Thursday, September 26, 2013

Tag Team Teaching (Pedagogy and classroom management)

I admit it! I'm a wrestling fan. Not greco-roman, but the sports entertainment version.  I enjoy watching it on TV, but what I really enjoy is a good live show.  Every time a local promotion comes through our small town, you can guarantee I will be there and most likely at ringside.  One of the most exciting matches on any card is a tag team bout.  Pairs of wrestlers on each team work together in order to win the match and pin their opponent(s) to the floor. When done well, the winning team works like clockwork and makes the whole match appear easy.  However, when they don't work together or one gets knocked out of action, a tag team can quickly fall apart and a loss is certain.

So, what does tag-team wrestling have to with teaching?   There are two components that must be in place and work together before any real learning takes place.  These are pedagogy and classroom management.  I once had a principal tell me that, if the lesson was engaging enough, the students would not act up.  I believed him, but I was young and very impressionable then.  Now, after 17 years, I know that great lessons are combinations of effective teaching strategies and classroom management procedures.  These two must work together to ensure the desired learning occurs. In an out of control classroom, little learning will take place even when the best teaching strategies are in place. 

Now, I'll admit I have rarely seen an out of control or even a poorly managed classroom where great pedogogy was being used.  But, I have seen teachers who had a good grasp of academic strategies but could not effectively teach because the classroom was poorly managed.  I have also seen well managed classrooms (quiet, procedures in place, kids actively engaged) where little real learning was occuring.  Without both components, the other team (ignorance and behavior problems) always wins. 

Great teachers are adapt at both pedagogy and management. And they have more than one or two strategies.  Watch an entertaining wrestler and you'll see a variety of moves depending on the situation they are in.  Teachers must have multiple teaching and management strategies in their toolbag before they step into the classroom and they must be prepared to alter these strategies (especially classroom management techniques) if the situation warrants.  Preparation is the key to success.  For the teacher, this means constantly learning through reading, observing, asking questions, attending staff development and then putting new approaches into place. Administrators and lead teachers must also be prepared to help teachers develop the necessary pedogological and management techniques they need to be successful.  The administrator/lead teacher is like the coach (or manager in wrestling) who is always there to help the teacher improve. 

While the analogy used in this post may be stretching it a bit, the reality is that there are new teachers entering the field (and veterans as well) who lack either the knowledge of pedagogy or the classroom management skills to be effective the moment they hit the ground.  This doesn't mean they won't be good (or even excellent) teachers.  It does mean that they need the support, training, and encouragement to develop their skills and become better at employing this winning tag team combination. 

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