Job Discussion Forums

[some waygug-in]

When I first started, in Mexico, I had my supervisors do a couple of evaluations of my teaching. I really needed them. I was a horrible teacher back then and the constructive criticism I received helped me to figure out what I should be doing.


Since I've come to Korea, I've found very little in the way of constructive criticism........and a lot in the way of random whining from students that gets taken seriously by the administration.
Each student will have their own idea of what they think you should be doing as a teacher and it doesn't matter what you do.........or don't do..........someone will complain.

[darkside1]

If a school is serious about self- improvement then teacher assessment should be a process with several facets and not simply a questionnaire handed out to students once a year, or, even worse, a manager writing a report on a teacher based on 'reputation' without stepping into a classroom; or a 'party piece' that a teacher performs once in a while to convince everybody s/he is really okay.

Criteria for successful performance in lesson observations should be shared between managers/ teachers; peer assesment should be allowed as a non- threatening way of teachers getting feedback; and observed lessons should be seen in a wider context (e.g. via a teacher keeping a journal on relevant issues thrown up by a particular group of students and discussing these in the light of observations).

Points raised in feedback sessions should then be taken up in teacher- development sessions. I realize that be be difficult if you are working in a small school in the sticks, but even small schools can share good practice amongst staff. Student evaluations? Why not? Just see them as one (possibly unreliable) indicator of success.

[Deconstructor]

I've been assessed dozens of times. For example, as a teacher at a local university in Montreal I had a camera in my class twice every eight weeks for six months. They never told me when they would bring in the camera. This was part of my probation period before I was permanently hired. They watched whether and how I implemented the department methodology which I had to follow to the last word. They also watched my intuitive connection with the students. At the end I got a lot of feedback. It's the greatest teaching job I've ever had.

[denise]

[Deconstructor]

[quote="denise"]

[Guy Courchesne]

[gaijinalways]

Evaluations can be a great tool or a cruelly used stick; it really depends on how your employer administers them and how they use the results.

At one of my past jobs, we were monitored on three lessons in a year as well as having students evaluate individual lessons that we gave. Of course, considering the number of lessons given in a year, say an average of over 40 a week for maybe 48 weeks a year, three is not very many to be statistically valid. The evaluations themselves are still useful for pinpointing areas that may need improvement as well as looking at student complaints.

My current uni jobs include only student survey assessments. Of course, this could be useful, but there is;

-no correlation made between which students made which comments (in other words, if a student has an axe to grind, doesn�t like studying English, almost never came to class, didn�t like doing, gasp, homework, etc) and the admin tended to only over-focus on the negative comments

-no investigation to see if the comments are true or not (it�s possible all you did was play poker with your students every week, but if they all liked it?!)

-no investigation to see what kinds of activities, etc. the teacher used, but instead assume the student can recognize what they are (sometimes they can) and whether they are appropriate or not

At the lower level unis, bad comments by as few as 2 students in a class can lead to termination. Of course, at these kinds of unis, rapport with the class is crucial (in most of Asia it generally is), and just lacking rapport is enough to get one �replaced�. These lower level unis often want more a sitter/entertainer than an actual instructor, so being a �good� teacher at these schools requires �different� skills.

One problem, at both where I work now and where I was in the past, with the student surveys is the wording on the questions. In Japanese, students often are vague about what they disliked (though of course this can work in your favor sometimes). So pinpointing whether it is a real issue or just that 'a student dislikes red shirts' is difficult to discern from the student comments. Also issues such as pacing, types of activities and how they are used, are often not consistently judged by students. And of course, a halo effect or problems with a recency effect, i.e. students only remembering a recent lesson or lessons (especially with uni students as they usually have the same teacher every week) can cause problems with scales often used on the student surveys.

If schools would do video monitoring or occasional sit in monitoring by an actual teacher (not an admin type), that would probably be better. Some consistency is desirable, and teachers do have to be accountable to an extent in delivering lessons that most students will like and can learn something from. The problem is when the evaluations are used more to popularize certain teachers and/or to withhold promotions from others.

[zanne]

In our school,teacher assessments are an ongoing thing. Chinese-English teachers are constantly observing our classes and the heads of the English department are often in attendance as well.Our classes are also presented to visiting Headmasters and Teachers from other schools as a promo on "how to use this text book". The next presentation I will be doing involves 50 Chinese-English teachers being taught a lesson as students. It sounds like fun, in a stange sort of way.
I must admit also that 2 of our teachers were not adhering to the desired outcomes of lesson planning and, when informed of their short-comings, preferred resignation to re-training. Rather drastic but,as they wouldn't listen to , or accept,any helpful advice from any source, it certainly demonstarted their teaching calibre to us(the foreign teachers) and our Chinese counterparts.
At all other schools I have worked, assessments are the norm. I don't like them but they are necessary, at times.In the case above, we lost 2 teachers who were more interested in travelling than teaching.

[Justin Trullinger]

Right on, Darkside! And everybody.

A school that doesn't do any form of evaluation is obviously pretty *BEEP*. So is one that does, but merely uses it as a way to decide who to keep.

This is what I do (or at least try to manage) by way of teacher evaluation. I'd really welcome any suggestions for improvement. Some elements are fairly formal, others more an informal part of the work environment.

First, and foremost, communication with teachers has to be pretty open. If something is going really wrong in the classroom, the best thing is for the teacher to bring it to my attention. I'm not Solomon the wise, but I've been doing this for a while, and often, I can help. If not, there are teachers here who in some areas are more experienced than me. They can help, too.

But a teacher who comes to me with his or her concerns is making a strong statement about desire to improve. Very important.

"Informal" observations also make up a part of my process. What I mean by "informal" varies considerably. We're a smallish department in a smallish building. I see how people relate to their students, in class, in the halls and on breaks, whether I want to or not. This provides a lot of valuable background. I also see who's using the library, preparation areas, supplementary files, etc, and who justs hangs out on the internet until class time. Sometime informal evaluations also means spying. Particularly with young students, the presence of an outside observer is just too distracting. But a quarter hour listening outside the door still provides useful info for me and teachers. (Before the ACLU comes to get me, know this is NOT a secret. The teachers all know that I do this, and usually know when I'm going to. It's just a way to get some knowledge about what goes on, without disrupting the students.)

Peer observations. A couple of times a school year, teachers get paired off, and each observes one of the other's classes, then they fill out observation forms, passing a copy to me, and get together for lunch and talk about what they've learned from each other.

Director observations: Theoretically twice a year, realistically about every nine months, I go into everybody's classes and observe, writing a detailed report for the files, and having an hour conference with the teacher after. I usually do this about 4 to 8 weeks after a teacher starts work, then again later that year.

Student evaluations: You have to take these with a grain of salt, and learn how to interpret student comments. I believe that building relationships with students is definitely part of the job, so student evaluations are important, BUT you have to see them in terms of trends. If one student says that teacher X is unprepared, it may mean that teacher X gave him a hard time about his cell phone, and he's looking for revenge. So if the majority of students have positive remarks, one or two negatives mean nothing. If 80% of students feel that teacher x is unprepared, I feel the need to investigate.

Regards,
Justin

[Gregor]

Justin,
That's pretty much exactly how I do the observations as well. Seems to work pretty well. Formal observations are actually not very accurate, in my experience. Who was it that said, or what is the name of the scientific law that says that the very act of observing something changes it?
There are no truer words, especially when observing new teachers. They just get nervous and freak out. The lesson is almost always worse than what they would do without having the DoS right there in class.
Same with the students. They clam up with a new stranger, and THAT just makes the teacher freak out all the more.

[Justin Trullinger]

[ls650]

[Sherri]

Thanks again everyone for your remarks and input. It is useful for me to read how people think about this subject and the way assessment is done in other schools. I found a useful chapter on this topic in JD Brown's book on curriculum development, the Elements of Language Curriculum. There are also some examples and 2 case studies if anyone else is interested in further reading!

We are starting by sending out a survey to a couple of key administrators, then we are going to survey the teachers and come up with a draft plan. After that we will invite feedback for revisions.
Best
Sherri

[mondrian]