Korean Job Discussion Forums

sugarloaf82 · Joined: 21 Dec 2008

I am a new PS high school teacher and have been here now for 2 months. When vacation started at the end of December I asked my coteacher if she thought that we (her, the one other Korean English teacher and myself) could sit down and discuss the previous 5 weeks. She said that we could sometime during "vacation." I'm in a very small, rural high school and both of my coteachers are young (mid/late 20s), as am I, and I'm the first FT they've ever had. So, a few weeks have passed and the other night the three of us went out for dinner and I asked again, to both of them this time, if they thought we could have sort of an evaluation. Nothing formal, just to discuss the month before vacation and the small "camp" I did, and what the plan is for the next term. One of them said that they are not qualified to evaluate me. I know Koreans don't like to lose face, can be very vague, etc, but I thought this would be something beneficial to all involved. Am I wrong in assuming this? I'm all about having transparency and being on the same page. I mean, the three of us teach all the classes in the high school (I work with both of them) and it's a small school (160 students or so), so we know all of the students. I just feel like if we're all on the same page it would much more beneficial to the students.

I know PSs occasionally can do open evaluations where people come watch you, video tape you, etc.... but is it unheard of to informally discuss work performance? Whenever I ask them about classes they say "that was good," but that's it. And after my first day of camp I asked my coteacher if that was what she was expecting for a camp and she said "yeah, sort of" and I asked what she was expecting and she said she'd get back to me... It's over now and she never got back to me.

I know I'm in Korea, do as the Koreans, suck it up, etc, etc.... My school and coteachers have been fantastic since I've arrived helping me figure stuff out, getting settled, etc, so I really have no complaints about anything. I just don't want to get a bad evaluation a few months down the line when I'm very open to ideas and feedback now. Maybe I should assume no news is good news....

Do foreign teachers discuss their work performance here with their coteachers or is that unheard of?

cruisemonkey · Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 3:54 pm Post subject: Re: Informal evaluations?

Ramen · Joined: 15 Apr 2008

sugarloaf82 · Joined: 21 Dec 2008

Yes, I'm new, but I know that things can change last minute and being informed in advance of something is pretty unheard of. I learned that pretty early on.

My question is about evaluations/feedback.

cruisemonkey · Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 4:30 pm Post subject:

In my province there are only formal evaluations - the FT gets an evaluation/feedback when one does their 'demo class'; but it isn't from the co-teacher because he/she is being evaluated as well.

If your co-teachers don't say anything to you, all is well.

ThingsComeAround · Joined: 07 Nov 2008

OP:

Don't rock the boat!

Otherside · Joined: 06 Sep 2007

The formal evaluations are a joke. Basically it comes down to whether they like you.
I was asked to renew by my school, and I agreed. This is my letter of renewal/evaluation. (Let me qualify this by saying I'm from the 'fromtheuk' school of doing as little as possible. My open class was average, and overall I'd classify myself as an average teacher, nothing more.)

"I notify the final decision. We had a committee meeting for evaluating you. We considered your teaching skills, preperation for classes, enthusiasm for the program, responses from the trainees, working attitude, potentials for the prospective instructors, etc.

Comments: We need an excellent instructor like you. Thanks for your excellent teaching and devotion to this program. I hope you will be respected as the best teacher from the future trainees."

Ramen · Joined: 15 Apr 2008