Langer's Six Strategies of High-Performing Teachers
For last week's writing center professional development, my colleagues and I read George Hillocks' literature review on Middle and High School Composition from Smagorinsky's Research on Composition: Multiple Perspectives on Two Decades of Change. The chapter heavily concentrates on state-wide and national assessment, mostly via standardized tests, giving you an idea of what middle and high school writing education has become- an endless series of exams and rankings. Bleh! In this chapter, Hillocks cites Langer's (2001) discussion of six strategies used by high-performing teachers . They are: applying a variety of teaching methods and approaches that "integrate the skills taught with ongoing larger curricular goals" integrating testing-based skills into the curriculum pointing out connections teaching students strategies for organizing thoughts and making tasks more manageable, focusing on the "development of meta-cognitive strategies" taking a ...