What makes a good teacher? - Center for Inspired Teaching

January 29, 2015

(Photo: Center for Inspired Teaching)

Written by Aleta Margolis, Inspired Teaching’s founder and Executive Director, this piece was first published in Inspired Teaching’s January 2015 newsletter.

At Standing Ovation for Teachers, held earlier this month at the Kennedy Center, many Inspired Teaching alumni were among the teachers honored as highly effective educators and leaders in DC Public Schools. The evening prompted me to consider a crucial question: we all agree that students need good teachers in order to succeed in college, career, and life. But what makes a good teacher?

In DC, a good teacher earns a “highly effective” ranking on IMPACT, an evaluation system that measures student achievement, instructional expertise, collaboration, and professionalism through a combination of standardized test scores and in-class observation.

At Inspired Teaching, we agree that the best way to measure a teacher’s effectiveness is through a portfolio approach. Test scores provide useful information, but cannot begin to capture all the work that a teacher does. We also focus on three key domains that experts have directly correlated to student achievement: instructional support, classroom organization, and emotional support. We measure this through CLASS: Classroom Assessment and Scoring System, an observation tool developed by the University of Virginia and validated in over 6,000 classrooms nationwide. Teachers trained by Inspired Teaching outscore the national CLASS average in all three domains, with the greatest difference seen in the score for instructional support.

This is important because good teaching is about sparking students’ curiosity and building their critical thinking. It’s about giving students an opportunity to explore, and supporting them in their quest to learn.

Maureen Ingram, a preschool Master Teacher at the Inspired Teaching Demonstration School, gets students excited about learning new words by involving them in the largest vocabulary lesson ever recorded by the Guinness Book of Records. Monica Rizo, a 2014 Inspired Teaching Fellow, uses carefully scaffolded questions to prompt her students’ attempts to prove that air exists even when you can’t see, taste, or touch it. Rhonda Humphries, a Teacher Leader in Inspired Teaching’s BLISS: Building Literacy in the Social Studies program, drives her students’ engagement, teaches them about production and global markets, and builds their research and argumentation skills by guiding them on a journey that traces the production process of a chocolate bar.

Good teachers are also good leaders. A recent survey found that over 60% of Fellows trained through our Inspired Teacher Certification Program went on to assume leadership positions in their schools. One Inspired Teaching alum, Stephen Lazar, recently provided expert testimony to Congress as the Senate reconsiders the testing requirements in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Stephen is the founder of Harvest Collegiate High School in New York City, which “engages students in the natural process of experience, questioning, and the pursuit of precision.”

Inspired Teaching strives to shift the norm, so that all children can experience Inspired Teaching. Join us, and become an Inspired Teacher. If you’re an aspiring teacher, apply to our Inspired Teacher Certification Program and earn your DC State teaching licensure. If you’re already a teacher in DC, apply to be a Teacher Leader in social studies or science through our professional development programs BLISS and SCALE: Science Curriculum Advancement through Literacy Enhancement. Or invite us to your school to lead school-wide transformative teacher training to build a better classroom experience for all students.

We hope you’ll join us in our quest to support good teaching. Together, we will ensure that every student has an Inspired Teacher.

Micaiah Anderson

Community Outreach Specialist

As a Community Outreach Specialist, Micaiah is responsible for program promotion and outreach support for Inspired Teaching events and workshops. Micaiah has a passion for collaborating with community members to build-power and connect. She is an educator with a heart for youth and has experience supporting students fight injustices within their schools and communities. She has a BA in Political Science from, the real HU, Hampton University & anticipates graduating in May 2024 with a Masters of Arts degree in Educational Policy Transformation from Georgetown University.

AUTONOMY

"I want to have a say in what happens to me."

Autonomy is the need for independence; the ability to make choices, to create, to explore, and to express oneself freely; to have sufficient space, to move around, and to feel unrestricted with opportunities to exercise free will.

Brady Maiden

Outreach Coordinator

As the Outreach Coordinator, Brady helps maintain Inspired Teaching’s social media presence and supports the organization’s mission to connect with DC community leaders, educators, and parents. Brady has her Master’s in Public Policy from George Mason University and her BS in Political Science from Northern Arizona University. She is passionate about community, equity, and coalition building recognizing that learning and growing with the community at large is how we continue to be impactful.

What brings you joy in life?

I find joy in spending time with my friends and family and meeting new people. I like going to concerts and festivals, and finding new books to read.

The Learner’s Cycle, Wonder-Experiment-Learn, and the Teacher’s Cycle, Observe-Plan-Instigate, comprise Inspired Teaching’s approach to engaging students in inquiry-based learning.

When they are engaged in the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, students are immersed in learning. They take the lead in designing authentic learning experiences around their own interests and their school’s standards of learning. Each discovery leads to a new question which in turn leads to more wondering and more learning. In the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, Learn is not a destination or an endpoint; it is a deeper understanding, leading to a deeper wondering and new possibilities that create new entry points to further exploration. The cycle continues because what students have learned generates more wonderings that require more experiments that foster more learning – and on and on.

The Observe-Plan-Instigate Cycle is the work of an Inspired Teacher. While a student is expected to follow the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, the teacher joins them on the learning journey while following their own cycle of Observe-Plan-Instigate. This cycle ultimately serves to ensure an inquiry-based atmosphere is at play in the classroom.

Jaqueta Abbey

Teaching and Learning Specialist

Jaqueta is the Teaching and Learning Specialist for Inspired Teaching. In addition to her current role with Inspired Teaching, Jaqueta is a first-grade teaching assistant. Her background features a variety of traditional and non-traditional experiences in the field of education, including working as an adjunct professor, teaching summer reading programs to children and adults, and tutoring children in the foster care system. Jaqueta earned a B.A. in Communication Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and an M.A. in Interactive Media from Elon University.

What brings you joy in life?

Creative self-expression! In addition to my passion for storytelling, I love dancing of all kinds. I've studied belly dance, bachata, and Brazilian Zouk among other styles. I also enjoy glass fusing, crocheting, photography, and cross stitching. These art forms allow me to express myself and build connections with other people at the same time. I think life would be a lot less vibrant without artists and storytellers!

Michelle Welk

Communication & Marketing Specialist

As Communications and Marketing Specialist, Michelle is responsible for finding and creating new ways to highlight Inspired Teaching and promote its programs in order to expand and deepen the organization's impact. Michelle has worked in communications in an array of settings, from creative agencies to state politics to national nonprofits. She has a BA in Journalism from Temple University in Philadelphia and is passionate about education, access, and equity.

What brings you joy in life?

My son, the beach, making a persuasive argument and good food!

Max Peterson

Real World History Assistant Teacher

Max received his Bachelor’s degree in History and African American Studies from Boston University in May 2016. He has worked in museum curation at the Museum of the White Mountains in New Hampshire and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Max has worked with young people of varying ages from young children to young adults transitioning to college.

Feedback and Accountability

We grow through feedback and an understanding that the quality of our work is a reflection of what we are learning, but the shift to remote learning this spring disrupted a lot of the tools teachers were used to using to evaluate student growth. How might we do things differently this fall? Participants in this workshop will explore ways to bring meaningful assessment into the virtual and/or socially-distanced classroom and approaches to student feedback that strengthen motivation, and build relationships and achievement.