Korean Job Discussion Forums

[JacktheCat]

For all of those of you in public\private school jobs how are you evaluated on your job performance?

For a hackwons and universities it's pretty straight forward, keeping the "customers" happy is job number #1. Keep the students (and their money) rolling in, and you keep your job.

However in public\private schools it seems we are actually expected to increase the students' knowledge of English; their general opinion of us be damned.

In what way is your job performance in a public\private school appraised?

[Gollum]

I don't know, Jack, but this month I predict your students will say:

"He was a great teacher, but then he started using the internet in class all day. He just sort of stopped teaching us. One of us approached him and asked, 'What are you doing, teacher?.' He said, 'SHUT UP!! Can't you see I'm a MOD now?!?!' I've got to delete this thread, before someone else reads it and responds to it!"




In reality, though.... we are evaluated in the court of public opinion. I think they just randomly ask students if they like us or not.

I may be in trouble this time around, as our 1st grade class is HORRIBLY RUDE this year, and I've been rough on them. I may not be so well-liked by them.

[crazylemongirl]

Last year I gave an open class and was evaluated on that.

This year my school had to submist all that paperwork I mentioned in my 'heads up gyeonggi do teachers' for evaluation of me.

I get a bit of informal feedback from teachers and the principal.

Also my school looks at attendance in camps (numnbers and retention) and special class (which is hard because my school charges too much and we don't get adequate numbers)

[rumpolestitskin]

%^#$ guess I should have just let them watch video's.

What pupil isn't going to say bad things about a teacher who makes them work instead of letting them talking all lesson and draw on the desks?

[schwa]

I'm with epik & as far as I know my kids have zero input into my evaluations -- wouldnt mind if they did! My supervisor submits some form (quarterly?) more about punctuality & presentability & getting along in the staff office than anything qualitative. I think if youre not screwing up majorly, its just a rubberstamp document.

[PolyChronic Time Girl]

My evaluation wasn't too bad. Mind you, my high school wasn't through EPIK or any of the other stuff. I had an observation class in which all the administration big wigs in the school showed up along with about 10 other English teachers to watch me. I was lucky in that I got to choose which day and class I wanted to show off. They wanted me to use power-point and all that jazz....stuff that is far beyond my normal day of teaching. And when I finished, they gave me 30,000 won gift certificate to any store basically. Not too bad. Kind of wish I had a couple more observations just to cash in on those gift certificates (which I used for Kyobo).

[FUBAR]

I don't know if I have or will be given an observation. Though, a month back, I helped another Korean teacher co-teach this lesson in front of some administrator from the local education office. This led them wanting me to present an hour long workshop on English Language Interaction in the Classroom for Non-Native English Teachers. Thank god they backed out of that after a few weeks. I think the results would not have been pretty considering that 3/4 of the teachers need translation after I spoke for 5 mins at the workshop.

I agree saying, that it's more of a paperwork and popularity thing. If the co-workers and high-level students like you, you are a good teacher.

[Mr. Pink]

My school is private. All the teachers are evaluated by the students. (Korean and native)

The evaluations are a total waste of time and paper. They give us some number rankings and make some comments. 1 out of 10 students will actually give an honest ranking/comment.

It isn't based on how well you teach IMO. It is based on how nice you are when grading, how you make the exam - that is too easy or too hard, and how nice you are to them in class.

IMO most students expect because I am a native teacher with a white face, that I am there to amuse them or something.

[FUBAR]

[Paddycakes]

When I was in EPIK, as far as I know we were not evaluated. However, I suspect the co-teachers probably had to send in monthly reports.

If so, I suspect I got bad evaluations...

I never wanted to teach, I had always looked down on teachers, I never saw or defined myself as a teacher and generally could care less about teaching. I'm a tech/engineering style of guy, not a fuzzy sing-song full of BS and smiles type which you kinda have to be if you want to be a real ESL teacher.

I kinda fell into the ESL thing in Korea through a weird chain of events.

Also having spent a year in an adult hogwan I had grown really sick of Koreans, so joining EPIK wasn't probably the best idea, hehehehe.

Thank god I'm out of ESL!!!! The Koreans are probably saying the same thing so I guess we're even, hehehehe.

[kermo]

They've been quizzing my kids, asking them to rate their prior interest in English, and how having a native teacher has changed that.

They had a chance to write little messages to me, and the native teacher. I laughed so hard when I read the same thing over and over (in Korean)...


"Dear Kermo Teacher. I didn't used to like English, but now I think it's very interesting and fun. I will study hard!"

"Dear Native Teacher. Please be more like Kermo Teacher. We like her singing and dancing. Don't be angry with us."

[ejmlab]

I'm currently in my first year teaching at a private High School and it's been a real change from University teaching. At the last University I was at the administration relied mostly on student evaluations to determine "teaching ability". These scores were averaged against the rest of the Foreign Teaching staff and then averaged again against the entire University. The University average was always significantly higher than the Foreign Language Instructor average. Clearly Koreans are better teachers than Foreigners

Now at my current position in a private High School I was asked to prepare an Open Lesson that the other English teachers and Administration could attend. I was assured that it was only for 'fun' just like an 'open house' and all first year teachers were required to do it (this much is true). I prepared as if it were a teaching evaluation, submitting a full lesson plan and overview of the teaching challenges and strategies for overcoming these strategies (ie. large class sizes, motivation issues, levelling problems).

Immediately after my Open Class (that night in fact: at a staff meeting/dinner party) I was told by my supervisor that I could definitely have a job next year and as long as I wanted at the school. Fair enough, at least they're judging me on my ability to prepare a class and teach it according to current ELT methodology. I'll take this any day over being evaluated on my ability to sing and dance.

~~cheers

[Yu_Bum_suk]

My friend teaches ESL in Vancouver at an adult academy. Before he hands out the student evaluations he does a lesson on adjectives, doing something like describing your friends. Thus the blackboard is covered with adjectives like 'interesting', 'smart', 'firendly', 'kind', 'fun', when the students do the evaluations. Students who like him would otherwise just write 'good teacher' or somethng like that, but this way he gets a much more colourful array of praise from the students who like him.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

PS any evaluation done by students less than high school age I'd just chuck in the bin immediately.

[kermo]