Effective Teaching

Inspired by a quote today:

"Learners need to know how well they are doing and how they can do better. Effective teaching is not simply providing information - a text book, video, or podcast can do that as well and often better.
Rather, a teacher's value comes in the careful observation, analysis, and feedback to a learner that enables improvement." (p. 28-29)

Consider this...without students we cannot teach. It is so true that our value comes from setting up tasks that apply the knowledge we have shared. Then, to follow up with those tasks by clearly and concretely telling students the strategies they can use to improve. If this is not happening, what are we doing? If they speak, tell them how to speak better. If they make mistakes, tell them how to fix them. If they misunderstand a text, help them understand. This is what we do, while at the same time motivating them to stick with it until they cross their finish line. 

Barkley, E.F. (2009). Student engagement techniques: A handbook for college faculty. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

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