Best Practice /First Year of Teaching
The Influence of Teaching Part II
In my last article, I shared some concepts presented by Dr. Ronald Ferguson and his work that focuses on the reduction and the closing of the minority achievement gap, most specifically his work with the Tripod Project. (Ferguson, 2015) I hope you found it informative and have begun to search and read more about his work. I also hope that you have started to internalize the 7Cs of Effective Teaching and realize that understanding their impact will not only address achievement gaps but will improve your fundamental teaching concepts and ideally positively impact student learning.
In today’s post, I would like to build on the connection between the 7Cs and student agency. Once again, Ferguson defines student agency as the “capacity and propensity for students to take purposeful initiative.” (Ferguson, 2015, 1) It is important that you focus on ways to build student agency.
By using student surveys, the Tripod Project works to find student expression of the following items:
- Punctuality-Student tries hard to be on time.
- Good conduct-Student is cooperative and respectful.
- Effort-Student pushes to do the best quality work.
- Help seeking-Student readily asks for help.
- Conscientiousness-Student is developing a commitment to produce quality work. (Ferguson 2015)
There are also disengaging behaviors that include:
- Faking effort
- Giving up if work is hard
- Avoiding help
- Generally, not trying (Ferguson 2015)
There are also emotions and behaviors that connect to the growth of agency. These include:
- Happiness-Student feels the class is a happy place.
- Anger-Student can feel anger in class which may increase or decrease agency.
- Mastery Orientation-Student is committed to mastering lessons.
- Sense of efficacy-Student believes he/she can be successful.
- Satisfaction-Student is satisfied with what he/she has achieved in class.
- Growth Mindset-Student believes he/she can get smarter.
- Future Orientation-Student becomes more focused of his/her future. (Ferguson 2015)
Please do not forget that I have merely scratched the surface of the work by Ferguson. You may ask why do you bring it to our attention or why is it important? To me, the answer is simple. Equity in education must be a primary goal for all of us. To achieve a modicum of equity, achievement gaps of all types must be eradicated. However, I believe teachers and administrators must recognize that these gaps exist, and there are some things that we can do about it. I have personally seen teachers deny facts supported by data and come up with excuses as to why gaps in individual schools exist. This is sad.
Secondly, I feel that in all due respect we are boring our students to death. Students quickly disengage with our current methodologies and pedagogical styles. By thinking about the 7 Cs and student agency I hope we can start to modify traditional and antiquated teaching styles. Also, we may be able to build positive relationships with our students. In this way we can reduce and eliminate achievement gaps and improve learning for all students. Perhaps we can have some honest dialog about teaching and learning. Perhaps a school can develop a professional learning community to address achievement gap issues. Finally, ask yourself this question, would you sign up for your class?
References
Ferguson, Ronald with Phillips, Sariah F., Rowley F.S. and Friendlander, Jocelyn(2015). The Influence of Teaching: Beyond Standardized Test Scores, Engagement, Mindsets and Agency. Retrieved from htpp://www.agi.harvard.edu/publications.php
7 Cs of Effective Teaching (Ferguson)
Care, Confer, Captivate, Clarify, Consolidate, Challenge, Classroom Management
4 Es Successful Classroom (Expecting Excellence)
Enthusiasm(teacher), Expectations (high student), Empowerment (student voice), Environment (classroom)
