What Great Teachers Do Differently (Study Guide) Read online

  First published 2012 by Eye On Education

  Published 2013 by Routledge

  711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

  2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

  Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

  Copyright © 2012 Taylor & Francis

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

  Notices

  No responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use of operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein.

  Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility.

  Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

  ISBN: 978-1-596-67205-5 (pbk)

  ISBN: 978-1-317-92587-3 (ePub)

  Cover Designer: Dave Strauss, 3FoldDesign

  Table of Contents

  Introduction

  Part One: Chapter 1: Why Look at Great?

  Chapter 2: It’s People, Not Programs

  Key Concepts

  Discussion Questions

  Journal Prompt

  Group Activities

  38 Years of Teaching Fifth Grade

  It’s Not What You Do, It’s How You Do It

  Application

  Part Two: Chapter 3: The Power of Expectations

  Key Concepts

  Discussion Questions

  Journal Prompt

  Group Activities

  Stop the Thumping!

  Expectations, Rules, Consequences

  Application

  Part Three: Chapter 4: If You Say Something, Mean It

  Key Concepts

  Discussion Questions

  Journal Prompt

  Group Activities

  Trust Me

  Calling All Parents

  Application

  Part Four: Chapter 5: Prevention versus Revenge

  Key Concepts

  Discussion Questions

  Journal Prompt

  Group Activities

  A Bag of Tricks

  The Top Twenty

  Application

  Discipline Practices Self-Assessment

  Part Five: Chapter 6: High Expectations–for Whom?

  Chapter 7: Who Is the Variable?

  Key Concepts

  Discussion Questions

  Journal Prompt

  Group Activities

  Expectations—For Everyone

  Mission, Vision, Values

  Application

  Part Six: Chapter 8: Focus on Students First

  Key Concepts

  Discussion Questions

  Journal Prompt

  Group Activities

  “Students First” Teachers

  Believing in Students

  Application

  Part Seven: Chapter 9: Ten Days Out of Ten

  Key Concepts

  Discussion Questions

  Journal Prompt

  Group Activities

  The Power of Praise

  Our Cup Runneth Over!

  Application

  Part Eight: Chapter 10: Be the Filter

  Key Concepts

  Discussion Questions

  Journal Prompt

  Group Activities

  Circle of Friends

  Filtering Out the Insignificant

  Application

  Part Nine: Chapter 11: Don’t Need to Repair—Always Do Repair

  Key Concepts

  Discussion Questions

  Journal Prompt

  Group Activities

  The Builder

  A Restorative Approach

  Application

  Part Ten: Chapter 12: The Ability to Ignore

  Key Concepts

  Discussion Questions

  Journal Prompt

  Group Activities

  Ignore and Intervene Pointers

  Acting It Out

  Application

  Part Eleven: Chapter 13: Random or Plandom?

  Chapter 14: Base Every Decision on the Best People

  Key Concepts

  Discussion Questions

  Journal Prompt

  Group Activities

  Graffiti on the Walls

  More Math Homework

  Random/Plandom

  Application

  Part Twelve: Chapter 15: In Every Situation, Ask Who Is Most Comfortable and Who Is Least Comfortable

  Key Concepts

  Discussion Questions

  Journal Prompt

  Group Activities

  Dear Parents

  Dealing with Difficult Parents

  Application

  Part Thirteen: Chapter 16: Put Yourself in Their Position

  Key Concepts

  Discussion Questions

  Journal Prompt

  Group Activities

  The Student Perspective

  Understanding Student Behaviors and Responding Effectively

  Application

  Part Fourteen: Chapter 17: What About These Darn Standardized Tests?

  Key Concepts

  Discussion Questions

  Journal Prompt

  Group Activities

  Two Key Questions

  The Role of Standards

  Application

  Part Fifteen: Chapter 18: Make It Cool to Care

  Chapter 19: Clarify Your Core

  Key Concepts

  Discussion Questions

  Journal Prompt

  Group Activities

  Seventeen Things

  Clarifying Your Core

  Application

  Seventeen Things That Matter Most

  Introduction

  This Study Guide is a tool to accompany the second edition of What Great Teachers Do Differently: Seventeen Things That Matter Most by Todd Whitaker. A practical resource for educators examining what great teachers do that sets them apart from others, this book focuses on the beliefs, behaviors, attitudes, and commitments that positively impact teaching and learning in our classrooms and our schools.

  Note to Facilitators: If you are conducting a book study group, seminar, or professional development event, this Study Guide also serves as a road map to help you organize your sessions and work with your group. It provides assistance to staff developers, principals, team leaders, college professors, and other educational leaders who are working with teachers as they develop their professional skills.

  What Great Teachers Do Differently: Seventeen Things That Matter Most is a slender, but powerful book. It is not a book comprised of hard scientific data, detailed assessment rubrics, or esoteric theories. Instead, it is a book that clearly, concisely, and accurately informs teachers what our most effective teachers do on a daily basis. Put simply, this text is a book that teachers can put to use—immediately. This guide, therefore, is written in a way that allows the participant not only to read and understand essential concepts, but also to take these back in
to their classrooms and schools and put them to immediate use.

  Each part of this book corresponds to one or two chapters of What Great Teachers Do Differently. To help you plan and organize your study sessions, each part is divided into the following five sections:

  ♦ Key Concepts: These summaries of the key points of each chapter in the book will help you review and focus your thoughts.

  ♦ Discussion Questions: These questions and ideas help you learn more about yourself and your colleagues and will aid constructive conversation in the study group, workshop, or classroom setting.

  ♦ Journal Prompt: Based on the specific contents of each chapter, the journal prompts help you reflect, work through essential issues, and record what you have learned in writing.

  ♦ Group Activities: These activities allow you to explore concepts and ideas further by interacting with others in your study group, workshop, or classroom.

  ♦ Application: This section provides strategies for applying what you have learned in your school.

  The authors would like to thank Jeff Zoul for his assistance in the preparation of these materials.

  Part One

  Chapter 1: Why Look at Great?

  Chapter 2: It’s People, Not Programs

  Key Concepts

  ♦ Great teachers do not use sarcasm, yell at kids, or argue with students in front of their peers.

  ♦ Educators can always learn from observing what great teachers do. Eliminating inappropriate choices does not help as much as identifying good ideas used by successful educators.

  ♦ All that is truly needed to improve education is for all teachers to be like our very best teachers.

  ♦ Who we are as teachers and what we do as teachers are more important than what we know. Teachers must self-reflect on who they are and what they must do in order to improve their practice.

  ♦ There are really only two ways to improve any school: get better teachers and improve the teachers already there.

  ♦ No program inherently leads to school improvement. It is the people who implement sound programs who determine the success of the school. Programs are never the solution and they are never the problem.

  ♦ What matters most is not what teachers do (including “programs” such as whole language, assertive discipline, or open classrooms), but how appropriately and effectively they do it.

  Discussion Questions

  1. What is the most important idea communicated in these two chapters? How would you implement this idea in your classroom?

  2. Why should we look at what great teachers do?

  3. In what ways is looking at ineffective teachers pointless? On the other hand, why must we also study less effective teachers and schools when determining what constitutes great teachers and schools?

  4. What is it that determines—in the eyes of parents and students—whether or not a school is great?

  5. Are open classrooms, back to basics, whole language, and assertive discipline programs inherently good or bad? Explain.

  6. When considering whether or not to adopt a school program change, what should stand as the primary criterion?

  7. In the phrase “poor lecturer’s classroom,” which of these three words captures the problem? How is this single example illustrative of the “people versus programs” concept?

  Journal Prompt

  Think of a program that has been implemented in recent years at your school or a school with which you are familiar. Which teachers adapted to the change of programs, embracing the new idea and making it work? Did any teachers resist the change? Was the program ultimately deemed a success? What determined whether or not it was successful?

  * * *

  * * *

  * * *

  * * *

  * * *

  * * *

  * * *

  * * *

  * * *

  * * *

  * * *

  * * *

  * * *

  * * *

  * * *

  * * *

  * * *

  * * *

  * * *

  * * *

  * * *

  * * *

  Group Activities

  38 Years of Teaching Fifth Grade …

  In small groups of three to five, ask participants to consider the following two points: (1) Some teachers have twenty years of teaching experience; others who have taught for twenty years have one year of experience that they have repeated twenty times. (2) Students want to know how much you care before they care how much you know. On page 5 of the text, there is a description of a teacher who taught the same grade effectively for thirty-eight years. Have participants use the scenarios above and discuss how they apply to this particular teacher. Have groups create a list with three categories: what she knew as a teacher, who she was as a teacher, and what she did as a teacher. Based on the description of this effective veteran teacher, ask participants to brainstorm possible outcomes within each category that would likely have applied to her and her knowledge, passion, and practices as an educator. Participants should be prepared to share these lists with the entire group.

  It’s Not What You Do, It’s How You Do It

  Beginning on page 8 of the text, three “programs” are described that are deemed neither a problem nor a solution: open classrooms, assertive discipline, and lecturing. Participants should be divided into three groups. Ask each group to review one section of the text (“How Open Classrooms Got Started,” “Assertive Discipline—the Problem or the Solution,” and “The Poor Lecturer’s Classroom”). Each group should then create and present a skit to the entire group showing how the program in question can be both an effective and an ineffective strategy in teaching.

  Notes

  Application

  In his book Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … and Others Don’t, Jim Collins1 maintains that good is actually the enemy of great. That is, the reason there are so few great companies is that so many people are willing to settle for good companies. He extends the examples to schools, indicating that the reason we have so few great schools is primarily that we have good schools. Whitaker’s text, too, speaks to the shade of difference between good and great teachers, stating that most teachers do about as well as they know how. Maintaining anonymity, identify two teachers who are settling for good and two teachers who always strive for greatness. What is the obvious difference between the two pairs? Write your insights and reflect on what the great teachers are doing differently from those classified as merely “good.” Share these observations at the next session.

  Notes

  * * *

  1 Collins, J. (2001). Good to great: Why some companies make the leap … and others don’t. New York, NY: HarperCollins.

  Part Two

  Chapter 3: The Power of Expectations

  Key Concepts

  ♦ Great teachers focus on expectations; moderately effective teachers focus on rules; the least effective teachers focus on the consequences of breaking the rules.

  ♦ Great teachers establish clear expectations at the outset of the school year and follow them firmly, fairly, and consistently throughout the year.

  ♦ Rules have drawbacks, including the fact that they focus on undesirable behaviors. Expectations focus on desirable behaviors.

  ♦ Teachers may have varying expectations, but all great teachers set expectations that are clearly established, focused on the future, and consistently reinforced.

  Discussion Questions

  1. What is the most important idea communicated in this chapter regarding teacher expectations?

  2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of spelling out specific consequences for breaking rules?

  3. What is, at times, a more powerful deterrent to misbehavior than a list of predetermined rules and consequences?

  4. Why is it vitally important that teachers establish clear expectations at the beginning of the school year?

  5. In addition to setting
clear expectations for students each year, for whom else do great teachers set expectations each new school year?

  Notes

  Journal Prompt

  Take a moment to consider what is vitally important to you as a teacher in terms of managing your classroom and setting expectations so that your students learn and behave to the best of their ability and to your level of expectation. Decide on no more than three to five items and state these as expectations for students. Brainstorm in writing how you can communicate these expectations clearly, how you can ensure that they are consistently reinforced, and how you will respond when students fail to meet them.

  * * *