Teacher Educator: Role & Best Practices
- Roles include:
- soliciting teachers ideas about a specific problem and potential solution.
- helping teachers build inner strength and resilience.
- boosting hope and encouraging teachers to focus on future possibilities.
- Best Practices include:
(adapted from Murphy (2008)
- model humility, curiosity, and a willingness to learn from group members.
- look, listen, ask, and learn as much as possible before offering suggestions.
- treat group members as experts regarding themselves and their circumstances, and as active contributors to their own solutions.
- respect group members freedom to accept or reject suggestions and to adopt them to their own unique situation.
- respect diverse opinions, cultural backgrounds, and new ideas.
- listen for hints of strength, resilience, hope, and other resources.
- ask open, change-focused questions.
- Examples of Open, Change-focused Questions:
(adapted from Murphy (2008) and Stoltzfus (2008))
- Can you give me a quick update on what you have accomplished since we last met?
- What do you gain from responding this way? What does it give you that you need?
- Let’s imagine that you are handling this the way you are because you choose to do so. What’s leading you to make that choice?
- What do you think needs to happen to improve things?
- What will be the first small sign that things are getting better?
- Suppose you have a magic wand and you can make the problem disappear. What would you notice at school tomorrow that would let you know that things were better?
- Which one of your students will be most surprised when you start using the new strategies in your classroom?
- How will your students, students’ parents, and colleagues treat you when things start improving?
- What needs to happen for you to feel less stressed/anxious/burnt out?
- If I was watching a video tape of you feeling less stressed/anxious, what would I see?
- What will you be doing instead of getting anxious/worried/stressed?
- What can you do to prevent yourself from feeling stressed?
- What would you like to do instead of stressing/worrying/getting anxious so much?
- How have you managed to cope so well with this situation so far?
- How have you kept things from getting worse?
- What were times when you and your student got along better?
- Of all the things that you or others have tried, what has worked best? Next best? Worst?
- What have you thought about trying but haven’t tried yet? How might that improve things? What will it take to try this?
- How have you handled similar situations? How might that help you in this case?
- What is your theory about how change is going to happen in your classroom?
- Sometimes people have thoughts and ideas about what is causing a problem and what will solve it. What are your thoughts and ideas?
- Who has helped you the most with other concerns or problems at school? What do they do or say that is most helpful?
- What advice would you give the other teachers who are struggling with the same problem?