that the difference between effective and excellence teachers is that excellent teachers inspire learning and go above and beyond what is required and expected of a classroom teacher. Teacher 1 stated,
Effective teachers get the job done, the students get it. Yes, they do the work; they get the credit, they get the grade. And then they leave school and it’s done. I’ll go back tomorrow; I’ll do the same thing. I think it’s a habit. I think it’s redundant, mundane. However, excellent teachers inspire learning. She explains, “Excellence is when students leave your classroom and ask questions because they can see the real life application.” She also stated she felt there was a difference in how the teachers interact with the students,
Highly effective teachers talks with the students and not at them, they engage in dialogue back and forth and it forces both parties to kind of go back, think, rethink, and then give another response. I think the excellent teacher takes into account the individual as opposed to looking at the class as one.
Teacher 2 had a similar perspective on teaching excellence. He explained,
Teaching excellence is when you inspire the children to learn but not for your sake, not for the parents’ sake. Because they get it, they just desire, they’re hungry to learn. That’s teaching excellence to me, when they get excited about learning new things, and you bring up something and you can just tell that they want to learn more about it, and they get hungry for it. Excellent teachers give opportunities and they start seeking those opportunities to learn more about things. Because the kids, they internalize it more that way and it’s longer lasting.
Teacher 3 discussed teaching excellence as going above and beyond what is expected to ensure that all students are showing academic success by meeting the individual needs of the
students. She explained, “An excellent teacher would be someone who’s willing to differentiate and meet the needs of all students and never give up on them.” Flexibility requires additional time and attention to ensure that each student is getting the support needed to be successful. Teacher 3 explained that an excellent teacher needs to be flexible which means,
You need to be prepared not to teach the same thing every year, every day, every hour. It’s different. This takes a great amount of preparation, planning, and effort on the part of teacher. Depending on the level and interest of the students, an excellent teacher adjusts accordingly.
Teacher 4 explained teaching excellence as
having goals outside of your own for each of your students, setting those goals with students, finding out what the students’ goals are, kicking in some reasons for what their goals should be and then working to help them achieve it.
He also stated, “I think a teacher who is really excellent teaches a student how to want to learn. I can’t teach them everything they’re going to learn now through high school. I have to instill a desire to learn.” Excellent teachers do what it takes to motivate learning and encourage students to seek out opportunities. Teacher 4 stated, “As an excellent teacher, you have to teach kids to learn, how to learn.”
Teacher 5 described going above and beyond as doing what is necessary to reach each and every student. She explains that excellence is when a teacher seeks out the unique
characteristics of the classroom and does whatever is necessary to meet each individual student right where they are at. She explained,
I think that every single class I’ve ever taught has a character. Has a different feeling. Has a different emotion. And you have to be able to adjust to that. It’s not, this is how I
teach it, so this is how I teach it. You have to adjust your teaching to match the vibe of the classroom and each individual child.
This means that the teacher has to put in more time and energy to getting to know the students and being creative in how they interact to encourage and inspire learning. She explains, “You can’t be so stuck in your ways this is the right way to teach, that you can’t hear what your kids need. You also very much have to look at the motivation and not the action.”
She feels the difference between effective and excellent is rooted in the emotion a teacher feels towards the kids. She describes what this means,
I mean, I’ll be in the middle of teaching and I have a kid this year that’s very witty and funny and he’ll say something and instead of me going you know ‘no shouting out’, it’ll just make me laugh. You know that I enjoy them. I like what I do. So just showing up because it’s my job versus this is what I was meant to do, this is what I want to do. I mean there’s not a day I wake up and think I gotta go to work. I love what I do. I love being here every day. So that makes a huge difference.
Teacher 6 described teaching excellence as “knowing your stuff and taking the students into consideration in everything you do.” She stated an effective teacher gets the job done, but an excellent teacher “goes above and beyond” to make meaningful connections that inspire learning.