December 12, 2003

What Makes a Teacher Great?

By THOMAS BARTLETT

Even 'Professors of the Year' have a hard time explaining how they do what they do so well

Edward Ayers is a great teacher. His students think so, and so do his colleagues. They call his lectures "spellbinding" and praise him for getting undergraduates excited about research. Even Mr. Ayers, when pressed, acknowledges an "almost insane commitment to teaching."

Last month the professor of history at the University of Virginia was selected as a U.S. Professor of the Year, the

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