Creating Practical Theories of Teaching

Abstract

In this chapter we propose a way to create theories of teaching that are useful for teachers as well as researchers. Key to our proposal is a new model of teaching that treats sustained learning opportunities (SLOs) as a mediating construct that lies between teaching, on the one hand, and learning, on the other. SLOs become the proximal goal of classroom teaching. Rather than making instructional decisions based on desired learning outcomes, teachers could focus on the kinds of SLOs students need. Because learning research has established reliable links between specific types of learning opportunities and specific learning outcomes, theories of teaching no longer must connect teaching directly with learning. Instead, theories of teaching can become theories of creating SLOs linked to the outcomes teachers want their students to achieve. After presenting our rationale for moving from theories of teaching to theories of creating SLOs, we describe the benefits of such theories for researchers and teachers, explain the work needed to build such theories, and describe the conditions under which this work could be conducted. We conclude by peering into the future and acknowledging the challenges researchers would face as they develop these theories.

Seeing Through the Eyes of Classroom Observers: The Case of Rating Contrasted Groups of Lessons With Classroom Observation Measures

“…We echo others (e.g., Hiebert, Gallimore, & Stigler, 2003) in emphasizing that teaching is a complex cultural and professional practice; teachers are highly skilled professionals who make complex instructional decisions within the parameters of different culturally available scripts about teaching and education, professional training, student preparation, curricula, and school policies. The illustrations below are small excerpts of instruction, not sampled to be representative of specific teachers' practice; discussion of these excerpts is presented to illustrate the operation of the observation protocols, and does not characterize the instruction of specific teachers.…”

“…The instrument includes codes capturing four dimensions of instructional interactions. For the current analysis, we made an a priori determination to focus on the Instructional Support domain of the protocol, because this domain most closely captures the academic content of a lesson, which was the primary construct of interest in the TIMSS Video Study (Hiebert et al, 2003). The TIMSS Video Study was not centrally interested in the emotional support provided to students in classrooms, nor generic aspects of student engagement and classroom organization, which comprise the other CLASS domains.…”

Research and Pedagogies for Early Math

“…Understanding how to provide adequate highquality educative experiences to achieve mathematical learning goals (which may stem from standards, or from recognition of a child's interests and needs). Thus, teachers can consistently focus on creating research-based, empirically validated Sustained Learning Opportunities (SLO) [44]. Educators develop and plan fecund instructional tasks and patterns of interactions, realized by teachers and children collaboratively so they are meaningful to all.…”

“…However, recognize that these moments will constitute only a small portion of the math activities needed in most situations. Further, they should contribute to the SLOs that serve children's learning needs [44].…”

Learning processes and their mediating role between teaching quality and student achievement: A systematic review

“…As we are far from having a full understanding of the relations between teaching quality and learning processes, it might be fruitful for researchers to initially concentrate exclusively on the relation between these two constructs instead of attempting to understand the entire process that connects teaching quality via learning processes to learning outcomes (for similar arguments in favor of simplifying the chain, see (Hiebert & Stigler, 2022).…”