6 Teaching Vets Discuss Traits of a High-Performing Teacher

Each year we host a teacher professional development conference for participants in our alternative teacher certification program.

This year, we've gathered leading educators and teachers from a variety of backgrounds to inspire and inform new teachers on how they can evolve their professional teaching practice. In light of the upcoming conference, Re-Imagining Teacher Professional Practice, we asked our conference leaders to provide perspective on the following question:

"What do teachers need to realize their dreams for children?"

Zammeah Bivins-Gibson, MSW, Executive Director of Isaiah House, Inc.

"It is my belief that teachers need broad vision and a clean slate mentality. Every child should be able to come into a classroom with a clean slate and not be prejudged based on their environment, their parents, their appearance or their inability to initially express themselves . Teachers will realize their dreams for students when they meet them where they are, use the child's experiences up to that point in their life and reshape those experiences to make them relatable to learning."

Dr. Nathan L. Fisher, Principal of Roselle Public Schools

"Teachers must understand the power of developing strong relationships with children. It offers tremendous opportunities that affect students' achievement. As such, students dreams come to fruition when they are exposed to rigorous and relevant learning experiences that foster life-long learning and expand life opportunities. As a result of the strength of their relationships with all stakeholders in the learning community overall, the actualization of these dreams prevail."

Kate Baker, HS English Teacher

"Teachers need to realize that the students of yesterday, the students of today, and the students of tomorrow are ever evolving and changing. Adaptability is key for helping students realize and achieve their dreams. With the rapid influx of technology and social media, the way in which students learn and interact with peers has changed, and by paying attention to trends and analyzing student behavior, teachers can better adapt their teaching practices to meet the needs of students and therefore help students achieve their dreams."

Michael Healy, Assistant Principal at Columbia High School in the South Orange and Maplewood School District

"Teachers need to have a goal in mind for their students. Long-term and short-term. They also need to have proper support to help them move their students along so they can reach those goals. Support comes in the form of training, resources, good leadership and partnerships. The needs of children are always changing. Effective teachers find the time to get to know their students. Their likes and dislikes. What makes them tick? Like the bumper sticker says, “If they don’t learn the way I teach . . . I have to teach the way they learn.” If teachers can teach the way students learn, they’ve made it! In turn, this will help students realize THEIR dreams."

Erin Dougherty, K-12 ESL Teacher at Foundation Academies

"Teachers need to have vision and see the giftings in each child they teach. Teachers encourage their children in their giftings; to help cultivate them, so their children can express their gifts to the world around them. A teacher is a visionary, telling their students that they can succeed and reach greatness. A teacher is a voice for their students, telling them they can achieve, and helping them push pass difficulties and challenges. A teacher is an advocate, stepping in and advocating for their students' needs, so their students can keep moving on a clearer educational path. Dreams are accomplished through hard work and dedication; teachers are just that support, that voice, that helping hand, that educational facilitator that plays a part in helping their children accomplish their dreams."

Shana Pyatt,Founding Member of North Star Academy Uncommon Schools

"In order for teachers’ dreams to be realized, they must first truly believe in the capabilities of every single child in their care. It is important that students see that their teachers believe in them, sometimes even more than they believe in their own abilities.

No one spends time planting a seed they know or believe will not grow! We need to see our children in the same way. We plant, water, and nurture the seeds and hope that it is enough to make it grow the tallest, the most beautiful and the most resilient of its kind. Teachers need to use their sewing tools of expertise in their content areas in order to push student thinking consistently. Teachers need support from their colleagues, school leaders, and parents in order to maintain the kind of culturing necessary to ensure their children’s growth. Lastly, teachers will need to be extremely self-reflective about their practice and be willing and brave enough to change if they find that they are not forging towards that dream.

All teachers need to plant the seed of a potential future in our children, then water and nurture the child around that dream to enable both to grow strong and resilient against all those who distrust our work, against all those who don’t believe in our vision, against all those who try to bring storms to tear down our beautiful plant. In the end, if we realize this potential in our children, like our strong nurtured plant, they too will grow tall."

What steps are you taking to achieve your dreams as an teacher? How will you leave a stamp on the students who cross your path? We hope the words of our conference leaders serve as inspiration to new and veteran teachers alike. Attendees of the conference can expect to gain a deeper understanding of what skills, tools and pedagogy strategies they can yield to accomplish the dreams they have for students.