WASHINGTON — Michael Sullivan, a psychology teacher at Hopkinton High School in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, has been named a winner of the 2015 APA TOPSS Charles T. Blair-Broeker Excellence in Teaching Award by the American Psychological Association’s Committee of Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools.
“Michael shares a dedication to teaching in the classroom that is simply awe inspiring,” said Mike Hamilton, chair of APA’s Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools (TOPSS). “The committee strives to honor greatness in the classroom and Michael exemplifies that.”
Teaching as a true performance is what sets Sullivan apart, according to Hamilton. “I have never encountered a better teacher in my life,” Hamilton said. “He brings everything to life in the classroom and keeps students on the edge of their seats during every session. For the students, Michael is truly a once-in-a lifetime teacher.” Sullivan has mastered how not only to engage students, but immerse them in effective learning experiences. “If ‘Aha!’ moments were measurable, I have no doubt that students experience more in Mr. Sullivan’s classroom than anywhere else in the school,” Hopkinton High teacher Mike Wilander said.
“Michael has a unique ability to make teaching applicable to real life,” Hamilton said. “As a teacher, having an impact on your students for life is ultimately what it’s all about.”
Sullivan will receive a framed certificate, an engraved award, $500 and a complimentary TOPSS membership renewal for 2016. Additionally, Worth Publishers donated copies of the "Interactive Presentation Slides for Introductory Psychology, Volumes 1 and 2" and the "Worth Video Anthology Flash Drive for Introductory Psychology" to him.
TOPSS named the award this year for retired psychology teacher Charles T. Blair-Broeker, who taught for 39 years at Cedar Falls High School in Cedar Falls, Iowa, and was awarded an APA Presidential Citation in 2014 for his exemplary teaching of high school psychology.
Through APA’s Education Directorate, TOPSS offers teaching materials, professional development, the Psychology Teacher Network quarterly newsletter and programs for high school psychology teachers and students. There are approximately 2,000 APA high school teacher affiliates in APA. Psychology continues to be a popular high school course, with nearly 260,000 students taking the AP psychology exam in 2014.
TOPSS’s mission is to promote the highest standards in the teaching of psychology as a science and discipline; promote professional development and other means for lifelong learning for high school teachers of psychology; facilitate networking among teachers from all teaching levels of psychology; encourage recruitment and retention of students in the field of psychology; enhance the visibility and legitimacy of high school psychology; and recommend the appropriate advocacy, education policy and certification issues that impact the quality or visibility of teaching of high school psychology. Learn more about TOPSS online and on its Facebookopens in new window page.
The American Psychological Association, in Washington, D.C., is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States. APA's membership includes more than 122,500 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance the creation, communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve people's lives.