New GTA session at CTE Finals Week next week. Grades due Friday, December 22 by midnight.
When we teach, we learn.
--Seneca
You did it! You made it through the semester week by week, and so did your students!
You’ve learned as a student and as a teacher. This dual position has many responsibilities, and you handled both of them.
You’ve been evaluating all along. The "Minute Papers" and other feedback forms you did during the semester meant you made improvements at the right time. Congratulate yourself for having worked all along to increase student learning.
You’ve participated in New GTA preparation. You benefited by studying with many of KU’s most noteworthy faculty members, all volunteers who willingly coached you along.
You’re one semester closer to graduating. That’s right: one semester closer to having your degree!
Next semester you can drop the "new" from "GTA." Soon others will begin asking for your ideas on teaching.
Throw out the outliers. A few students may make off-the-wall comments, like expressing disappointment if you're married—flattering, but not much use for your teaching. A few others may sneer and seeth on all the items—but the complaints may be factually inaccurate (we didn’t use a text, etc.). Outliers rarely focus on the course learning, and instead tend to be either personal attacks or aggrandizations. Expect this, and don’t spend time anxiously mulling over "you."
Acknowledge overall trends. Where were responses clustered, both the positive and the negative? Did this happen for only one category, or does it point to a larger pattern? The responses are most valuable when they pinpoint areas that you can key in on.
Rely on another pair of eyes. We don’t have a "mirror before us," so use the evaluations to see how others view your teaching.
Use student comments to make positive changes. The usefulness of these evaluations is in moving forward.
Prioritize. What are your goals for a specific course and for teaching? Keep these in focus
Divide and conquer. List categories—content, organization, preparation, class structure, motivating students, discussions, etc.—and identify one or two specific improvements for each.
Put these strategies into action. Use them as you prepare your next syllabus and day-by-day offerings.
Be persistent and creative. Keep trying—some changes will be easy, others will need to be approached more than once.
Use student evaluations in conjunction with your self-evaluation. Remember those teaching notes you’ve been making all semester? Mesh both sets of reflections together to improve your future teaching.
Meet with your mentor and your colleagues. Tell them what you think the evaluations indicate and ask if that conclusion seems reasonable. Because they’re in a similar position, their ideas will provide a good balance to your reactions.
Adapted from Magnan, Robert. 147 Practical Tips for Teaching Professors. 1990.
Resources:
" Do Good Looks Equal Good Evaluations?"
Read this Chronicle in Higher Education article that amusedly regards
the personal look students give to instructors.
LINK: http://chronicle.com/jobs/2003/10/2003101501c.htm
"
What Do They Know, Anyway? II. Making Evaluations Effective"
Richard Felder’s short article suggests ways to make student evaluations
serve their primary purpose: to improve teaching. Within the article,
you can link to another of his essays that argues higher student evaluations
are a useful method of evaluating teaching.
LINK: http://www.ncsu.edu/felder-public/Columns/Eval2.html
