Characteristics of an Outstanding Teacher W. H. Eberhardt Georgia Institute of Technology. Atlanta, GA 30332
There are two requisites for agood teacher: 1) mastery of the subject matter he is teaching and
2) a desire to teach it.
Beyond these requisites, there are many aspects of the teacher which lead him or her to be considered outstanding. Many of these aspects are highly personal, as is the teaching~learningprocess itself. They involve the quality of studentlteacher interaction which is frequently difficult to define or even identify. However, afew areas can be identified which are important, perhaps not for each person, hut as areas which make individuals unique teachers. Interest in Students Many individuals considered to be outstanding teachers have very close interactions with students both in their own classes and in the areas relating to their interest. Some teachers make a sincere effort to learn the names and some of the characteristics of their students, e.g., their home cities, high schools, and specific events about them or their accomplishments. In many cases, faculty members serve as advisors, even though not officially identified as such, confidants, and a stable personal base to assist students in an otherwise large and impersonal environment. This type of close student1 faculty interaction may be very important to some students; it mav be totallv unimportant to others. I t does not seem to be a necessary, or even sufficient, attribute to characterize a teacher as outstanding, -. but many students appreciate it during their academic careers. ~
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lntegrlty It is difficult to define integrity in an operational way, but the implications of the word seem clear. I t implies intellectual honesty, fair and conscientious evaluation of student progress and ackevement, impartiality toward students, recognition of the student as a sensitive person, establishment of a set of personal goals which are consistent with the image of the teacherlscholar. I t implies a level of personal ethics and ethical standards consistent with the entire concept of "academic freedom." I t implies a sense of responsibility toward the teaching process as more than a chore or duty which, when completed, permits the individual freedom to pursue other personal goals. Innovation Innovation and imagination go band in hand. I t is easy to teach subject matter from a written text; i t is difficult to bring fresh, novel, interesting, exciting aspects of a topic into the classroom or laboratory environment. But, ultimately, it is the student's ability to be innovative, to progress beyond the established dogma, that the teacher is seeking to develop. Mastery of a body of knowledge, skills, or concepts is fine, but It has been my responsibility recently to serve as chairman of a student-faculty committee to select two faculty members to be re& ognized as Outstanding Teachers of the Year. This paper presents personal reflections based on considerations of documents submitted in support of many individuals nominated for these awards. It does not pretend to be encyclopedic, but it may indeed serve as stimulus for comment.
it is the application of that mastery t o new situations unvisualized a t the time of the instructional program that distinguishes the student from the technician. The principal function of scholarly research in the educational environment is the continuous stimulation and training of the teacher himself. The scholar must be aware of progress in his own field of learning; he must be sensitive to application of his own skills and concepts to other areas and problems other scholars are pursuingfhe must stretch his own mind to remain aware of developments in his field of endeavor. An outstanding teacher will have these same attributes. He may he fortunate in that the subject area he is teaching lies close enough to his own area of scholarship that he ran incorporate his own work into his teaching. Mure commonly, the teacher will be responsible fur subject matter hasic to his discipline, perhaps even elementary in his view. His ability to maintain currency in instruction of that sort, to bring to it imaginative ideas, new techniques, new situations to which even elementary ideas may be applied, provides both an opportunity and a challenge and represents a major contribution to both his own classes and to the entire intellectual tone of the department. for an educator to participate There are manv" onoortunities .. in professional organizations of a national scope in his discipline. Moat disciplines sponsor publications which report new or different approaches to either basic or current scholarship in the area. There is opportunity for a faculty member t o contribute his ideas to those publications just as there is an onportunitv for him to contribute to published scholarly research. indeed, experience suggest.?that publiratims in media are likely to be like the JO~JRXALOF CHEMI(.AL EOUCATION far more widely studied and perhaps effective than publications in ~restigiousiournals devoted to more limited areas of current iesearih. Impact The teacher may be as self-centered as the scholar; he may have little interest or enthusiasm for anything but his own interaction with students. Conversely, he may be able to alter sienificantlv the direction or curriculum of studv in his area. 1;is notab6 difficult to effect any changes in fnstructional nroerams. in Dart because of the inertia characteristic of the kntlLe systemif education, in large part because of the inertia of a teacher's own colleaeues. Efforts to influence one's colleagues are usually rewarded by intense frustration. I t is indeed a rare event when a teacher can affect his close associates. Fortunately, the journals published in his discipline and the opportunities to participate in national programs and on national committees offer a teacher opportunities to be effective throughout the nation and the world, even though his own colleagues may be unmoved. Almost everyone recognizes a person as an expert when he is more than 50 miles from his home base-an old, hut regrettablyprofound comment on human relations. Ultimatelv. ".an outstandine teacher is one who has an impact on students which they may or may not even recognize a t the time or a t any other time, for that matter. The students may be those he comes into contact with personally; they may be those in other institutions who have felt this impact only by the interactions the teacher has had with his ass&iates in the
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Volume 59 Number 11 November 1982
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discipline or through journals. In most cases a teacher will never know what impact he has had. I t is very rewarding, however, if just once, his professional colleagues can recognize
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Journal of Chemical Education
his contributions. The outstanding teacher must he satisfied with limited recognition but a deep personal sense of achievement which is as unique to him as to his students.
