Teaching As Leadership: The Highly Effective Teacher's Guide to Closing the Achievement Gap
A road map for teachers who strive to be highly effective leaders in our nation's classrooms\ Teach For America has fought the daunting battle of educational equity for the last twenty years. Based on evidence from classrooms across the country, they've discovered much about effective teaching practice, and distilled these findings into the six principles presented in this book. The Teaching As Leadership framework inspires teachers to: Set Big Goals; Invest Students and Their Families; Plan...
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Praise for Teaching as Leadership "Eliminating our nation's unjust achievement gap and providing schools where all children can learn is part of the unfinished business of the Civil Rights Movement and of our nation. Teach For America is dedicated to this goal—and this new book is a terrific resource that shares the valuable lessons learned from studying highly effective teachers and successful classrooms across the country."—Marian Wright Edelman, president, Children's Defense Fund "Every teacher, principal, and superintendent should read this book. Over the last two years, we have seen our students' reading, writing, and math skills improve significantly. The principles outlined in Teaching As Leadership have played a critical role in our progress."—Andrés Alonso, chief executive officer, Baltimore City Schools "By assessing the actions of highly effective teachers in some of America's most challenging teaching environments, Teach For America outlines key strategies to close the achievement gap—investing in students and their families, planning purposefully, and working relentlessly. This inspiring book will inform the work of everyone engaged in the training and support of teachers in high-poverty schools."—Kathleen McCartney, dean of Harvard Graduate School of Education and Gerald S. Lesser Professor in Early Childhood Development "For new teachers, there is no substitute for getting into a classroom and suffering the pain and frustration of finding what works best for them. This book, however, offers new teachers a resource sure to make those first months a little less difficult. Teaching As Leadership assembles wisdom from dozens of successful Teach For America teachers, addressing every problem one could imagine. This is a smart gift for the new teacher in your family."—Jay Mathews, Washington Post education columnist and author, Work Hard. Be Nice: How Two Inspired Teachers Created the Most Promising Schools in America "From its very beginnings, Teach For America has invested more energy in understanding effective teaching than any teacher preparation program I know. And year after year, they have fed that information back into their own selection processes and teacher supports with a single goal: producing more teachers who can change the life chances of poor children. With this book, they have distilled what they are learning—along with relevant research—into a guide that is at once both fabulously readable and highly practical. If I had three thumbs, they would all be pointed up."—Kati Haycock, president, Education Trust "Teaching As Leadership works. This is the approach taken by teachers who lead diverse students to great academic achievements."—Beverly Hall, superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools and 2009 National Superintendent of the Year
Foreword (Jason Kamras). Introduction. Chapter 1: Set Big Goals. Foundations of Effective Goal Setting. Inspiring Strong Results with Measurable Outcomes. Inspiring High Performance with High Expectations. Leading with Students' Needs and Interests. The Qualities of Effective Big Goals in Action. What Measurable Academic Progress Should My Students Achieve? What Traits and Mindsets Will Best Serve My Students? What Pathways to Student Opportunity Should Inform My Big Goal? What Student Interests and Motivations Could Shape the Big Goal? Conclusion: Key Ideas and Next Questions. Key Ideas. Next Questions. "Why Do People Set Big Goals?" from Ms. Lora's Story. Chapter 2: Invest Students and Their Families. Key Elements of Investment. Shaping Students' Mindsets. Collaborating with Students' Families and Influencers. Strategies for Investing Students. Creating a Welcoming Environment to Increase Student Investment. Developing a Culture of Achievement. Investing Students Through Instruction and Learning. Conclusion: Key Ideas and Next Questions. Key Ideas. Next Questions. "What If You're Wrong?" from Ms. Lora's Story. Chapter 3: Plan Purposefully. Foundations of Purposeful Planning. Developing Your Vision of Success. Translating Your Vision into a Well-Designed Assessment. Mapping Out a Vision-Aligned Plan by Imagining Yourself Implementing It. Three Forms of Classroom Plans. Long Term Plans. Lesson Plans. Classroom Management Plans. Conclusion: Key Ideas and Next Questions. Key Ideas. Next Questions. "It Still Tastes Good." from Ms. Lora's Story. Chapter 4: Execute Effectively. Key Elements of Effective Execution. Doing Well What Must Be Done. Insisting on Seeing Reality. Adjusting Course as Circumstances Change. What Effective Execution Looks Like in the Classroom. Effectively Communicating Key Ideas. Coordinating Student Practice. Checking for Understanding. Tracking Progress. Maximizing Efficiency with Organization and Routine. Asserting Authority. Conclusion: Key Ideas and Next Questions. Key Ideas. Next Questions. "Light Monitor. Form Collector. Plant Manager." from Ms. Lora's Story. Chapter 5: Continuously Increase Effectiveness. Foundations of Continuous Improvement. Effective Teaching Is a Learnable Skill. "Data may not tell us the whole truth, but it certainly doesn't lie". We Drive Our Own Improvement. No Teacher Is an Island. A Cycle of Reflection That Leads to Increased Effectiveness. Phase One: Analyzing Outcomes. Phase Two: Discerning Causes. Phase Three: Identifying and Implementing Solutions. Conclusion: Key Ideas and Next Questions. Key Ideas. Next Questions. "This Was My Summer School Seat." from Ms. Lora's Story. Chapter 6: Work Relentlessly. We Control Our Students' Success and Failure. Key Elements of Working Relentlessly. Persistence. Maintaining High Expectations. Expanding Time and Resources. Expanding Your Influence. Sustaining This Work Over Time. Conclusion: Key Ideas and Next Questions. Key Ideas. Next Questions. "You Are Going to Be Totally Handsome in Them." from Ms. Lora's Story. Conclusion. Afterword: T eaching As Leadership and the Movement for Educational Equity (Wendy Kopp). Appendix A: Teaching As Leadership Rubric. Appendix B: About Teach For America. Appendix C: Our Approach to Teacher Development. Appendix D: How We Learn from Our Teachers. Teacher Biographies. Notes. About the Author. Acknowledgments. Index.
