Good Teaching

This article by Martin Haberman appeared in the December 1991 Phi Delta Kappan. It is titled: The Pedagogy of Poverty Versus Good Teaching. In the complete article, Haberman lists examples with each point.

GOOD TEACHING
Is it possible to describe a teaching approach that can serve as an alternative to the pedagogy of poverty? I believe that there is a core of teacher acts that defines the pedagogy one finds in urban schools that have been recognized as exemplary. Unlike the directive teacher acts that constitute the pedagogy of poverty, however, these tend to be indirect activities that frequently involve the creation of a learning environment. These teaching behaviors tend to be evident more in what the students are doing than in the observable actions of the teacher. Indeed, teachers may appear to be doing little and at times may, to the unsophisticated visitor, seem to be merely observers. Good teaching transcends the particular grade or subject and even the need for lessons with specific purposes.
1. Whenever students are involved with issues they regard as vital concerns, good teaching is going on.
2. Whenever students are involved with explanations of human differences, good teaching is going on.
3. Whenever students are being helped to see major concepts, big ideas, and general principles and are not merely engaged in the pursuit of isolated facts, good teaching is going on.
4. Whenever students are involved in planning what they will be doing, it is likely that good teaching is going on. (People learn to make informed choices by actually making informed choices).
5. Whenever students are involved with applying ideals such as fairness, equity, or justice to their world, it is likely good teaching is going on.
6. Whenever students are actively involved, it is likely that good teaching is going on.
7. Whenever students are directly involved in a real-life experience, it is likely that good teaching is going on.
8. Whenever students are actively involved in heterogeneous groups, it is likely that good teaching is going on.
9. Whenever students are asked to think about an idea in a way that questions common sense or a widely accepted assumption, that relates new ideas to ones learned previously, or that applies an idea to the problems of living, then there is a chance that good teaching is going on.
10. Whenever students are involved in redoing, polishing, or perfecting their work, it is likely that good teaching is going on.
11. Whenever teachers involve students with the technology of information access, good teaching is going on.
12. Whenever students are involved in reflecting on their own lives and how they have come to believe and feel as they do, good teaching is going on.

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