You can find out more about her at http://carolinelewiseducation.com/.
She talked about the fact that we really hold the fate of our students in our hands. We have the ability to really be a positive influence on your students, or you can damage them (or give them an indelible memory that affects them years into adulthood). Ms. Lewis gave examples of both that have affected her life.
She talked about 5 things Effective Teachers do. I LOVED that she didn't use a bunch of buzz words. She didn't bring up Marzano. She did talk about the fact that characteristics of effective teachers has been researched exhaustively. So she asked the question--why are we still talking about it?
Below are some of my notes from her talk. Her stories were funny, poignant, and completely relevant to all of us.
I hope the snippets of her talk that I was able to write down make sense and are helpful!
Education not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. We are arsonists. LOL
Teachers either lift us up or traumatize us.
(She gave us examples of both from her own experiences)
No matter what level, subject you teach, it is hard work.
If you want to be a powerful teacher, remember you have the power to influence kids.
You never know...(how what you do can influence a child for the long term)
Think: what prevents you from flying?
What prevents you from being effective?
Be aware of your strengths and what happens when your buttons are pushed.
For example, if we suffer from sleep deprivation, our patience wears thin much more quickly.
(At this point we did an exercise where we selected our top 10 - 15 attributes. Then she showed us how the same attributes change (get magnified and altered in a negative way) when we are tired or otherwise agitated.
Remember to have "Think time": the power of the pause. Don't let them answer until they formulate a complete answer. Ex: Don't answer until you paused for 10 seconds
Ask more profound questions
"Have a convince-able mind"
Powerful Teaching is an interpersonal process: Reach them. Then you can teach them.
Powerful Teaching is Interdisciplinary: gives meaning and context to learning and sustains learning.
We need to do MORE Interdisciplinary/interdivision learning activities
We need to make sure learning is open-ended.
Find ways to engage your audiences.
If all you look at is quantitative data, you are missing a lot.
Value of the power of teaching
5 Categories of effective teaching:
--high standards, big hearts : sensitivity to learners
--communication and engagement -- requires them to have a voice
Are you giving a grade buster or a grade booster?
--pedagogy skills -- do you know the sequence of what you want to teach? What are you doing to organize your subject to teach? Mix it up a little.
Develop learning modules in your mind's eye. Create MEANING.
-- professionalism: you can't know everything but you need to model learning.
Don't diss teachers/ teaching profession in front of students
--create meaning through enthusiasm-- doesn't mean loud. Means passionate. Showing excitement for the subject area carries a lot of weight.
How to evaluate yourself as a teacher--
We gravitate towards meaning
You have to take care of the whole child.
We are the grown ups so we need to cut the children some slack.
We are the other person in the lives of our students & we need to teach them to believe in themselves.
Give it your best shot!