Korean Job Discussion Forums

[sugarloaf82]

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?

[Mr. Pink]

How about instead of asking them to evaluate you, ask them to give you feedback. You can do it in a tricky sort of way. Ask them to give you 5 examples of things you did that really worked well, and 5 examples of things you did that didn't work well. Then ask them for 5 suggestions to improve for the next semester.

If they don't want to talk about it, write those 3 things on a piece of paper and have them fill it in for you.

Tell them that teachers in your home country wouldn't hesitate to give you feedback, as teaching is also about self reflection and assessment. Sometimes you can't always see what you are doing right/wrong and you need others opinions.