HOW TEACHERS CAN IMPROVE THEIR CLASSROOM PERFORMANCE
Want to know how teachers can improve their performance? Here we cover the traits of an effective teacher and 10 ways to become one.
Before delving into the central topic of this article, how teachers can improve their classroom performance, it may be helpful to first define a fundamental concept: teacher performance.
What does "teacher performance" mean?
Today, teachers need to continuously improve themselves professionally to keep abreast of the latest trends, teaching approaches, and techniques in the field of teaching.
Of course, staying up-to-date and relevant is key to properly addressing students' learning needs and helping them reach their full potential.
We use the term teacher performance to define the observable classroom outcomes of this training and development or lack thereof. That is, it is the set of actions, attitudes, and behaviors in the learning-learning environment that results in the achievement of educational goals for students. LMS for Education
Simply put, what a teacher does or doesn't do in the classroom has a huge impact on how effectively students progress in their learning. Therefore, we cannot stress enough the tremendous impact a teacher's performance has on students' academic success or failure.
Evaluation of teacher performance
Determining the best method to accurately evaluate a teacher's performance remains a hotly debated issue among educators. Measuring a teacher's effectiveness is indeed an extremely complex task. There are many factors and variables involved that can vary based on:
At the risk of being simplistic, we could evaluate the impact of a teacher's performance on student learning based on three main variables:
After analyzing the data collected from the evaluation, we can reflect on the results and draw practical conclusions. Then we can decide what changes, adjustments, or adjustments are needed for teachers to improve their performance in the classroom.
What makes a teacher effective?
As we saw above, a teacher with a high degree of effectiveness is conducive to successful academic achievement.
However, what qualities do teachers who skillfully achieve the desired learning goals have in common? What qualities do students respond positively to?
1 – Be Positive
A positive attitude towards teaching and the students themselves is key to keeping them engaged and focused. Being enthusiastic about your topic also motivates students to want to learn what's interesting about it.
If a teacher shows commitment and enthusiasm, the students usually do the same. Certainly, promoting a positive and healthy environment is extremely beneficial for the proper development of the teaching-learning process.
To learn more about creating a positive school environment, check out our teacher training courses.
2 – Be Patient
Try to put yourself in your student's shoes and remember that learning is hard work. Let them know that mistakes are part of the process and not to worry if they don't get it right in the beginning.
Keep in mind that students need time to absorb new information, so don't blame them if they get something wrong. Give them time to fully understand, and if not, find new approaches to reach them more effectively.
3 – Be Clear
Keep the message simple and clear, even if the topic is complex. Remember that these ideas and concepts are new to the students, so do your best to familiarize them with this information.
Use visual aids, such as presentations, charts, graphs, or other interactive online resources. They allow students to grasp concepts more easily without feeling overwhelmed.
And, most importantly, determine from the start:
Furthermore, it is essential to give students feedback so that they know how they are doing and what they need to improve during the learning process. Corporate LMS
4 – Be Innovative
Being inventive in class helps students stay focused and focused. Discover innovative teaching methods that adapt to the learning needs of your students.
Also, try to find creative resources that guarantee the best possible learning experience. The fun and imaginative lessons never fail to capture the attention of the students.
5 – Be Flexible
An effective teacher knows how to adapt to the learning needs of each student. Using only one teaching method is counterproductive; as it may not work, equally well for everyone.
Addressing the individual needs of students is key to allowing everyone to achieve academic success.
6 – Be a Motivator
As a motivator, a teacher must provide encouragement and incentive for learning. Fostering an atmosphere of active participation inspires students to become more engaged and interested in the subject.
In addition, a motivational educator promotes self-confidence along with purposeful behavior that will ultimately result in academic success.
7 – Be Accessible
Being approachable and easy to talk to removes the communication barriers between a teacher and their students.
Creating a meaningful connection with students leads to the elimination of hierarchies that could hinder the effectiveness of the teaching-learning process.
Certainly, teachers will be able to address issues more accurately if students have the confidence to freely express their questions, concerns, and concerns.
8 – Show Your Love for Teaching
If a teacher loves what he is doing, it is evident in the dynamics of the classroom. As a role model who sets the tone for the classroom, a teacher's attitude will be reflected in that of his or her students.
If you display a gloomy mood or unmotivated, disinterested behavior, don't expect your students to feel motivated too.
The opposite happens when you spread positive energy. Students will feel inspired and will get the most out of what you teach them, as enthusiasm can be very contagious.
To create a positive learning environment, we need to leave negative traits out of the classroom. Lessons will be more effective if teachers encourage positive and active participation. In this way, students are engaged and motivated as they engage in challenging learning activities.
An educator who shows his love for teaching is sure to always get better responses from students. Paying attention to what they are learning goes a long way toward achieving academic goals.
Do you want to know more about this topic? Check out our course on how teachers can rediscover motivation and energy.
9 – Admit Mistakes
Admit when you are wrong and set an example for your students. Tolerance and understanding of one's own mistakes and those of others promote a more empathetic learning environment. This way, students are no longer afraid to make mistakes and they will participate more actively.
By encouraging a natural attitude toward mistakes, students can learn from them in practical ways and move forward without a paralyzing sense of failure. Online Course Creation
If students point out errors, omissions, or inaccuracies, be prepared to make changes, correct them as necessary, and continue the lesson naturally. In this way, students see that we need to control and correct mistakes to continue the learning process effectively.
1- Knowledge of the subject
It refers to the actual content or amount of information that an educator should teach their students. While a teacher must have a thorough knowledge of the subject, there is more to it than acquiring knowledge and transferring it to students.
What should a teacher do to help students achieve high learning outcomes?
RICH VS LESS SUBJECT MATTER KNOWLEDGE
In general, we can observe a clear difference between teachers with rich subject knowledge and teachers with less knowledge. The first tends to focus on the connections between ideas and how to organize them. They also use problem-solving and research to delve into the content.
The latter tend to emphasize isolated facts, procedures, and rules, strictly following a textbook and without deviating from the curriculum, thus avoiding focusing on important ideas and their connection with others.
Subject matter knowledge is certainly essential when it comes to fostering student understanding and meaningful learning. To help students understand concepts and apply them in different contexts, teachers need to know more than isolated facts, concepts, and procedures.
Most importantly, to make ideas explicit in an accessible way, they also need to know how ideas relate to each other and other topics. LMS for Trainers
2- Lesson Planning
A lesson plan is a detailed description of:
That is, it identifies the action the teacher will take to help students achieve their academic goals. In addition, a lesson plan helps teachers organize content, materials, activities, strategies, and time.
Well-planned lessons promote well-managed classrooms and, consequently, a successful teaching-learning process. Failure to plan a lesson usually leads to disorganization and improvisation, resulting in a loss of focus and interest.
Conversely, students respond positively to well-prepared teachers by showing respect for them and staying focused on the task. Preparing lessons in advance usually makes teachers feel more confident and in control. After thoroughly establishing all the steps to follow and anticipating possible student fights, they feel free to give their best.
Benefits of Lesson Planning
As a result of careful lesson planning, teachers are less stressed, behave more confidently, and can lead the classroom more effectively because they are prepared for whatever is to come.
In addition, the lesson plan provides an overview of learning objectives and expectations in the classroom. This way, students always know what they are going to learn and how that knowledge and skills will be evaluated.
Having clear learning goals helps gauge whether students are on track or not. For this reason, lesson planning includes ongoing assessments to determine if students are progressing as expected.
Then, based on the results of the assessments, the teachers can make adjustments, changes, or changes to more efficiently meet the needs of the students.
Certainly, lesson planning is at the heart of successful teaching. A well-planned lesson and a well-prepared teacher are a guarantee for the ultimate achievement of the learning objectives.
3- Student/teacher relationship
Learning is a two-way process. As students learn about a subject from their teacher, teachers observe how students respond to their teaching methods. In this way, they learn whether their didactic skills need to be improved.
Therefore, we can logically conclude that an effective learning environment is one where both students and teachers learn from each other and successfully achieve academic goals together.
How do we create an effective learning environment?
The student-teacher relationship is the foundation upon which an effective learning environment is built.
A positive and powerful relationship with students includes good communication, trust, mentorship, and effective classroom management. All these factors are essential for creating a strong learning atmosphere in the classroom.
1 – Good Communication
Promoting good communication in the classroom helps you get to know your students better and create a real personal connection. Teachers need to know their students' traits, interests, and learning styles. Only then will they be able to understand their problems, deal with them better, and adapt their teaching methods to their learning needs to help them succeed.
2 – Trust
In addition, creating an open and safe learning environment helps by putting students at the center of the teaching-learning process. When a teacher focuses on trust, active listening, and problem-solving, students feel cared for and a love of learning grows in them.
Consequently, a class where students feel supported is more open and communicative. They actively participate and feel confident in expressing their opinions, thoughts, doubts, or concerns as all contributions are equally respected.
Also, the fear of ridicule is drastically reduced if they are confident to ask a question without being criticized or disrespected by their teacher or their classmates.
3 – Mentoring
Establishing yourself as a mentor plays a vital role in increasing student engagement and motivation. Genuine interest and a willingness to help them overcome difficulties trigger self-motivation to work harder and make the teacher proud.
Likewise, they respond with a motivated and committed attitude to achieve more when supported and have the confidence to achieve higher goals.
As we've seen, building strong relationships with students reinforces a classroom climate where progress through effort is the cornerstone. In such an environment, a teacher can always demand more from his students and guide them to reach their full potential.
4 – Class Management
Finally, yet importantly, a strong student-teacher relationship is also a powerful tool when it comes to classroom management. Students are more receptive and productive when a dedicated teacher who will do everything they can to help them succeed assists them.
When a teacher has a positive influence on his students, they are more likely to show respect and trust. As a result, they will learn, perform well and feel motivated to achieve their academic goals.
For example, students with inappropriate or even disruptive behavior may improve or even change if the teacher makes an effort to work with them.
The same can be said for struggling students when getting the specific help they need can significantly improve their performance in the classroom.
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5- Adequate tools and resources
Educational resources, resources, and materials are the tools teachers use to present the knowledge and skills that must be acquired to achieve academic goals.
The purpose of these learning resources is to facilitate the proper development of the teaching-learning process.
They come in many forms: books, textbooks, workbooks, worksheets, audiovisual aids, web, online apps and tools, multimedia materials, (online) libraries, learning communities, online platforms, etc.
As a result, the possibilities are so vast that teachers must be meticulous when selecting which ones to use.
What should the learning materials, tools, and resources look like?
Being a direct source of learning experiences, they must have certain characteristics to successfully achieve their educational goal:
However, they will only achieve their educational goal if they:
6- Collaboration with Colleagues
Probably the most practical way a teacher can improve his or her classroom performance is by working with other teachers. Who better to learn from than a fellow teacher?
The ultimate goal of the collaboration is to work together to improve student learning and academic performance. Certainly, cooperation has a very positive effect on the performance of teachers and therefore has a strong impact on optimal study progress.
Collaboration should be a continuous process with a constant focus on improving teachers' skills. The goal is always to provide students with quality learning experiences that will lead them to desired academic success.
How can teachers enrich their teaching practice?
1 – Sharing good practices and expertise
It enables teachers to have productive conversations in which they exchange ideas, resources, strategies, and methods. Through networking, teachers interact, spread good ideas that open new perspectives and discuss the most effective ways to improve their subject.
2 – Peer observation
It is a rich source for concluding the effectiveness of our education. Observing how fellow teachers manage their classes and present teaching materials is a very effective way to learn. It also helps immensely to figure out what best suits students from a delivery perspective.
In addition, teachers can effectively focus on student-teacher interaction and discover effective strategies to engage and keep the class engaged.
Each colleague's teaching style is a new territory to explore and analyze. It enables you to reflect on your teaching style from different angles. Therefore, the conclusions of this reflection will be the tools teachers will use to sharpen their skills.
3 – Learning Community
Today, social networks and new technologies in general make it easier for teachers to communicate with each other regularly and comfortably. For example, learning communities are extremely useful in providing teachers with the right environment in which they can:
Certainly, collaborating with colleagues to discuss best pedagogical practices and exchange feedback is an activity that goes a long way in improving teacher performance.
Frequent collaboration between educators promotes the use of innovative teaching practices that result in higher levels of effectiveness in the classroom.
7 – Feedbacks
Feedback is information given to students or teachers about their performance in learning objectives. The purpose of giving and receiving feedback is to improve both teacher effectiveness and student learning.
Therefore, effective feedback is two-way communication. Teachers should provide students with the necessary guidance and appropriate tools. They can then adjust their learning strategies and correct mistakes to be successful in the learning process.
In turn, students must accurately inform their teachers about their learning needs and difficulties. In this way, the teacher can clearly understand how his learning is developing and meet his areas for improvement.
Ideally, feedback is a dialogue between teacher and student and not a superficial exchange of information. Students should actively participate in the evaluation of their work so that they can reflect on their learning.
Thus, they feel directly involved in the decisions that are made to help them achieve their learning goals and also feel encouraged to focus and do what is necessary.
Similarly, teachers can gain insight into their classroom performance through the valuable insights provided by constructive feedback from students. This allows teachers to identify their strengths and weaknesses and determine whether the strategies and methods used are effective or not. Digital Content Development
What is good feedback?
For feedback to be effective and efficient, it must be clear about three things:
Furthermore, good feedback should be:
Constructive feedback should provide both teachers and students with the means to work together toward a successful teaching-learning process.
And most importantly, it should lead to a healthy and open learning environment where students feel cared for and motivated to give their best and reach their full potential.
8 – High standards and expectations
First, let's clarify the difference between norms and expectations in education.
On the one hand, the standard is the level of performance or quality that a teacher determines to be acceptable for his or her students. That is, it is the yardstick by which we compare student work to accurately evaluate it.
On the other hand, the expectation is the teacher's strong personal belief that students will meet and even exceed that standard (high expectations); or, conversely, that they will not be able to deliver (low expectations).
In education, it is widely recognized that having high standards and expectations promotes student success and personal well-being. Having a teacher who believes in their abilities positively impacts their self-esteem, confidence, and motivation, which in turn are closely related to effective learning and performance.
Moreover, the study progress of students can be strongly influenced by the learning environment in which they develop. Dramatic variations can certainly exist in a student's performance depending on the classroom culture created by the teacher.
How to create a classroom culture based on high standards and expectations
How can a teacher promote this kind of culture in the classroom? Let's look at some helpful tips:
Provide specific and detailed feedback. Vague statements are not helpful and do not motivate students to do better, they need to know exactly what needs to be improved to further develop their learning.
9 – Self-Reflection
“We do not learn from experience…we learn from reflecting on experience.”- John Dewey.
A teacher's ability to reflect on their classroom practice is critical to the continuous improvement of their skills. However, we usually tend to stick to our old ways and forget to challenge ourselves and try new strategies in class.
This stagnant situation will most likely lead to both the teacher's detachment from the very purpose of their work and the eventual demonization of the students.
To prevent it from becoming obsolete and thus increase its effectiveness, teachers need to take a step back and look at their performance in the classroom objectively. Therefore, teachers should ask themselves if they are doing their best to support the student's learning experience.
Thus, through self-reflection, they will be able to identify, question, and evaluate their basic assumptions, values, and perspectives on their teaching style and therefore make the necessary changes or adjustments.
What are the most relevant topics for reflection?
1 – Student Needs
Reflecting on classroom experiences is a great tool to help teachers become aware of aspects of their methodology that are effective or that do not fit the learning needs of students. That is, the ultimate goal of self-reflection is to better understand student's needs and find the most effective method to meet them.
2 – Past Mistakes
Thinking honestly about how events were handled in the past and comparing that to how we would handle them now is a very practical way for teachers to appreciate whether their teaching skills have evolved for the better.
In addition, by spending time analyzing past mistakes, they can identify areas for growth and guide future decision-making that will directly impact the proper progression of the teaching-learning process.
3 – Strengths
Similarly, teachers can recognize their strengths and then capitalize on them. Discovering that a particular method or strategy works effectively can boost their confidence and motivate them to keep working and giving the best of themselves.
4 – Teacher-student relationship
How an educator behaves within the learning environment is also an important aspect of teaching to think about. Observation and evaluation of the teacher-student relationship help determine whether the knowledge of their student's learning styles and interests is deep enough or whether a personal connection has been established with them.
Simply put, teachers need to answer these questions: Are we paying enough attention to our students? Shall we put them first?
5 – Materials and Resources
In addition, teachers should think about the learning material and resources provided to facilitate the learning process of the students. To be effective, they must be up-to-date, relevant, and adapted to students' learning styles.
Teachers can check whether they have been selected enough by observing how students react (engaged, disinterested, or confused) and whether the learning objective has been successfully achieved.
The bottom line is that self-reflection is about figuring out what's not working in the classroom so you can plan and make the necessary changes and adjustments.
While it's a process most teachers do naturally (either privately or with colleagues), it takes persistence, dedication, and hard work to be truly effective.
Self-development is a lifelong task and self-reflection is only the first step. Even the most effective teachers admit that no matter how much we hone our skills, there is always room for improvement!
10 – Taking Risks
As the saying goes, "Nothing risked, nothing gained".
Risk-taking, along with innovation and creativity, is usually at the heart of the most innovative teaching methods.
When we pay attention to history, we eventually realize that significant progress has only really been made when ingrained social conventions, established laws, or absolutist power has been challenged and then defeated.
Education has undergone a remarkable process of opening up and diversification in recent decades. This has led to the most rigid and outdated educational practices being pushed aside by innovative and entirely new methods, trends, strategies, and techniques that address current problems.
Progress comes with change
Today, teachers have a wide variety of educational tools, methods, strategies, and techniques at their disposal to help students provide the best possible learning experience.
However, some teachers choose the approach they feel most comfortable with because it fits their personality and the way they teach. While this approach doesn't suit all their students' needs, they stick to their old ways because they don't see themselves doing it any differently.
As we said before, no progress without change. So if a teacher wants to improve his performance in the classroom, he must be willing to take risks and try new things that may require him to step out of his comfort zone.
The reward comes when these risks lead to positive outcomes. That is, they have helped students achieve learning goals effectively, and as a result, both teachers and students feel encouraged to keep exploring new ideas and possibilities. In this way, together they gradually create a culture of risk-taking that will foster a richer learning environment.
Of course, sometimes taking risks doesn't lead to the desired results, but when it does, it's worth it.
Learn from failure
However, failure is also a great source of learning. Fostering a supportive classroom environment where students feel safe from making mistakes inspires them to keep experimenting and persevere when they fail. In addition, learning that failure and its consequences can be fixed helps them build the resilience and confidence that prepares them to succeed in life.
In addition, when a teacher takes the risk of trying something different, it promotes both the development of new skills in students and the discovery of new interests or passions that contribute to their personal and academic growth.
Of course, teachers can also benefit from taking risks. Implementing new methods or techniques that they are not familiar with will help them deal with and overcome the fear of failure by creating innovative solutions.
Moreover, seeing their efforts pay off can boost their confidence and rekindle their passion for the craft.
Ultimately, a risky classroom dynamic will allow teachers and students to take the road less traveled and think outside the box.
But not alone. Following unconventional classrooms, actions help students acquire the right tools to develop problem-solving and decision-making skills, which they will surely need in later life.
Conclusion
In this article, we have presented a comprehensive overview of how teachers can improve their classroom performance. We believe this is a critical issue within the education system as teachers have a great responsibility for student well-being and successful learning experiences.
So much so that we can safely say that the future of students depends heavily on the quality of educators' classroom performance. For this reason, teachers should always be attentive and thoroughly prepared to deal with classroom management and effectively meet the learning needs of students.
As we have seen, teacher performance and student performance are closely linked. Therefore, the quality of education must be continuously improved to provide students with the best possible learning experience and help them successfully achieve their academic goals.
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