Journal of Personnel Evaluation in Education 1:245-257, 1988 © 1988 Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston-Manufactured in the United States of America

Teacher Portraiture: A Timely Proposal for More Effective Teacher Development

VINCENT ROGERS Professor of Educational Leadership, University of Connecticut, School of Education, Storrs, CT06268

JOHN BRUBACHER Professor of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Connecticut, School of Education, Storrs, CT 06268

Sara Lawrence Lightfoot's The Good High School (1983) is one of the most thought- provoking books that either of us have encountered in almost five combined decades of university teaching. Simply stated, Lightfoot identified six outstanding American high schools and then proceeded to study them on-site and in person, much the way that an anthropologist might study life in an obscure, unknown society. She observed classrooms, interviewed students, teachers, and a variety of administrators, talked to assorted parents, taxi drivers, storekeepers, and others with non- professional knowledge of the school, examined pertinent documents (school newspapers and magazines, for example), and finally, wrote a series of brillant de- scriptions of the six schools.

Lightfoot's probing analyses revealed a great deal about how these schools were "good": their common (and their often unique) strengths and virtues. In addition, she was perceptive enough to see these good schools' flaws as well, and her portraits included a good deal of incisive criticism, couched usually in terms of questions ab- out a school's goals, curriculum, and teaching practices.

The final chapter in Lightfoot's challenging book is titled, "Afterword: The Passion of Portraiture." It focuses on the meaning of her study to the six participating schools. The reader should keep in mind that the original purpose of Lightfoot's book was to examine the nature of agreed-upon "good high schools" so that educators in general might learn and profit from her analysis. However, when the book was completed, Lightfoot's "portraits" found their way back to the schools she studied. Her final chapter describes the reaction of faculty, ad- ministrators, alumni, and (sometimes) students to "the Lightfoot Piece."

A headmaster of an independent school wrote this insightful, revealing, and fairly typical response:

It has been several weeks since Sara Lawrence Lightfoot submitted her marvelous portrait of this school to me. It has been read by over 20 staff members here, in-

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eluding the superintendent of schools. It provides a candid picture, a freeze frame of the school. We all agree the portrayal is incredibly perceptive in its ability to capture and highlight the great and deep strengths of this institution that are allowing it to respond to the challenges to a changing urban school in the 1980s. The vision many of us have of the school for the year 2000 has become a bit less hazy because of Sara's study. We are grateful for this aid to our ongoing work.

I am aware of the legitimate concern many people in foundations have regarding the .impact of their productivity. Let me assure you that in this case "The Lightfoot Report" will be used to energize us. We are currently planning a series of faculty meetings centering upon its content. We plan to use the document to help us continue the stressful task of moving this school and community through changing times and diminished resources.

The report delineates the diversity of our student body. It praises the strengths of our teachers, and it describes the difficult transitional period the school is moving through. But what we like most about the report is that it tries to tell the truth. Some would say that truth-telling is always good teaching, but not always good administration. We would say that we must tell our community the truth about the schools. Otherwise, they will be unable to understand how difficult it is to ob- tain such elusive objectives as solid achievement and demonstrated competence in the High School of the '80s (Lightfoot, 1983, p.376).

Thus Lightfoot's work became valuable as a stimulus for provocative dialogue and reflection on teaching and learning at a given school. It gave teachers and ad- ministrators the rare opportunity to "see themselves as others see them."

Our interest in Lightfoot's portraits and the way they captured the "lives, rhythms and rituals" of six high schools stemmed from our interest in and knowledge of Elliot Eisner (1979, pp. 190-224). Eisner, however, was concerned primarily with the concept of "connoisseurship". In The Educational Imagination Eisner writes of his concern for becoming a connoisseur of teaching and the use of extensive obser- vation, for it was through such an approach and the development of descriptions that educators could in turn become critics. But as we worked to become con- noisseurs of teaching, we found that extensive classroom observation, although criti- cal, provided only one dimension--the observer's record of the teaching. Lightfoot, in gaining an understanding of the culture of a high school, talked with many observers and read many documents about the high school as well. Therefore, we de- cided that in order to understand the culture of teaching in the classroom we needed to talk to students, parents, peers, and administrators, as well as to read documents like lesson plans. Thus Lightfoot's method of data collection for her portraits ap- peared to describe our approach better.

Sergiovanni seems to be advocating a similar holistic approach when he describes supervision as a reflective practice. To him it requires

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• . . that teachers join supervisors in trying to make sense of complex situations, in sharing perceptions, and in arriving at treatments and other courses of action together• The teacher is not dependent upon the supervisor• Instead the super- visor needs the teacher's involvement in order to fully understand what is going on (1985, p.16).

Such a statement describes the dynamics of what we envisioned in the development of portraits of teaching• In order to understand better what we observed in the C!~SS- room, conferences with the teacher were scheduled• Every classroom observation was followed by a session in which class members reflected upon what they had seen, and then developed questions they would like to ask the teacher• All questions were discussed and analyszed by the class, as a preliminary step in the development of a questioning strategy to be used with the classroom teacher• We found that it only was through the use of such a procedure that we could begin to fully understand the teaching we had observed. It also conferred a professional status on the teacher mak- ing her/him a critical element in making sense of what we had observed• The teacher was not dependent upon the observers; rather she/he provided information, requisite to the portrait. Sergiovanni's term reflective practice describes the perspective from which we approached teacher portraiture. The procedures we developed grew largely out of an experimental, graduate level "workshop" offered at the University of Con. necticut in 1984 and again in 1985, taught by the writers.

The purpose of the course was to study the question: Can carefully developed de- scriptions of classroom teachers (Lightfoot's "portraits") help those teachers to re, fleet upon their work and, eventually, become more effective teachers? To answer that question our students (mature, experienced teachers, superintendents, and principals) were trained to observe teaching, to interview, to examine documents~ and to describe what they had experienced. Teachers who had been named "teacher of the year" by their peers at either the local, state, or national level were invited to be models for the class, as were other outstanding teachers. Each teacher was viewed not only as an individual but also as a part of a "complex whole"--a part of a class, a school, and a community. Therefore, data from many sources had to be collected, Past and present students, colleagues, administrators, and parents were interviewed. Moreover, efforts were made to obtain information about the milieu of the system in which they taught; e.g., the goals of the school system, the school, and the teacher, the curriculum of the school, the teachers' lesson plans, and the climate of the school.

After initial visitation, members of the class met briefly to determine questions to ask the teacher in order to understand better what they had seen. Then questions were raised with the teacher. Such "give and take" did much to clarify the issues that had arisen from observations. Finally, members of the class were asked to write two to three-page description of what they had observed. At this stage of the process the students were asked to refrain from making judgments.

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At the next class, copies of each description were exchanged. Then, based upon re- ading all the descriptions and one's own observations, the class discussed the teach- ing and began' to delineate the essential elements of a given subject's teaching. After the class had made one or two additional observations, had interviewed students, teachers, parents, and administrators, and read the material about the school and the school district, a composite description or "portrait" of the teacher was written which included a number of "themes" that were mostly associated with "good" teaching. In addition, a number of unanswered questions were raised for further dis- cussion and elaboration. That description, once agreed upon by the class, was sent to the teacher, Then a final meeting was arranged in which the teacher reacted to the portrait.

The following composite portrait is typical of the work produced by students participating in the workshop• We have reproduced it at some length so that the re- ader may gain the full flavor of the nature of our teacher portraits. The teacher de- scribed in this portrait was selected by his superintendent as outstanding--one of the top two or.three in a very good school district. He team-teaches a course in hu- manities to high school juniors and seniors. He is about 45 years old and has been teaching in the district for 21 years. We call him Andy Smith.

• . . Andy Smith is an unusually successful teacher. Since one of our goals was to identify the characteristics of successful teachers, this section focuses on the identification of a number of major themes that emerged as the data gathered from the observations and interviews were examined and the "hunches" an- alyzed.

Theme I - -Teacher as Person

While Andy Smith has an excellent formal education as well as many years of out- standing teaching experience, his "persona"--his unique set of personal attributes--makes Andy the effective teacher that he is perceived to be by students, parents, colleagues, administrators and the members of this class. While we might profitably study his teaching style, the materials he uses, his grouping practices and questioning techniques, they cannot be divorced from Andy's "persona." Andy Smith is unique. It is his uniqueness, his special combination of personal traits and attributes along with his professional skill and ability that make him what he is. Thus, one cannot separate the person from the teacher•

Andy was described by observers, students, colleagues, parents and others as "intelligent, friendly, outspoken, talented, enthusiastic, caring, brilliant, access- ible, inaccessible, humorous, knowledgeable, energetic, dynamic, well-spoken, helpful, intimidating, and challenging" among other characteristics,

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Theme II--Confidence

While confidence is a part of Andy's "persona" as described in Theme I, this characteristic was mentioned often enough by all groups to warrant special con- sideration. An "aura of self-assuredness" permeates Andy's approach to his work, according to the description of one colleague. He knows what his talents, skills and abilities are, and is confident of himself both as teacher and person; thus, his performance in the classroom is effective. Someone using the same techn- iques, but lacking Andy's confidence probably would fail; the techniques them- selves would not be enough to carry the day. The students know that Andy knows what he is doing and knows that he does it well; consequently, students re- spond positively to his academic and organizational demands.

Theme IIImProfessionalism and Autonomy

Andy constantly makes significant decisions about the scope and sequence of the curriculum, teaching materials and techniques, goals and objectives and evaluative techniques. Since he is perceived by administrators as professional and talented, he is permitted unusual amounts of autonomy. How the Humanities co- urse is conducted is almost completely a function of how Andy Smith wants to organize and teach it. As a result, Andy has a strong sense o f ownership about the Humanities course; that is, in our view, one of the fundamental char- acteristics of true professionalism in any field.

Theme IV--Collegiality

Teaching has often been described as a "lonely profession." This is undoubtedly true for most teachers who work in self-contained classrooms and for whom no other mechanism has been set up to encourage on the job professional dialogue. One reason for Andy's success is his day- to-day relationship with his team mate, Bob Jones. 1 Students unanimously see this teaming as a plus, commenting that: "You get more than one person's view," "they balance each other" and "they have developed a high trust level." Colleagues state they "'complement each other."

Andy places great value on this relationship and seems convinced that part of the reason for the success of the Humanities course is the sharing of ideas, the "spontaneous planning" and stimulation that occur when two highly competent, yet different professionals work together. He views Bob as providing needed con- tent in the area of music as well as a person he perceives as more approachable by some students.

i Also a fictitious name.

250 V.R. ROGERS AND J.W. BRUBACHER

Theme V--High Expectations

Andy expects a great deal from his students, both academically and behaviorally. Students comment that:

"You are told what you are here to learn." "When you arrive, you are expected to get ready to work." "Mr. Smith assumes we are mature, ready to work." "Even the wild kids are serious in this class."

Thus Andy is perceived as a demanding, challenging teacher who inspires con- fidence in his students by letting them know that he believes that they can suc- ceed; that while the course is "tough," "you can all do it."

Theme VInLack of Overt Negative Sanctions \

As indicated in Theme V, Andy has high, positive expectations for his students. Conversely, he rarely uses threats or negative sanctions in the day-to-day running of the class. The closest he comes to an overt negative sanction seems to be a com- ment like, "This is a college prep course--you'll need it to get along in college. If you don't do the work, you will suffer when you get to college." There are no long lists of classroom rules, things students are not allowed to do, etc. The em- phasis is strongly on the positive.

Theme VII--Intellectual Challenge

This course was described as intellectually challenging in ways that go beyond simply remembering facts and reproducing them for the teacher. Students said the course was "the most intellectually challenging course at high school."

When asked to describe and give examples of what they meant by "intellectually challenging" they said:

"You are questioned all the time so you have to think." :"You can't get by just by remembering." "You must apply what you have learned." "You must compare ideas." "You have to deal with questions with two sides." "Your own ideas are important." "You have to find answers yourself."

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Most of the students enjoy the challenge of thinking as described above. They con- sider the intellectual demands made by this course as valuable, desirable and most importantly within the range of what they can handle.

Andy teaches the course in a "Socratic fashion." Students need to be prepared to answer questions and defend their responses. To less assured students, that atmosphere can be intimidating. Though a level of an- xiety is created, it is controlled and on the whole tends to raise the levels of student performance.

Theme VllI~Organization

The Humanities course is tightly, thoroughly organized with a "well-defined struc- ture." Students are aware of their responsibilities, due dates for papers, readings and other assignments, evaluation criteria, etc. The teaching itself moves briskly along, transitions from one activity to another go smoothly, and summaries and requirements are made explicit. Andy knows where he is going and how he wants to get there. He comments that "when you expect someone to do something, you must tell them exactly what you expect of them and be very specific about giving precise, detailed intructions on how to do it." One of his colleagues commented that he "attacks instruction like music--he does not slide a note." A great deal of effort has gone into the organization of this class, and this undoubtedly con- tributes to its success.

Theme IXmVariety of Teaching Techniques

While Andy emphasizes a didactic, Socratic questioning technique, he also uses a variety of other approaches and materials in his work. Typical activities include formal lecture, discussion, breaking up into two groups, occasionally breaking up into smaller groups, use of film, video tape, music, film strips, map work, in-class reading, in-class writing, note-taking and discussion of note-taking as a skill.

Thus, Andy seems to be aware that each adolescent learner is unique; that sight and sound can effectively supplement the spoken and written word.

Theme X--Knowledge of Content

Simply stated, Andy knows his subject matter and much, much more. He is able to relate current events, books, poetry, music and art that are not a part of the formal curriculum to that curriculum. A colleague comments that "his finn grasp of subject matter allows him to relate complex problems in simple terms with practical explanations to students with various needs." His general breadth of

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knowledge makes it possible for him to introduce materials spontaneously; one student commented "his lectures almost seemed ad lib." Thus his freedom, creativity and spontaneity as a teacher arise in part from the discipline that went into building his knowledge background, and in part from the reputation he has gained in the minds of parents and administrators.

Theme XImTeacher Control

There is no question that the Humanities class is "teacher controlled." Andy is very much in charge and the students know this. They may question and make choices (e.g., homework assignments are given on a monthly basis so that students may decide when to do their work, how to budget their time, etc.), but only within a limited framework or structure.

Theme XII--Respect for, Concern for and Knowledge of Indivduai Students.

One student described a conference with Mr. Smith as follows: "I was having a lot of difficulty in the course, so I asked for help. I thought I should get a tutor. Mr. Smith said, 'No, you don't need a tutor--you can do it on your own.' Then he taught me how to break down my reading assignment into smaller parts--to do a page at a time, one half hour at a time--not to tackle too much at once. He helped me to do it on my own without a tutor."

This seems typical of Andy's work. Despite his tough, challenging approach to teaching, he adjusts his teaching and his demands for the most part to the ability of his students. Students perceive grading as non-competitive, non-threatening, and individually oriented.

"You must know how you have grown--that you are trying--but you are not compared to someone else." The mean grade students receive is a "C" which An- dy defends as the grading system these studends will get in college.

Theme XIII--Personal Contact, Accessibility

While Andy does not effect a "buddy-buddy," "I want to be your friend" ap- proach to his teaching, students, colleagues and parents perceive one of his funda- mental strengths as his availability and interest in individual students--if the in- itiative comes from the student. "You can have a conference any time you want one--but it is up to you."

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Theme XIV--Importance of Broader, Deeper Goals for Learners.

The foundation of the Humanities course is in Andy Smith, and his love of academics. The following comments illustrate student perceptions of Andy's basic goals:

"To get you ready for college." "To get you ready for life." "To discipline yourself." "To make you an independent, resourceful person." "To make it on your own without being pushed all the time." "'Getting the best out of you." "To get you to think originally." "To get you to give your best." "To build a desire to learn to care about learning." "He is not interested in having you just learn subject matter "He expects you to grow in this class." "To broaden your horizons."

One parent described an incident which vividly reflects this theme and Andy's per- vading influence. When the family was on a vacation trip to Europe, their child-- a student in Andy's class--seemed vitally interested in cathedrals and in European architecture in general. The student made frequent references to ma- terial learned in class as it applied to the architecture she was observing.

Theme XV--Impersonal Contact, Remoteness

The fact that colleagues perceive Andy as a "formidable force,"accords him a high degree of awe and respect. He is perceived by others as remote, a "person who passes through." An administrator stated that students are "almost in awe of his knowledge and his reputation as a teacher and a writer." Another adminis- trator said, "For him, professional development involves teaching other staff members.. . ," and "I often use him as a sounding board."

Since another goal of teacher portraiture was to provide analytical comments and questions which would be discussed with the teachers, this section lists the comments and questions that were discussed with Andy Smith.

Comments and Questions for Dialogue and Reflection

1. You teach in a good high school...perhaps a superb high school. Your

254 V.R. ROGERS AND J.W. BRUBACHER

students are largely upper middle class. The community values education. Your colleagues, administrators and parents seem to appreciate what you do and you are allowed something close to a free hand in your work. Appreciative of that en- vironment, one adminstrator commented: "I could see Andy experiencing im- patience with more difficult students. It's like a virtuoso violinist teaching be- ginners."

Question: Could Andy Smith be as successful teaching at an inner city high school?

2. In Theme I, you were described as "intelligent, friendly, outspoken, talented, enthusiastic, caring, brilliant, accessible, humorous, knowledgeable, energetic, dy- namic, well-spoken, helpful, intimidating, and challenging." Those words could describe many highly effective teachers.

Question: Would you try to define some of those adjectives more operationally as they apply to your own "persona "?

3. Here are some "catch words and phrases" that may describe education in a di- fferent era.

Creativity Discovery Relevance Learning Styles Experience Based Learning Collaborative Learning

Question: What are your reactions to those words?

4. We asked students to comment on this question in our student interviews:

"Do students in this class often express their own views about issues or topics that come up in class? Do all or most or only a few students do so? Can you give examples? Explain. All students said that students sometimes disagree with Mr. Smith and with each other. Illustrative comments are: "Mr. Smith doesn't mind being challenged." "We are listened to." "Students often argue points."

However, they suggested that while disagreement occurs, it was not the norm: "It's not typical but it does happen." One student added that, "With 54 people in the class, it's hard to stand up and

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make a fool of yourself. Mr. Smith is always right and can prove you wrong."

Question: Are students encouraged to give their own views, or is it possible that your personality is so forceful and your knowledge base so formidable, that kids hesitate to challenge or question?

5. We also asked students this question: Ideally, all students would become ac- tive and involved in class activities on a day-to-day basis. Are all or most students in this class involved in what goes on; i.e., do they participate, listen, question, etc.? Are there "outsiders" in this class? If so, how many? Why?

The students said that there were some outsiders, although they differed about how many. One student suggested, "Sixty percent really cared," while "I 'm not so sure of the other forty percent." Another said that "at least ten or so were not really with it." Another said that "there are between one-half and one-quarter outsiders. Then there are those who never shut up. Others rely on them to do their thing."

These students perceived the fault with the "outsiders" to be theirs, i.e., the students, not the teachers'. If anything is wrong, it is not the system or the teachers'fault. Outsiders simply aren't trying. What is your explanation for the outsiders, if indeed they do exist?

Question: What kind of student tends to be an outsider and why? (Follow-up observations and interviews with a group of outsiders might be revealing. What perception do they have of the course and their place in it?)

6. In Theme XIV the students listed a number of goals they thought you were try- ing to achieve, e.g., self-discipline, to build the desire to learn, etc.

Question: Are you satisfied with this list? Is it an accurate reflection of your goals? Would you add any to the list?

7. Parents, colleagues, and students all commented on your use of humor in your teaching.

Question: Will you comment on the role humor might or should play in teaching? Is it really important? If so, what kind of humor?

8. A number of students commented on the fact that you 'enjoyed' teaching. Others stated, and we as observers would concur, that you orchestrate a perform- ance every day.

Question: Do you see the classroom as your stage?

256 V.R. ROGERS AND J,W, BRUBACHER

Question: What would your say is your greatest strength as a teacher?

Question: What would you say is your greatest weakness as a teacher?

Question: As you teach this course, do you feel there is one aspect of your work that under no circumstances should be changed? Something that is untouchable?

Question: Is there some aspect of this course that ought to be changed immedi- ately--if so, what would that be?

The followup session in which the class and Andy Smith discussed his portrait was exciting, provocative, and challenging. Our students found themselves drawn into in- tense, thoughtful dialogue about the nature of the teaching/learning act. The quality of this dialogue, inspired of course by Andy Smith's portrait, seemed to us to be of enormous value, both to our students and to the teacher under study.

Of course, we have no way of knowing the long-term effects of teacher portraiture on the teachers we described during the course. Neither do we know what happened in Lightfoot's six schools after her portraits were shared with teachers and ad- ministrators in those schools. Nevertheless, it seems to us that very few teachers are given the opportunity to see themselves as teaching professionals through the eyes of their colleagues and students in this detailed, organized, and systematic way. We are convinced of the ultimate value of reflection about one's work, and, at this stage of our work, must simply assume that the kinds of questions raised in Andy Smith's portrait could not simply be ignored, either by Smith or by the teachers creating the portrait.

We end, therefore, with three proposals. To us, teacher portraiture's greatest value seems to lie in its use as an ongoing teacher development process in which all (or most) teachers in a given school would take part over a period of time.

In order to do this, teams of perhaps three to five teachers would be taught basic observational, interviewing, and analysis techniques. These teams would focus on one team member at a time. A portrait would be completed and discussed, then a sec- ond team member would become the subject of a portrait, etc. The goal would be formative rather than stLmmative evaluation, i.e., we would perceive the procedure as providing feedback for teachers wishing to gain a deeper understanding of them- selves as teachers,

A second proposal would be to use portraiture as an element Of student teaching. Cooperating teachers and university professors would develop portraits of student teachers, as well as having student teachers develop portraits of outstanding teachers.

A third proposal would be to involve principals in teacher portraiture. By learning to use basic observational, interviewing, and analysis techniques they would be bet- ter able to assess what is occurring in the classroom, and consequently help the teacher improve. And in the final analysis principals would be able to make better summative evaluations.

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Socrates once said, "The unexamined life is not worth living." Teacher portrai ture m a y be a way to help teachers examine and reflect upon their professional lives something that, in our view, does not begin to happen often enough.

References

Lightfoot, C.L. (1983). The Good High School. New York: Basic Books. Eisner, Elliot. (1979). The Educationallmagination. New York: MacMillan Publishing Co. Sergiovanni, Thomas J. (1985). "Landscapes, mindscapes and reflective practice in supervision. Journal of Curriculum and Supervision, 1