Formal Reflection: What Makes a Teacher ‘Effective’?

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Formal Reflection: What makes a teacher ‘effective’? From my brief time studying the art of teaching I have come to understand that in order to become an effective teacher one of the most fundamentally important guidelines a teacher can establish for – and within – their pupils are success criteria. These criteria can be tremendously effective when coupled with dedicated individually-focused planning. It is integral that a new teacher quickly finds their voice within the classroom as (Ertmer & Ottenbreit-Leftwich, 2010, p. 255) during their college years, pre-service teachers are just beginning to develop their ideas about what it means to be professionals. Whereas the school culture they enter will ultimately impact how they enact their ideas, [forming] a strong vision of themselves as professionals. Planning is (Hattie, 2012, p. 37) the most powerful when teachers work together to develop plans ... [and] collaborate. It plays a key role in establishing professionalism and fostering staff development (Pitt & van der Merwe, 2012, p. 25) as planning for the sake of enhanced learner achievement should be the main focus of all staff meetings and is especially valued by better qualified teachers. A teacher should (Alnoor & Hongyu, 2011, p. 586) keep accurate progress records that help in guidance and counselling; match content, teaching approaches and student development and learning in planning; and establish and maintain effective collaboration between and among fellow teachers, learners, parents and all other stakeholders in education. Teacher collaboration, along with prior achievement, targeted learning and progression make up four critical roles in planning (Hattie, 2012, p. 37). Before a teacher can plan a class lesson they should have a thorough understanding of each child’s prior learning and current level of knowledge and tailor the lesson

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