Teacher skills in 50 words or less. Go….!
Here’s my stab at it:
“Every teacher should be able to articulate how their lessons engage higher order learning, how they offer the opportunity for development of critical skills, how learning outcomes offer related evidence, and how assessment is used to provide formative feedback in both areas.”
I was recently inspired by a WIRED article on the Art of the Elevator Pitch. Couldn’t education benefit from a good pitch?
I’d love to hear how others might phrase a concise statement about the critical skills necessary for teachers. Please leave comments with your version, or skills that should be added to the list.
Can anyone help spread this around to see if we can get Angela Maiers to post her version?
Edunautics 
I’m not sure I can come up with a nice, concise definition but I agree that meaningful assessment is crucial for providing feedback. I also believe that relationship is important. The connection between student and teacher, the ability of the teacher to recognize the student’s strengths and teach to those strengths – all aids in the motivation and investment the student has in his/her education.
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Teachers need to be able to use information (from research, students, assessments, peers, etc.) to help guide students in the construction of new knowledge. Teachers must be able to balance structure and flexibility to provide students with the best learning environment.
-I decided to focus on teachers being information professionals and environment managers (instead of being subject matter experts i.e. the source of knowledge to be learned). As we get better at creating assessments and learning modules, the teacher can really act as a guide. Also because collaboration and problem based learning really gives kids a huge opportunity for growth teachers need to be able to provide just the right amount of structure (depending on prior experience of the students and maturity) to allow for productive open ended projects.
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Great points Colin and Rachel!
Relationship is such a large part of the picture, and what are some concrete behaviors of teachers who are great at building those relationships?
Teachers as guides and letting student inquiry define the path: I think extreme versions of this require really small class sizes. I love the approach and want to see more of how to let individual inquiry drive a whole class in a manageable way.
More, people! Share more!
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Teachers should be able to see the potential that students don’t see in themselves and then empower, guide, encourage to bring it out in them.
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