Characteristics of an Effective/Ineffective Classroom

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During last week's Core Reading class, my table was asked to offer the characteristics of an ineffective classroom. We did ... a serviceable job...  But as I drove home and reflected upon the day, I realized that we had missed a golden opportunity. It is one thing to put together a "horrorshow" list of characteristics. Elements like: "No engagement;" "lack of management," "the teacher doesn't care," and "teacher lacks content knowledge" quickly come to mind. The problem, though, with a list like this is that very few teachers are going to say, "Yep - that's me. I know nothing about the subject I'm teaching." Or "My classroom would be effective if only I could bring myself to care." Typically, we might see that list and think, "Hmmm, they sure aren't talking about me!"


Our list did not go far enough to create any disequilibrium, and thus lead to deeper thought or consideration. So, in hindsight (in which I am 20/20), I would like to offer the following characteristics. I have every confidence that research will confirm the presence of some or all of these elements within ineffective classrooms:

In ineffective classrooms, students work hard;
In ineffective classrooms students do homework;
In ineffective classrooms, teachers care about their students;
In ineffective classrooms, teachers put in long hours of preparation;
In ineffective classrooms, students can be found in different configurations: alone, in pairs, and in small groups;
In ineffective classrooms, students spend a great deal of time reading and solving math problems;
In ineffective classrooms, technology is found in abundance;
In ineffective classrooms, teacher assess regularly.

Ok, I'm sure you get the drift and perhaps think I've lost my marbles. Here's the deal - throughout my career, my classroom exhibited many of those characteristics, yet throughout much of my career, I was also an ineffective classroom teacher.

Why?

The answer is simple, really. There is one characteristic that truly separates the ineffective from the effective classroom. There is one characteristic that will never appear in the list describing an effective classroom. It. Simply. Can't.

In ineffective classrooms, teachers don't know what their students are thinking.

That's it. If I don't know what they are thinking, I don't know what they are knowing. And if I don't know what they are knowing... I can't know what or how to teach them. We have all heard the adage, "Students don't care what you know until they know that you care." I'd like to offer my own version. A teacher hasn't convinced me that they care, until they've proven that they care enough to know.