How Do You Know You Had a Good Teaching Day?

How do you know you had a good teaching day is something I've been thinking a lot about recently. I would put forth that what you value as a teacher are the things that lead you to perceive the day with your students as good or bad. So the question really becomes, "What do you value as a teacher?" (...and are those the most valuable things for our students?).

Over the years, I've heard teachers, probably myself included at some point, say things such as, "I had a great day! We got through everything. They were listening. They followed all the directions. What a great day!". I've heard other teachers share, "What a fun morning. The kids were really into what they were doing and they really got it.". What I've heard less is, "Wow, the students really got that math concept. They worked the problems and then explained what they had done to their partners. As I was listening in, I could tell who really understood the concept and who needed some reteaching.".

You get the idea. What would you identify as the underlying values in each of these examples? This is what comes up for me:

"I had a great day! We got through everything. They were listening. They followed all the directions. What a great day!"

Underlying Values: Control, control, control. It was a productive day (for the teacher) because the students did what they were told and were compliant. As long as everything went according to plan, it was a good day. Perfectionism = Success. Did the students learn? I can't tell.

"What a fun morning. The kids were really into what they were doing and they really got it."

Underlying Values: Fun, student engagement, understanding(maybe?). It was a good morning because it was a fun morning, the kids appeared to be on task. What makes me curious, what I don't hear in the statement, is how does the teacher know the kids were on task and were learning? Are these ideas really valued or is the appearance of them valued?

"Wow, the students really got that math concept. They worked the problems and then explained what they had done to their partners. As I was listening in, I could tell by what they were saying, who really understood the concept and who needed some reteaching."

Underlying Values: Student learning/understanding, formative assessment, students taking responsibility for their own learning, partner work.

In all three examples, we get a glimpse into each classroom. We get a snapshot of where the locus of control is and on what each teacher appears to value. As a teacher, reflecting on 'a good day' or 'a bad day' could give you some insight into what you are placing value on in the classroom whether you realize it or not. If you take a look and you're not sure you like what you see, and would like to make some changes, but aren't sure how to do that, one idea is to seek out a coach, or a peer, to come into your classroom to observe and give you feedback on something specific. Say you are trying a new strategy to check for student understanding, you could ask your colleague to watch and listen for when that strategy is used and then after the lesson share their observations about the impact of that strategy on the students.

To read more about coaching:
Anything by Elena Aguilar

To read more about student engagement:
Article from Edutopia

To read more about getting out of your own way:
Article from Psychology Today