Job Discussion Forums

[Wolf]

Student evaluations of teachers are one way of gathering information about the teacher and her effectiveness. But they're not the only way. If a student is using the teacher evaluation form to "get back" at you, then your side of the story should count for something.

If your manager/superiors don't make a big deal out of this, then what's to worry about?

Look at it this way.

At NOVA I recieved a few complaints. Apparently, one student didn't like how my voice sounded. Yeah. Like I can change that. A few students said I spoke too fast. Now, I don't like to slow down too much when I teach, becasue I want my students to get used to hearing spoken English at a more or less natural pace. I was never told who made those complaints, so I couldn't be sure when to alter my approach and when it was working just fine.

If your DoS is fair and supportive, then this will be a very small molehill indeed.

[Lynn]

It's happened to the best of us. I remember I had such problems with a Japanese student because he never came to class and if he did he was always late. Unlike his other teachers, I always marked him "Late" which affects his visa status.

Sure enough he wrote stupid comments like,"teacher is boring. She sits on the chair"

The director of the school cut out his comments and posted it on a board for all to see. Mine was not the only one. I also saw comments about other teachers. It was pretty damn ridiculous.

[khmerhit]

Sounds like a prisoner of war camp. Bridge on the River Kwai? Egad.

[Capergirl]

My boss does two observations a year - one scheduled and one unscheduled. This is a much more important evaluation in terms of our employment future. However, I still like to hear from students that I am doing a good job. It really is kind of a popularity contest in a way. The instructor that mothers and mollycoddles them is the one who gets all the rave reviews on the instructor evaluations.

We do evaluate the students after each three-month term also. They are able to read all of our comments about them, so I try to take that into consideration when I am making my comments.

[Gordon]

[Wonky Piano]

But Capergirl,
What about the students who rated you favourably? Don't they count, too? I'll bet you there are more of them than these complainers. Right?

[Wolf]

I hate popularity contest style evaluations. I make no effort in class to be genki or clownish. I do make an effort to plan and conduct classes designed to benefit my students. In a free booking style school - one where students come whenever they want and you're never guaranteed to have the same student twice - then this can be a problem. To channel Fight Club, I make a poor single serving dancing monkey.

But in the sememster courses I've been teaching, most of my students have favorable comments (according to my dean.)

But it sounds like your job is spiffier and more professionally designed than mine. I don't think a good techer in your program is going to be fired for not being a mommy/dancing monkey/genki circus freak/cool-hip-trendy source of linguistic magic.

[Capergirl]

[willy]

MY SCORE WENT UP PAST THE SCHOOL STANDERS AN I STILL LOST MY JOB�

NOW I HERE FROM STUDENTS THAT THE NEW TEACHERS ARE BAD.

�I STOPPED BECAUSE THE SCHOOL IT NOT AS GOD NOW�
�MY DAD SAYS THE TEACHERS DON`T TEACH GOOD IS EF BETTER�

[arioch36]

Ntropy was on when he said you shouldn't know about the student evaluations. Now you will have to pretend not to know. Kind of like in CHina, pretending not to know Chinese. Sometimes the students are just venting, Being more immature then us, sometimes they vent wrongly.

Many Chinese teachers are in fear of their students' evaluations. Because of this, the newer Chinese teachers tend to inflate the grades, not discipline, and allow cheating.

I am teaching 12 hours extra most weekends. The training school is of pretty good quality. It is divided into two sections of 8 weeks. One class is older students. It has about 6 boys who just want to play basketnall or computer games. They often don't come to class, and hten plead with me not to tell their mothers.

Three weeks ago (the end of the first 8 week term) we were buddy buddy. They wanted to play basketbal with me. Now they told their mothers that they are scared of me, the reason they don'e want to come back for the 2nd week term. The six small girls in the class have all come back. The big boys are afraid, and the girls aren't?


Hey, that's the teaching biz. Tell students to do work, some will love you for it, others will try to get back at you for it.

At least here in China I don't have to worry about them slashing my tires, except my bicycle tires

[Kurochan]

Usually it's the lousy students who are the most critical of your teaching -- like they don't even demand adequacy of themselves, but want perfection from you!

I ran into this problem in the US a lot more than in China. On friend in my grad program had people complain on their evaluations that they didn't like her CLOTHES. In one of my classes, students complained that I brought my coat into the classroom with me! Apparently they were under some sort of delusion I had an office I could put it in or something! Doh! But in reality, I only got to that class by RUNNING from one of my own classes 10 minutes away, that ended 15 minutes before the other class started. And one semester, students complained I was late sometimes, when I had two classes scheduled back to back, on different ends of the campus. Ooooohhhhh! Those little b@stards!

Thanks for allowing me to vent for a moment, about the miseries of grad school!