Job Discussion Forums

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

Spot on Tekirdag. They are popularity contests. In one school I worked there was a student evaluation. The school..ok me... was always banging on a bout concept checking and eliciting. One report said something along the lines of my teacher is very good because she is always concepting checking and eliciting not bad...... from a beginner.

justme · Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 1944 Location: Istanbul

I absolutely despise student evaluations, for all the reasons others have listed. I once got a talking to by my DOS about an elementary class I taught for two hours a week, one hour each on Sat and Sun after their 3 hour sessions with a Turkish teacher who rarely used English in class and left appalling errors on the whiteboard. They said, surprisingly enough, that they couldn't always understand every word I said. Annoyingly, the DOS failed to notice that their comments on every form were VERBATIM, meaning that the lazy bas*ards hadn't even bothered to put any time or thought into it-- they'd just sat around and copied each other's (or one person's) comments.

As for learner training, at Interlang I got in trouble when a student complained I wouldn't answer their questions. This was because I expected them to guess words from context, and if they couldn't do that, I explained in English rather than just giving them the word in Turkish. How very uncooperative and unfriendly of me.

At another school, a supervisor bawled me out because my numbers were low for 'starting and finishing class on time.' This was because the class agreed that instead of having 4 one hour lessons, we should have 2 long lessons and a short one at the end. I asked the class if they didn't want this anymore or if they were unhappy, and they said no, that they were just being honest but there was no room for comments on the form. I told the supervisor this, and he said I had to keep the numbers high and that was that. Oh well.

So perhaps these evaluations have a purpose, but I've yet to see one that's written well or that's used well...

Baba Alex · Joined: 17 Aug 2004 Posts: 2411

Sheikh Inal Ovar · Joined: 04 Dec 2005 Posts: 1208 Location: Melo Drama School

molly farquharson · Joined: 16 Jun 2004 Posts: 839 Location: istanbul

an interesting thread, even though it was started as a spoof. As I recall, student evaluations of teachers were started as an outcome of the student power movement of the 60s. Student evaluations empower students and keep teachers accountable. of course the questions have to be crafted carefully, but I am sure students know when they have a good teacher or not. We ask questions about the teacher's energy, respect for students, preparation, etc. Then there is a section about the course and materials, and then about the student-- attendance, homework, and test results. So we try to get as much information we can in a short time. We do not ask if the teacher speaks Turkish in class, as we hear about that anyway and discourage it. And yes, the evaluations are used, along with the observations, in the teacher performance review. of course we should ask for evaluations from the students, not only about the teacher, but also about the materials and the schcool. the intent is to make things better. Every university and community college i taught at in the States used them, and I think the information was useful to the teacher if he/she paid attention to them.

justme · Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 1944 Location: Istanbul

The information would be use ful if the students paid attention to the evaluations, which in my experience, they don't. The whole student empowerment thing works in North America but I don't think it does here--like trying to teach learner autonomy. If students like a teacher, they give 4s and 5s to everything, even for materials and curriculum, and if they don't like their teacher it's the opposite-- 1s and 2s for everything. Whether students like a teacher is rarely related to him/her being a good teacher-- it's down to the popularity contest.

tvik · Joined: 18 Apr 2006 Posts: 371 Location: here

good teachers are popular

Sheikh Inal Ovar · Joined: 04 Dec 2005 Posts: 1208 Location: Melo Drama School

Not all of them ... and not half so popular as the teacher of a disaffected high school or uni class ... a teacher who gives no homework, finishes lessons early, and encourages the students 'to boil' the lessons when he has nothing prepared due to a heavy bout of drinking the night before ...

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

Baba Alex · Joined: 17 Aug 2004 Posts: 2411

tvik · Joined: 18 Apr 2006 Posts: 371 Location: here

Point taken Sheikh, but the teacher you describe usually gets it in the back when the students fail. the fit teachers survive

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

Sheikh Inal Ovar · Joined: 04 Dec 2005 Posts: 1208 Location: Melo Drama School

Buuurrrrrp! Who's nicked my panadol ...

justme · Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 1944 Location: Istanbul

Popular teachers are usually the ones who are good-looking, who do a lot of jokes and pratfalls in the lessons, and who play a lot of games. They are not the ones who give home work and push students to actually learn something. Any kind of seriousness or rigorousness is unwelcome. Popular teachers usually use a lot of Turkish, and they're especailly popular if their Turkish is crap and they make lots of adorable grammar and pronunciation errors.... It is so rare here that "popular" is synonymous with "good," though I admit it's not impossible....