A few years ago, I had the pleasure of attending a conference in Florida. It was a conference meant to assist educators with a rigor, relevance, and relationships framework. The crux of the conference was centered around good teaching, which embeds learning within exercises that are relevant to students. While building positive relationships with students, the relevant lessons used by teachers can also incorporate higher order thinking and complex processes that students can accomplish.

It was mentioned that the rigor, relevance, and relationships framework -- RRR for short -- (International Center for Leadership, n.a.) existed as a model for educators to follow to ensure student success. Numerous districts were present to detail the success they were having as a result of instituting RRR. It was nice to hear of these stories.

It takes a considerable amount of effort to build a healthy school climate. Unfortunately, many schools do not get it right.

Among teachers who transferred schools, lack of planning time (65 percent), too heavy a workload (60 percent), problematic student behavior (53 percent), and a lack of influence over school policy (52 percent) were cited as common sources of dissatisfaction (Alliance for Excellent Education, 2005).

Regardless of teachers who transfer schools or leave the profession entirely, there are teachers who retire every year. This loss of experienced staff being replaced by less experienced or non-experienced staff is an issue for school and for education in general.

While considering what teachers have to do to be successful, it is no surprise teachers want to feel they are appreciated and are compensated accordingly. Here is a long, partial list of duties that good teachers do on a minute-by-minute basis. It is a long list, so feel free to liberally browse through it.

Instruction

Use Differentiated Instruction, which is instruction to meet the needs of numerous ability groups that exist within a class.

Accommodate Language Deficit Students When Assessing, Instructing, And Developing Activities

Get Students Engaged Within Group Activities, called Cooperative Learning

Have Students Utilize Appropriate Technology, But Expect To Encounter Numerous Issues as a Result of Old Computers in Schools

Promote Reading

Teach Reading Strategies

Do Mini-Lessons That Address Local Issues (Respect, Tolerance, …)

Decorate Your Classroom And Make It Educationally Stimulating

Use Classroom Openers

Post Essential Questions, Write New Ones When Necessary

Use Graphic Organizers

Use Power Point Presentations

Curriculum And Planning

Keep State Standards In Mind When Developing Lessons

Don't "Teach-To-The-Test"

Prepare Students For Standardized Tests

Scaffold Material To Provide Necessary Supports For All Students

Utilize Standards Suggested by Professional Organizations

Employ Strategies That Lead to Student Engagement and Educational Ownership

Develop Interdisciplinary Webquests

Cooperate With Other Teachers' Interdisciplinary Webquests

Use Van Hiele Levels For Spatial Learning, Like Geometry

Design Timely Worksheets That Meet Students Unique Needs

Prepare Students for Unit Tests

Design/Print Semester Review Materials

Assessment

Continually Assess Student Performance

Practice RTI – Response To Interventions

Observe Other Classrooms To Determine Levels Of Bloom's Taxonomy

Grade Papers

Continuously Determine Students’ Readiness to Move to New Lessons

Give Students Continuous Feedback Regarding Their Abilities, Comprehension, And General Progression Through a Course

Perform Item Analyses On Common Assessments

Assess Teaching Based Upon the Analyses of Common Assessments

Safety

Follow an Administration Handbook – A 173 Page PDF File – That Outlines Teachers’ Duties

Be Knowledgeable Of All Crisis Procedures

Keep Students In Classroom

Allow Students To Go To Locker Or Washroom Using Written Hall Passes

Keep Track Of Green & Red Room Number Signs

Check Deans' Lists for Students Who Have Discipline Issues

Verify Authenticity Of Hall Passes Allegedly Signed By Other Adults In Building

Check Temp IDs For Correct Name And Date

Execute School wide Fire, Tornado, and Intruder Drills

Motivation

Be Positive

Encourage Independence

Motivate Students to Work in Groups

Embrace Multiculturalism

Use Positive Reward Slips – Enforce Good Behavior

Accept Late Homework

Keep High Expectations

Do Not Fail Students

Expect That All Students Will Stay In Your Class Until The End Of The Year Despite Frequent Or Extreme Negative Behavior Exhibited or Lack Of Attendance

Celebrate Women’s' History, Black History, ...

Leadership And Management

Find Time To Use The Facilities

Be The Educational Leader For All of Your Classes

Accurately Record Attendance and Tardies

Check For IDs

Check For Uniform Compliance: Shoes, Shoe Laces, Socks, Ear-Rings, Pants, Shirts, Haircuts, Eye-Brows, Belts, Undershirts, Shirts Over Shoulders, Use Of Jackets/Hoodies, ...

Clean Desks And Continuously Monitor Them For Graffiti

Enforce All Rules Outlined In Student Handbook, To Include Extreme And Non-Extreme Behavior, Cheating, Gang Activity, Students' Use Of Language, Electronics, …

Do Not Abuse E-Mail By Sending Mass E-Mails, Especially When Including Administrators

Monitor The Hallway Outside Your Room

Don't Leave Students Alone In Your Room

Follow The Contract: Dress Accordingly (No Shorts, Flip-Flops, Beachwear, Faded Jeans), Be On Time, Be Respectful of Others, …

Maintain Positive Rapport With Fellow District Employees

Monitor Students To Determine Inappropriate Use Of Technology: Cell Phones, Ipods, Mp3 Players, ...

Close Door For Tardy Sweeps

Attend All Meetings, Institutes, And Workshops

Have Students Do The Pledge Of Allegiance

Sign Field Trip Forms

Sign In-School Field Trip Forms

Send Assignments To Students Serving In-School Suspensions (or Learning Adjustment Centers)

Administer Tests – Such Regional Standardized Tests, Common Assessments, and The Tests Teachers Generate

Score Final Exams and Curve Them Accordingly

Communication

Contact Parents

Coordinate With Special Education Staff Concerning Your Special Education Students

Conference With Students' Counselors

Contact Your Representatives Regarding Educational Concerns

Contact Your Administrators Regarding Educational Issues

Follow Up On Referrals Sent To Office

Check Email For Important And Timely Messages

Involve Oneself with Special Committees to Handle Certain Issues (Discipline, School Improvement, …)

Professional Growth

Read Professional Journals

Belong To Professional Organizations

Maintain Teaching Certificate – Earn CPDUs

Present Ideology or Changes in Pedagogy at Conferences and Workshops

General Duties

Sign Up Classes for Computer Lab Time

Stand In Line To Use Copy Machine

Un-Jam Copy Machine

Help Students Before School

Help Students After School, Except When Meetings Are Scheduled

Administer Make Up Tests

Run Off Copies

Peruse Final Exams for Answer Key Errors

Monitor Students While they Test

Make Learning Fun Even Though High Stakes Tests Make Administrators Who Evaluate Teachers Very Critical

With such a long list of hourly duties to accomplish, it is no reason why teachers feel stressed or leave certain schools to be compensated with higher salaries, greater autonomy, and generally more positive working conditions.

However, that RRR conference was enlightening in that it is not merely a model for teachers to use while creating lessons. It is not a framework for administrators to use to simply inform teachers. It can be used as a day-to-day guide when working with educators and students alike.

Even though teachers do get evaluated numerous times across their careers, the evaluations are too few and too nonconstructive to make them valuable. Administrators usually use them to determine which teachers will not receive tenure. Many teachers look at them as a chore and create dog and pony shows to wow administrators using the latest teaching craze.

Like teachers who use can use RRR well and have students teaching other students with the knowledge and skills they have found, administrators need to incorporate moments when teachers teach other teachers. It helps create a substantial foundation of trust and praise, while also demonstrating good teaching practice.

It is all too common to sit through teacher in-services and be barraged by buzz words and disconnected jargon. But when those moments do arise, like they did for my entire high school district, when teachers provide insight as to how they muster up student motivation and reach higher order thinking within them, teachers must take advantage of those opportunities.

The rigor, relevance and relationships should be able to be demonstrated at all levels within a school, as this framework is demonstrated within any other successful institution, organization, or enterprise. There is no reason schools should be any different. It is often the last "R" in the rigor, relevance, and relationships that is neglected that causes so much trouble for everyone within education.

Only by tackling relationships can educational systems also successfully negotiate the numerous duties mentioned above.

Alliance for Excellent Education (2005) Teacher Attrition: A Costly Loss to the Nation and to the States. Accessed on November 7th, 2009 at: http://www.all4ed.org/files/archive/publications/TeacherAttrition.pdf

International Center for Leadership (n.d.) Rigor/Relevance Framework. Accessed on November 7th, 2009 at: http://www.leadered.com/rrr.html