How to be an Effective Teacher?

Effective teaching does not mean "good" teaching or "bad" teaching !!!

How to be an effective teacher?

First,

a. Learn all the pedagogical tools (or most of them).
b. Understand that, tools do not have morality or ideology.
c. All tools are effective, but some tools are more effective than others. It comes down to the question: Under what condition?

Each tool can be effective (or ineffective) depending on the context, students, their prior knowledge, content, assessment, conditions, and the bigger purpose of learning.

Here are some of the tools, in teaching and learning, that work amazingly and work miserably at the same time:

• Writing

• Repetition

• Homework

• Explicit instruction

• Inquiry based

• Rote memorization

• Group work

• Individual work

• Reflection

• Exam

• Discussion

• Experiment

• Design Thinking

• Self study

• Timely Feedback

• Delayed Feedback

• Peer Feedback

• Competition

• Thinking

• Highlighting

• Retrieval Practice

• Listening

• Self-assessment

• Pair work

• Presentation

• Formative assessment

• Storytelling

• Teacher talk

• Student talk

• Role play

• Interview

• Practicing

• Coaching

• Project work

• Scaffolding

• Deadline

• Lecture

• Discovery approach

• Hands on activities

• Project Based Learning

• Simulation

• Play

• Reading
  

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Second,

Don’t blame the tools. Remember Nepali proverb: नाच्न नजान्ने आँगन टेंडो

Pedagogy is not philosophy. Don’t let your philosophy interfere the learning of your students.

If as a teacher, you are biased towards certain tools, you most certainly are the victim of ideologies. You are not thinking from “how learning actually happens” perspective but from the idealistic “how I wish learning should be happening”.

In an ideal world, every student would be motivated to learn. Every student would value learning. Every students would learn equally.

Unfortunately, teaching and learning does not happen in an ideal world. Teachers are not ideals. Nor are students. Nor is the process.

Remember, teaching is not a “wish list”.

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And third,

Some foundational resources you can check out. These will challenge you to think beyond pedagogy, and the discourse around ‘traditional teaching vs progressive teaching’.

These will help you focus on the idea that a true “learner-centric” approach is when a teacher knows where their learners are at and which approach is more effective at that moment.

• How People Learn, Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition (2000)

• Teach Like a Champion 3.0: 63 Techniques that Put Students on the Path to College

• Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning

• Cognitive Load Theory (Explorations in the Learning Sciences, Instructional Systems and Performance Technologies Book 1)

• Embedded Formative Assessment (Strategies for Classroom Formative Assessment That Drives Student Engagement and Learning)

• Why unguided learning does not work: An analysis of the failure of discovery learning, problem-based learning, experiential learning and inquiry-based learning

• How Learning Happens: Seminal Works in Educational Psychology and What They Mean in Practice

• Explicit teaching is highly interactive

In conclusion:

An effective teacher always puts “learning” at the center. One might have a preference or bias towards certain tool or approach or philosophy. But an effective teacher is flexible in choosing appropriate approaches and is primarily focused on how to make learning meaningful. Everything else is just an add-on.