The State of Teaching & Learning Today: readings on classrooms in popular media.

TORDA'S SPRING 2023 TEACHING SITE

The State of Teaching & Learning Today: readings on classrooms in popular media.

5/26/2020

If the other First Discussion Board I've asked you to post to this week is about your experience as a student (because we are all students before we are teachers), this post comes at the discussion of what it means to teach and learn today from a different angle--as it is reported on by those folks outside of education looking in.

LOCATE, READ & POST: ANY ARTICLE written in the past year on any aspect of teaching or learning. It doesn't have to be some fancy scholarly article--it could be from Time or the Globe or wherever. I will include a sample post. Bonus points if it is an article about teaching reading and writing. Post a summary of the article, roughly 200 words. Read through your classmate’s posts.

RESPOND: Read your classmates summaries. In roughly 100 words, respond with what you see as what the state of teaching and learning--both the joy of it and the difficulty of it is--based on what you are seeing in yours and your fellow classmates articles. I will provide some summative comments on what I see in an upcoming Class Update.

It is in these two introductory posts that we start to lay the groundwork for our discussion and learning this summer: we all have ideas about what classrooms should be like versus what we have actually experienced in classrooms. We want to enter into a discussion of practice wide-eyed--the good, the bad, the ugly, the real and the imagined. This is a first effort at trying to understand what a real literacy classroom looks like.

24 Comments

5/26/2020 03:24:30 pm

Here is the link to the article I am writing about here: https://www.wbur.org/edify/2019/04/04/underground-railroad-mcas-question

The title is "'Traumatic' MCAS Question Question Removed From Exam After Students Complain"

My article was from the MTA--the teacher union that all public (non-charter) schools belong to--and that I belong to. It was about the debacle with DESE over the most recent MCAS. Essentially, one of the questions on the MCAS writing for 10th grade asked students to take the position of a racist owner of enslaved people in Colson Whitehead’s National Book Award winning The Underground Railroad. I don’t know how many teachers read the book let alone students. The MTA article talked about how outraged area teachers were at the question and how local civil rights people, and the author himself, deeply objected to the prompt on moral grounds. They talked about a petition to pull the article. In the quote from educators, they talk generally about the “unconscionable aspects of standardized testing” DESE has imposed a new layer of trauma--particularly on students of color. . . .” The quote goes on to talk about how students were asked to read a short and decontextualized piece of a book they probably don’t know and then quicky adopt a racist perspective and write from it--all with their MCAS score on the line. The article also called for the gag order to be pulled that doesn’t allow teachers and students from talking about the questions. The article closed with Max Page, MTA VP talking about who writes the tests, about cultural sensitivity, about lack of funding in public schools that means that most libraries don’t have the funds to have this book in it or a trained library staff to guide students as readers.

There is a lot here: unions and teachers, high stakes testing, what it really means to read, how testing works exactly against that, the article even talks about the role school librarians play in making texts available to students and how funding cuts mean fewer librarians getting books like this into the hands of readers.

Ali Nolan

5/26/2020 05:51:46 pm

Here is a link to the article I am writing about here: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/04/22/metro/when-it-comes-online-learning-two-new-england-neighbors-take-wildly-divergent-paths/

The title is "Rhode Island stresses academic business as usual, Massachusetts opts for local control"

The article focuses on Massachusetts and Rhode Island and the ways in which they're approaching online formatting for school. While Rhode Island seems to stick with "business as usual", Massachusetts is content in allowing schools determine for themselves the best course of action. The Governor of Rhode Island feels that as long as business is running as usual, students will stay on top of course work. The way to work towards normalcy is to create an environment that is as close to normal as before the pandemic. This means putting in the same amount of time and effort as though schools were in-person. The article does well, though, to contradict that just because schools attempt to run normally does not mean students will be motivated enough. Especially with outside stressors during this time. Meanwhile, Massachusetts believes that with the added stress of the pandemic, students should start off adjusting to online-schooling slowly. When a routine is in place, then with online-schooling will generally be low-stress. That way other necessities can come first. In general though, both states seem to be on board with making sure communication between students and teachers happens at least once a week. With an exception that classes do not need to have the same runtime.

Lydia Theriault

5/27/2020 06:46:14 am

Hi Ali!

Thanks for posting about this! I have three kids myself, and I totally get these issues. I cannot say anything about how RI is doing things, but where I am in MA, things are kind of nuts. Online school is not SCHOOL. Kids need routine and structure and that was something that I could depend on before all of this madness (while I'm in school full-time). My kids still have all of the work that would normally be assigned to them, but nothing is graded only checked for a turn-in. I can only predict this as total chaos for my oldest daughter who will be entering high school in the fall. How will they be placing kids in appropriate and proper classes when they've all been out of whack for so many months? My kid is bright and very studious (thankfully) so she stays on top of her work, but what about the kids that have unstable home lives or are food insecure, or homeless? They're not thinking about school! But when school is back in session, they must attend. Luckily for us, our schools are pretty good with communication and being aware of everyone's situation. But, the amount of work that teachers go through and the pressure put on them in a "normal" life is already a lot. Now, pack on top of that, teaching remotely and trying to get a handle on students' individual situations is extremely stressful.

Lydia Theriault

5/27/2020 07:35:13 am

Hi! Here is the link to the article “Great Teachers Don’t Teach”
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/great-teachers-do-not-teach-ben-johnson

This article puts into focus what sets a good teacher from a great teacher. It states that in order for a teacher to be effective, they have to get the student to want to show what they have learned by doing it. The example given in the article was on swimming. A teacher can talk and talk at a student, but what they know in theory must be produced by action. The student must physically get in the water to float or move before they can start to swim, that is how someone has truly learned something. The article says, “students learn best by personally experiencing learning that is physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual,” in other words, they have to be affected by it and to want to do it.
Students must be in control of their own learning, this is how they learn best. After direct instruction, students must take charge and show what they have learned by doing. Otherwise, all they have witnessed was how the teacher showed what they knew. It makes sense, when I think about a subject or topic that I like, it is much easier to learn and it makes me want to know more and more. But whose job is it, that the student learns, really? The teacher or the student? Now that I am on the other side of the fence, things are totally clicking. If the student does not want to learn, is it the responsibility of the teacher to get the student to want to learn? Or is it the student? Yes, every student is capable of learning, but how do we get students to desire learning?

Hannah Dziadyk

5/28/2020 09:31:31 am

Hi Lydia.
I love this article, its perfect way to show how teachers should try to teach students. Instead of preaching to them and having a conversation and if that doesn't work then having the students do it hands on and learn on the fly with the guidance of their teachers their of course. I agree now seeing the other side, like what people say that "Its the teachers responsibility to get the students to learn" but in reality its the students job and drive to learn and want to learn the material and grow their skills for a successful future.

Hannah Dziadyk

5/27/2020 09:47:39 am

Hi!
Here is an article I found about Why Teacher-Student Realtionships Matter. http://www.edweek.org/articles/2019/03/13/why-teachers-students-relationships-matter.html

This article by Sarah Sparks which was written in 2019 explains that the students spend up to 1,000 hours in class with their teachers in a typical school year. Which means their relationship is extremely important and can make or break their education for that time. A bad relationship can turn the student away from school, but a good relationship can help inspire the students and make them excited for school and build skills up for their future jobs and life outside of school. A lot of teachers can engage socially with the students but sometimes that is not enough to get their attention and keep them enagaged in school. That personal connection so that the student feels comfortable with the teacher is sometimes needed. In this article is says that strong student-teacher relationships lead to higher student academic engagement, attendence, grades, fewer distruptive behavior and suspensions, and lower school dropout rates. All of these negative behaviors can be changed by just a good relationship in school with at least one teacher at every level. If teachers want to improve their relationship with their students you just need to show empathy towards the students. Teachers who have empathy towards their students are able to manage a students behavior and academic engagement better.

Brianna Walsh

5/27/2020 12:45:41 pm

Hi Hannah!
I love this article! I have a little sister who has this one teacher that she doesn't connect with at all. She doesn’t like school or going to class but will still do the homework. I agree that one good relationship can change the student’s whole perspective. The learning environment should be a safe environment where everyone feels like they are welcomed. It is hard though to keep every student engaged. I grew up having very good relationships with my teachers in middle school and felt inspired by them to become a teacher myself. I grew up struggling with learning disabilities and hated reading originally. I was the shy one who didn’t want to say anything or be called on until I got an amazing 7th grade who I was able to really connect with and she helped me with my reading and made class very engaging. Having good relationships with your students can change their whole perspective.

Lindsay Vo

5/27/2020 06:28:22 pm

Hi Hannah,
I really love this article! It's no secret that students respect teachers who show empathy towards them. When I was in high school, I had a few teachers whom I was really really close with and because of them, I really enjoyed school. It's also very important to understand the boundaries between the teacher and the student. In 9th grade I had a teacher who let his students do whatever they wanted because he wanted to build a relationship with them, but it backfired because they would never take him seriously. Although I agree with you 100%, yes, teachers should have relationships with their students, there is also a con to that. But, if you balance it, there shouldn't be an issue. I think you did an amazing job!

alexa parham

5/28/2020 11:00:32 am

I SERIOUSLY COULD NOT AGREE MORE and I LOVE this article -
I think it is so so so important for a teacher to understand his/ her students and where they may be coming from. I think that students should be able to feel comfortable enough to ask questions and if they are not getting something, that they feel like they can come to you. And, like you said, teacher are with students sometimes more than their own parents are with them - I work at a preschool and some children are there for really long days and they really only see their parents for dinner and then they go to bed to repeat it all again. Therefore, showing how important your role is in the classroom. In the story I told in the other group discussion board about my bad experience, had to do with a teacher who was not kind to me at all, did not want to help me and honestly she was a bully to a student who just wanted to learn. This put me in a depressed state where i though i was not smart and made me feel so ashamed of myself. I was extremely self-conscious. Teachers make such a big difference in children's lives. Your teacher should be the person who you can rely on when it comes to school and learning. Also, many children do not have a good home life, and school may be all they got. Don't make another environment bad for them.
Anyways, I think teachers make a huge difference in a child's life and I got ramble on forever

Brianna Walsh

5/27/2020 12:03:57 pm

Hello everyone! Here is the link to the article “Using Children’s Books to Teach Literary Theory in High School”
https://www.edutopia.org/article/using-childrens-books-teach-literary-theory-high-school
This article focuses on the struggle that this teacher had when it came to teaching her seniors about applying literary analysis and how she was able to fix the problem by switching into more familiar texts. After years of trying to understand why it was so hard to teach these students literary analysis, she began to focus on why she was teaching it in the first place. Many of the students zoned out or thought it was boring because they didn’t understand how knowing literary analysis could be useful to them in the real world. She assigned “The Oval Portrait” by Edgar Allen Poe and realized their understanding was more surface level. She decided to use familiar texts that the students would be able to connect with like Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are.” She noticed the students were more engaged and that led into the discussion about how the same book can be seen through different lenses. The students were broken up into pairs and gave each group a literary theory to apply to the book. She had the students discuss the book through the lens they were giving while she walked around with guided questions. She saw more students engaged and able to apply literary analysis to their books that they were reading. She then switched to another book, The Grim Brothers “Little Red Ridding Hood.” With that story the students had to apply a literary theory to it and discuss. The students were more engaged learning about literary theory by reading familiar children’s books.

Kaylee Tavares

5/28/2020 01:10:57 pm

Hi there,
This is an incredibly interesting article. As future teachers, it is so important to remember how to be flexible in order to better support students. Without this teacher's creativity, it is likely that the students would have simply continued to struggle throughout the school year. This article also reminded me of a concept we covered in an EDHM class last semester. Essentially, there is an understanding that there is often a gap in understanding literature in between Elementary and Middle School when it comes to reading. This gap is thought to result from the fact that younger children "learn to read" while older ones "read to learn." Suddenly having to derive meaning from text can be a difficult transition and can have long lasting effects. Thus, I found it interesting that this teacher used children's books to encourage that understanding.

Lindsay Vo

5/27/2020 03:58:06 pm

Hi! Here is the link to the article I'm using called, "Exhausted and Grieving: Teaching During Coronavirus Crisis" by Catherine Gewertz https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2020/04/16/exhausted-and-grieving-teaching-during-the-coronavirus.html
This article gives us a glimpse of how teachers are handling the change from in-person-learning to online learning. As the title of the article suggests, teachers are feeling drained: emotionally and physically. They are constantly interrupted by emails and phone calls from parents, students, and administrators, and must fix their entire unit plan so that it is compatible for online learning. More than that, teachers miss their students tremendously: they don't get to connect with their students as much as they used to, and they're unable to pick up cues that suggest something might be wrong. Along with the emotional trauma, this transition is also affecting teachers in a physical manner. Some teachers say that they stay up until 2 or 3 am correcting homework and creating lesson plans. On top of that, they are also experiencing panic attacks, exhaustion, and their bodies are beginning to ache since they are sitting for most of the day. As we all know, staring at a computer all day isn't good for our health either: some teachers say that their eyes are straining. Then the last obstacle that Gewertz addresses is their personal life. Most teachers already have kids of their own, so multi-tasking is very common. How are they going to cater to the needs of their loved ones, deal with their fears of the virus, respond to emails, and teach 20 children at the same time? This article is an eye-opener: it really lets the readers know what teachers are going through during this pandemic.

Maddie Butkus

5/28/2020 01:41:20 pm

Hey Lindsay!
I am really glad you found an article discussing online teaching during this pandemic. As hard as it was for students to adjust to online learning, I know it had to have been just, if not more difficult for teachers as well. Trying to throw together what was a face-to-face class into a completely virtual online class basically overnight has got to be completely overwhelming. Due to this sudden change, it makes me realize that these are the instances we should now be more prepared for. While this is obviously not going to last the rest of our lives, we never know what the world will throw on us so it is important to at least have an idea/tips of how to create a class completely online. Technology can easily come with its own challenges but during our world today, we are extremely lucky to have it. I truly do applaud teachers for their hard work, especially during this time.

Kylie Bock

5/29/2020 09:54:18 am

Hi Lindsay!

I really like this article. I didn't even think to read an article about COVID and how it is affecting teachers. This article raises awareness about how being a teacher is far from an easy job especially with it being online. My step mom is a 3rd grade teacher and she is struggling with meeting all of her student's needs. Some are on IEPs and some don't have easy access to the internet. It has been so hard for her because she wants to help but it is a hard task over the screen. One thing I've noticed the past few months is how other people are finally starting to realize that teachers are super heroes.

Paige Couture

5/28/2020 06:49:47 am

Here is the link to the article I have written about here: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/06/learning/teaching-great-writing-one-sentence-at-a-time.html

Title: “Teaching Great Writing One Sentence at a Time” by Emma Tsai.

Emma Tsai is a high school English teacher and an author. She publishes her work in the New York Times for students to learn from. Tsai understands that writing can be difficult for some. In her practice, she studies closely on structure and form. Her goal is to help student’s find their own voice. The way she does this is starting off with grammar. This is taught through PowerPoint presentations with examples. Then, Tsai instructs her students to use them in a creative writing assignment. A month later, Tsai publishes them into the New York Times website.
Tsai uses more than PowerPoints to educate her students. The internet is put into good use by allowing students to use them independently. They are instructed to research a specific website that is approved by her (most likely, writing related). Tsai is organized when it comes to her teaching. She will give her students a heads up about what they will be doing over the next few months, using just three sentences. For example, Tsai uses sentences that provide dashes:
“When I’m re-entering the room, there’s a reclining chair for the patient—a tall, man in his 80s—was restless and had to be turned to face the garden where the double doors were wide open (Tsai 1).”
After the student finds an article about something that interests them on the NYT, they are instructed to highlight the sentences that stand out most to them. The students are to re-write what they see, in three sentences. This could be an introductory sentence, a clause, sentence lengths or adding verb choices. There are also assignments where Tsai has students pull words from an SAT book. The goal of this assignment is to educate children that writing can be well-written in many ways.

Megan LeBlanc

5/28/2020 02:18:41 pm

Hi Paige!

I liked your summary of this article and I feel like a common concern that can be seen throughout a few of these posts is the idea that teaching has become less about the students learning and growing from class, but instead more about students simply memorizing things from PowerPoints and lectures. I feel like the methods used in the article that you described make it easy for students to be actively interested and actively learning rather than just learning things to standard and regurgitating the information they had picked up. I feel like this is, without a doubt, one of the most difficult components to teaching – how do you balance out teaching what the curriculum requires with ensuring that you, as an educator, don’t fall into the pit of “well, we’re behind so let’s breeze through these concepts really quickly to make sure that you are able to pass these tests”?

Fiona Bell

5/28/2020 07:23:23 am

For this discussion, I chose an article titled “Teaching in 2020 vs. 2010: A Look Back at the Decade” (https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2019/12/11/teaching-in-2020-vs-2010-a-look.html). As for the content of the article, Madeline Will, from the website "Education Week", lists off more than a few examples of the ways teaching has shifted through the past decade and will continue to in the decades to come. She describes that “the policy pendulum [in schools] has swung back and forth. Teachers say they feel as if their jobs have gotten harder, as they grapple with both constantly changing education reforms… and with societal problems that have made their way into the classroom”. Freeda Pirillis, a former teacher who is now coordinator for an International Baccalaureate program in Chicago, writes, “There’s an increasing amount of responsibility and accountability. It’s almost become so burdensome and distracting to doing the job that’s important”. Will adds that things such as states toughening the way they grade teachers, increasing social pressures, school shootings, and extensive cyber bullying has made the job all the more difficult. Though, there do some to be some positives concerning teaching that have been rising to the surface: “…teacher voice has increasingly become a priority. States and school districts have formalized more teacher-leadership roles… and in the last couple of years, teachers have taken leadership into their own hands- leading strikes and protests across the country, and even running for office” (Will). But, with all of this aside, Will goes on to close the article with a rather haunting quote from Freeda Pirillis, “this is a conversation we had 10 years ago, and we’re going into 2020 and continuing to talk about elevating the profession- it feels like we still have a long way to go”, leading readers to wonder if, with all things considered in the past 10 years, we've really come so far at all.

Paige Couture

5/28/2020 10:32:50 am

Hi Fiona,

This article gives important information! Here, teachers state that school communities have changed over the years. Many schools have been through some rough times: peer pressure and cyber bullying. However, it is important to talk about these events because this will help prevent them from happening again. As a teacher, it is important to keep updated about what is going on in the world. We are living in a time where technology and safety procedures are changing. Being aware of new policies not only protects yourself, but the children in your classroom. This can be with anything—even social-emotional aspects. It is important to be aware of student’s emotions because it can make a big effect on their grades. Personally, I would want to make school not feel like job that has to be done. I would like to make learning fun. This could be done through icebreakers, group projects, watching films, physical activities, etc. Up to a certain extent, I do think it’s a good idea for schools to be stricter on teachers. Just not to the point where it will give stress to students that will cause them to fail.

Maddie Butkus

5/28/2020 10:18:19 am

Here is the link to the article I am writing about here: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/illinois/articles/2019-07-09/is-teaching-writing-as-important-as-teaching-reading

The title is “Is Teaching Writing as Important as Teaching Reading?”

This article was written by a member of the Associated Press, Molly Sprayregen. Within her work she discusses how important it is to teach writing skills and not just reading skills alone. Through the help of contacting and using quotes from different scholars in this content area, she explained how writing allows students to become more independent thinkers as well as become even better readers through their writing. Elyse Eidman-Aadahl, executive director of the National Writing Project, went on to mention a very crucial point that writing should be "the central thing you're learning. Not writing on a test, not writing to demonstrate you're learning what someone has taught you, but also really writing as an author writes.” This is solely based around the fact that many writing assignments that students are given are strictly focused around assessing a text rather than creating a new idea. Furthermore, another excellent point made was that even if students are not being taught the fundamental elements of writing or even being able to create their own unique work, students themselves are already writing and publishing on their own time. Social media plays a huge factor into this element and that is why it is so important to teach students about writing so they can do it in an appropriate and effective manner online. As a whole, Sprayregen believes that while reading is obviously something that needs to be taught, teachers must also teach about writing so that students can become better readers, express themselves, and learn how to appropriately do so on social media/in their future careers.

alexa parham link

5/28/2020 12:19:51 pm

I found this article from a "teaching website" and I honestly loved it -
It is called "Stop Telling Kids Their Best Efforts Aren't Good Enough" which was written by someone named "Captain Awesome" (NOT KIDDING)
(https://www.weareteachers.com/its-time-to-stop-telling-our-kids-that-their-best-efforts-arent-good-enough/)

In this article, it discusses the issues of standardized testing. Standardized testing is difficult for many students and it is a great struggle for some. (I have always been one of those students). Just because they may not have done well, does not mean that they are not smart and it also does not mean that they didnt try. This article emphasizes that these tests do NOT show the effort each student put into their test. A student who is just could at testing or even guessing could have barely tried and got a good score- then you have a student who studied for days and tried their absolute best and did much worse than that other student that barely even picked up a book.
Standardized testing DOES NOT TELL YOU HOW SMART YOU ARE. I think it makes students feel like they aren't smart and it makes you uncomfortable when someone asks you what your score was to compare it to theirs.
Then, you have the people who say, as stated in the article; "You will have to try harder next year", when in reality that student tried their best this year...
You have teachers who will say things like the quote above^ (there are always teachers who arent the best or the nicest... we have all had one of those), but then you get the teacher who does not install a fear of testing and tells you that he or she knows you tried your best and that its ONE test. Teacher need to install positive feedback and motivation. I think you and me can be that teacher - the one who motivates and doesnt put others down.

Kaylee Tavares

5/28/2020 01:18:43 pm

Hi there,
I think your article discusses what I think will be very difficult to approach when I become a teacher. I think one of the issues with the state of teaching today is that teachers must find the balance between feeling the stress and anxiety of assessments without allowing students to feel that anxiety. It seems after reading many of the posts that many of us have the students' mental state and confidence as a priority. Of course, this is wonderful and inspiring and hopefully indicates a change in our public schools. I think we can all agree that they would benefit from more kindness, acceptance, and tolerance. However, it is difficult to know that while we understand that the stress of exams is not beneficial for students, their test results can still impact our salaries, or even our jobs.

Kaylee Tavares

5/28/2020 01:06:36 pm

https://www.silive.com/news/2020/03/doe-releases-new-nyc-student-book-list-with-more-diverse-authors-characters.html
“DOE releases new NYC student book list with more diverse authors, characters”

This article discusses the fact that the Department of Education has expanded the book list for students in New York City to be more culturally responsive. This project was initiated in order to encourage students in Kindergarten- 12th grade to read independently. In order to complete this venture, the department looked to the community for suggestions. As a result, 22% of the books were chosen by the community. Students, teachers, mentors, and other community members connected to the city’s youth and education system contributed to the list. The books were chosen based on their quality and the likelihood that students would find the book interesting. However, the department also aimed to ensure that the characters and authors represented the student body. The goal was to provide all students with a character or author who they could relate to. The article states that students are more likely to read when they feel represented in the story or connected to the novel in some way. The city is also working on ensuring the book lists for Pre-K students also include culturally responsive characters. This new list includes a huge increase in characters and authors of color. In fact, of all characters on the Pre-K book list, 68% of them are now people of color. In the last book list, they only accounted for only 9% of characters.

Megan LeBlanc

5/28/2020 02:12:26 pm

I opted to read and summarize an article that I have a physical copy of rather than an online one. I subscribe to Rethinking Schools, and the article I read can be found in the Spring 2020 edition (Vol. 34, No. 3). The article is “Teaching More Civics Will Not Save Us From Trump” by Ursula Wolfe-Rocca. The main question of the writing is whether or not schools throughout America are teaching civics in a way that is helpful to their students. The methods of teaching this topic tend to be standardized and focused more on having students learn what is legal according to the law rather than asking them to think critically about what is just. Wolfe-Rocca also adds that this way of teaching civics (simply telling students the laws and expecting them to memorize them) ends up feeding into this illusion that the old days were pristine and there were no injustices because we had laws in place to prevent them. This illusion eliminates the need for those who would have had no voices before (women, minorities, etc.) to have a voice in the present day. These beliefs can be seen within politics even today and end up being responsible for a false face. The idea of ‘making America great again’ only works if there is a belief that America was once incredibly great and has, to a degree, fallen from those graces.

Kylie Bock

5/29/2020 09:47:02 am

Hello Everyone!

This is the article that I read
https://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/what-makes-a-great-teacher/

Essentially, the article covers how teaching is one of the most complicated professions an individual can have. No matter the grade level or subject, teaching is a craft and art form that requires one human to meet the needs of 15+ students. The article also discusses several qualities that make a teacher great and successful.
The first quality discussed was that great teachers set high expectation for their students. If a teacher doesn’t have these expectations, then there is no basis or room for growth. Setting these expectations will allow both the students and teacher to learn and grow.
Another quality that stuck out to me as the great teachers form meaningful relationships with their students and show that they care for them as people. I think this is so important as many teachers I’ve had (mostly in high school and college) simply are not passionate about their students. They teach their lesson plans and that is it. Without truly knowing your students, there is no relationship or bond. There is simply no trust. Getting to know your students will build trust and, in the end, make your student’s performance better.
Overall I thought this article was very informative and provides a lot of information for soon to be teachers.

The State of Teaching & Learning Today: readings on classrooms in popular media.

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