The socioemotional factors, which influence students' trajectories on their pathways to reading success, are often overlooked in literacy screenings and reading instruction. This article outlines the connections between personality factors, in particular resilient personalities, and early literacy success. It also offers teachers a series of six…

We describe a model for new and senior faculty members, integrating a behavioral approach to enhancing teaching skills with research from the field of positive psychology on virtues and character strengths. The Teacher Behaviors Checklist (Keeley, Smith, & Buskist, 2006) identifies target behaviors amenable to modification, derived from…

The early childhood faculty at the University of Memphis developed the Early Childhood Education Behaviors & Dispositions Checklist for four main purposes: (1) The faculty needed a way to clearly communicate to students the expectations for their dispositions and the means of assessment; (2) It is a professional obligation in preservice…

This paper identifies distracting factors which take away pupils' attention from the lesson and focus it on the teacher. Distracting factors include teachers' irritating habits, improper attire, and mannerisms. Examples of distracting features of both males and females are listed in eight categories: (1) attire; (2) hair; (3) make-up; (4) personal…

This paper proposes a strategy for analyzing and improving a college professor's approach to teaching. The strategy uses volunteer observers and a simple checklist, the Teacher Observation Checklist, of positive teaching behaviors drawn from the literature. Since college professors' sensitivity to examination and evaluation is high, this strategy…