August Article for Instructor Magazine

How Research Informs the Grade I Teach: Am I Suited to Teach at the Grade Where I Have Been Assigned? (Tentative Title)

 

By Drs. Cathy Collins Block, Professor of Education, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX; and John N. Mangieri, Director, Institute for Literacy Enhancement, Charlotte, NC

 

         Are you the best teacher that you can be?  This article can help you answer this question, and start the school year with renewed energy and expertise.  Research has shown that exemplary teachers share common traits, such as high standards for student performance, effective classroom mangagment, and in depth content knowledge (Block & Mangieri, 2003; Ruddell, 1998).  Recently, a new study of educators in 33 United States, six Canadian providences, and seven English-speaking nations outside of North American revealed that exemplary teachers also possess 42 characteristics that are necessary for their students to reach their fullest potentials at specific grade levels (Block & Mangieri, 2003; Block, Oakar & Hirt, 2002).  These qualities were grouped into six domains of knowledge.  Do you possess these abilities? 

In this article, you can assess your present abilities in three of these domains:  (1) Do you perform the leadership role that students need to maximize their cognitive development for the grade level at which you teach?;  (2) Do you build highly effective relationships with students? and, (3) Do you create a classroom environment that addresses the needs of our new Generation Y students?

You can use the information in this article whether you are a preservice teacher, veteran educator, principal, or central administrator.  It can assist you to make more informed decisions about individual grade level assignments, ensure that important teaching competencies are assessed in professional evaluations, and implement professional development opportunities that increase you and your colleagues' competencies.

To begin, we ask you to answer three questions from the National Exemplary Literacy Teaching Assessment (NELTA) (Block & Mangieri, 2003).  Please circle the letter that most closely describes the  first and most frequent action that you would take in each of the situations posed in the stems of questions 1, 2, and 3.  Try not to guess what response you should give.  Rather, by selecting the response that most closely reflects your actions, you can ensure that your results will be more accurate.   

 

What do your responses tell us?  First, is there a pattern to your answers?  For example, if you circled Òa, a, cÓ, then two thirds of your teaching repertoire is characteristic of teachers at level A.  Did you record a different letter for each of the three test items?  This pattern indicates that your behaviors are characteristics of exemplary teachers at three different grade levels.  Level A answers are behaviors used by exemplary kindergarten teachers whose students mastered decoding more rapidly than peers who were taught by teachers who did not possess these abilities.  Level B answers described behaviors of exemplary first-grade teachers, whose pupils gained more in literacy than peers taught by other teachers who did not possess these abilities.  Level C answers are behaviors that were scored by second grade teachers whose exemplary actions caused their students to achieve above grade level when compared to peers from the same social economic level.  Level D answers are indicative of exemplary third grade teachers more often than exemplary teachers at other grade levels and less effective peers.  Level E answers are representative of behaviors performed more frequently by outstanding fourth grade teachers.  Level F answers represent behaviors that were performed by the most effective fifth grade teachers. 

Your individual answers can also provide valuable information about how successful you are likely to be in three major domains of professional responsibility at the grade level to which you are, or will be, assigned.

Dominant Teaching Roles, Responsibilities, and Talents

            Dominant role is the responsibilities, actions, and talents that you employ to lead instructional episodes.  Test item #1 describes the dominant role that you most enjoy performing.  While excellent teachers were observed executing each leadership role described in item #1, the most successful were those who more frequently and effectively turned to the behavior that was most needed by students at the specific grade level that they teach.  They were masters at meeting individual pupils at an exact point of need because they mastered the leadership role that was most important for their students at that grade level.  While you may enjoy reading the dominant roles used at every grade level, we especially recommend that you read the description that exemplary teachers perform at the grade level to which you have, or hope to be, assigned. In addition, if your answer to question # l from NELTA represented a dominant role from a different grade, you can profit from reading the specific qualities that these behaviors perform for students at the grade level that you choose. 

By reading the next paragraphs, you can also determine if the actions you most enjoy are those that are vital to maximize children's growth at your grade level.  If they are, you can continue your work to improve these roles to become the best possible teacher.  If the actions you most enjoy are not those that promise to result in maximum student achievement, you can choose to incorporate more of the behaviors valued by children at your grade level, or seek to be reassigned to a grade level for which your talents will be more frequently demanded to become a more fulfilled educator.  A label and description of each dominant role follow. 

A. Kindergarten Guardians.  Exemplary kindergarten teachers are masters of guarding children discoveries and cherishing young children's first attempts to read, however feeble these might be.  These educators are masters at (1) using daily observations to guide instruction, (2) giving easy to follow, step-by-step directions, (3) presenting books as if their stories are set on an enchanted stage, (4) reading with great expression and varied voices to delight enraptured young audiences,  (5) designing exciting skill development activities, and (6) pausing to rephrase confusing concepts in a story or create examples from the students' lives to eliminate sources of confusion, rather than simply continuing to read on.  In so doing, most of their students learn many concepts during their first exposures to them.

            B.  First Grade Encouragers.  Exemplary first grade teachers excel  and differ from peers at other grade levels in the excellence with which they teach literacy all day.  They are also masterful at answering students' questions.  Exemplary first grade teachers also keep more detailed individualized records (such as personalized lists of books read, fluency rates, sight words mastered, independent reading levels, and number of concepts of print, phonemic/phonies generalizations that have been automatized) than less effective colleagues.  They do not as frequently prompt the use of a particular skill to an entire class during instruction as often as they immediately assist individual students to employ a pre-taught skill when each pupil is attempting to independently perform a task following a class lesson. 

            C. Second Grade Demonstrators.   Exemplary second grade teachers are masters at helping students build upon their meager or massive prior knowledge bases.  They do so by demonstrating literacy processes in action.  These adult-modeled thinking processes are more effective for second-graders than merely restating or rephrasing instructions about how to perform a task.  These professionals are also better at generating, on-the-spot, original short examples and explanations than peers at other grade levels.  They depend on their abilities to create instantly.  Such teachers formulate an effective and novel approach to learn a principle (that students will not have been taught previously) whenever pupils become confused or frustrated.  Similarly, when students make a mistake, unlike peers at the kindergarten or first grade levels, these exemplary educators ask students what they think is the best way to correct it.

            D.  Third Grade Managers.   Exemplary third-grade teachers possess exceptional talents in working simultaneously with a wider variety of groups than peers at other grade levels.  They show students how to make the transition from picture to chapter books, and simultaneous accommodate individual learning styles by using multi-levels materials.

They are also highly skilled at leading a variety of learning activities concurrently, and juggling a packed curriculum.  Because of these exceptional competencies, they have sufficient time to work with a variety of ability levels in small groups and are among the most able users of flexible, guided reading groups. 

            D.  Fourth Grade Coaches.  The most distinguishing quality of excellent fourth grade teachers is their ability to instruct numerous students of diverse literacy abilities during a single lesson (i.e., they aid those who are still learning how to read; push those  reading to learn, teach new strategies to those who want to gain more information from, and use higher level thinking skills with, content area texts; and, establish long term projects for those wanting to become experts in a particular subject).   They achieve these objectives with more ease and proficiency than peers at other grade levels because they are masters at (1) leading assignments that have differentiated goals, (2) providing a wider range of content topics and reading leveled books, and (3) varying the time allotted to individual students to complete various literacy lessons.  They challenge individuals to model learning processes for peers in ways that result significantly greater growth for both the peer instructor, and the tutee.

            E.  Fifth Grade Adaptors.  Exemplary fifth-grade teachers demonstrate exceptional competencies in dividing and teaching large amounts of information in learnable chunks so that students want to learn.  They are talented in using diverse instructional approaches that bring enthusiasm into the classroom and inspire students to become interested in new subjects, whether the topics to be explored are the revolutionary war, astronomy, or decoding.  They relate real stories to the curriculum and stimulate students to connect their lives to what is taught.  They are masterful storytellers and dramatist whose classes are fun, active and exciting.  They adroitly vary the amount of time that they spend teaching a concept---allocating anywhere from 15 seconds to several days to it---whatever is warranted by the needs of their students.

Relating to Students

            Many people enter the teaching profession because they want to establish powerful, character building relationships with students.  Exceptional teachers earn the respect of their students while leading them to their highest levels of academic success.  Test question # 2 identified a behavior you use to establish enjoyable working relationships with students.  The methods that have proven effective by exemplary teachers vary by grade levels, as described in the paragraph that follow. 

            A.  Kindergarten Relentless Reinforcers.  Perhaps the most important relationship-building behavior that distinguishes exemplary kindergarten teachers from peers at other grade levels is their skill in never telling students that they are wrong.  Without lying, they are masters at pointing out the correct portions in answers that students give.  For example, they do not confuse students who can not yet discern letter orientation by pointing out the rotational differences between the letter features in ÒbÓ and ÒdÓ.  Instead, these exemplary teachers reinforce what students do know and teach a different concept of print that can be learned.  They also do not depend merely on exposure to print or wait for concepts of print to develop.  They actively teach emergent literacy skills.

            B.  First Grade Continuous Challengers.  Exemplary first grade teachers differ from excellent kindergarten teachers in that they point out even the slightest errors in phonological awareness, phonics, vocabulary, decoding, comprehension and fluency. However, they correct errors in such a positive way (i.e., these mistakes are merely learnings-in-progress) that students learn to read correctly before errors become habitual.  These highly effective professionals also gain students respect by explicitly teaching  self-regulation.  Moreover, they build rapport by giving children much input into decisions about their learning (e.g., asking questions like Òare you ready to precede?Ó).

            C.  Second Grade Communicators.  The most important ability of exceptional second grade teachers in building relationships is their unparralled skill in listening appreciatively and effectively.  They do not make the mistake of focusing so much on the content that they have to cover that they do not truly and actively listen to students and act upon the information that students provide about their learning.  These teachers can be distinguished from peers at other grade levels because they enable more students to vocalize their newly forming concepts, bolster comprehension through discussion, enliven students' personal stories in group discussions so that they engage peers, and connect each student's comments to those made by preceding speakers.

            D.  Third Grade Interest-Individualizers.  Exemplary third grade teachers develop relationships with students by being exceptionally gifted at expressing their interests and concerns for each student's cognitive, social, and emotional development.  Students know that their teachers understand what they are saying beyond the words that they can express.  Two methods that these professionals use are to (1) have students write questions that have been left unanswered after a lesson, and (2) ask a peer to help them practice specific strategies that had been taught.  They also build strong relationships by encouraging students to read many books related to their personal interests, and exposing students to a wider variety of genres that expand students' curiosities more than do peers at other grade levels. 

            E.  Fourth Grade Talent Agents.  Exemplary fourth grade teachers' can be distinguished from peers to other grade levels because they are masters at identifying students' talents rapidly and plan lessons that focus on these aptitudes.  One method that they use is to establish each individual as the classroom expert in a specific area so that peers can turn to that person to learn more about that strategy or body of knowledge.  Through this and other methods, these teachers effectively build pupils' self esteem.  Fourth grade Òtalent agentsÓ also teach how to ask questions and volunteer new fact-based viewpoints.  They are exceptionally willing to invest time before or after school hours to relate to students individually to capitalize upon each person's unique learning modalities and aptitudes.

            F.  Fifth Grade Humorists.  Exemplary fifth grade teachers relate to students by being in touch with their impulsive inclinations and proclivities, often employing their well-developed sense of humor to do so.  These abilities enable them to (1) work well with students who sometimes feel as though they know ÒeverythingÓ,   (2) challenge a wide range of learning and maturity levels, and (3) creatively lead students who learn Òoutside of the boxÓ or beyond standard guidelines.  They also more calmly incorporate the spontaneous events that sprout from energetic fifth graders into highly effective lessons than less competent colleagues.  They frequently ask students to turn to a partner and describe what they learned in a lesson, and they give the answers that they would have given on tests that their students just completed.  These actions reinforced that these tasks are important and doable when students think carefully.  Moreover, these teachers maintain more constant contacts with parents than their less effective peers.  These communications are conducted in ways that strengthened the relationships that these fifth-grade teachers share with their students.

Classroom Qualities                     

         As you walk down the hall of an elementary school, you can feel the energy and intense learning that radiates from exemplary teachers' classrooms.  It seems that the joy and success that fills each lesson radiates continuously.  Such qualities don't Òjust occurÓ.  They result from the hard work and talents of exemplary teachers, intent on establishing an enriched classroom environment.  The actions that are taken differ at each grade level, as described below.

            A.  Kindergarten Writing Prompters.   Exemplary kindergarten teachers' classrooms are inviting, print rich, and home like.  They enable children to associate positive emotions with print.  Most often, children's writing projects and interest become the centerpieces of classrooms' wall decorations.  Exemplary kindergarten professionals continuously write notes, messages, words, and signs for students.  Letters, words, phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, and sentences are taught in print rich environments and concrete experiences---clapping, using manipulatives, and engaging in authentic reading and writing activities. 

            B.  First Grade Safety Netters.  Outstanding first grade literacy teachers create print rich space for students to explore resources, but unlike exemplary kindergarten classes, students can reach for and use literacy materials independently.  Resources are organized at students' eye level, easels and charts display more than 200 words which are replaced continuously, and classes make their own group books. Classrooms portray the intense interactions with print that occurs in them, such as containing numerous charts with teacher-created  tongue twisters, rhymes, and the repeated refrains from patterned books that students read chorally. 

            C.  Second Grade Thinking Stimulators.  Exemplary second grade literacy teachers create a positive environment that challenges students to think on a deeper level than less effective peers.  Classroom environments continue to be print-rich but are more relaxed than those at the kindergarten or first grade level.  They employ reading and writing centers, and pair students to read orally to develop decoding and fluency more frequently than less effective peers.

            D. Third Grade Library Simulators.  Exemplary third-grade teachers' classrooms are managed so that students do lots of reading.  Students read to themselves and to one another, and engage in more author studies than peers at lower grade levels.  The classrooms enable students to view more words (and these words are longer) than displayed in other primary classrooms, and the furniture is arranged so that students can be grouped at a moment's notice.  For instance, these classrooms are organized so students who need to spend more time with their teacher after a specific lesson can do so easily.  Classroom routines also enable students to think about several topics or genre of books for longer periods of time than at other grade levels.  

            E.  Fourth Grade Authenticators.  Exemplary fourth-grade teachers' classrooms complement these teachers' coaching strategies by becoming receptors of real word objects and ideas.  These classrooms enable teachers to mentor pupils continuously, especially on the use of resources to make important, real-world decisions.  Exemplary fourth-grade teachers build classrooms that spotlight timeless issues that face all of humanity (e.g., justice, liberty, and suffering).  Their goal is to establish a learning environment that assists students to make life-long commitments to learning and to making the world a better place.  These teachers enjoy a classroom in which current events are studied, and students can reference several sources more often than exemplary kindergarten through grade three teachers. 

            F.  Fifth Grade Time Maximizers.  Outstanding fifth grade teachers arrange classrooms so that vast amounts of materials can be taught, students' deep interests can be stimulated, and high levels of understanding can occur.  These classrooms employ highly effective organizational systems, planning mechanisms, and daily/weekly schedules that maximize teachable moments. Routines are easily altered and well-executed.  These teachers spend considerable time planning, before each day begins, to ensure that everything is organized and ready so each day runs smoothly.  During class hours, time is not wasted, and all resources are at their own and their students' fingertips.

In summary, the three domains of teaching expertise described in this article vary by grade level.  Exemplary kindergarten teachers are masters at serving the roles of Guardians, Relentless Reinforcers, and Writing Prompters.  Exemplary first grade teachers excel as Encourages, Continuous Challengers, and Safety Netters.  Exemplary second grade teachers are highly effective Demonstrators, Communicators, and Thinking Stimulators.  Exemplary third grade teachers are exceptionally competent as Managers, Interest Individualizers, and Library Simulators.  Exemplary fourth grade teachers enjoy exercising their talents as Coaches, Talent Agents, and Authenticators.  Exemplary fifth grade teachers are master Humorists, Adaptors, and Time Maximizers.

As you begin this new school year, our goal was to introduce these grade specific domains of knowledge to assist you to become an even better teacher for our new generation of students.  This was but a brief description of each domain.  Many school districts and individual teachers are continuing to develop their professional competencies in more in depth ways.  More information about these professional development experiences and domains of knowledge can be found in the box on the side bar of this article. 

Next month, you can assess your abilities in three additional grade-specific domains of teaching expertise: How well do you motivate students?  How effective are your reteaching strategies? And, are the lessons that you plan the best that they can be?

Additional Information for Professional Development Opportunities Information about professional development programs that have been implemented in school districts around the country can be obtained from the Center for Leadership and Professional Development at jmangieri@carolina.rr.com You can learn more about these topics from the following materials: Exemplary Literacy Teachers:  What Have We Learned That They Do by Cathy Collins Block & John Mangieri (2003).  Published by Guilford Press, New York, NY (212-431-9800) Power Thinking for Leaders (in press)  by Dr. John Mangieri & Dr. Cathy Collins Block.  Published by Jossey Bass, San Francisco, CA  To order this book, www.josseybass.com National Exemplary Literacy Teacher Assessment (NELTA) The full assessment can be obtained from Exemplary Literacy Teachers by Dr. Cathy Collins Block & Dr. John Mangieri. Guilford Press (New York, NY), Exemplary Literacy Teachers: A Continuum from Pre School to Grade 5 (2002) by Dr. Cathy Collins Block, Ms Margaret Oahar & Mr. Nicholas Hart, Reading Research Quarterly, 37(2), 178-208. Learning to Read:  Lessons from Exemplary First-Grade Classrooms by Michael Pressley, Richard Allington, Ruth Wharton-McDonald, Cathy Collins Block, and Lesley Mandel Morrow (2001). Published by Guilford Press, New York, NY (212-431-9800).

                 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Block, C.C. & Mangieri, J.N. (2003). Exemplary Literacy Teachers: What we have learned that they do to be highly successful. New York, NY: Guilford.

Block, C. C., Oakar, M., Hart, N. (2002). Exemplary Literacy Teachers: A Continuum from Pre School to Grade 5. Reading Research Quarterly, 37(2), 178-208.

Block, C. C.(2001).  Effects of exemplary instruction upon the achievement of students who begin school without the precursors for literacy success. In C.K. Kinzer, K.A. Hinchman & D. J. Leu, Jr. (Eds).  New Directions in Literacy:  50^th yearbook of the National Reading Conference Yearbook (pp.279-293).  Chicago:  National Reading Conference.

Ruddell, R.B. (1997). Researching the Influential Literacy Teacher: Characteristics, beliefs, strategies, and new research directions.  In C.K. Kinzer, K.A. Hinchman & D.J. Leu, Jr. (Eds.) Inquires in Literacy Theory and Practice: 46^th yearbook of the National Reading Conference (pp.37-53). Chicago: National Reading Conference.