The feedback systems in place in many
FIGURE 2. Content Strategies
districts do little to systematically
enhance teacher expertise.
Tracking Teacher Progress
Tracking teacher progress in the
selected strategies requires a description
of levels of performance regarding those
strategies. One generic rubric that I
have used measures five levels of performance. “Not using” means that the
strategy is called for but the teacher is
not using it. “Beginning” means that the
teacher is using the strategy incorrectly
or with parts missing. “Developing”
means that the teacher is using the
strategy with no major errors or omissions but in a mechanistic way.
Level four—“applying”—is the
minimum target for developing
FIGURE 1. Routine Strategies
expertise. At this level, the teacher
not only uses the strategy without
error but also monitors to see whether
the strategy has the desired effect on
students. At the highest level of the
scale—“innovating”—the teacher knows
the strategy so well that he or she has
developed adaptations specific to the
needs of every student in the class.
The teacher’s scores may initially
be quite low—either “not using” or
“beginning”—because the teacher is
focusing on areas that he or she would
like to improve. Throughout the year,
teachers can monitor their progress
through self-ratings, walk-throughs conducted by administrators and instructional coaches, and comprehensive
observations conducted by supervisors.
Helping Students Interact
with New Knowledge
1. Identifying critical information
2. Organizing students to interact
with new knowledge
3. Previewing new content
4. Chunking content into “digestible
bites”
5. Processing new information
6. Elaborating on new information
7. Recording and representing
knowledge
8. Reflecting on learning
Communicating Learning Goals,
Tracking Student Progress,
and Celebrating Success
1. Providing clear learning goals and
scales (rubrics)
2. Tracking student progress
3. Celebrating success
Opportunities to Observe
and Discuss Expertise
This final element of deliberate practice
refers to activities that enable teachers
to observe other teachers—not for the
purpose of evaluation but to see other
teaching strategies and compare them
with their own in hopes of gleaning
new insights into effective classroom
practice. Activities might include
making rounds to other teachers’
classrooms or videotaping expert
applications of specific strategies. This
component also includes structured
opportunities for teachers to discuss
effective teaching. Teachers with demonstrated expertise in specific strategies
might conduct professional development days, function as coaches and
mentors, and use technology-based
Helping Students Practice and
Deepen Their Understanding of
New Knowledge
9. Reviewing content
10. Organizing students to practice
and deepen knowledge
11. Using homework
12. Examining similarities and
differences
13. Examining errors in reasoning
14. Practicing skills, strategies, and
processes
15. Revising knowledge
Establishing and Maintaining
Classroom Rules and Procedures
4. Establishing classroom rules and
procedures
5. Organizing the physical layout of
the classroom
Helping Students Generate
and Test Hypotheses about
New Knowledge
16. Organizing students for cogni-
tively complex tasks
17. Engaging students in cognitively
complex tasks involving hypothesis
generation and testing
18. Providing resources and
guidance
Source: From Effective Supervision: Applying
the Art and Science of Teaching, by Robert J.
Marzano, Tony Frontier, & David Livingston,
In press, Alexandria, VA: ASCD. Adapted with
permission.
Source: From Effective Supervision: Applying
the Art and Science of Teaching, by Robert J.
Marzano, Tony Frontier, & David Livingston,
In press, Alexandria, VA: ASCD. Adapted with
permission.
