Top Ten Signs of Inventive and Inspired Teaching that Produces Dynamic Learning

I’ve learned over time that several fundamental qualities are essential to good teaching; the kind of inventive and inspired teaching that produces dynamic learning. Qualities that most teachers characterize and apply on a daily basis. Qualities, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker certainly does not value, but found in the presence of great teachers, who  have an inate, almost artistic ability to elicit a deep and powerful desire to learn. While not all people have this inspirational and uncanny "gift" to teach, there are at least 10 things that  come to mind when I think about the bare essentials of creative, motivated and most importantly, productive teaching.  They are in no particular order:

Top 10 Signs of Inventive and Inspiured Teaching

1.   Students are engaged and active in the learning process.
2.   Powerful teachers are impassioned and have a deep knowledge about their subjects.
3.   Students know that their teacher(s) like(s) teaching them.
4.   Relationships are as important as the subject matter.
5.   Structure and organization are evident in the classroom.
6.   Children are treated with respect and reciprocate it.
7.   Learning involves hard work, yet more often than not, it’s also fun.
8.   Successes, even small ones are celebrated, while failures are merely seen as temporary obstacles simply to be used as future learning experiences.
9.   Character is modeled, valued and nurtured to maturity, even when that mission means sacrificing time on content.
10.   Teachers have an intrinsic belief that children have a natural and unquenchable  thirst to learn, regardless of what outward appearances may seemingly suggest.

Lessons from the Legendary Coach, and Paragon of Teaching, John Wooden 

Many of the notions found in this blog, can be found and further developed within the highly captivating,  You Haven’t Taught Until They Have Learned: John Wooden’s Teaching Principles and Practices by Swen Nater and Ronald Gallimore. Certainly, all of this is, of course, easier said than done. Clearly, what stands out the most is, as Coach Wooden offered in his 12 Lessons in Leadership and wonderfully simple Pyramid of Success, the reality that educators must “make greatness attainable by all,” realize that “adversity is [their] asset” and as they endeavor to “seek significant change,” they must instill in those around them the notion that “little things make big things happen”

These are the underpinnings that Governor Walker so obviously lacks, but great teachers command and inspire in others.


http://astore.amazon.com/thesch08-20