Why Teach

1
Why Teach?

• We teach what we like to learn and the reason
  many people go into teaching is vicariously to
  re-experience the primary joy experienced the
  first time they learned something they loved
• Stephen Brookfield

2
Developing and Using a Framework During a Peer
Observation

• MSAD 60 Professional Development Conference
  November 23, 2004

3
What is a Framework?

• A framework is a cognitive tool for looking at
  observable phenomena through analytic categories.
• If the observable phenomena is teaching, the
  framework provides us with a way to sort through
  our observations and begin to have meaningful
  conversations about teaching principles.

4
Constructing a Framework

• Designing a framework requires thinking very
  deliberately about the dimensions, qualities,
  habits of mind, and skills of good teaching.
• Process of creating descriptors of the highest
  quality teaching you can imagine!
• Highly personalized but can be shared with
  others if they are made aware of the context in
  which it was created.

5
Essential Questions

• What are the central purposes for teaching in a
  democratic society?
• What should teachers know about their own
  intentions,values, and assumptions? Their
  students and their families? The communitys?
  The larger societys?
• What continuing controversies surround public
  education? What are the implications for a
  democratic way of life?

6
Essential Questions

• What do we know about how students, in all their
  diversity, learn and what are the implications
  for teachers striving for equity and access for
  all students?
• What are the various roles ascribed to teachers
  in K-12 schools? What should their roles be and
  how should they teach and make curriculum
  decisions?
• What conceptual frameworks might be used for
  describing and analyzing high quality teaching?

7
Essential Questions

• How can we promote good teaching in our schools,
  districts, state, and society?
• What are some possibilities for good teaching
  that we have yet to bring into being?

8
Framework Organization
9
Context for Framework

• Represents a broad overview of teaching,
  research, concepts I have been exposed to over
  the years
• NOT a checklist for success
• Conversation starter between peers about what
  high quality teaching is and could be in the
  future!

10
Resources

• The National Research Council. (2000).How People
  Learn. National Academy Press.
• Oakes, J. Lipton, M. (1999). Teaching to Change
  the World. McGraw-Hill.
• Levine, M. (2002). A Mind at a Time. Simon and
  Schuster.
• EDU 603 Analysis of Teaching Syllabus. Dr. Diane
  Wood, University of Southern Maine.