“EFFECTIVE TEACHERS ARE IN CONTROL OF WHAT THEY TEACH”

BY SADIA ABBAS

The term good teaching changed to effective teaching. The new ways of studying classroom
behavior have made the student and teacher-student interaction in the classroomthe focus of
modern definitions of effective teaching. In general, there is a relationship between effective
teachers and effective institutions. Teachers to be effective need a supportive and positive
atmosphere which gives them a chance to become effective teachers like manageable class
size, systems for monitoring students, availability of instructional materials etc.

The statement “effective teachers are in control of what they teach” according to me clearly
depicts that the teachers have effective effects on students as the result of their effective
teaching. An effective teacher prepares her/himself better for the positive effects of her/his
teachings. An effective teacher very smartly understands the socioeconomic levels and
cultures of the students for helping them to learn using their own experiences and learning
histories to derive meaning and understanding from what they are teaching. They understand
the student’s position and try to make them enjoy learning rather than drilling in. He/she use
effective teaching methods for teaching. Teacher effectively manages the classroom to keep
the students actively engaged in the learning process. He/she does this by using different
methods which involve monitoring, making transitions, giving assignments, bringing closure
like summarizing or reviewing key content. An effective teacher definitely has control on
what he/she is teaching. Control over the information they are going to impart or the
strategies they will be using is very important as the failure of it can cause opposite effects.
“Control on “what they teach includes their preparation before class, referring to the topics
they are going to teach, to have an idea about the possible questions students may ask, and try
to build critical thinking of the students towards some topics.

They should make sure they give an introduction before every topic they pick to teach in the
class rather than just throwing heavy ideas on the students which disable them to understand.
That is why it very necessary for us to understand that what makes a teacher effective?
Research indicates that teacher preparation/knowledge of teaching and learning, subject
matter knowledge, experience, and the combined set of qualifications measured by teacher
licensure are all leading factors in teacher effectiveness. The role of teacher preparation is a
key to teacher effectiveness. Being organized in the classroom is another key element of an
effective teacher. By organizing and planning each day, the teacher surely presents the lesson
in effective manner. An effective teacher makes good use of instructional time and inspires
students to do well and to know more. For being an effective teacher he/she has to handle
every situation that comes their way because they surely encounter different problems
regarding student attitudes so, the teacher should be flexible to take control of any situation.

Characteristics of effective teachers:-

Throughout the 20th Century, there have been continuing attempts to identify characteristics
of effective teachers. Thus, effective teachers are generally described as business-like in
teaching, clear and specific in the use of language, and adept in the use of paralanguage. They
sequence and schedule lessons that include detailed explanations and examples, provide
immediate and corrective feedback, and ensure plenty of practice time. Good and Brophy
(1994) described effective teachers as active teachers who make maximum use of
instructional time, present material in ways to meet student needs, monitor programs and
progress, and plan opportunities for students to apply newly acquired concepts and skills.
These teachers also re-teach when needed, maintain high but realistic goals, and provide
motivation when introducing material both during and at the conclusion of lessons. Effective
teachers also have been described as those who encourage active student participation and
make relevant assignments, arrange for plenty of successful engaged time, are skillful in
using questions, and employ the use of wait-time when seeking student response.

Key behaviors contributing to effective teaching: - Key behaviors are considered essential for
effective teaching. There are five key behaviors essential for effective teaching:-

1. Lesson clarity:-Clarity is a complex behavior because it is related to many other

cognitive behaviors, such as organization of the content, lesson familiarity and
delivery strategies. One research on teacher clarity is that teachers vary considerably
on this behavior.
2. Instructional variety: - One of the most effective ways of creating variety during
instructions is to ask questions. Therefore, the effective teacher needs to know the art
of asking questions and how to discriminate among different question formats. The
physical texture and visual variety of your classroom can contribute to instructional
variety.
3. Teacher task orientation: - It is a key behavior that refers to how much classroom
time the teacher devotes to the task of teaching academic subject. Teachers who are
task oriented are highly conversant with topics that are likely to appear on
performance assessments and end of year achievement tests.
4. Engagement in the learning process: - Student engagement in the learning process
is a key behavior that refers to the amount of time students devote to learning an
academic subject.
5. Student success rate:-It refers to the rate at which your students understand and
correctly complete exercises and assignments. Student engagement rate is closely
related to student success rate.

These five behaviors are the skeleton of the effective teacher and the remainder of this
text constructs the heart, mind and body of the effective teacher but there are also
some helping behaviors related to effective teaching which are using student ideas and
contributions , structuring, questioning, probing and teacher effects.

Hence, Effective teachers are in control of what they are teaching because their way
of teaching is far more integrated and characterized by their skills which shows
effectiveness. They do class management , give direct instructions ,they see to it that
students do the task on time, they ask appropriate questions which help in the
development of critical skills in the students, emphasize on individual learning and
comprehension, increase the level of cognitive instruction and make the students
involve in interactive activities by grouping. A Teacher makes a wide range of
decisions that clearly affect the effectiveness of their teaching. Teacher as a decision
maker is the most important characteristic of an effective teacher. Decision making
implies making choices which involves deciding what to teach, how to teach it and
how to assess student achievement. In all the choices a number of sources of influence
decision making are involved. Three major ways of evaluating the professional
decisions are research, experience and context. Effective teachers draw from several
areas of knowledge as they face a great variety of decisions in the classroom arena
and the ability to make professional decisions is vital to teaching. (Doebler, 1998)