Rising up: Superintendent Wayne Walters on how teachers can best support students

2022 | Written by Faith Schantz, Report Editor. Condensed and edited from an interview.

The classroom teacher is the first line of support for students. The following teacher actions, classroom norms, and features of the classroom environment indicate that the teacher is thinking about how to support all students, according to Superintendent Wayne Walters.

Teachers’ approach to their lessons shows evidence of planning and preparation, including:

• Understanding the content and how to teach it coherently

• Thinking through their instructional goals and how they will assess them

• Assigning tasks and activities that ask students to think

Teachers pay attention to the nature and quality of classroom interactions.

• They use language that creates a culture for learning. They demonstrate that it’s safe to learn and safe to share ideas.

• Students have strategies to make corrections.

• The room is set up to allow for student talk.

• Students keep each other accountable.

Teachers promote deep thinking and learning.

• Questioning strategies and discussion techniques are designed to push student thinking toward true understanding.

• Teachers use the arts to engage students and deepen their learning.

• Teachers share the what, the why, and the how of a lesson with students. They make their thinking visible to students, including statements such as, “Hey, you know what, last time we did this lesson, I didn’t think it went that well.”

Teachers are invested in equity.

• They consider the experiences of all students.

• They find ways to enrich the curriculum with multiple perspectives.

• They give students agency in what they’re learning.

• They work to build the capacity of all learners and to eliminate racial achievement disparities.