Excellent Teachers’ Perspectives on Excellent Teaching

Abstract

Studies of master teaching have investigated a set of qualities that define excellent teaching. However, few studies have investigated master teachers' perspectives on excellent teaching and how it may differ from other faculty or students. The current study investigated award-winning teachers' (N ¼ 50) ratings of the 28 qualities on the teacher behavior checklist. There was substantial overlap in the importance placed upon various teaching qualities among award-winning teachers and other faculty. However, excellent teachers placed more value upon being prepared and forming rapport with students. Full professors placed more importance on several teaching qualities than associate and assistant professors. Teaching training programs should include broad definitions of excellent teaching that incorporate components that some faculty may otherwise overlook.

Searching for Universal Principles of Excellence in College and University Teaching

“…; Vulcano ). An important lesson learned through this research is that excellent teachers score high on both the Professional Competency and Caring and Supportive Subscales as measured by the TBC (Keeley, Ismail, and Buskist ).…”

“…; USA3 = Ismail , U.S.‐educated faculty; USA4 = Ismail , foreign‐educated faculty; USA5 = Keeley et al. ; USA6 = Ford 2017; USA7 = McConner, U.S.‐educated faculty; USA8 = foreign‐educated faculty; USA9 = Noll ; KSA = Hassan and Ismail, this volume; BRA = Henklain et al., this volume; COL = Ripoll‐ Núñez et al., this volume.…”

Teachers’ Awards - an Incentive for Pedagogical Development in Saudi Arabia

“…In the field of education, Keeley et al [3], Al-Rusan [4], Al-Mter [5], Al-Enazi [6], and Balfegah [7] highlighted the importance of the excellent teaching award to encourage teachers to engage in professional development and educational performance, and motivating schools' workers. Several countries around the world have established their own teachers' prizes.…”

“…In the US, the society for the teaching of psychology reports seven teaching excellence awards. These awards are based on excellent teaching practice and excellent culture among teachers [3]. In UK, the Varkey foundation funds the global annual teacher's prize that is worth one million US Dollars.…”

A Brief History of the Teacher Behavior Checklist

“…More recently, Keeley, Ismail, and Buskist (2016) compared the "Top 10" selections of master teacher qualities of national-award winning teachers of psychology (individuals who had won one or more of nine different teaching awards at the national level) to other previously gathered data from nonawarding winning faculty samples. The two sets of participants shared many similarities in their Top 10 lists, but the national award-winning teachers valued the TBC categories of rapport and preparedness more highly than did their peers.…”