Education & Teaching Profile an Effective Teacher

Qualified teachers are needed at all levels of education. Across the country, teacher shortages exist because of increased student numbers, teacher retirement, and the low retention of new teachers.

Today, there is no single path to becoming a teacher. As you, the principal, and your staff selection committee conduct job searches for hiring the best new faculty, you must screen applicants with more varied levels of training and experience than ever before. How do you determine effective teachers? Once you hire them, how do you nurture their growth and keep them at your school?

This course focuses on the characteristics of effective teachers and the principal’s role in their recruitment, hiring, and retention. You will use your knowledge of what currently exists, the presentations, and readings to formulate a step-by-step process for recruiting, hiring, and supporting the best.

In this module’s analysis you will think about these questions: How do you define effective teaching? How can you identify the skills and competencies of an effective teacher? What is your role, as a principal, in developing those skills and competencies?

Complete Parts 1 and 2 and compile your responses in a single. Use the part titles as subheadings in the paper.

• PART 1: PROFILE OF AN EFFECTIVE TEACHER

In this part of the analysis you need decide on your personal definition of an effective teacher. To hire the best, you must define the best.

Before starting the analysis, review Marzano’s five domains that impact student achievement in the Module 1 presentation and the Module 1 Haberman article on star teachers. On the learning objects page, you’ll also find information on effective teachers and best practices that should be helpful in developing your definition.

• Step 1. Create a chart to guide your reflection. You may create the table yourself, or use the template provided in the Template Tables document.

Step 2. Think back to your first year of teaching and your performance in each of Marzano’s five domains and Haberman’s dimensions. Record your reflections in the chart.

• Step 3. Then think about your performance in each of those domains in your most recent teaching assignment and Haberman’s dimensions. Record those reflections in the chart.
• Step 4. Respond to the following:

a) On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being the least effective and 10 being the most effective, how would you rate your performance as a first-year teacher on Marzano’s five domains and Haberman’s dimensions? Compose two well-developed paragraphs of a minimum five sentences each – one in which you rate and explain your performance as a first-year teacher and the other in which you rate and explain your current teaching performance.

What accounts for your growth?

What barriers did you encounter along the way in your progression from a novice to an experienced teacher?

b) Review data on your current students’ performance. Based on that data, what are your current strengths and weaknesses as a teacher? Compose a well-developed paragraph of a minimum 5 sentences about your strengths and another about your weaknesses. Cite the data that supports your decision making.

c) Think about the most effective teacher you have ever known. Compose a well-developed paragraph of a minimum five sentences that identifies the teacher and why he/she was the most effective. Use Marzano’s domains and Haberman’s dimensions to help you describe this teacher.

d) Does your school or school district have a definition of an effective teacher? If so, what is the definition? If not, based on your learning in this module, reflect on the need for a definition.

e) Based on your analysis so far and your learning from the presentations and readings, who are you looking for when your hire a new teacher? What is your definition of an effective teacher? What does an effective teacher know and do? Describe this effective teacher in a well-developed paragraph of a minimum five sentences. You will keep this definition at the forefront of your thinking as you complete the Modules 2-4 Application assignments, so make sure you create a solid profile.

PART 2: THE PRINCIPAL’S ROLE

Use the questions to guide your completion of a five-paragraph paper on the role of the principal in recruiting effective teachers.

Think back again on your own experience as a first-year teacher. This time, consider your principal and/or other school administrators during that first year.

What types of support did you receive as a new teacher?

Did the support that was provided fulfill your needs as a new teacher? 

Based on what you have learned so far in the course, what do you feel is the role of the principal and/or other administrators in the development of the skills and competencies of new teachers? What is their responsibility in developing effective teachers?

What recruitment practices for new teachers does your district or school currently have in place? Have you participated in any recruitment efforts? 

What should be the principal’s role in recruiting, hiring, and retaining effective teachers?

What do you see as the ideal way to recruit, hire, and retain effective teachers?