Risk Assessment: Reflecting on John Hattie

In the rush of the school term, it is often difficult for teachers to find time to reflect, but John Hattie provides a useful checklist for teachers seeking to monitor and develop their own performance. According to Hattie, outstanding or expert teachers:

1. Relate lesson content to other school subjects, underlying principles and students' interests
2. Are passionate about teaching and learning
3. Respect students as learners and as people
4. Encourage risk
5. Set challenging goals
6. Seek feedback and analyze the effectiveness of their own teaching
7. Monitor and provide feedback on student progress
8. Are more likely to develop closeness to students
9. Have a deep understanding of how learning occurs (Masters).

He also says that expert teachers can

1. Respond to the needs of students
2. Take a flexible problem-solving approach
3. Anticipate, plan and improvise as required
4. Make decisions based on student questions and responses
5. Monitor student problems, understanding and progress (Hattie).

Personal reflection: I encourage and enjoy risk-taking, set challenging tasks, willingly admit to mistakes or ignorance. I readily improvise in response to student need: these are some of the most satisfying lessons. I am not a highly-structured teacher, but as some students find this difficult, I also provide some structured activities. However, I need to work much harder on monitoring individual student progress - I do this well in response to written work, but find it hard in the hurly burly of class-room activities. Many of my colleagues are much better at this. However, I do achieve closeness with a significant number of students, and I am so passionate about what I do that the students laugh at me.

Bibliography for ICT Assessment 1

Chaiklin, Seth. (no date: accessed 31.3.07) ‘The zone of proximal development in Vygotsky’s analysis of learning and instruction’
http://www.education.miami.edu/blantonw/mainsite/Componentsfromclmer/Component5/ChaiklinTheZoneOfProximalDevelopmentInVygotsky.html
Driscoll, Marcy Perkins (1994). Psychology of learning for instruction. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Hattie, John . (2003). ‘Teachers Make a Difference: What is the Research Evidence?’.ACER Annual Conference.
Masters, Geoff. (2004) ‘What makes a good teacher?’ http://www.acer.edu.au/publications/newsletters/enews/04_enews18/Good_Teacher_May04.html
Murray, Ken. (1995) Narrative Partitioning: The ins and outs of identity construction.’ http://home.mira.net/~kmurray/psych/in&out.html

Piaget, Jean. 1962. ‘Comments on Vygotsky’s critical remarks concerning The Language and Thought of the Child, and Judgment and Reasoning in the Child’ http://www.marxists.org/archive/vygotsky/works/comment/piaget.htm

Riddle, Elizabeth M. (1999) ‘Lev Vygotsky’s Social Development Theory’ http://chd.gse.gmu.edu/immersion/knowledgebase/theorists/constructivism/vygotsky.htm

Silverthorn, Pam. (1999). ‘Jean Piaget’s Theory of Development.’ http://chd.gmu.edu/immersion/knowledgebase/theorists/constructivism/Piaget.htm

Smith, M.K. (2002) 'Jerome S. Bruner and the process of education', The Encyclopedia of InformalEeducation
http://www.infed.org/thinkers/bruner.htm.

York College (No date, accessed 31.307) ‘Evaluating Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development.’ http://intranet.yorkcollege.ac.uk/yc/new/HUMSOC/psycho/unit4/piaget.pdf