my abstract : how to help teachers be effective

1. How to help teacher be effective?
Mr Samir Bounab
(ELT conference March 24-25 Mostaghanem)
"if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail"
The old adage "if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail" is equally true of teaching strategies. If the only
classroom teaching strategy you know is traditional lecturing, that's the teaching tool that you're likely to use for all
classroom situations.
If, on the other hand, you have more tools in your toolbox, you will have the opportunity to choose the most appropriate
tool for the task at hand.
To be an effective teacher or not to be, has always been the dream of any teacher. Being a teacher is being the ideal
master that his or her learners will take as a model to follow. Effectiveness is part of the teacher’s job. Teachers while
doing their job, do their best to deliver what they have planned.
Whatever the way teachers deliver their lessons, effectiveness is part of this delivery. Teachers may do things in an
ineffective way thinking it is effective. This is the aim of this article, to help teachers to be effective, to make them boost
their awareness on ineffective behavior and how to exploit their success in and effective way.
What is effectiveness?
“ The main difference in the effectiveness of teaching comes from the thoughts the teacher has had during the entire
time of his or her existence and brings into the classroom. A teacher concerned with developing humans affects the students
quite differently from a teacher who never thinks about such things.” Rudolf Steiner
Effective teachers strive to motivate and engage all their students in learning rather than simply accepting that
some students cannot be engaged and are destined to do poorly. They believe every student is capable of achieving
success at school and they do all they can to find ways of making each student successful.
Effective teachers have high expectations of students in terms of both their standard of learning and their
behaviour, and they help their students meet those expectations. They also have high expectations of themselves and
their own learning.
Effective teachers personalize the learning for their students. They understand that students develop at different
rates and that in every classroom there will be a range of student abilities and aptitudes. They accommodate the
different needs of students in their class rather than pitch their teaching to the middle, letting some students be bored
while others struggle or are unable to do the work. Effective teachers use techniques that have each student working
on tasks that engage and challenge them to achieve their personal best. They understand that students learn best
when they are presented with new material in a way that enables them to connect it to what they already understand
and know how to do. Effective teachers also understand that students learn best if their particular culture, background
and abilities are acknowledged by the teacher in the way they teach.
Why should teachers opt for effectiveness ?
Teachers are classroom decision makers, all their learners learning process depend on them, they are the ones who can
build their learners thinking .
“I've come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It's my personal approach that
creates the climate. It's my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess tremendous power to make a
student's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt
or heal. In all situations it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a student
humanized or de-humanized.”Haim Ginott ,
(1/2)

2. Qualities of Effective Teachers
We know intuitively that these highly effective teachers can have an enriching effect on the daily lives of children and
their life long educational and career aspirations. Effective teachers also have a direct influence in enhancing student
learning. They not only make students feel good about school and learning, but also that their work actually results in
increased student achievement. For example, we know that verbal ability, content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge,
certification status, ability to use a range of teaching strategies skillfully, and enthusiasm for the subject characterize
more successful teachers. The following are some of the key qualities of effective teachers:
• Establishes good control the first day of school.
• Exhibits positive expectations for all students.
• Establishes good classroom management techniques.
• Designs lessons taking learners needs and interests.
• Works cooperatively and learns from colleagues.
• Seeks out a mentor who serves as a role model.
• Goes to professional meetings to learn.
• Has a goal of striving for excellence.
• Can explain the government’s curriculum.
• Is flexible and adaptable.
• Listens, listens, listens.
• Understands the research process.
• Knows the differences between an effective teacher and an ineffective one.
• Has positive expectations ready for the 1st
day of school.
• Ensures the mental and physical safety of all students.
• Comes to work appropriately dressed.
• Is a role model for all students.
• Has an inviting personality.
• Says “Please” and “Thank You.”
• Trains students to know what they are to do.
• Prepares, prepares, prepares.
• Communicates with parents.
• Designs or modifies a grade record book to record learners’ results.
• Has a discipline plan posted when students arrive on the 1st
day of school
• Involves the administration to help guarantee and enforce the plan.
• Has high expectations and confidence in his or her capacity to teach young people self-discipline.
• Rehearses the class so that procedures become class routines.
• Teaches students, not a subject or a grade level.
• Keeps students actively engaged in learning.
• Writes objective that tell the student what is to be accomplished.
• Knows how to write objectives at all levels of Bloom’s taxonomy.
• Writes criterion-referenced tests.
• Gives both formative and summative tests.
• Uses formative tests to determine the appropriate corrective help.
• Writes structured cooperative activities.
• Works cooperatively and shares with colleagues.
• Helps establish and enhance the school culture.
• Chooses rather than decides.
• Practices enhancement techniques.
• Can produce an updated, annual portfolio that shows that he or she is an effective master teacher
• Implements a career risk plan
• Address learners by name.
• Cultivates a positive reputation…….
Being effective teachers requires from teachers to learn from their daily teaching and exploit each effective or
ineffective aspect of the classroom world .”The best part of teaching is it matters , the hardest part of teaching is
that every moment matters everyday ”.“quotes from toddwhataker’s#ASCD12 session”
Mr Samir Bounab( teacher trainer)