Chapter Summary

	Teachers, Schools, and Society by Sadker & Sadker
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Chapter 3: Teacher Effectiveness

Chapter Summary

The way in which the teacher allocates time spent on academic content affects student achievement. Allocated time is the amount of time a teacher schedules for a particular subject. Engaged time is the amount of allocated time during which the students are actually involved with the subject matter. Academic learning time is engaged time with a high success rate.
Good classroom management is a skill that can lead to high student achievement. It involves planning effectively, establishing rules that are reasonable and not excessive in number, and arranging the classroom so that instruction goes smoothly.
Skills that are necessary for maintaining a well-managed classroom include group alerting, witnessing, overlapping, use of the principle of least intervention, and the creation of smooth transitions.
The pedagogical cycle describes the interaction between the teacher and students. The four steps of the cycle are (1) structure, (2) question, (3) respond, and (4) react. The structure must give students a clear understanding of what they are expected to learn. The teacher should ask both higher-order and lower-order questions. Teachers need to remember to wait three to five seconds after asking a question (wait time 1) and before reacting to a student answer (wait time 2). Teachers also need to be thoughtful in the way in which they react to student comments. Generally, teachers react by using either praise, acceptance, remediation, or criticism in responding to the student. Research indicates that teachers use acceptance more than all the other reactions combined, a sign that their reactions may lack precision, and perhaps their questions may not be challenging students.
Four models of instruction that can lead to high student achievement include (1) direct teaching, (2) cooperative learning, (3) mastery learning, and (4) project-based instruction.
The principles of direct teaching include daily review, presentation of new material in a clear manner, guided practice, teacher feedback, independent practice, and weekly and monthly reviews.
In a cooperative learning classroom, students work in small groups, and rewards are based on the entire group's performance.
Mastery learning programs involve specific objectives that must be met, as indicated by assessment. Typically, students work at their own pace, going on o new material only when mastery of the previous work has been demonstrated. Teachers often play a central role in content and skill mastery.
Project-based instruction stimulates students to explore authentic issues. Individually and in small groups, students cross traditional subject boundaries as they investigate real-life problems and demonstrate what they have learned.
New research in effective teaching emphasizes the structure of knowledge, deep rather than shallow teaching, the importance of prior knowledge, and the social nature of learning.

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