Teaching As Leadership E-Book

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 756

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

A road map for teachers who strive to be highly effective leaders in our nation's classrooms Teach For America has fought the daunting battle of educational equity for the last twenty years. Based on evidence from classrooms across the country, they've discovered much about effective teaching practice, and distilled these findings into the six principles presented in this book. The Teaching As Leadership framework inspires teachers to: Set Big Goals; Invest Students and Their Families; Plan Purposefully; Execute Effectively; Continuously Increase Effectiveness; Work Relentlessly. The results are better educational outcomes for our nation's children, particularly those who live in low-income communities. * Inspires educators to be leaders in their classrooms and schools * Demystifies what it means to be an effective teacher, describes key elements of practice and provides a clear vision of success * Addresses the challenges every teacher, in every classroom, faces on a daily basis An accompanying website includes a wealth of tools, videos, sample lessons, discussion boards, and case studies.

Leseprobe

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

FOREWORD

INTRODUCTION

Defining Teacher Effectiveness in Terms of Student Learning

What the Most Effective Teachers in Low-Income Communities Are Doing Differently

Our Ongoing Investigation

Teaching As Leadership

A Starting Premise: Teachers Can Close the Gap

Race, Socioeconomic Status, Diversity and Teaching As Leadership

The Purpose of Teaching As Leadership

This Book’s Structure and Organization

1 Set Big Goals

Foundations of Effective Goal Setting

The Qualities of Effective Big Goals in Action

Conclusion: Key Ideas and Next Questions

2 Invest Students and Their Families

Key Elements of Investment

Strategies for Investing Students

Conclusion: Key Ideas and Next Questions

3 Plan Purposefully

Foundations of Purposeful Planning

Three Forms of Classroom Plans

Conclusion: Key Ideas and Next Questions

4 Execute Effectively

Key Elements of Effective Execution

What Effective Execution Looks Like in the classroom

Conclusion: Key Ideas and Next Questions

5 Continuously Increase Effectiveness

Foundations of Continuous Improvement

A Cycle of Reflection That Leads to Increased Effectiveness

Conclusion: Key Ideas and Next Questions

6 Work Relentlessly

We Control Our Students’ Success and Failure

Key Elements of Working Relentlessly

Conclusion: Key Ideas and Next Questions

CONCLUSION

AFTERWORD: TEACHING AS LEADERSHIP AND THE MOVEMENT FOR EDUCATIONAL EQUITY

APPENDIX A: TEACHING AS LEADERSHIP RUBRIC

APPENDIX B: ABOUT TEACH FOR AMERICA

APPENDIX C: OUR APPROACH TO TEACHER DEVELOPMENT

APPENDIX D: HOW WE LEARN FROM OUR TEACHERS

TEACHER BIOGRAPHIES

NOTES

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INDEX

End User License Agreement

List of Illustrations

1 Set Big Goals

Figure 1.1 Considerations that Influence Big Goals

3 Plan Purposefully

Figure 3.1 The Intersection of Rigor and Mastery

APPENDIX C: OUR APPROACH TO TEACHER DEVELOPMENT

Figure C.1 Key drivers of Teacher Learning and performance

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Guide

Cover

Table of Contents

Begin Reading

Praise for Teaching As Leadership

“I have spent twenty-seven years working in schools of poverty and am constantly searching for ways to improve my practice and meet the needs of underprivileged students. This book inspires those of us in the trenches with the possibility of making the difference we so desire.”

—Betsy Rogers, 2003 National Teacher of the Year

“Teach For America has captured the hearts and imaginations of the best and brightest of our current generation of young people. Teaching As Leadership communicates the critical issues and solutions on how to become a highly effective teacher in urban and rural school settings. All new teachers should read this book. It offers a clear and inspiring road map for success in the teaching profession.”

—Shane P. Martin, dean and professor, Loyola Marymount University School of Education

“One of the novel contributions of the Teaching As Leadership framework is the central understanding of race, socioeconomic status, and diversity as realities—and assets—in effective leadership. This book is a valuable resource for interns, teachers, administrators, and educators invested in ensuring that all children have access to a high-quality education irrespective of their social identity.”

—Richard J. Reddick, Department of Education at University of Texas and faculty affiliate in the John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies, and co-editor of Legacies of Brown: Multiracial equity in American education (Teach For America corps member in Houston, 1995)

“Ever wonder what makes a teacher extraordinary? Teach For America’s Steven Farr can tell you. Built from the work of some of Teach For America’s most successful teachers, this book reveals the common “secrets” of their success. Pick it up and enjoy these remarkable teachers’ stories—their hard work, setbacks and most importantly, their triumphs.”

—Joan Baratz Snowden, former director, Educational Issues Department at the American Federation of Teachers, and vice president for Assessment at the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards

“Not only do I constantly use Teaching As Leadership as a guide in developing the curriculum and course work for our Master’s classes, but I’m continually impressed by its ability to give language to the tough-to articulate actions teachers must take to drive student achievement. Teaching As Leadership simultaneously provides a powerful over-arching framework for closing the achievement gap and a set of explicit day-to-day actions that teachers must aspire to perfect.”

—Brent Maddin, director of Teaching & Learning, Teacher U at Hunter College, M.Ed. and Doctoral Candidate at Harvard Graduate School of Education (Teach For America corps member in South Louisiana, 1999)

“Too many children in America attend schools where they are denied the opportunity to learn. Teaching As Leadership describes what Teach For America is learning from highly effective teachers about changing that disturbing reality. While more is needed to ensure that all children receive a quality education, these insights are critical to improve learning and begin to close the achievement gap.”

—Pedro Noguera, professor at Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at NYU, and author of The Trouble With Black Boys: And Other Reflections on Race, Equity, and the Future of Public Education.

“We have long known who Teach For America teachers are. This important book tells us what they do to get the classroom results they get. Lots of lessons for teachers and trainers of teachers!”

—Jane Hannaway, director, Education Policy Center & CALDER, The Urban Institute

“Teach For America recruits have been raising the bar in our classrooms, and classrooms across the nation. This book offers a distillation of the strategies these remarkable teachers use to beat the odds and raise student achievement. Great teaching is the only path to increased achievement—and Teaching As Leadership shares the classroom approaches that have helped some of our most challenged students learn more, and learn faster.”

—Peter C. Gorman, superintendent, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, NC

“Teaching As Leadership makes a powerful case for the capability of students in under-resourced schools and provides concrete guidance for teachers committed to helping students achieve dramatic academic gains.”

—Deborah Loewenberg Ball, dean, University of Michigan School of Education

“For twenty years, Teach For America has been working to understand what makes a teacher great. Teaching As Leadership captures what they have learned and is a true gift for anyone whose goal is to ensure that all kids have the educational opportunities they deserve.”

—Dave Levin, co-founder of KIPP: Knowledge Is Power Program (Teach For America corps member in Houston, 1992)

“This framework reminds us how valuable and important teachers are.”

—Matilda Orozco, principal, Houston ISD, TX

“Not only did the Teaching As Leadership framework provide me with the strategic actions that were essential to my success as a teacher, it has also served as a foundation for the training and support I offer novice and veteran teachers as a school leader.”

—Kristin Reidy, Arizona Teacher of the Year, 2007 (Teach For America corps member in South Louisiana, 1999)

“Our students have benefited from working with some of the teachers who helped generate the insights and best practices in Teaching As Leadership. These teachers demonstrate not only sincere care for our students, but also a fanatical pursuit of student learning, every day, every class. These teachers are prepared, passionate, and constantly seek student improvement.”

—Jesus O. Guerra, Jr., superintendent, Roma ISD, TX

“In a knowledge economy, nothing is as important as education. Teach For America continues to drive its urgent agenda for change with this erudite, thoughtful, and important book. Every teacher educator in the country, as well as policy makers and business leaders, ought to read this book.”

—Douglas Lynch, vice dean, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania, and author of “The role of educational tools in reform” in The Demand Side of Education Reform

“The amazing teachers who contributed to this book are showing us that we can close achievement gaps. To go from isolated examples of excellence to raising performance across the board, we need to replicate these teachers’ ‘whatever it takes’ approach in the policies and systems we put in place. This book addresses the most pressing issue facing our country and contains important lessons for policymakers as well as practitioners.”

—Ross Wiener, executive director, Education and Society Program, The Aspen Institute

“Teaching As Leadership is a research-based model that I see replicated in classrooms where students are most successful year after year. It captures the commitment to success, to the school, and to the community that I look for when I hire teachers.”

—Ed Koch, Community Education Partners and veteran teacher and principal in Philadelphia public schools

“This book is like having more than one-hundred-and-fifty mentors helping you immediately close the achievement gap in your classroom. It is a tremendous resource.”

—Preston Smith, chief achievement officer for Rocketship Education (Teach For America corps member in the Bay Area, 2001)

TEACHING AS LEADERSHIP

The Highly Effective Teacher’s Guide to Closing the Achievement Gap

Steven FarrTeach For America

FOREWORD BY JASON KAMRAS, NATIONAL TEACHER OF THE YEAR, 2005

AFTERWORD BY WENDY KOPP, CEO AND FOUNDER OF TEACH FOR AMERICA

Copyright © 2010 by Teach For America. All rights reserved.

Published by Jossey-Bass

A Wiley Imprint

989 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94103-1741—www.josseybass.com

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax [phone], or on the Web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, 201-748-6011, fax [phone], or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

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Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Farr, Steven.

Teaching as leadership : how highly effective teachers close the achievement gap / Steven Farr ; foreword by Jason Kamras;

Afterword by Wendy Kopp. — 1st ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-470-43286-0 (pbk.)

1. Effective teaching. 2. Academic achievement. 3. School improvement programs. 4. Educational leadership. I. Title.

LB1025.3.F37 2010

371.102—dc22

2009041095

FOREWORD

ON THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL IN 1950, an eleven-year-old named Spottswood Bolling walked up to the doors of the brand-new John Philip Sousa Junior High School in southeast Washington, D.C. and made a simple request: he wanted to enter.

He was turned away because he was African American.

Mr. Bolling, along with ten of his peers, challenged school segregation in the District of Columbia by arguing that the policy was inherently unconstitutional. Ultimately the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously agreed with Mr. Bolling and overturned segregation in the nation’s capital in Bolling v. Sharpe, a companion case to Brown v. Board of Education. Representing the Court in the 1954 decision, Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote that segregation was tantamount to a “deprivation of [the students’] liberty.”

Forty-two years after Bolling v. Sharpe, I began my teaching career at Sousa (then Middle) School as a member of Teach For America. In the more than four decades that had passed since the landmark decision, many things had changed at Sousa. The school facility had gone from state-of-the-art to dilapidated. The neighborhood had gone from upper middle class to low income. And the student body had gone from all white to all African American.

One thing that hadn’t changed, however, was that Sousa Middle School was, to a large extent, still depriving children of their liberty—not by exclusion, but by failing to provide many of the students in its classrooms with the education they deserved. A number of dedicated individuals were doing extraordinary work on behalf of the children there, but as a whole, the school was not adequately serving the majority of its students.

Over the past couple of years, Sousa has made significant strides in student achievement. So too has the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) as a system. But we, like many other school districts serving low-income children across the nation, are still failing too many children. In doing so, we are politically, economically, and socially disenfranchising millions of young people. In Chief Justice Warren’s words, we are depriving children of their liberty.

This inequity, which has given rise to the indefensible achievement gap, is the greatest injustice facing our nation today. It is at the very core of why I chose to become a teacher and why I joined Teach For America over thirteen years ago.

The reality of the achievement gap is staggering. According to the 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress, the percentage of high-income fourth graders in America who are proficient in reading is more than three times greater than that of low-income fourth graders. And the data show us that only one in ten of those low-income fourth graders will graduate from college.

As I traveled the nation in 2005 as National Teacher of the Year, I met countless educators who are fighting to close the achievement gap every day in their classrooms. From Olive Branch, Mississippi, to Los Angeles, California, they’re ensuring that every child who walks through their doors, regardless of background, excels.

But I also came to learn that some individuals in this country still believe that the achievement gap exists because children of certain backgrounds—namely, low-income or minority children—are inherently less capable than others. Nothing could be more false. My students were every bit as bright and every bit as capable as any other children I have ever met. They inspired me daily with their intelligence, creativity, resilience, and humanity.

Every day that we allow the injustice of the achievement gap to continue, we turn our backs on those who deserve our attention the most. In doing so, we weaken our democracy and jeopardize the very future of our great nation.

After all, the achievement gap is not just an education issue; it is also a civil rights issue. We have an obligation to make a simple but powerful commitment to our children. We must promise them that the opportunity to pursue their dreams will be constrained only by the limits of their imagination and their diligence—never by their skin color, family income, language status, country of origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or any other label.

And I believe deeply that as a nation, we can fulfill this obligation. I believe this because I have seen the achievement gap succumb to the greatness of my own students. Nearly all of them lived below the poverty line. But they did achieve. They made dramatic gains and, in doing so, fundamentally redefined others’ perceptions and expectations of them. Bringing equality of opportunity to all children in this nation is not an insurmountable goal. We can do it.

As a teacher who has had some success in a high-poverty school, I am often asked what we as a nation can do to close the achievement gap once and for all. Over the past few years, I’ve wrestled with this question. I’ve considered my own classroom experience, the latest education research, and the many insightful conversations I’ve had with Americans from all corners of this country.

I have come to believe that it all comes down to people. Effective teachers—those who not only have the highest of expectations for their students, but also know how to help them reach those expectations—are the most important piece of the puzzle.

Of course, there are countless factors that influence student learning and achievement that are beyond the control of the teacher: joblessness, the lack of affordable health care and affordable housing, and the nefarious legacy of institutionalized discrimination. We must address these issues if we are to mount a holistic assault on the achievement gap. We cannot accept the fact that 9 million American children live without health care and that 1 million experience homelessness every year. And we cannot deny that these statistics have consequences for learning and achievement.

But excellent teachers can make a dramatic difference in children’s lives. In fact, I believe that teachers are the locus of power in the fight to close the achievement gap.

As I’ve traveled the nation, I’ve found that what separates high-performing, high-poverty classrooms and schools from their low-performing counterparts is rarely the per pupil expenditure, the textbooks or curricula used, or even the state of the school facility. Rather, it’s the effectiveness of the educators. This book captures what these high-performing teachers are doing in their classrooms. It makes concrete the ineffable and demystifies the magical. It helps us change the debate from if the achievement gap can be closed to how the achievement gap can be closed. As such, this book is indispensable reading for every educator in America.

Teaching As Leadership reveals that teachers who are successful at closing the achievement gap do exactly what all great leaders do when they face seemingly insurmountable odds: they set big goals, invest their organization (students) in working hard to achieve those goals, plan purposefully, execute effectively, continuously increase their effectiveness, and work relentlessly toward their objective of closing the achievement gap for their students. Teach For America developed these six pillars after spending thousands of hours observing and talking with their most effective teachers: first- and second-year educators who were moving their students two, three, and sometimes four grade levels in a single year. These teachers are some of America’s greatest leaders.

One of the many things I find so inspiring about their work is that it’s teachable: we can all learn to become even more effective by following their example. But I’m also inspired by their humility. Having had the great honor of meeting a number of the educators profiled in this book, I know they would all say that there is still much to learn about effective teaching in low-income communities. I humbly welcome you to this conversation.

As you make your way through this book, do not forget Spottswood Bolling. Over half a century ago, he fought to make our nation more just. Now it is up to us to complete his work. I’ve been thinking a lot about both the history and the future of our country, as I’ve recently become a father for the first time. We cannot rest until each of us would be satisfied with randomly assigning our own children to any public school in the nation. Only then will Mr. Bolling’s efforts be complete. Teaching As Leadership will help bring us one dramatic step closer to that reality.

Jason KamrasNational Teacher of the Year, 2005

INTRODUCTION

IMAGINE YOU ARE JOINING US as we visit a school where a number of Teach For America teachers work. While we walk up the steps of the red-brick elementary school next to public housing in Baltimore City, we note that almost all of its students are living in poverty and only about half of its fifth graders are performing at the state’s minimal level of proficiency in reading and math.1 Stepping into the poorly lit hallway, we think about the fact that across the nation, fourth graders growing up in low-income communities are already two to three grade levels behind their peers in high-income communities.2

Or perhaps, instead, we are visiting a middle school on the Texas-Mexico border that serves a large population of first-generation-American migrant children—children who, during the part of the year they are not working with their families in the fields, live in unincorporated colonias made up of half-built homes that sometimes lack water and electricity. Most of the students inside this school qualify for free and reduced-price lunch programs, and statistics suggest that only about half of those children will graduate from high school3—a number that reflects national trends for children of color living in low-income communities.4 As we enter the school, we recall that in some wealthy (and usually almost exclusively white) communities, graduation rates are between 98 and 99 percent.5

Or maybe today we are navigating a maze of chain-link fence on the campus of a massive high school in the Watts district of South Los Angeles, a school where students worry about the threats of gang violence every day. As we walk past security guards and metal detectors, we consider that this high school’s freshman class includes around a thousand students, and yet the graduating seniors number 240—only 30 of whom have the prerequisites on paper to even apply to college.6 As we walk into the building, we think about the harsh reality that on average, the African American and Latino students who do graduate from high school in America will read, write, and do math at about an eighth-grade level.7

At Teach For America, we have trained and supported almost twenty-five thousand teachers in communities and schools where the achievement gap is most pronounced. Our teachers have worked with nearly 3 million children living at or near the poverty line, the vast majority of whom are African American or Latino students who are performing well below their peers in higher-income neighborhoods. From this vantage point, we have the opportunity to learn about the distinguishing methods of teachers whose students are demonstrating dramatic academic achievement.

Defining Teacher Effectiveness in Terms of Student Learning

Imagine that you are joining us on this day to observe two particular first-year teachers. Both have come into the classroom with an impressive record of accomplishments in college. They seem to have similarly strong critical thinking, communication, and organizational skills. They teach the same grade and subject matter, right across the hall from each other. The first teacher, according to records from previous observations and data, is a solid new teacher. Struggling a little bit with classroom management, this teacher has a good rapport with the students, and the classroom has a generally productive atmosphere. According to the district’s midyear assessments, halfway through the school year, the students in this classroom are on pace to gain about a year’s worth of academic skills—a feat that many people view as admirable in light of all the challenges facing students and teachers in high-poverty schools.