Fans of the sitcom hit, Seinfeld, will remember the episode where George decides his instincts are always wrong and he makes the pledge to "do the opposite" of his instincts. Consequently, he gets a girlfriend, a job with the Yankees, and moves out of his parent’s house. In George’s case, doing the opposite led to a host of positive outcomes, could this same concept be applied to some common strategies used by educators to improve teaching and learning?
Over the last eight years, we have provided professional development around teaching and learning to educators around the country. Essential premises of the training include simple, but often counter-intuitive strategies that often fly in the face of methods typically used by educators. The following brief identifies and describes five effective strategies for improving teaching and learning as identified by our research and consulting teams.
Over the last eight years, we have provided professional development around teaching and learning to educators around the country. Essential premises of the training include simple, but often counter-intuitive strategies that often fly in the face of methods typically used by educators. The following brief identifies and describes five effective strategies for improving teaching and learning as identified by our research and consulting teams.
Strategy 1: Allow opportunities for teachers to observe teaching and learning
A frequently used practice to improve teaching and learning is doing "walk-throughs." Walk-throughs typically refer to a strategy of having district and/or school administrators walk into a classroom individually or in a small group to observe. Sometimes this is followed by a short debrief about what they saw. Oftentimes, administrators will make comments about what they saw in a whole set of classroom observations at a particular school or they may provide individual feedback for a teacher. Although, it is important for administrators to know what effective teaching and learning look like, in our experience it is much more beneficial for teachers to be the ones observing teaching and learning, rather than just administrators.
Strategy 2: Observe classrooms in a different grade and subject area
Once educators are convinced to "do the opposite" by allowing teachers, not just administrators, to observe teaching and learning, they may be convinced to visit classrooms of the same subject area and/or grade level they teach. While this may be appropriate if you are investigating a particular curriculum, if the focus is on teaching and learning, you should consider doing the opposite of your instinct in this case as well. We intentionally take high school teachers to elementary schools and vice versa. After several experiences of doing this, teachers almost unanimously report how much easier it is to focus on pedagogy when they are removed from their subject area and grade level.
Strategy 3: Reflect on your own teaching when observing other teachers
Perhaps the most counter-intuitive strategy we suggest is for educators is to observe classrooms with the intention of reflecting on their own instructional practices rather than to comment or to give feedback to the teacher being observed. Providing feedback for teachers may be effective in improving teaching and learning in trusting and safe environments, but we have observed many instances where feedback is ineffective in changing practices and often leads to resentment and greater isolation. Additionally, teachers report constructive feedback about their instructional practice to be infrequent. Educators cannot afford to wait for others to give them feedback. Instead, educators should be given time to practice being self-reflective because, whether we like it or not, most of us have to be with ourselves most of the time.
“If every instinct you have is wrong then the opposite must be right.”
- Jerry Seinfeld
- Jerry Seinfeld
Strategy 4: Plan lessons around pedagogy
Over the last few years of providing professional development around teaching and learning, we frequently ask teachers to describe how they plan their lessons. We are often surprised by the responses we get to this question. In some cases, a teacher will laugh and say "Lesson planning? What lesson planning?" Other teachers discuss pacing guides and curriculum maps. Few teachers talk about planning the pedagogy of their lessons. Planning lesson pedagogy is not a skill teachers are trained in or supported to do. We find that the most effective lessons are ones that are planned collaboratively with colleagues and include planning around content and pedagogy. In order for teaching and learning to look different, educators must plan lessons differently.
Strategy 5: Make it about the teaching rather than the teacher
Although this strategy may appear to involve only semantics, we believe it to be incredibly important to improving teaching and learning. Teaching is a task that a person performs and it can be improved given support. This strategy is essential for educators to improve their practice. When observations become focused on the individual teacher, rather than the teaching and learning, the process becomes unsafe and counter-productive.
States, districts, and schools interested in improving teaching and learning should reflect on these five strategies before jumping into classrooms to observe lessons for professional development. We believe these strategies to be effective in creating safe and supportive learning environments where educators feel safe to take risks and change teaching and learning in schools and classrooms. So, before you do anything, please remember poor George Costanza and DO THE OPPOSITE!
States, districts, and schools interested in improving teaching and learning should reflect on these five strategies before jumping into classrooms to observe lessons for professional development. We believe these strategies to be effective in creating safe and supportive learning environments where educators feel safe to take risks and change teaching and learning in schools and classrooms. So, before you do anything, please remember poor George Costanza and DO THE OPPOSITE!
Would you like to learn more about how to improve teaching and learning?
Kari Peterson, Ph.D. Director of Research
Kari M. Peterson is the Director of Research for The BERC Group; she joined The BERC Group in 2006. She has a background in social science and education and has been conducting research in public schools since 2002. Previously, she worked as a Research Associate with the Washington School Research Center (WSRC). While at the WSRC, Dr. Peterson cultivated an interest and expertise in working with large datasets, performing statistical analyses, and writing technical reports. For The BERC Group, Dr. Peterson is involved in developing and leading a variety of program evaluation and research projects. She also leads professional development for teachers around the STAR Protocol and Powerful Teaching and Learning. Dr. Peterson has extensive experience processing and analyzing a variety of data including Powerful Teaching and Learning data, student achievement data, and College Tracking data, among others. Dr. Peterson has had the opportunity to visit thousands of classrooms as part of her work at The BERC Group and is deeply interested in factors that improve student learning in the classroom. She is also very committed to providing schools, districts, and organizations with a useful and objective third-party review of their programs. Her other professional interests include designing evaluation and research projects, survey development, statistical methods and analyses for large datasets, and providing useful feedback to schools regarding program effectiveness.
