Job Discussion Forums

[choudoufu]

[wailing_imam]

No one likes being observed. However, it is a crucial part of teacher development. You will forget all about the person observing you after ten mins.

[tomhume89]

I actually like having people watching my class, for three reasons.

1) The kids will never do anything too bad in class (although one of my co-teachers said they don't like this as the kids aren't 'pure' when other people are watching).

2) I'll try a bit harder, consciously and sub-consciously.

3) I can get feedback on my class.

As wailing_imam said, it's fairly important too!

[Miles Smiles]

I've always enjoyed evaluations. I think the evaluators (both at home and in China) have enjoyed my classes.

Sometimes I need to know if I'm an okay teacher. An evaluation goes a long way toward satisfying that need.

[Old Surrender]

I don't mind it if I know it's coming. That way I can make sure it's not a work silently on your essay/workshop day.

[dean_a_jones]

[igorG]

[dean_a_jones]

[Non Sequitur]

I'm not sure that igor is right about FTs self development.
The ones I've evaluated in class have so little awareness of the task and even less appreciation of their inadequacies that they think they are doing an OK job.
When you point out that Teacher Talk Time is a basic piece of ESL self evaluation they tend to resent it.
My beef is CTs coming in to my class unannounced and not introducing themselves or explaining what they're there for.
One CT insisted on repeatedly turning up to my rag tag 'Cooperation Class' and ignored by mainstream classes which by mid semester were forging ahead.
One FT (US) rebuffed my offer for her to sit in on my classes before she started her own with this remark. 'Nah I have a friend who taught in Japan and she's given me a few ideas'.
When I did my assessment a few weeks later she was bad but totally oblivious to what she should have been doing.

[TexasHighway]

I wonder if Chinese teachers are evaluated to the same extent as foreign teachers. I know of one CT who forces the students to stand at attention when he walks in, as if he were a 4-star general. Another man sits in front of a microphone smoking a cigarette reading from a textbook while most of his students are asleep. A female CT in an adjacent classroom shows movies in every class. Still another CT cancels classes almost every Friday while he is off pursuing his outside business ventures. I can't imagine any FTs getting away with these practices. Somtimes it seems like a case of the fox guarding the henhouse. I remember at one university, the dean of the foreign language department would make his attractive female students give him a hug before they could be admitted to his class if they showed up late.

[igorG]

Non Sequitur is bringing in at least two different points; surprise observers and unwillingly observed teachers. The unanticipated spectators, that may be disruptive, may also be looking for something they've learnt in their own system. Foreign teachers on mainland China may not have enough respect for each other, which is probably due to the nature of the local industry. To offer us or extend our employment local pros base their decisions on varieties of questionable reasons. Knowing that some foreign puppet pro would strike a pen on some official sheet in my classroom may not be satisfactory on the professional level.

Having said that, I must say that the worst evaluators that i've had were either the locals educated abroad or the ones well experienced with foreingers in China.

[Opiate]

[choudoufu]

there is also the possibility they are there not to observe
teaching ability, but behavior.

does the ft arrive on time?
is he sober? does he reek of alcohol?
has he shaved in the past few days?
is he wearing pajamas and shower shoes?
is he hitting on the girl students?
does he at least attempt to hold a real class (not considering content),
or is it fun and games - movies, songs, dancing, etc.?

[big_big_bang_theory_fan]

WHAT EXACTLY is the problem with all you people and the concept of accountability? Is that why you teach in China? Can't obtain or hold a job in your home country that evaluates you and pins your job on actual ability to perform your required duties? Depend on coming to a country that really requires nothing to hold a "professional" position as a teacher - depending on the fact you have no qualifications and couldn't get such a job elsewhere?

What is the issue here?

[Guerciotti]