A miracle occurred on February
16, 2016.
I enjoyed an in-service.
And I don’t just mean that I
survived with only minor complaining. I genuinely
enjoyed myself, and left feeling revitalized and inspired with the want to
improve my teaching practices.
The topic of the day was the
Marzano Teacher Evaluation Model, with an emphasis on Elements 17-20. Now I have to admit that when I first heard
what we were going to be discussing, I instantly felt a little
apprehensive. While Marzano has been a
buzz word that I have heard frequently throughout my two years in the College
of Education, I had almost no pre-existing knowledge about what/who Marzano was
and how it applied to me as a student teacher. Thus, I felt as if the day would
consist of me listening to a lot of information that did not pertain to me and
feeling as if I was one sentence away from falling asleep.
However, I soon came to find out
that the Marzano Teacher Evaluation Model is how the majority of new teachers
are being evaluated, which definitely grabbed my attention. And as I began to closely listen to the
information being discussed, I started to buy into what this Marzano guy has to
offer.
Dr. Robert Marzano has been researching
effective teaching strategies for over 40 years, with the result being a
compilation of his research in a book titled The Art and Science of Teaching.
This book provides instructional
strategies that are linked to student achievement. These strategies are split up into four
domains:
1.
Classroom
Strategies and Behaviors
2.
Planning and
Preparing
3.
Reflecting
on Teaching
4.
Collegiality
and Professionalism
These domains contain elements
which are further organized by Domain Questions (DQ). The Domain Questions build upon one another
so that DQ1 focuses on elements surrounding the basics of communicating
learning goals and classroom procedures, while D93 is all about communicating
high expectations for all students. Teachers
are then evaluated on how well they perform and implement different elements by
their administrator during observation periods.
This organization and style of
evaluation greatly appeals to me. I like
that I can pick one domain to focus on for improvement, and then utilize the
specific elements within that domain to guide and hone my instruction within
the classroom. The main focus of the
in-service last Tuesday was Domain 1, DQ3, Elements 17-20. These elements have to do with helping
students practice and deepen their knowledge, which is something that all
teachers are hopefully striving to do.
As we discussed these elements we were told several mistakes that teachers
make during observations that cause these elements to be unobservable (i.e. no
wait time, lecturing, etc.). However, we
were then given helpful and realistic
ways that we could incorporate these elements into our classroom (i.e. graphic
organizers, interdisciplinary connections, and questioning techniques).
Due to this information, I would
like to make it a goal for myself to focus on Element 18 (Helping students
examine their reasoning), 19 (Helping students practice skills, strategies, and
procedures), and 20 (Helping students revise knowledge). These elements appeal to me because they
encompass literacies that are imperative within every content area, as well as
in the real-world. I plan on
incorporating these elements by engaging in the following teaching practices:
1.
Planning out
thought-provoking questions and asking them several times throughout a course
of study
2.
Providing
more wait/think time
3.
Organizing responses/information
in a graphic organizer that will be used as a reference throughout the course
of study
4.
Prompting
students to reference and add to graphic organizer throughout the course of
study
5.
Have
students analyze how understandings/opinions have changed throughout the course
of study via the graphic organizer
In summary, the overall goal is
to make students more aware of their thinking process by helping them organize
and capture their thoughts throughout a unit in a graphic organizer. While this
may sound silly and boring, I believe that if implemented consistently and with
rigor, it will be an effective strategy.
***If you are interested in more
information about The Marzano Evaluation, their website (found at http://www.marzanoevaluation.com/)
also provides an expansive number of resources that are free and easily
accessible for teachers
