Mike Toner | Web Design, SEO & Social Media » Self responsibility

What Make a Great Teacher? Part 4

Mike Toner — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 01:01:04 +0000

As American Education Week comes to to an end I believe we are entering an era that requires drastic measures to ensure the success of America’s school system.

The results of the National Assessment of Education Progress released Thursday display the sames issues that emerge time and time again on other standardized tests. There is a substantial difference between the performance of whites and minorities, between middle class and poor. There are so many external factors affecting a students success.

I hope that the national debate on education reform will allow for a real dialogue about the challenges facing our education system and focus on the hard work and collaboration necessary to address these issues.

For the fourth and final segment in the What Makes a Great Teacher? series, I interviewed a literacy specialist and remedial reading teacher at a middle school in Northern Virginia. When asked about whether or not schools work well he refers to teaching as an “industry” that needs to continually change and innovate- this answer resonated with me as I think it will with many of you.

When a business stops creating, it dies. Business models go through their life cycles and without change there cannot be growth. Our education system is no different. It is time for a change.

What is the single most important factor in determining a students success?

I wish I could say it had something to do with me. I would love to take credit. The single most important factor in a student’s success is early parent involvement. I can really only speak with any authority from the reading side of things, and here you see a dramatic difference. From the start, parents reading to kids, and speaking to them in a variety of contexts and with a dynamic vocabulary puts children on the road to success in reading and therefore school. Unfortunately this idea is complicated by economics. Poverty plays a huge role. For example children raised by professional parents hear somewhere around 32 million more words than children who were raised in poverty by the time they are 4 years old. Imagine trying to make sense of the world with 32 million fewer words. So the parent involvement is paramount, however it is not as much of a cut and dry choice as it may seem. It starts very early and if it doesn’t start, it is very hard to make it up. It is not to say that poverty is an educational death sentence, but the work is much harder.

How can students do their best in school?

Students can do their best in school by learning to be flexible in their thinking and finding their own meaning in what they are learning. I often hear students saying that they will never use Biology in real life, and to a certain extent they are correct. When students begin to see the value in learning new ideas and new ways of thinking then they can start to do their best in school. I will often respond to students who tell me that a reading is “boring” that I was not looking for an evaluation, and that I want for them to tell me not if it was interesting, but if they can see the value in it.

Do schools today work well? Or are their changes needed?

Change is constantly needed; in any industry. No one would want a medical procedure to be done on them using methods from even 10 years ago, certainly we should not be teaching using methods from 10 years ago. The patients are different and the methods have become better. We grew up doing round robin, or popcorn reading, and we can remember as good readers we would count how many paragraphs there were until us, read the passage before the teacher came to us and and space out in the meantime. The kids who were not good readers likely spent that time freaking out about having to read aloud to the class, and also likely did not have the strategies to identify what they were responsible for. Either way, we are not reading the entire passage and the lesson is lost. So yes change is always needed. In structure, and in methods.

The focus on standardized testing and the notion that there is only one way to demonstrate proficiency is damaging to students and to schools. Schools would benefit from a shift in thinking

It’s not how smart are you, it’s how are you smart.

How do you measure an effective teacher?

There is a huge difference between an effective teacher and a good teacher. Good teachers could spend their careers teaching well and not being effective. I guess the simple answer is that an effective teacher is one who pushes their students to think critically and become independent learners. I am always really proud when my students become frustrated with the repetitive nature of my class. It shows me that they are thinking meta cognitively and evaluating their own learning.

How do you measure an effective student?

An effective student is one who takes accountability and responsibility for their own learning. They have to want it for themselves or it will never really happen. When I think back on my own education, it was not until I felt that the work was for me and not my parents or my friends, was when I really began to learn. It felt good to get good grades, but I wasn’t really building something that meant anything.

What makes a great teacher?

A great teacher has to be in it for the kids. A great teacher has to care about them. A great teacher has to see the world through their students eyes, and decide to teach from there. This is by far the most difficult question on here, because if I knew, I would go out and do it. A great teacher has patience for themselves. I still on occasion will craft a formal letter of apology to my first year students. When I think back, I was awful. AWFUL. A great teacher knows that and still comes in on Monday morning. Patience, knowledge, and a drive to be better.

Posts in this series:

American Education Week

What Makes a Great Teacher: Part 1

What Makes a Great Teacher: Part 2

What Makes a Great Teacher: Part 3

Mike Toner

Mike Toner is a freelance web designer from Arlington, Virginia. During the day he works as a Web Content Manager for CSC. By evening, he’s a husband, dog owner and runner. Toner writes about Social Media, SEO and overall online visibility as well as digital marketing trends.

What Make a Great Teacher: Part 3

Mike Toner — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 04:30:58 +0000

Earlier today the Department of Education issued the results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Grade 12 Reading and Mathematics National and Pilot State Results.

Today’s report suggests that high school seniors’ achievement in reading and math isn’t rising fast enough to prepare them to succeed in college and careers. Reading results have improved since 2005, but are still below the level of 1992. Math scores also show only incremental gains over four years ago.

In my third interview as part of the What Makes a Great Teacher series I asked a fourth year high school social studies teacher about measuring student success. During the conversation, he explores the discrepancies in grades from teacher to teacher, an interesting reality in today’s education system.

What is the single most important factor in determining a student’s success?

The belief in themselves that they can be successful – this belief can grow from the influence of a positive mentor – a teacher or parent.

How can students do their best in school?

Students need to make school a priority and ask for help when they need it. I see far too many students who get caught up in things that are not important.

How do you measure an effective student?

Teachers need to work collaboratively to provide balance formative and summative assessments that measure student achievement. There are ten teachers in my department who teach World History I. 48% of the 535 students enrolled in the course had an A on their progress reports. As I went through and crunched numbers, I learned that there is one teacher whose grades indicate that 91% of her students have earned an A. Just 18% of another teacher’s students have earned an A. We are having a candid conversation tomorrow in our Professional Learning Community (PLC) meeting about this discrepancy and why it exists. Is it truly that Teacher A has students who have exceeded her expectations whereas Teacher B just has a “challenging group” this year? Perhaps – but that probably doesn’t explain a gap that is quite that large. It’s because the expectations for student achievement are different, and how grades are determined by Teacher A and Teacher B are likely vastly different. So, in short, teachers need to determine what measures an “effective student” in similar ways. Additionally, I’ve found that effective students are those who value their education and are willing to work hard to achieve the goals set for themselves. Not every student can earn an A in a class, but every student can learn.

What makes a great teacher?

A great teacher cares about his/her students. A great teacher provides engaging, relevant, and scaffolded lessons that focus on the learner. A great teacher motivates his/her student to achieve their personal goals. A great teacher transcends course content to teach students about life – what it means to be a caring, open-minded, well-rounded person. A great teacher makes those around him better – teachers, students, and administrators alike.

Posts in this series:

American Education Week

What Makes a Great Teacher: Part 1

What Makes a Great Teacher: Part 2

Mike Toner

What Makes a Great Teacher? Part 1

Mike Toner — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 16:26:39 +0000

The 89th Annual American Education Week-Nov. 14-20, presents all Americans with an opportunity to celebrate public education and honor individuals who are making a difference in ensuring every child receives a quality education.

My mother has always been a source of inspiration and I credit her for my interest and passion for quality education in America’s schools. I can’t think of a better way to honor educators than to highlight my mother’s own contribution to public education. She has taught in the Virginia Public school system for 29 years.

Recently I asked her about life as an educator. I wanted to find out what makes a great teacher? Here’s what she had to say:

What is the single most important factor in determining a students success?

I know that you are not going to like this answer, but it is the parents. Students that come from homes where education is a top priority always find success. Students that come from poverty where education takes the backseat are rarely successful.

How can students do their best in school?

They must take responsibility for their actions.

Do schools today work well? Are there changes needed?

Schools do not work well. The schools today are a reflection of a deteriorating society. Morals are no longer a top priority in families. Also, we have parents that don’t have time to teach their own children because they are working longer hours to provide ‘materials’ to their children. I don’t think we can fix our schools until we fix the family unit.

How do you measure an effective teacher?

This one is easy!!! An effective teacher keeps the students actively engaged.

How do you measure an effective student?

One who is willing to learn and questions everything.

What makes a great teacher?

One that treats students with respect, holds them to high standards, does not accept excuses and makes failure not an option. A great teacher teaches students and not subjects. They work longer hours and are always thinking of new ways to actively engage students. The difficult part is teaching students to think and become life long learners.

—

Over the next few days I have more interviews from friends who are teachers throughout Virginia.

Tomorrow, I will share some updated information on the No Child Left Behind Act and the education progress that America’s leaders are working towards.

Do you know a teacher that deserves to be recognized? Be sure to say, “thank you” this week!

Posts in this series:

American Education Week

Mike Toner

Be The Challenger

Mike Toner — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:31:18 +0000

Even when I was younger I was always questioning the process of everything. This habit led me to seek out and follow the process and those implementing the policies & procedures around me.

Who were these people in charge?

Whether in university leadership programs or professional associations I have taken an interest in the steering mechanisms behind my surroundings. By following the paths of leaders I have found the movers & shakers in my communities and given myself the opportunity to analyze the process & situations within each.

Ghandi said, “Be the Change”- I say, “Be the Challenger”- question the working parts, analyze the tasks at hand, look for and recognize inefficiencies in the process and address the policies and procedures that are not working.

Being the Challenger isn’t about pointing out the negative. It also means recognizing and building on strengths. Your own strengths, the strengths of others and the strengths of the situations. Bring these together and focus on those few things that work well and function best.

What do you challenge?

-Mike Toner

www.miketoner.com

Mike Toner

Clearly Distracted

Mike Toner — Mon, 18 May 2009 10:00:33 +0000

My thoughts have been all over the place recently. From life & love to business & new media and how leadership and communication fits into it all this?

The conclusion: it’s easy for your passions to become your distractions. If I spend all of my time watching and reading what others do…then what will I do, what will I add?

Almost every moment of a recent car ride down I-95 I was thinking, “I should write about this or that…” with no real purpose or direction.

This is the difference between doing and dreaming, practicing and playing. Or as Robin Sharma puts it, “Ideation without execution is nothing more than delusion.”

Leadership is about dealing with distractions and staying focused on what’s most important. In your work and within your life, have the motivation to deliver with passion and execute with clarity.

-Mike Toner

www.MikeToner.com

Mike Toner

Writing Practice

Mike Toner — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 02:58:26 +0000

Sometimes a case of writers block takes a change of scenery, a new journal and a nice pen to get my thoughts and ideas onto the paper.

As you may have noticed, I write with a rational, cause-and-effect tone. This is me, this is how I write, but often I get stuck in this cause and effect mindset.

It makes sense- we all find a way to do thing things we’re good at. We all like to practice the things we enjoy and we continually do the things which we know we can complete, right?

“Practice means to perform, over and over again in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire. Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired.”- Martha Graham

So, I’m gonna step out of my comfort zone and start practicing the hard things.

Writing with emotion is hard for me.

Mike Toner

Don’t Look Like a Fool: Your Online Resume

Mike Toner — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 12:00:44 +0000

College students about to enter the workforce during these weak economic times have an opportunity to control what their potential employers will know and need to know about them- at least more than a paper resume could ever show. It wasn’t so long ago that I was applying for my job and I relied predominately on a piece of 8 1/2 x 11 1/2 piece of paper.

I crammed as much text as possible onto that resume. My reputation lay in the hands of the information I presented here and maybe the three individuals I list at the bottom as references.

If Barrack Obama taught us anything over the course of his campaign it was how influential an online resume can be. He built an online network unlike any other and used it to supplement his traditional campaign.

In the end, he used social media to get the job, so-to-speak.

The blending of real world networking and online social networking can be the difference between getting your first interview and getting your first job.

For the seniors in college, I encourage you to think about hard your facebook profile and yes, delete pictures that put your reputation in question. Share your life online, share your experiences, but share wisely.

Your employers will google you.

Those results are your new resume.

Mike Toner

Make Every Performance Seem Like the First

Mike Toner — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:42:48 +0000

As I headed to the Kennedy Center last night for a show, I began thinking about the preparation involved in stage production and what an immense undertaking it is. The behind the scenes work takes months to produce a seemingly effortless result; the performance.

I was always taught that the trick to acting is to make each performance seem like the first time. To make each word and motion authentic to the moment, current and un-contrived.

I believe the same idea applies to real life and to business, especially from a customer service standpoint. Each interaction with a customer or client should feel real, not a canned corporate answer and definitely should not sound like a rehearsed script.

No matter the interaction, act as though you are the only personal contact that the customer has with your company. Be prepared and behave as though the entire company’s image depends on you.

Welcome!

Mike Toner — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:30:02 +0000

Welcome to the totally redesigned MikeToner.com! This is the third redesign I’ve been through. The first website I created back in June 2002 was a static iWeb site hosted via godaddy with a blog that was really hard to update. I was having to manually update blog posts to my site via FTP. This made things way too difficult!

I made the decision after graduating college to move my blog to a blogger site that was much easier to update. The link to my blog was sort of cheesy though. It was hosted on the static site (as shown above) but linked to the blogger website- http://mike-toner.blogspot.com/

It made my life easy, but I felt like I was sacrificing design for convenience. I wanted the ability to really customize it.

So, here we are… Welcome to MikeToner.com version 3.0. I have upgraded to wordpress, designed a logo and created a custom theme with the help of Tony at Razolution. Bascially, I wanted a design that demonstrates my unpredictable style but kept the business of the blog in the forefront. What do ya think? Did we accomplish that?

With the redesign comes a re-focus. I have “re-thought” my use of this site and made a conscious decision to be more involved with my friends, colleagues and clients via the internet. I have begun to realize a fusion of my work life and personal life and hope that I can help facilitate the integrations of work and play via my website.

I know that my positive outlook on life is something I want to share. I know that my relationship is something I want to be open about; I know that that I love my job and want to talk about the lessons I learn and share my knowledge of marketing and social media with you.

This is going to be a hard balance to achieve- so stick with me here. Perhaps think about signing up for the email subscription at the top?

On Thursday I’ve got a video which I think you’ll enjoy.

-Mike Toner

www.MikeToner.com

Mike Toner

I Dream Of Beaches

Mike Toner — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 21:47:17 +0000

I just finished reading “The Four Hour Work Week” By Tim Ferriss while on vacation with my girlfriend and best friends from home. Now -I don’t know whether or not it was necessarily because I was on vacation- but it was- that the entrepreneurial side of me came out in full force. Something about being on vacation makes you want to be “away” from the real world stresses of life and work. In his book, Ferriss outlines a plan to fulfilling your dreams (what he calls dreamlining) and how anyone can achieve success and happiness- you just have to make it happen for you.

One of the main chords that struck me so effectively was Ferris’ description of retirement dreams. He explains that when most folks think of retirement, they imagine having X amount of dollars in their bank account and traveling and or taking care of their families, right? What Ferriss explains is that, life doesn’t have to be a beginning to end; start-to-finish race, it can be a series of high points: I’ll call them Life Rushes- you know, those moments when you feel alive, those times when you are being who you imagine yourself to be?

Who are you?

Mike Toner