Jenny D. has started a conversation about how teachers become experts.  Her question prompted me to revisit this chapter, "How Experts Differ from Novices," from How People Learn, published by the National Research Council. It's also an important question to consider in the current policy environment where ill-conceived merit pay plans are resurfacing, the Bush Administration has proposed expanding the Teacher Incentive Fund program and folks from various quarters would like to see a measure of "teacher effectiveness" added to NCLB's definition of a highly qualified teacher.

The chapter examines studies of experts in chess, physics, mathematics, electronics, and history. The authors propose six principles of expertise are proposed.  The one I found most fascinating was how experts construct meaningful patterns of information. Chess masters, for example, use their wealth of experience playing the game to "recognize meaningful chess configurations and realize the strategic implications of these situations; this recognition allowed them to consider sets of possible moves that were superior to others."  Expert teachers use similar schemas, as articulated by Deborah Ball in this Fall 2005 American Educator piece.

Intrigued? If so, also check out this chapter, "Effective Teaching: Examples in History, Mathematics and Science."