DEVELOPING A FRAMEWORK FOR EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING

Pamela Lynette Horn

Background

As the Assistant Head of School, I play a large role in supporting teacher professional growth and development. At High Point Friends School, teachers play a major role in providing not only academic instruction but also social and emotional support to educate the whole child. This led to the question: How do teachers know if they are effectively using their knowledge and skill set in regards to teaching and learning? Some teachers may question if they have the necessary training and knowledge to teach academic content well or if they have the soft skills (empathy, patience, communication skills, etc.) to be an impactful teacher. Both of these questions are valid as good teachers embody a combination of both content knowledge and soft skills along with knowledge of the expectations set by the school.

High Point Friends School emphasizes being a private school with a public purpose that prepares students to become civically engaged citizens of the world. In an effort to provide current and new teachers with a clear understanding of expectations regarding teaching and learning at HPFS, and in collaboration with our school academic team, I worked to create a structured framework that is specific to HPFS. This document sets standards and areas of focus that contain expectations and evidence of what effective teaching and learning looks like at HPFS. It will also guide our professional development around teaching practices as well as be used to create a more formal process of faculty evaluation moving forward.

Exploration/Learning/Discoveries

To help teachers engage with the framework, our academic team created guiding queries that were sent in a Google survey. In recognizing the various stages of growth and development, we decided to create two sets of queries, one for early school and one for lower and middle school teaching staff. Here are some examples:

Guiding Queries

Early School

• How do you foster a predictable learning environment characterized by acceptable child behavior?

• How do you use your time efficiently so each child has a positive, nurturing relationship with teachers and peers?

• How do you engage children as individuals, including those with diverse needs and interests and across a range of ability levels, by adapting their teaching for the benefit of all students?

• How do you work collaboratively with the families and /or significant adults in the lives of the children in your classroom?

Lower and Middle School

• How do you plan and prepare for student learning and demonstrate strong knowledge of content and pedagogy?

• How do you prepare for student learning by demonstrating strong knowledge of students?

• How do you engage students through intentional, research-based instructional practices?

• How do you utilize effective questioning and discussion techniques in the classroom?

• How do you create a classroom community that establishes a culture of academic learning?

• How do you create a classroom community of respect and rapport?

• How do you manage classroom procedures and routines?

The teaching faculty were given two weeks to complete and return their responses. Once all the feedback was received, I summarized all the data and shared it with the academic team. Upon review, we discovered that over 90 percent of the responses correlated positively with the original framework document of standards and expectations/evidence that had been prepared by the academic team. The results confirmed that the majority of the teaching staff were either currently participating in effective teaching and learning practices or had a full understanding of the expectations of effective teaching specific to HPFS.

Staff Feedback Examples

• “I surround myself and my students with as many research based instructional methods as I am able to fnd and share. I use a combination of tried-and-true practices that have shown success through the years in combination with new strategies that I found through my research.”

• “Students know what to expect in my classroom from the first day of school. We have procedures and routines that have been established and students know the expectation is to follow those preset disciplines.”

In our many hours of conversation around teaching and learning at HPFS, we noted that one of the most effective teaching standards is the creation of a classroom community that establishes a culture of scholarly habits. This insight led to a deeper discussion that created a clear definition of scholarly and community habits across all grade levels. The academic team decided to create an additional document with examples of scholarly and community habits to share with the teaching staff. The completed Framework for Teaching and Learning document was presented to the staff as part of professional development in January of 2024. Here is a portion of the completed framework excluding expectations/evidence:

High Point Friends School

Framework for Effective Teaching and Learning for Early School

1. Foster a predictable learning environment characterized by acceptable student behavior and efficient use of time in which each child has a positive, nurturing relationship with caring adults and peers.

2. Teachers demonstrate an awareness of a commitment to, and a respect for, multiple aspects of diversity while working toward common goals as a community of learners.

3. Teachers engage students as individuals, including those with diverse needs and interests, across a range of ability levels, by adapting their teaching for the benefit of all students.

4. Teachers work collaboratively with the families and/ or significant adults in the lives of their students.

Framework for Effective Teaching and Learning for Lower and Middle School

1. Plans and prepares for student learning and demonstrates strong knowledge of content and pedagogy.

2. Plans and prepares for student learning by demonstrating strong knowledge of students.

3. Engages students through intentional, research-based instructional practices.

4. Utilizes effective questioning and discussion techniques.

5. Creates a classroom community that establishes a culture of scholarly learning.

6. Creates a classroom community of respect and rapport.

7. Manages classroom procedures and routines.

Next Steps

• The Framework for Effective Teaching and Learning document will be used as an in house resource to provide consistency, organization, and certainty that all teachers are planning and providing the most effective instruction. It will also be used as a tool for teachers to refect on their teaching strategies for development and improvement. All current teachers and teachers new to HPFS will have access to this document as part of the requirements at HPFS.

• We will also begin using the Framework for Effective Teaching and Learning to formulate formal teacher evaluations.

PAMELA LYNETTE HORN

Assistant Head of SchoolHigh Point Friends SchoolHigh Point, NC

I began my career in Friends education during the fall of 2014 when I joined High Point Friends School. Over the past 10 years at HPFS, I served as an early childhood teacher, Director of the Before/After Program, Early School Director, Director of Teaching and Learning, Director of Admissions, Lower School Director and currently the Assistant Head of School. My experience over the years has deepened my passion for Friends education and I have been blessed with the opportunity to learn and grow as a leader in an environment that allows me to present my best self.