It’s the start of the school year, and that means every teacher I know is thinking about how to be a better teacher. The best teachers I know are even more obsessed with getting better. I’m always assessing and trying to get better, too.
So the question to ask is, how do you measure better teaching? Because how I measure it isn’t the same as the government and school leadership seem to be measuring it. And I’m afraid too many teachers get caught aiming for the wrong goals.
I think many leaders associate better teaching with more. More content covered, more projects, more homework, more “college-ready”, more points on standardized tests (of course). It’s so easy to slip into those goals, and aim for more repertoire, more languages, more difficulty, more achievement.
And I don’t think it’s necessarily bad to aim for those “mores.” But that’s not all there is to better teaching. Just as important are these: better connection, universal comprehension, consistent growth among the class, blossoming individuality, increased opportunities for creativity.
If we assess better teaching only as “more than last year,” we fail our students, who have different needs than last year’s students, and who succeed best when we creatively lift them up. Them, specifically. As individuals.