Watch What Students Do

"If you want to see how effective an educator is, don't watch the educator, view their students." George Couros

This statement reminds me of a Friends episode ("The One With Joey's Porsche") where Chandler swallows a small plastic gun from an action figure. His wife comments that she was so busy watching the three babies in her care that she forgot to watch Chandler. This seems to be what we do in education - pay attention to the teacher instructing while the students are busy swallowing small plastic guns.

This is not to say that we are ignoring our students in the classroom. What this means is the focus of coaches, administrators, and teachers should be on the student learning production behaviors. If students produce the desired learning production behaviors, then the teacher's instruction is working; if students are not producing the desired behaviors, then the teacher needs to revise instruction to make this happen.

Remember:
    - The desired student-learning outcome needs to be clear.
    - The pathway to reach the desired student outcome often varies by student.

Watch the students. What they are producing drives our instruction and is the measure of our teaching.