Agile teacher thinking draws from the many strengths that teachers bring to their teaching. At least five sources of strengths are particularly important for agile teacher thinking: self awareness, cultural awareness, pedagogical knowledge, content knowledge, and teaching efficacy. When teachers face challenges when teaching a specific unit or subject area or when engaging with groups of students then teachers need to reflect on at least these five sources of strength to identify the area that needs strengthening. You can use our Teaching Survey to reflect on these five areas.
Scroll through the carousel below to see how educators transformed the way they think about their sources of strength before and after professional development to develop agile teacher thinking. Can you guess the subject areas the teachers’ teach? Can you notice how during different class periods teacher perceptions of their sources of strength change? For example, when they change subject areas they may feel less confident about their subject knowledge or when the class changes they may feel more confident about their cultural awareness.
To develop our agile thinking skills and teaching expertise, teachers need to be aware of their own sources of strength. You can use the Teaching Practices Survey and/or follow these directions to draw your sources of strength and reflect on possible professional development pursuits. Draw draw a representation of the wells that nurture your teaching. Start with self-awareness, culture, content, and pedagogy. Add additional sources.
Sometimes teachers feel stuck, burned-out, or like a tug of war game with their students. This may be an indication that one of your sources of strength needs nourishment. Seek out professional learning that will nurture your teaching strengths.
Imagine how these five sources build a foundation for your teaching decisions. Remember that the strengths are always changing as we learn and experience life. Also our teaching context changes as we make work with different groups of students and teach multiple subjects during the day. As our context changes our strengths also change that supports our teaching and decisions in the classroom.