Teaching is both an art and a science. It is a complex practice that cannot be reduced to a recipe or prescription. Teachers must have freedom and support to integrate four key components of effective teaching that lead to high student achievement:

1. The selection of appropriate tasks for students. Tasks are the projects, questions, problems, constructions, applications, and activities in which students engage.
   
   
2. Discourse that facilitates learning and how to learn. Discourse refers to the ways of representing, thinking, talking, agreeing, and disagreeing that teachers and students use to engage in those tasks.
   
   
3. The creation of an environment in which to learn. Environment represents the setting for learning. It is the context in which the tasks and discourse are embedded. It also refers to the use of materials and space.
   
   
4. Analysis of the teaching and learning process. Analysis is the systematic reflection in which students and teachers engage. It entails the ongoing monitoring of classroom life—how well the tasks, discourse, and environment foster the development of student learning.

Modeled from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Standards for Teaching Mathematics, 1989