Rewarding High Performing Teachers

The issue of rewarding high performing teachers with financial bonuses is not a new one.  For years now this topic has been debated and each time it comes up so too does the related issues of identifying these teachers and whether or not these bonuses will have any real impact on student learning.

I strongly agree that a great teacher can help students to achieve wonderful things, not 'just' high results on standardised tests.  I think it also worth noting that we have always had great teachers, and we will continue to have great teachers with or without the carrot of financial gain.  In fact, none of the great teachers I know and have worked with do what they do for the money.  Great teachers do what they do because they love teaching and they love working with young people and seeing them achieve their goals.  If mediocre teachers start doing good things for the sake of money are they really great teachers?  Or are they simply good at jumping through hoops to receive an external reward.

The major goal of recognising great teachers should be to improve teaching and learning, not just learning.  It stands to reason that if you improve the teaching, then the learning will also improve.  So how do we recognise great teaching and capitalise on this exemplary practice to improve teaching in schools?  Rather than hand out cash bonuses I believe we should be taking our great teachers and putting them into consulting and mentoring roles for a 12 month period.  During this time our great teachers could have the opportunity to work with many teachers, in many different classrooms, in a few different schools, therefore spreading their expertise and their exemplary practice and impacting teaching in the best possible way - growing and developing their fellow professionals.  Let's build a national professional learning network by recognising the best of the best and giving them the opportunity to do what they do best - teach!

If the government and education unions are serious about improving teaching and learning then they need to rethink the handing out of cash bonuses.  My fear is that this proposed system of merit pay will do more harm than good, actually alienating great teachers rather than putting them into the positions of respect and admiration that they deserve.  I have no doubt that the truly great teachers would jump at the chance to share their craft with their peers.

Weighing Up the Cost of Merit Pay

Are you a Blogger?

Blogging is a very popular web tool for educators, particularly for international educators. It enables people to write about their overseas travels so their family and friends back home can keep up to date with their adventures. It also enables people to write and share about their teaching and resources they have found useful.

Patrick Larkin, Principal at Burlington HS and guest Blogger on Free Technology for Teachers this week, writes a very interesting post that points out why every Principal needs a blog. I would take this one step further by saying that every Principal (and educator) needs to read blogs. Why? By engaging in the blogosphere you become part of a professional learning network where many talented and dedicated professional educators around the world share best practice and resources through their blogs.

Last night as I scrolled through my Google Reader I felt like I was engaged in a professional development workshop - there were so many links to valuable educational resources and rich discussions related to blog posts! This type of professional networking really is inspiring and can only help to improve educational practice as educators engage with colleagues from around the world through the sharing of thoughts, opinions, articles, resources, links, and ideas.

21st Century Educators

21st Century is a term that is used a lot, particularly in education. Along with this term there is often debate and conversation revolving around exactly what this means. Kim Cofino's article, 5 Tips to Becoming a 21st Century Educator, highlights the importance of not just doing things differently in the classroom, but also outside of the classroom.

Being a 21st century educator means utilizing the available technology to engage and collaborate with professionals from around the world, not just the ones within your school walls. Learning with and from colleagues who are dedicated to educational best practice is stimulating and inspiring - your professional learning network (PLN) may just turn out to be the best professional development you have participated in for a long while. I justify this statement with 3 reasons:

1. It's ongoing - your PLN is not a 2 day conference that invigorates you for a week or two, it invigorates, inspires, and challenges everyday!
2. It's ready when you are - the PLN is ongoing and does not require you to miss classes or school days to participate (it doesn't even penalize you if you miss a couple of days)
   
3. It's Just In Time (JIT) - when you have a specific question that needs to be answered, or some help with a particular issue or problem, your PLN is there ready to offer advice, answers, and solutions

Being a 21st century educator isn't about technology, it's about being connected and engaged with professionals from all over the world. Today's technology simply makes it a lot easier to do this.

Differentiate with Twitter

Early in 2009 our MYP Coordinator, Mr Fambro introduced me to Twitter. I signed up for an account and played around with it for a while, but in the beginning I didn't really understand the point of it. During last year's EARCOS Administrators' Conference I began 'following' some colleagues and found that this really improved my connectedness to what was happening at the conference, and also to online resources related to conference topics.

Since then I have started following a network of educators, technology specialists, and people who are devote to infusing technology into education. Following these people has given me access to a professional learning network (PLN) that provides resources, advice, and answers beyond what's available to me within the walls of GSIS. The most exciting part about my Twitter PLN is that the resources are there for me to access when I am ready - these resources are much more valuable and relevant to me when I have a practical for need for them.

In the latest Educational Leadership journal William Ferriter writes about Why Teachers Should Try Twitter. In his article he writes:

What lessons have I learned from Twitter? First, I finally understand how much differentiated learning matters. My own motivation levels have skyrocketed, I'm accessing ideas connected to my professional interests, and I've taken ownership of my own learning.

This is certainly true for me as well. I feel that I am now connected and part of a global team of educators committed to sharing and promoting best educational practice. With the teacher's role now being one of facilitator and learning coach it is increasingly important that we assist our students in developing their own professional learning networks. Twitter may just be one of the tools that we can use for this purpose.

Source: Ferriter, M. (2010) "Why Teachers Should Try Twitter." Educational Leadership, Vol. 67, No. 5, pp 73-74.

50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Education