow them to shrink silently into the background of the action in the classroom. We underestimate them, too, when we assume they’re doing well in school because they earn high grades, and we praise them for reaching a performance level that required no risk or struggle.”
“Classrooms that teach up function from the premise that student potential is like an iceberg—most of it is obscured from view—and that high trust, high expectations, and a high-support environment will reveal in time what’s hidden.”
There’s much more to be learned from this insightful article, which brings together key research findings about the connections between student achievement and equitable access to good teaching. I see many connections with John Hattie’s Visible Learning for Teachers, which I’ve referenced at our Facebook page several times recently. In a future post, I’ll write more about that alignment.
Meanwhile, I hope you can find 30 minutes to track down, read and reflect on the “Teach Up” article – maybe in a discussion with your colleagues. And I’d love for you to comment here, with a response to this question:
What are one or two things you’re doing in your school to “teach up” for your students?
