Powerful Teaching and Learning^TM

What is Powerful Teaching and Learning?

Powerful Teaching and Learning is a set of practices and concepts that incorporate methods of instruction in the classroom aimed at raising student achievement.  This practice is the only approach to teaching that researchers have found to overcome the poverty barrier in relation to the achievement gap.  Powerful Teaching and Learning incorporates the self-reflective methods of Rigor, Reflection, Relevance, and Relationships.

• Rigor emphasizes the development of skills and knowledge, implemented in a way that develops conceptual understanding and not just recall.
• Reflection means that students are thinking because the teacher provides opportunities for students to respond to open-ended questions, explain their thinking processes, and reflect to create personal meaning.
• Relevance indicates that students are applying their skills, knowledge, and thinking to relevant, personal or real-world contexts, helping students make connections that lead to understanding. 
• Relationships center around a positive, safe, and challenging environment, where students are encouraged to use social support for learning and where the instruction is based on student needs.

Powerful Teaching and Learning methods incorporate the four areas of learning, Skills and knowledge, Thinking, Application, and Relationships.  When observing and learning about Powerful Teaching and Learning, teachers and researchers use the STAR Classroom Observation Protocol™ to recognize and reflect on Powerful Teaching and Learning.

Pat Murphy Memorial Scholarship