Sunday, March 8, 2009
Don't ask questions you don't want to know the answers to
Just wondering if any of my fellow interns had their students evaluate their teaching at their A placements. I had intentions of doing so, but did not. Well, as it turns out, I am back teaching half days at the high school in my original primary class and a couple of others. So the question presents itself again: should I have them assess me? And if so, should I do it now, and then again at the end of the school year? What form would work well? I have one rubric shared by another intern that I can tweak for my purposes. I know that I can manufacture some inflated self-esteem by asking the right questions in the right way, but that really isn't producing what I want to know. I am looking for some suggestions for questions to ask the students and methods of getting valuable information on my teaching, while letting the students remain anonymous. Anyone? Anyone?
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I talked with a few kids throughout my placement about how they thought things were going. I was careful in who I approached, the wording I used, and who else was around. I didn't want them to feel pressured, but I also knew they would be able to respond honestly without fear of retribution. I received some helpful feedback. I also read the students' body language to guage how I was doing. If they were falling asleep, I knew it was time to change things up. In my opinion, I think general surveys are at the mercy of a few kids who won't be honest, others who have adversarial relationships with teachers and those students who don't know how to respond are not constructive enough. In addition to some trust worthy students, I also leaned on my A placement adivsors much more.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the feedback. I have just been reluctant to do the evaluation forms, maybe because I made them do a lot of evaluation of their own work. Also, my last shot at wrapping up cubism was the lesson where I had them write an email to themselves posing as me, telling them what grade they were getting, and why. I treasure those letters, they are full of honesty, and I hear my words coming back to me. So that is enough information to know what they learned, and how much a part of it I was. Nuff said, as "they" say.
ReplyDeleteI think that it would be a great idea. I have also thought about what my students thought at my first placement. I wish that their was a way for students to help us learn what we did good or bad. I know our supivisors are susposed to help us and tell us what we can work on. But is there anyone better to do that then the students that we have taught?
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