Mathematics Teacher

        “An ordinary teacher complains, an average teacher explains, a good teacher illustrates, an excellent teacher inspires”.

       It is essential to cultivate values of mathematics in students, hence it is made a compulsory subject in school.

       Good curriculum, modern methods of teaching, techniques, audio visual aids well equipped laboratory, fitting meaningful text books are all waste in the absence of an efficient teacher.

      An efficient teacher excellently well even in the absence of all these. It is the teacher who makes the latent knowledge and treasure in a person bloom systematically, and develops in him discipline, loyalty, wisdom cleverness, desire for liberty and broad outlook.

Qualities and skills of a Mathematics Teacher:

            Education system depends upon its efficient teachers the efficient teacher; there must be some specific qualities. The success or failures of a mathematics subject depend upon the mathematics teacher.

                Mathematics teacher takes the mathematics subject and deal challengingly otherwise his job is very difficult.

                Some essential qualities which are expected in a good mathematics teacher are as follows:

1. Mastery of the subject:

            No teacher can teach properly unless he has a thorough knowledge of his subject. In real sense his knowledge and information about the subject should be much higher than the students.

           The following qualifications are essential for teacher.

                Mathematics teacher should have passed Matriculation Intermediate / senior secondary Examination with mathematics as a subject.

2. Interest in the subject:

            A good teacher should have interest in the subject. Without interest in the subject he cannot teach with efficiency. He should know the importance of the subject. He could also develop interest in the subject to the students.

3. Interest in the profession:

A teacher should not take teaching work as an employment and a means of money making some teachers can do his Job successfully who have interest in this profession. In the beginning a teacher has to spend most of his time in improving his knowledge of teaching field and his techniques of teaching.

4. Resourcefulness:

            A mathematics teacher should make good resources essential for effective teaching learning. The use of teaching aids helps him for successful teaching. A teacher may present complex things in a simple way by using the appropriate aids and so, Resourcefulness is a quality of good teacher.

5. Patience and Tolerance:

            For general students, mathematics is a difficult subject. They take more time in understanding the mathematical concepts. Sometimes their responses are totally absurd. Few students are unable to learn after several repetitions. At the time teacher to be impatient. But, a good teacher should not lose his patience. He should adopt alternate methods to get success in teaching learning.

6. Proper Habits and Attitudes:

            A good mathematics teacher is expected to possess to good habits like hard work, self-confidence, patience, strong will power, systematic working, outlook, sweet speaking etc. He is also expected to have rational and scientific attitude.

7. Knowledge of Application of Mathematics:

            The Mathematics teacher should clearly know the use of the knowledge of his subject in various fields of real life. If he has a good knowledge of the application of mathematics in real life, in various vocations, in other subjects etc., he can communicate and transfer it to his students. The knowledge of applicability of subject is quite helpful in making the teaching meaningful, successful, interesting and effective.

8. Scientific out look

9. Psychological out look

10. Awareness of Aims.

11. Affectionate Behaviour towards students.

12. Mathematical skills and Analyzing Ability.

13. Leadership and organizing ability.

14. Love for the students:

A Teacher must love his students. Unless the teacher likes them, they will not like him. Like (or) dislike is a reciprocal process. If the students do not like teacher, the students will not like his subject. He should understand them, their abilities, interests, achievements etc.

15. Leadership and organizing ability:

A Teacher has to inculcate Proper habits and attitude in his students. He is ideal for them. They learn many things from his acts and behaviour. Therefore, a teacher should possess the qualities of leadership so that he can lead the students in right direction. A teacher should also be a good organizer. He is required to organize various Activities related to his subject and also some other activities in the school.

16. Awareness of Aims:

A teacher cannot do his Job successfully unless he is aware of its aims and objectives. Aimless working is useless. The Mathematics Teacher must be clear about the aims and objectives of its teaching.

ROLE OF SEMINARS, WORKSHOPS AND PROJECTS IN QUALITY IMPROVEMENT:

SEMINAR:

            It is an activity (or) a programme where in a person gives a conceptual explanation of a topic. The topic may or may not be related to curriculum. It may be in-depth study, by means of library work or experiments or data collections. Usually the duration of the activity depends on the topic and is decided by the participant himself.

                It involves generating situation for a group to have guided interaction among themselves. On a theme which is generally presented to the group by one or more members the material collected should put in the form of a paper which is circulated among the participants in advance.

                The participants may use the projector, slides, models, charts etc., and a part from a black board.

                Thus, a seminar is an instructional technique of higher learning which involves paper reading on a theme and followed by the group discussion to clarify the complex aspect of the themes. In seminars paper readers reads the topic clearly one by one of lost the group discussion started clarify the doubts.

Role of seminar in Quality improvement:

            The seminar plays a vital role in the Quality improvement.  As said above it is an effective instructional technique of higher learning, it develops importantly two domain of the personality. They are cognitive and the affective domains.

1. It develops the cognitive abilities like thinking, synthesizing and evaluating.

2. It develops the ability of reasoning among the individuals.

3. The ability of keen observation can be developed with the help of seminars.

4. Develop the ability to seek clarification and defend the ideas of others effectively.

If develops the following Affective abilities like,

1. Developing the feeling of Tolerance.

2. The feeling of co-operating with other colleagues will be developed.

3. Seminars develop the emotional stability among the participants.

4. Acquiring good manners of questioning and answering.

The person giving seminar gets a better and through understanding of the topic chosen by him during the preparation, presentation and post seminar discussion, with much freedom of expression, he develops his personality and qualities like public speaking communication skills etc.

             It helps in representing norms of behaviors of participants. It develops better learning habits. Seminars are learner centered thus provides learning through inquiry; it is useful at all levels of instructions. Thus a seminar goes a long way in nurturing the talents of the participants and improving the Quality.

Procedure of Seminar:

1. A person who presents the theme should have studied the theme thoroughly before hand.

2. The organized material should be put in the form of papers and circulated to the members in advance.

3. After presenting the theme, it should be discussed by the group.

4. During discussion participants may

 a).Seek clarification of the theme presented

b).Make observations in the light of their knowledge and

c).Raise issues relating to the theme for further analysis and evaluation.

   d).The chairperson has to guide proceedings of the seminar.

WORK SHOPS:

            The approach in workshop is more practical than in seminar. All the participants in the workshop work, actively and make significant contributions. A workshop is conducted to think over more practical problems of education such as lesson planning, curriculum construction, Question paper setting etc;/ In a workshop ample time is given for individual work and study. Every participant makes intensive study of problems, which arise out of their experiences and gives practical suggestions on it then those suggestions are pub before the meetings of all the participants for the benefit of all.

            The workshop can be defined as on assembled group of ten to twenty five persons. Who share a common interest or problem? They meet together to improve their individual and skill of a subject through intensive study, research, practice and discussion.

Role of workshop in Quality improvement:

           The workshop technique is used mainly in the following areas of education.

1. New format of lesson planning.

2. Writing objectives in behavioral terms.

3. Preparing objective type tests.

4. Action research project for classroom problems.

5. Preparing models for teaching.

6. Designing programmes for Teaching Education.

The workshop helps in developing the following cognitive abilities:

1. Solving the problems of teaching profession.

2. Providing the philosophical and sociological back ground for instructional and teaching situation.

3. Identifying the educational objectives in the present situation (or) context.

4. Developing an understanding regarding the use of theme and problem.

Psychomotor Abilities such as:

1. Developing the proficiency for planning and organizing teaching and instructional activities.

2. Developing a skill to perform as task independently.

3. Determining and using of teaching strategies effectively.

4. Training the persons for using different approaches of teaching.

            We can say workshops are used to realize the higher cognitive and psychomotor objectives. It develops the Individual capacities of teachers, feelings of co-operation and group work, provides situations to study vocational problems, it introduces new practices and innovations to in-service teachers.

Procedure of workshops:

1. Presenting the theme of providing Awareness.

2. Practice the approach for its applicability.

3. Evaluate the material prepared by the participants and follow up programmes.

PROJECTS:

Project is a whole-hearted purposeful activity carried out by the individuals in or outside the school. It is a self-learning method involving investigation, discovery or finding out something which will not be known to the other individuals. Project varies from simple to complex. They may be performed individually or in groups. It need not always be new or original. Investigators projects, preparation of models, case studies, survey are some of the projects can be undertaken.

                The Teaching of mathematics can be made more effective by providing as many as activities possible, which makes a pupil to be a participant in the process of learning. This can be achieved through using project method.

Meaning of project Method:

            W.H. Kilpatrick is called father of project method. According to him “A project is a whole hearted purposeful-activity proceeding in a social environment”.

            “Stevension” defined it as “a bit of real life that has been imported into the school”.

Meaning of project:

According to Stevenson charten – “It is a problematic activity carried to completion in its natural settings”.

                According to Ballard – “It is a bit of real life that has been imported into the school”.

                A modified definition of project is given by Tolmas and long – “A voluntary undertaking which involves constructive efforts or thought and eventuates into objective results”.

               

Project is based on the following Principles:

      1. Learning by doing.

      2. Learning by living.

      3. Children learn better through association, co-operation and activity.

Types of Projects:

1.       Individual - Students undertake the projects independently.

2.       Group - Group of students taking part in projects.

Role played by projects is Quality improvement:

1.       The project always is helpful of problem solving.

2.       The activity in the project is having a definite purpose.

3.       It helps the individuals in planning, Executing and evaluating their own work.

4.       The learning is always related to reality and social set up.

5.       It develops responsibility in students.

6.       It provides complete freedom to the participant to perform.

7.       Project is based on the psychological laws of learning i.e., law of effect. The education is the life of teacher and he acquires it through meaningful activities.

8.       It is a compound of different methods in which teaching – learning takes place in a broad frame of reference.

9.       The project gives sufficient freedom to teachers for learning.

10.   It includes the spirit of co-operation as it is a co-operation venture.

11.   It stimulates interest among teachers moreover, the interest is spontaneous and not under any compulsions.

12.   Project provides sufficient opportunities for developing personality traits like patience, self-confidence, co-operation, leadership and emotional stability.

13.   It helps to inculcate social discipline through joint activities of the teacher and taught.

14.   It provides teachers an opportunity for mutual exchange of ideas.

15.   Learning through solving of practical problems emphasized.

16.   Project upholds the dignity of labour.

17.   This method lands itself particularly well to science work, handicraft, art, language, Geometry etc.

18.   The project helps the teacher to organize their knowledge.

PRINCIPLES OF PROJECT:

1. Principle of purpose:

            Knowledge of purpose is a great stimulus which motivates the teacher to realize his goal. Interest cannot aroused by aimless meaningless activities.

2. Principle of Activity:

            Teachers are active by nature, the instinct of curiosity; construction makes them actively by nature. Therefore such opportunities should be provided to them that make active and learn things by doing.                                        

3. Principle of social Experience:

            The teacher is a social being and has to prepare him for social life Training for a corporate life must be given to him.

4. Principle of Experience:

Experience is the best teacher. What is real must be experienced. The teachers learn new facts on information through experience.

5. Principle of Reality:

            Life is real and education to be meaningful must be real. Teacher who is to live in a society of reality must be trained as such through his education.

6. Principle of freedom:

            The desire of project must be spontaneous, it should not be imposed, and there should not be any Restriction, impositions or obstructions. So that he may express himself fully and freely. He must be given freedom to choose the activity according to his interest, needs and capacities.

STEPS OF PROJECT METHOD:

1. Providing a Situation:

            A Project should arise out of a need felt by pupils. It should be purposeful and significant. Teacher should be an on looker to find situation that arise and discuss them with students, to discover their interest situations may be provided by different methods.

2. Selection of a project:

            While choosing or selecting the project the teacher should bear in mind that it should be or real need to pupils. The purpose of the project should be clearly defined and well understood by the pupils. The selection of project should be common and acceptable to all they should be asked to write down the reasons for selection.

3. Planning:

The success of a project depends up on good planning. Planning includes finding the difference or distinct phases of project, amount of work involved in each phase etc. The student should plan out the whole scheme under the guidance of teacher. The teacher should prepare 2-3 plans in his mind and guide the student in the light of those plans. Every child should be encouraged to participate actively. All the pupils are asked to write down the plan properly.

4. Execution:

            This is the crucial state in-fact it tests the quality of the advance plan. The teacher should assign duties and distribute work among the pupils according to their interest and abilities. It is the longest step in the project and requires patience. The teacher should guide, encourage and watch the progress of the students and should give instructions where over thus needed.

5. Evaluation:

            The evaluation of the project should be done both by the pupil and the teacher. It should be done in the light of the plans, difficulties in the execution of the project and the achieved results. The students should have self-criticism and look through their findings.

6. Recording:

            The complete record of project is kept the students. It should include the pre- posed plans, its discussion, duties allotted to different students and now for they were carried out if should also include the details of places visited and surveyed etc. and also it should include some important, points for future reference.

The Role and importance of teacher in Modern Education:

          Modern education is child centered; teacher is more like a garden who has to look after each plant (child) of the garden (school) very wisely and carefully. So the teacher has to study, the child without knowing the student he cannot impart (give) proper education to him. He must know the child, must know the effect of environment on the child and should know the psychological process of learning. The purpose of education is all round development of the child.

                Education is tri-polar process. Its three poles are teacher, student and content. Teacher should have a thorough knowledge of subject matter to be taught. The most important work for a teacher is to transmit the knowledge to the students and it is not an easy job. He has to apply various methods and techniques of teaching. Teacher has to develop in the students the qualities like self-confidence, self-reliance, good habits, competency to work with speed and accuracy, good citizenship etc.

                The progress and quality of education of any country depends upon the teachers.

FUNCTIONS (OR) DUTIES OF A MATHEMATICS TEACHER:

A mathematics teacher has to discharge following Functions:

1.       Teaching functions

2.       Administrative functions

3.       Departmental functions

4.       Social functions.

1. Teaching Functions:

Under this function a teacher to perform following duties and responsibilities:

i)  To make efforts for successful and effective teaching and build up understanding and motivation among students.

ii) To have good planning and preparation of subject matter to be taught.

iii) To select appropriate method for teaching of the topic.

iv).To create interest in the students for the subject use of the teaching aids.

v) To give due consideration to individual differences in the evaluation of teaching.

vi).To create positive attitude towards the subject.

vii) To have personal contact with the students so that a good academic environment could be created in the school.

viii) To correlate the subject with other subjects and with the daily life.

2. Administrative Functions:

            In each school and college, there should be a good administrative set-up. For it, co-operation of all the teachers is a must. Therefore, mathematics teacher has also to serve on some administrative committee in the school as per the requirement. He may be a member of admission committee, examination committee, sports committee etc.

3. Departmental Functions:

                In schools there may be a single teacher of mathematics or a department of two-three teachers. In both the cases a teacher has to perform various types of duties. A few common departmental duties of mathematics teacher are mentioned below:

1. To organize the department and mathematics room.

2. To organize and maintain the mathematics library and laboratory.

3. To participate in departmental meetings and discussions.

4. To select and prepare order for purchasing the books.

5. To select, purchase and maintain the mathematical equipment.

6. To accept and do successfully, any related work assigned by head of the department.

4. Social Functions:

            In addition to his teaching and other duties assigned by the school, a teacher has some social responsibilities. The great Indian philosopher Dr.S.Radhakrishnan says “The teacher’s place in society is of vital importance. A teacher should have a good relation and link with the community. He can perform his social responsibilities in the following way:

1. He should be co-operative with parents in improving school and community relations.

2. He should actively participate in parent’s associations and old student’s associations.

3. He should also participate in some specific meetings of social and civil groups.

4. He should explain to the parents, the importance of mathematics in every field of life.

5. He should organize fairs and exhibitions related to mathematical items which should be open to all. He should explain to the visitors the mathematical items prepared by his students.

6. He should act as an educational counselor of the society.

         In the above mentioned responsibilities a mathematics teacher should realize that he is not an individual but an institution in himself. His work is great. His responsibilities are many.

PROGRAMME FOR QUALITY IMPROVEMENT IN MATHEMATICS:

         Activities covered in the in-service training programmes and also self-efforts on the part of mathematics teacher resulting into his/her professional growth can be summarized as below.

1. Teachers of mathematics must be provided with scope to take part in in-service programmes.

2. Teachers can take part in attaining seminars conducted at various levels and at various institutions.

3. Teachers must participate in workshops, on various aspects like Evaluation, new approaches to teaching, organizing of mathematics club, test construction etc.

4. Teachers must take part in refresher courses.

5. Teacher must develop the habit of professional writing skills.

6. Teacher must take part in various curricular and co-curricular activities.

7. Teacher must become a member of mathematics teachers study group.

8. Attending summer institutes.

9. Teacher should become the member for mathematics teachers associations.

10. Teachers can grow professionally contributing to mathematics magazines, new papers etc. Even teachers can take up individual research papers.

Description:

1. Participation in various programmes of the schools:

Different school programmes can be conducted to serve the purpose of in service education such as faculty meetings, club meetings, exhibitions, film shows, experimental projects, demonstration lessons, extension lectures etc.

2. Teacher must become a member of the mathematics teachers study groups:

            Teachers of different school study groups can function under the expert guidance of field advisers of SIE. The members of study group may meet weekly (or) fortnightly (or) monthly? To discuss problems are concerning their subjects’ areas and work out new teaching techniques. They implement their experiences to prove that it is useful in the formation of educational plans.

3. Refresher courses and summer institutes:

            The state and central Government authorities arrange refresher course and institutes help in refreshing and up-dating (or) enabling the teachers to keep pace with the latest developments in their subjects as well as in theory and practice of teaching. These are the important sources of re-orientation to teachers. The service of some experts can be obtained for the benefit of teachers. The professional and academic efficiency of the teachers who take up such refresher courses in increased, and also they will be aware of new methodologies of teaching subjects.

4. Professional organization and Association

These can play a leading role for the professional growth of these maths teachers. They hold meetings, discuss various issues concerning education and related subjects, encourage experimentation and innovations and thus cater to the general and specific needs of professional growth. The proceedings, reports and organizations are published in their broacher. These professional organizations help a teacher in many ways.

5. Science Journals and Instructional materials:

            For professional growth the mathematics teachers must acquainted with the Journals and periodicals as well as the books and Instructional materials related with mathematics education.

6. Training programmes:

            Various in-service training programmes are arranged by the state institutes of   mathematics education, SCERT, NCERT and other Government and voluntary organizations to import training for the acquisition of various skills related with mathematics   education. These skills are training in the use of mathematics  Bits, organization of science must preparation of teaching aids and improvised providing special education to gifted, educationally back word (or) other special children, using projectors and computers in class room instructions etc.

7. Conferences:

            Conferences of teachers, educators and experts may be from the SIE (or) outside. The experts discuss about the subjects like revision of school curriculum, selection of text books, adoption of new methods teaching and evaluation, guidance of gifted children, problems of handicapped children, etc.,. Number of teachers from schools participates in such conferences.

8. Study of professional writings:

            It may prove a good source for professional growth of the teachers. A lot of instructional materials in almost all the subjects in beings supplied / provided by the schools such a type of material serve purposefully. The study of professional writings the teachers can know about the latest developments in the various fields of education. By this knowledge a teacher may improve his communication ability by writing about his classroom experiments, professional experiences, results of action researches etc., in the publication of schools, science club and periodicals. It also enriches himself by studying the articles and writings of other teacher and experts.

9. Seminars and workshops:

            Outside one’s own institution the extension departments of training colleges, universities, SCERT, state institute of mathematics education and NCERT are conducting seminars and workshops. Where as in seminars discussion on the various aspects of particular topic, and problem by the group of participants, resource persons and experts, are of theoretical nature, in workshops same solid dimension is being attached to these discussions and exchange of ideas by assigning definite work among the groups of the participants. In this way workshop differ from seminar in adopting more particular approach.                                                                                               Reflective Practitioner in Mathematics Education

          Reflective practice is the ability to reflect on one's actions so as to engage in a process of continuous learning. According to one definition it involves "paying critical attention to the practical values and theories which inform everyday actions, by examining practice reflectively and reflexively. This leads to developmental insight” A key rationale for reflective practice is that experience alone does not necessarily lead to learning; deliberate reflection on experience is essential.

        Reflective practice can be an important tool in practice-based professional learning settings where people learn from their own professional experiences, rather than from formal learning or knowledge transfer. It may be the most important source of personal professional development and improvement. It is also an important way to bring together theory and practice; through reflection a person is able to see and label forms of thought and theory within the context of his or her work. A person who reflects throughout his or her practice is not just looking back on past actions and events, but is taking a conscious look at emotions, experiences, actions, and responses, and using that information to add to his or her existing knowledge base and reach a higher level of understanding.

      The concept of reflective practice has found wide application in the field of education, for learners, teachers and those who teach teachers.Hadiya habib (2017)assert that there is one quality above all that makes a good teacher -the ability to reflect on what, why and how we do things and to adopt and develop our practice within lifelong learning. Reflection is the key to successful learning for teachers and for learners.

       The concept of reflective practice is now widely employed in the field of teacher education and teacher professional development and many programmes of initial teacher education claim to espouse it. In education, a minimalist understanding of reflective practice is that it refers to the process of the educator studying his or her own teaching methods and determining what works best for the students and the consideration of the ethical consequences of classroom procedures on students; a broader understanding would accept that it also involves questioning the organizational, social and political context in which the teaching takes place. Education professor Hope Hartman has described reflective practice in education as teacher metacognition.

Benefits to reflective practice include:

·         Increased learning from an experience or situation

·         Promotion of deep learning

·         Identification of personal and professional strengths and areas for improvement

·         Identification of educational needs

·         Acquisition of new knowledge and skills

·         Further understanding of own beliefs, attitudes and values

·         Encouragement of self-motivation and self-directed learning

·         Could act as a source of feedback

·         Possible improvements of personal and clinical confidence

Limitations to reflective practice include:

·         Not all practitioners may understand the reflective process

·         May feel uncomfortable challenging and evaluating own practice

·         Could be time consuming

·         May have confusion as to which situations/experiences to reflect upon

·         May not be adequate to resolve clinical problems

        Mathematics teachers' reflective practice and the quality of their instruction. Researchers and theorists differ whether teachers' reflection on their classroom practices and teaching mathematics effectively are linked or not.

      A 'reflective practitioner' is someone who, at regular intervals, looks back at the work they do, and the work process, and considers how they can improve. They 'reflect' on the work they have done.

   Reflective practice is a commonly used term in mathematics education, often without careful definition, implying a contemplative reviewing of learning and/or teaching in mathematics in order to approve, evaluate, or improve practice.

The nature of mathematics teachers’ reflective practice

Thoughts about reflection and reflective practice have evolved over many decades, through carefully constructed theory and research applications, mainly based on the work of Dewey (1933) and schon (1983). Evidence also exists in the literature that the ability to reflect on practice in considered a necessity for effective instruction (Sowder, 2007).By reflecting critically teachers become more positive in the search for a new understanding of their teaching practice and design more ways to deal with the challenges that confront them daily. When teachers act reflectively, they consider carefully the problems in their own teaching and think about how those problems are related to their educational or social context. They are aware of the consequences of their teaching and how their own assumptions or beliefs can influence their teaching.

Dewey’s approach to reflective practice

     Dewy (1933), views the purpose of education as promoting intellectual, social and moral growth of the individual in order to create a strong democratic society.  Dewey states that “it is reflection that emancipates us from merely impulsive and routine activity, enables us to direct our activities with foresight and to plan according to ends-in-view, or purposes of which we are  aware. It enables us to act in deliberate and intentional fashion to know what we are about when we act.

     According to Dewey “Reflection is the active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusions to which it tends.

SIX STEPS TO MASTER TEACHING: BECOMING A REFLECTIVE PRACTITIONER

     Becoming a master teacher takes continuous effort. To avoid the loss of enthusiasm or static practice, teachers need to focus on their own professional development. Notably, the single most significant indicator of student success in an excellent teacher, nevertheless, no one can be professionally developed without his or her consent. To remain vitalized, teachers need to spend time outside the classroom with other dedicated individuals. The educational mandates from states, federal and local legislators are not targeted at improving teaching and learning. Although many are well-intentioned initiatives to assist school success, they are not sufficient for improving teaching excellence throughout an entire professional career.

     Professional retreats offer teachers to opportunity to dedicate time to those qualitative steps that result in ongoing development. The six steps to becoming a master teacher include;

1. Teacher should understand the reasons for teaching:  Identifying those influenced the person to      become a teacher is a fundamental exercise in continued excellence. Almost everyone cane name two or three teachers who changed the course of his or her life. Some found elementary school teachers who discovered their talent and promise. Others discovered their confidence through recognition of their potential in a specific subject. By discussing and defining the qualities of those exemplary teachers when they were students, professional begin to define the roots of their own teaching.

2. Cultivate Ethical Behaviour in Students and teachers: Although many schools of discipline exist, a teacher can achieve harmony in the classroom, but the real focus of student management lies in instilling ethical behavior. Authentic responses to classroom interactions as well as logical consequences for transgressions can be improved through collegial dialogue. These cannot be found in as manual; but rather, can be cultivated in seminars and observance of other master teachers.

3. Pool Both Patience and Perseverance: Stamina and endurance are needed for the haul of teaching. This means finding ways to remain healthy and ale minded through the stressful days. By connecting with others who have discovered methods of physical and mental renewal, teachers have a better chance of staying enthused about teaching despite the many inevitable setbacks during the school year.

4. Design Curriculum that works: All good teaching requires excellent design and redesign, beginning with a strong curriculum that outlines the most essential ideas.  Without a forum for the continuous re-tailoring of their curriculum, teachers are often left to work from a textbook or on- the- fly lesson plans. Spending time in retreat with other professionals allows teachers to slay a strong foundation for each course they teach.

5. Perfect Instructional Practices and Assessment skills:  The ongoing development of instructional methods and feedback skills are critical to excellence in teaching. Only through the careful examination of activities and assessment can a teacher guide all students to succeed. Teachers need time with their colleagues outside the classroom; the temporary success of “fun” activities can be hindrance to the development of a master teacher. By crafting performance tasks and assessing them with their peers and mentors, teachers can refine their teaching.

6. Connect Positively to Whole -school culture: Over time, the master teacher has the capacity to improve the whole-school culture through excellence in teaching. Because master teaching has as its foundation the generous impulse to assist students and colleagues, the teacher is able to fundamentally influence others without generating resentment. The master teacher is consistently working to benefit the school, so he or she is not in competition with colleagues or administration.