What you need to know about teacher learning is that if you are able to determine your teacher learning stage, you can make goals to move up the ladder to mastery.
I first heard about this concept when I went to the NJEA teacher convention. I have used this model to assess myself and the teachers I’ve coached. It’s called the Four Stages of Learning, with a 4 rung ladder as the symbol, each rung representing a skill level.
The four stages of the ladder are unconsciously unskilled, consciously unskilled, consciously skilled, unconsciously skilled. I’ll explain the bottom rung, unconsciously unskilled and then move up the ladder to explain the different stages.
The first stage is unconsciously unskilled.
Unconsciously unskilled means that you don’t know what you don’t know. First year teachers would fall in this category because they have a false sense of confidence and are unaware of all the things that they don’t know.
It’s not until they start the real work of teaching that they begin to realize all the skills and knowledge that they are lacking.
Teachers in this phase should focus on coming to terms with the fact that they don’t know.
The second stage or rung is consciously unskilled.
You’ve come to the realization that you don’t know and you don’t have the skill to really teach your students.
Teachers in this category are asking lots of questions and trying to learn from the colleagues.
They attend a lot of professional development workshops, reading and searching online for how to become skilled.
Teachers in this phase should pace themselves. There is a lot of information out there but teachers need to choose one area to work on, learn, apply and assess the skills you’re learning.
The third stage or third rung is consciously skilled.
In this stage, teachers know that they have the skills to teach their students.
Teachers in this phase have a true sense of confidence. They are able to skillfully teach their students so that they can learn.
In this stage, teachers are primed for growth because they are conscious of their skills and abilities.
The strategy for this stage is to seek out opportunities for growth that will make you uncomfortable.
The last stage/top rung of the ladder is unconsciously skilled.
Teachers in this category are unaware of their teaching skills because it comes so easy to them.
This is the stage you need to be very careful because you are unconscious of your talent as a teacher and growth happens with consciousness.
Your strategy for this stage is to try new teaching strategies that you consider hard or out of your comfort zone.
When teachers identify their stage of learning, they can become more effective teachers, which then helps their students to learn.
Which stage resonates with you the most?
Check out the free Classroom Management Plan Template or the new Mini-Training on Classroom Management
Sources: Gordontraining.com