In one of my classes, I recently had a teacher replace a quiz question with an evaluation of himself. I thought this was something to be admired in a way. I mean, it is only the 4th week of classes, and he is already trying to make sure we understand his teaching and are following what is going on in the class. I think it is import to do this as educators. We should ask for feed back from students, so that they know their opinion matters and that they do have a say in the classroom. I just really appreciated that he took a quiz and turned it into a way to learn about his teaching techniques.
I hope that I am able to do this when I am a teacher. I know that some of the comments will not be exactly what I want to hear; in fact, some might be flat out mean. But, it is worth facing a sometimes hard truth to help improve myself, and the increase the learning of my students.
So, my question to you fellow bloggers is...how do you feel about evaluations? Do you think they are important/effective? I'm curious to hear your opinions!
That is such a neat idea! I absolutely love that your professor did that! I absolutely think evaluations are crucial when it comes to teaching and being an effective teacher. Yet, it comes as a double edge sword. yes, you can find out great things about your teaching style from your students, but there are also ones that will just write mean and nasty comments which may hurt.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I think you absolutely should do evaluations like your teacher Sam and just take them with a grain of salt!
I had a professor in a graduate class who did that almost every week. She would just pass out a half-sheet of paper and ask questions like "I feel comfortable speaking in class..." "I feel the discussions aie in my understanding of the content..." Things like that. I actually do this in my Interpreting Literature class about mid-way through, just to get a feel from the students. I also allow for some open-ended questions.
ReplyDeleteThis really does help. Most often you hear that the students are content, learning and able to voice their opinions...and if you do get the occasional negative comment, it's not personal, but it makes you reflect to see if there is something that you can change, because often times the negative comment comes from someone who may be disengaged or uncomfortable in the classroom atmosphere.