Trump Master Teacher Award 2015

In 2012 the Trump Master Teacher Award was launched in order to recognize excellent teaching of mathematics and the sciences. The award aims to convey to the public a clearer sense of what constitutes effective teaching. Our intention is to reward and celebrate master teachers of mathematics and the sciences, and introduce them to the public as role models, demonstrating that high quality teaching exists in Israel, while igniting discussion around the question: ‘What constitutes excellent teaching?’

In 2013, the Award was given to Mr. Kobi Shvarzbord, a high school physics teacher and head of Science and Technology at the Leo Baeck High School in Haifa. Shvarzbord was presented the award by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Minister of Education. Merit awards were given to Ms. Iris Kahana and Mr. Danni Ovadia.

In 2014 we launched a third cycle of the award attracting 62 candidates from across the country, who received excellent recommendations by the colleagues. Five were chosen by the selection committee to reach the final stage. The finalists were filmed while teaching in their classroom, and then interviewed by the committee, that decided to award the prize to Mrs. Smadar Levy. Levy is, a high school physics teacher for 25 years at the ‘Hadarim’ high school, Hod Ha’Sharon. She also coaches the leaders of physics teacher communities at the Weizmann Institute, where she is completing her doctoral studies in science teaching.

The Selection committee, which was chaired by Ms. Karen Tal, including former Director General of the Ministry of Education, and included Ms. Dalit Stauber, Dr. Abir Abed, merit award winner of 2012, and 2013 winner Mr Kobi Shvartsbord, also recommended to present a merit award to Ms. Nelly Keller, a mathematics teacher from Kiryat Motzkin and Dr. Amnon Yosef, a physics and philosophy teacher from Dimona, for their excellent work.

In 2015, we intend to hold a fourth cycle of the prize. The committee has encouraged allowing external nominations, and as in 2014, to invite school principals and district instructors to nominate teachers for the prize, as we have learned that many excellent teachers are very modest and are reluctant to nominate themselves.

In addition to the regular prize process, we are proposing to create, on an experimental basis, an Alumni Network. This year the alumni network will address the 15 finalists to date who will be invited to a two-day workshop at the Davidson Center of the Weizmann Institute. The workshop will be based around the filmed lessons that were videotaped as part of their nomination process to the prize. The teachers will be asked to jointly analyze their teaching praxis and to discuss and critique the selection criteria of the prize. This analysis will hopefully allow us to edit and publish filmed examples of excellent teaching and by that to assist future nominators and candidates.

* The text presented above shows the grant as approved by the Foundation Board / Grant 151