WHAT DETERMINES AN EFFECTIVE TEACHER?

<p><strong><span>WHAT DERTERMINES AN EFFECTIVE TEACHER?</span></strong></p> <p><span>By: Gretta Navales, MA-ESL</span><span>&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span>Teachers may take on various responsibilities apart from educating students, but their primary role is to give quality instruction, facilitate learning, and ensure that students meet the target learning competencies (UNESCO,2017). Over the years, institutions have often relied on subjective methods to evaluate teacher effectiveness, such as student evaluations and assessments from head teachers. But do these types of evaluations truly reflect a teacher's effectiveness? How can we accurately measure whether a teacher is truly effective in his primary role?</span></p> <p><span>Does actively participating in professional development activities&mdash;such as attending research conferences, writing books, or presenting at forums&mdash;automatically make a teacher effective?</span></p> <p><span>Does taking on extra tasks, like emceeing events, leading committees, or being part of a faculty federation, guarantee classroom effectiveness?</span></p> <p><span>What about being kind and considerate to students and colleagues? Or consistently receiving high ratings in student evaluations? Do these factors alone define a teacher&rsquo;s effectiveness?</span></p> <p><span>The answer is <strong>NO. </strong></span></p> <p><span>While professional development, extra duties, kindness, and strong evaluation results are valuable, they do not, on their own, determine effectiveness in teaching. These are complementary qualities that can enhance a teacher's professional profile, but they do not directly measure success in facilitating learning. To evaluate a teacher&rsquo;s effectiveness, we must return to the essence of the role: preparing quality instruction, facilitating learning, and ensuring that students master key competencies. Effective teaching is ultimately about whether students are moving from <strong>struggling </strong>to <strong>proficient. </strong></span></p> <p><span>So, if Joseph, a struggling reader, completes a semester of your reading class with no improvement in his reading performance&mdash;suggesting that your strategy may not be effective. Mary, who has difficulty with basic math, remains unsure of fundamental operations after finishing your course&mdash;again, indicating that your approach might need adjustment. Similarly, Juan, who begins the semester with limited understanding of nationalism, still displays a colonial mindset after your social science class, which may point to the need for a different strategy. In these cases, even if a teacher has attended numerous conferences, taken on extra responsibilities, and received high evaluation scores, the lack of student progress suggests that their effectiveness in terms of facilitating learning could be reassessed.</span></p> <p><span>One way to measure teaching effectiveness objectively is by using pre-tests and post-tests to assess students' knowledge and skills at the beginning and end of a term. A teacher&rsquo;s effectiveness becomes clearer when students demonstrate significant progress in the areas being taught. True teaching effectiveness is best defined by the growth and progress that students make in mastering the skills and competencies outlined in the curriculum. As the Oxford Dictionary defines it, "effective" means "successful in producing a desired or intended result."</span></p> <p><span>Consequently, if Joseph, who has previously struggled with reading, completes a semester of your reading class and demonstrates considerable growth in his skills, perhaps, your teaching technique is effective. Similarly, if Mary, who previously felt lost in basic math, begins to gain understanding of fundamental operations after taking your course, it indicates that your approach is helpful to her. And when Juan, who began the semester with a limited understanding of nationalism, begins to see things from a deeper point of view after taking your social science class, it may demonstrate the significant impact of your teaching.</span></p> <p><span>To more accurately measure teaching effectiveness, the emphasis should shift towards the <strong>progress</strong> that students make during their time in a teacher's class. By focusing on student growth in knowledge and skills, we gain a clearer understanding of the impact a teacher has on their students' learning journey. This approach not only highlights students&rsquo; achievements but also encourages educators to reflect on their methods to better meet diverse learning needs.</span></p> <p><span>&nbsp;</span></p> <p><strong><span>References</span></strong></p> <p><em><span>Teaching responsibility and its evaluation, according to UNESCO</span></em><span> (2018, February 22). </span></p> <p><span>Observatory - Institute for the Future of Education. <a href="https://observatory.tec.mx/edu-">https://observatory.tec.mx/edu-</a></span></p> <p><span>effectiveness noun - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage notes | Oxford Advanced </span></p> <p><span>Learner&rsquo;s Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com. (n.d.). <a href="https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/effectiveness#:~:text=%E2%80%8Bthe%20fact%20of%20producing,of%20producing%20a%20successful%20result">https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english</a></span></p> <p><span>&nbsp;</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p>