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source: The Creativity Post
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Synopsis
This twelve-point
checklist about teachers' work provides a framework to help parents support
them in nurturing children’s abilities.
By Joanne Foster
Is
your child’s classroom a place where creativity abounds, and students are
motivated? Are individual learning needs taken into account? Is
intelligence-building a priority? Is the educational environment safe and
welcoming?
Parents
who understand something about teachers’ professional responsibilities are well
positioned to be effective collaborators and advocates for children’s learning.
Heads
up—this article is NOT about making judgment calls about teachers’ levels of
competence. It IS about understanding and appreciating their work. Informed
parents are better able to forge meaningful collaborations and partnerships
with educators, leading toward positive outcomes for children and teens. With
that in mind, what do the best teachers aspire toward in order to provide
optimal learning environments? Here are twelve points to consider:
1.
Professional Development – The best
teachers are confident, and challenge themselves to become more effective by acquiring
a wide range of tools, skills, resources, and supports. They engage in learning
opportunities, attend conferences, network, and find other ways to enhance
their professional growth.
2.
Acknowledging Individuals – No two
learners are alike. The best teachers find out about the individual, and show
that they care. What does your child’s teacher know about your child’s
self-confidence? Resilience? Social networks? Areas of strength and weakness in
different subject areas?
3.
Mastery – The best teachers
recognize the skill sets that each student has already mastered, and builds
instruction from there. This includes paying thoughtful attention to what fits
a particular child in a particular situation, setting appropriate expectations,
and providing the kind of help that is most beneficial.
4.
Motivation – Motivation is the
engine of progress. The best teachers are motivated themselves, and ask the
question, “How can I inspire students so they become more excited about and
invested in learning?”
5.
Virtues – The best teachers
demonstrate integrity, kindness, honesty, fairness compassion, patience, and
other virtues because they matter—and because children learn from what they
see, hear, and experience.
6.
Working Together – The best teachers
find ways to improve upon their connectivity with parents, colleagues, and
students so as to create rich, stimulating learning environments.
7.
Creativity – Creativity knows no
bounds. The best teachers are imaginative, stimulate curiosity and inquiry, and
are willing to try new approaches. They encourage creativity and playful
exploration in the classroom—and beyond.
8.
Growth Mindset – The best teachers
model and teach children about a growth mindset including positive habits of
mind, a sense of industry, goal-setting, and how to cope when things get tough.
9.
Preparation – This is a core
foundation of good teaching. The best teachers seek to better prepare, manage,
and enhance day-to-day classroom experiences for students. Preparation time is
not a perk. It is a necessity.
10.
Differentiation – The best teachers
reflect upon and implement strategies to differentiate programming,
instruction, assessment, and other aspects of teaching in order to address
individual learning needs and ensure that there’s a proper educational match
for each student.
11.
Senses – Aside from the regular five
senses… The best teachers have a sense of humor, a sense of balance so as to
juggle work demands with personal ones (including time for family, recreation,
and rest), and common sense so they can handle the many ups and downs of daily
life at school.
12.
Co-creating the Learning – The best
teachers ensure that children participate in co-creating their learning,
encouraging them to reflect on their experiences, and to be actively engaged in
developing their own intelligences.
Teachers’ work is not easy,
and they cannot do it alone. When parents and teachers appreciate one another,
work together, and strive toward empowering children to be the best they can
be, then everyone benefits.
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| Joanne Foster |
Joanne
Foster, EdD is a parent, teacher, gifted education specialist, university
instructor, educational consultant, and award-winning author. She conducts
teacher-training workshops, gives presentations to educators and parent organizations
in local, national, and international forums, and serves on several advisory
committees concerning children’s education and development. She is co-author
(with Dona Matthews) of the award-winning Being Smart about Gifted Education
(2009), and Beyond Intelligence: Secrets for Raising Happily Productive Kids
(2014). She is the author of Not Now, Maybe Later: Helping Children Overcome
Procrastination (2015). She writes a series of feature articles for the journal
Parenting for High Potential, and her writing has been featured in many other
publications around the world. Dr. Foster teaches Educational Psychology at the
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto where
she also provides leadership in the areas of giftedness and high-level
development.
Originally published in The Creativity Post
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