I have cited comments from student course evaluations at various points in this portfolio.\u00a0 Here I would like to summarize student evaluations of my teaching and reflect on what I’ve learned from the process of student course evaluation and from the evaluations themselves.<\/p>\n
As a new professor, I confess to initial feelings of intimidation and even fear as I approached the course evaluation time at the ends of my first few semesters.\u00a0 I felt vulnerable; very aware of every mistake made in each course (while hoping that students hadn\u2019t noticed!)\u00a0\u00a0 Criticism, constructive and otherwise, of what I had worked so very hard to accomplish, was difficult to swallow.\u00a0 However, it was also a joy to receive some positive affirmation of my efforts.<\/p>\n
As I grow in my role of teacher, I find that I\u2019m learning to deal in a non-anxious (or less-anxious!) way with the uncertainty of the evaluation process.\u00a0 Two practices have become important to me which I think allow students to give me real feedback regarding their experience in my courses, and which allow me to absorb any hard truths that I need to understand.\u00a0 First, I cannot overstate the value of establishing a positive class atmosphere from the first moments of the semester.\u00a0 I attempt to learn students\u2019 names as soon as possible. I am intentional about conversing with students before and after class, and try to learn what I can about their lives and interests.\u00a0 I use humor frequently.\u00a0\u00a0 I let my (great) enthusiasm for the discipline in which I teach show clearly.\u00a0 I establish high expectations, but attempt to be accessible and available.\u00a0 I am highly organized and try to stay on schedule.\u00a0 A warm, friendly, purposeful classroom is to me intrinsically valuable.\u00a0 I think it also encourages students, no matter what their course grade, to be fair in their evaluations of their experience, and to avoid retaliatory comments and marks (which I think is what I have feared).<\/p>\n
The second practice that I have begun to use (particularly in moments of doubt) is the mid-term evaluation.\u00a0 This strategy had been recommended to me previously, and I have done some reading about its effective use.\u00a0 I\u2019ve learned that students\u2019 anonymous responses to open-ended questions can provide highly useful information about what is and is not working in class, during the semester. \u00a0\u00a0These are the questions I have employed: \u00a01. How is the course going for you?\u00a0 2.\u00a0 What is helping you learn?\u00a0 3.\u00a0 What is making learning difficult?<\/p>\n
Summarizing and reviewing the responses from midterm evaluations with the students allows me to reassure them that their comments and concerns have been heard.\u00a0 Moving through this process with them gives me a space to provide the rationale for elements of the course which I think are necessary\/important but which they have identified as problematic or unenjoyable (e.g. syntax workbooks).\u00a0 During the past two years I have extended the idea of mid-term evaluations by having students in some classes note their \u201chopes and fears\u201d for the class before it gets underway –during the first session.\u00a0 They are asked to note what they hope the class will cover, what skills they hope they will learn, and what they hope will NOT be a part of the class.\u00a0 This allows me to talk about expectations, theirs and mine, when I review the responses.<\/p>\n
What have I learned from the evaluation process?\u00a0 I’ve learned that I am a good teacher who can always improve.\u00a0 My average ratings (per course) on end-of-term evaluations\u00a0 have not fallen below 4.5 since my first semester, and they have ranged as high as 4.9.\u00a0 In general there has been an upward trend over the past five years.\u00a0 However, I’ve learned that when I take risks to improve learning, there can be pushback, with perhaps slight drops in ratings from one year to the next–and I need to expect that and accept it, hoping for refinement the next year.\u00a0 I’ve learned that when I release myself from strongly needing<\/em> to be “liked” by students, I am better able to challenge them, and they often respond positively to the challenge of rigor.\u00a0 Again, there is a flipside of that positive response; sometimes when I challenge a student by not accepting substandard work or a poor work ethic, they respond with anger and that shows up on a course evaluation.\u00a0 Part of my maturing in the role of teacher\/mentor has been learning to allow students to react negative or defensively without feeling threatened myself, and learning to hope that a challenging encounter will be a turning point in the student’s academic career.<\/p>\n (This link leads to a table summarizing all End-of-Course Evaluations–including a sampling of student comments from each semester:\u00a0Summary of Data from End_of_Course Evaluations<\/a> .\u00a0 All of each year’s teaching evaluations can be found uploaded in the section Tenure and Promotion Review<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Next Section. . .Scholarship<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I have cited comments from student course evaluations at various points in this portfolio.\u00a0 Here I would like to summarize student evaluations of my teaching and reflect on what I’ve learned from the process of student course evaluation and from … Continue reading