More on that Database Thing

I mentioned before that I'm developing a Teaching Skills Database for myself, essentially a list of skills I'm looking to develop with notes taken from courses, readings, personal experience, and discussions with other educators. I'm using Kim Marshall's Teacher Evaluation Rubric as a base because:

• It's comprehensive, encompassing 60 skills divided into 6 domains;
• It was compiled by a leader in the field of education, who served for many years as a principal right here in the Boston area;
• It synthesizes prior notable works in the field including Charlotte Danielson's Framework for Teaching, Jon Saphier's Parameters of Teaching, and rubrics in use at private, public, and charter schools from New England, New Jersey, and California; and
• Marshall explicitly gives others permission to use and modify his rubric as they see fit.
  

I expect that over the course of my future studies and subsequent teaching career, I will add, delete, change, and adapt this rubric enough to really call it my own. Working on this database will make me a better teacher, and being a better teacher will help me improve this database even more.

One of my self-imposed "homework" assignments this spring has been to have a workable version of the database on my wiki by the time my program starts in (yikes!) less than a week now. I'm calling it Version 0.1 beta, as if it were a buggy piece of software at the very start of its development lifecycle. Making this version has involved a lot of thinking and reflection about the kind of teacher I want to be and a synthesis of my own experiences so far as a learner, teacher, children's author, and parent.

Every day the database is becoming better attuned to my personal teaching philosophy, which I'm also in the process of developing. When I interviewed to become a substitute teacher in our local school district, the superintendent stumped me by asking for my teaching philosophy. "Am I allowed to have a teaching philosophy if I haven't done this before?" I asked, and he said, "Not only is it allowed, it's required."

Version 0.1 beta of the Teaching Skills Database is rough and sparse but already changes 90% of Marshall's rubric skills where they didn't seem applicable or could be improved on.

For example, Marshall has teacher attendance as a skill given the same weight as, say, quality of homework assigned. So if Teacher A gives engaging and effective homework assignments but gets jury duty and misses two weeks of classes due to circumstances beyond his control, he'll be marked down as much as Teacher B, who has perfect attendance but assigns ineffective assignments that students can't learn from. And if Teacher B only has perfect attendance because he came to class while suffering from a case of swine flu which then spreads throughout the school, Marshall's rubric still grades him up instead of down. In my database I've eliminated Attendance in favor of Sub Work and Classroom Safety. There are no points off if Teacher A adequately prepares his class for an unavoidable absence and leaves detailed lesson plans that can be effectively implemented by a substitute, while Teacher B now gets marked down for creating an unsafe, unhealthy, and germ-filled classroom environment.

Some of the big changes I've made so far:

• Marshall's "Planning and Preparation for Learning" domain is called "Backstage" in my database and the focus is narrowed to planning and considerations that go into preparation of lesson materials outside of class time. Planning elements that go to teacher knowledge and skills are moved to Meta Improvement. Adjustments made during class are part of Showtime.
• Marshall's "Classroom Management" domain is called "Stagecraft" in my database and the focus is expanded to include all aspects of classroom layout, extra-classroom space, props, and rituals, in addition to imposing order and behavior.
• Marshall's "Delivery of Instruction" domain is called "Showtime" in my database and the focus is narrowed to in-class lesson delivery and pre-planned lesson content is moved to Backstage.
• Marshall's "Monitoring, Assessment, and Follow-up" is called "Feedback Loop" in my database and the focus is expanded to create a two-way feedback loop between student and teacher.
• Marshall's "Parent and Community Outreach" domain is called "Stakeholder Outreach" in my database and the focus is expanded to include communication with administrators, mentors, peers, and classroom assistants.
• Marshall's "Professional Responsibilities" domain is called "Meta Improvement" in my database and the focus is expanded to include non-subject-specific skills development, administrative tasks, and professional demeanor for students as well as teachers
• Many skills have been deleted, changed, or added. The total number of skills has been increased from 60 to 75, and only 6 of the original skills (10%) are left unchanged from Marshall's version. Domains are no longer equal in size.
• Skills no longer tied to four-level rubric.
• Skills are not weighted by importance.
• The Showtime domain incorporates "speaking skills" derived from The Art of Cognitive Coaching by Art Costa and Bob Garmston and all domains consider "technology skills" from my own personal experience.

The theatrical metaphor is something I came up with to give a general feeling for what each domain includes rather than a bland technical description. I might keep it, or not. I might try to extend it to the other domains, or not. It's all still new and very much in development.

It's entirely possible that the database I have now is more theoretical than practical but I'm very happy with the start I've made. Once the DeLeT program starts, I'm hoping for lots of input from my professors and fellow students. I expect that Version 0.2 will be whatever I have at the end of the summer, Version 0.3 will be whatever I have at the end of the school year, and Version 0.4 will be what I take with me into my first year as teacher of record.

Version 1.0 will be the result of several years of hopefully-successful teaching.