1 - What Makes Good Teachers Great?
The Artful Balance of Structure and Improvisation
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
Edited by
Summary
In the 1970s and 1980s, educational researchers began to study what makes good teachers great. One common approach of these early researchers was to compare experienced teachers with novice teachers; they found that experienced teachers have a greater repertoire of scripts than novice teachers – standard sequences of activities, or responses to students, that work in specific situations. Researchers also found, however, that experienced teachers were better at improvising in response to each class’s unique flow; in fact, they tended to spend less advance time planning than novice teachers (Berliner & Tikunoff, 1976; Borko & Livingston, 1989; Yinger, 1987). Experienced teachers do two apparently contradictory things: They use more structures, and yet they improvise more.
These early studies of teacher expertise focused on the structures that teachers created themselves, as ways to enhance teaching, manage classrooms, and handle problems that may arise. In addition, many of the structures that guide teaching are mandated by law, administration, or state and federal guidelines. Modern schools are complex organizations, with relatively rigid structures and bureaucratic and administrative frameworks that constrain what teachers can do in classrooms (Olson, 2003).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Structure and Improvisation in Creative Teaching , pp. 1 - 24Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011
References
(1996). Peer interactive minds: Developmental, theoretical, and methodological issues. In & (Eds.), Interactive Minds: Life-span Perspectives on the Social Foundation of Cognition (pp. 133–162). New York: Cambridge.Google Scholar
(1986). In pursuit of the expert pedagogue. Educational Researcher, 15(7), 5–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1987). Ways of thinking about students and classrooms by more and less experienced teachers. In (Ed.), Exploring Teachers’ Thinking (pp. 60–83). London: Cassell Education Limited.Google Scholar
& (1976). The California beginning teacher study. Journal of Teacher Education, 27(1), 24–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1994). Thinking in jazz: The infinite art of improvisation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2004). Teachers’ professional discretion and the curricula. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association. Retrieved.
& (1989). Cognition and improvisation: Differences in mathematics instruction by expert and novice teachers. American Educational Research Journal, 26(4), 473–498.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1972/1977). Outline of a theory of practice. New York: Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge. Originally published as Esquisse d’une théorie de la pratique (Genève: Droz, 1972).Google Scholar
, , & (Eds.). (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.Google Scholar
& (2001). Teaching by design: Curriculum design as a lens on instructional practice. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, April, Seattle, WA.
& (1999). The teacher research movement: A decade later. Educational Researcher, 28(7), 15–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
., , & (Eds.). (2001). Creativity in education. London: Continuum.
, , & (2006). Pedagogy and possibility thinking in the early years. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 1, 108–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1997). The right to learn: A blueprint for creating schools that work. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
(1984). The practice of everyday life. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. (Original work published 1980).Google Scholar
(1979). The educational imagination: On the design and evaluation of school programs. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
(1982). Classroom discourse as improvisation: Relationships between academic task structure and social participation structure in lessons. In (Ed.), Communicating in the Classroom (pp. 153–181). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
(2004). Talk and social theory: Ecologies of speaking and listening in everyday life. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
, , , & (Eds.). (2006). The Cambridge handbook of expertise and expert performance. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRef
(1986). Autonomy: An essay in philosophical psychology and ethics. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1985). The teacher as artist: A case for peripheral supervision. The Educational Forum, 49(2), 183–187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
& (1985). Teacher cognition: Differences in planning and interactive decision making between experienced and inexperienced teachers. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 56(1), 45–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2003). Who controls teachers’ work? Power and accountability in America’s schools. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
(2001). The art of creative teaching: NACCCE and beyond. In , & (Eds.), Creativity in Education (pp. 17–34). London: Continuum.Google Scholar
& (1986). The cognitive skill of teaching. Journal of Educational Psychology, 78(2), 75–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2004). Should there be a three-strikes rule against pure discovery learning? The case for guided methods of instruction. American Psychologist, 59(1), 14–19.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
(1986). Schooling as a ritual performance: Towards a political economy of educational symbols and gestures. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
(2008). Standards-based reform: Promises, pitfalls, and potential lessons from the U.S. In , , & (Eds.), Bidungsmonitoring und Bildungscontrolling in nationaler und internationaler Perspektive (pp. 107–127). Münster, Germany: Waxmann.Google Scholar
(2003). Psychological theory and educational reform. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
(1998). Social constructivist perspectives on teaching and learning. In , & (Eds.), Annual Review of Psychology (Vol. 49, pp. 345–375). Palo Alto, CA: Annual Reviews.Google Scholar
(1991). Learning to stage a learning experience: The teacher as director. Paper presented at the National Convention of the Speech Communication Association, November, Atlanta, GA.
. (2007). The intellectual and policy foundations of the 21st century skills framework. Tucson, AZ: Partnership for 21st Century Skills.Google Scholar
(1994). Teaching is performance: Reconceptualizing a problematic metaphor. American Educational Research Journal, 31(1), 3–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2005). Creativity: Find it, promote, promoting pupils’ creative thinking and behaviour across the curriculum at key stages 1 and 2, practical materials for schools. London: Qualifications and Curriculum Authority.Google Scholar
(1998). Cognition as a collaborative process. In & (Eds.), Handbook of Child Psychology, 5th edition, Volume 2: Cognition, Perception, and Language (pp. 679–744). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
(2001). Creating conversations: Improvisation in everyday discourse. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.Google Scholar
(2003). Improvised dialogues: Emergence and creativity in conversation. Westport, CT: Greenwood.Google Scholar
(2004). Creative teaching: Collaborative discussion as disciplined improvisation. Educational Researcher, 33(2), 12–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(Ed.). (2006a). Cambridge handbook of the learning sciences. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
(2006c). Group creativity: Musical performance and collaboration. Psychology of Music, 34(2), 148–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2006d). The new science of learning. In (Ed.), Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences (pp. 1–16). New York: Cambridge.Google Scholar
(1983). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
(1986). Interactive decision making: Some thoughts on teacher cognition. Paper presented at the Invited address, I Congreso Internacional, “Pensamientos de los Profesores y Toma de Decisiones.” Retrieved.
(1987). Knowledge and teaching: Foundations of the new reform. Harvard Educational Review, 57(1), 1–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
& (1982). Teaching as performing: A guide to energizing your public presentation. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
(2008). The Torrance tests of creative thinking: Norms-technical manual. Bensenville, IL: Scholastic Testing Service.Google Scholar
, , & (1976). Interscholastic futuristic creative problem solving. Journal of Creative Behavior, 10, 117–125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
& (2009). 21st century skills: Learning for life in our times. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
(1980). A study of teacher planning. The Elementary School Journal, 80(3), 107–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1987). By the seat of your pants: An inquiry into improvisation and teaching. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, April, Washington, DC.
- 52
- Cited by