Shifting the Focus to Student Learning: Characteristics of Effective Teaching Practice As Identified by Experienced Pre-service Faculty Advisors

Cochrane-Smith and Power identify trends in teacher education programs with some relating to heightened teacher accountability for students’ learning. In this paper we provide a model that identifies characteristics believed to be critical elements related to a teacher’s conceptual focus shifting from an emphasis on their teaching to their students’ learning and we have grounded these characteristics in current educational research. Through focus group inquiry, we have identified those teacher characteristics thought to account for effective teaching practice. These characteristics include: a professional growth perspective, passion and enthusiasm for the content, pedagogical content knowledge, a rich instructional repertoire of strategies, awareness of assessment for, as, and of learning, ability to read the body language of the learner, caring classroom management strategies, and instructional efforts (e.g., social justice). Our research data provide a conceptual framework for further study.