A while ago I read a book entitled Teaching - it’s not rocket science . At one level, this is true. Teachers need to know the content and how to teach content and skills to their students so that they will learn.
Our teachers practice explicit instruction where they give clear explanations to their students and then ask students to complete engaging learning activities to build on their knowledge and understanding.
Our teachers have high expectations of students. We expect them to listen respectfully and silently when a teacher is speaking, try their best and have a genuine desire to improve and do better next time.
This approach to teaching and learning seems quite straight forward and is not “rocket science”. However, when looked at from a different angle, to say that teaching is not rocket science is somewhat offensive.
For teachers to be able to give clear verbal explanations, create engaging learning activities and set and maintain high expectations of students they need to be perceptive. This may be as subtle as a teacher seeing a student with a confused look on his or her face, approaching the student and providing some quiet help. However, a teacher also needs to perceive the whole class. For example, on a windy day a Year 1 class may be more unsettled after lunch than they normally are. The teacher would then make some modifications to the planned learning activities for the afternoon to try and ensure that students make the most of the lesson.
