Theorems: If it can be assessed, it's not important.
If it's important, it can't be assessed.
When
I think back on my own teachers, it’s rarely their words and never their tests
that I value—it’s who they were as human beings—how they treated us and how passionate
they were with their subjects. If the teacher was cruel—like Sister Whatever in
eighth grade—making us put our hands on our shoulders until our elbows felt
like they were going to explode—well, that’s what I remember—not her name, or
subject, or her teachings. If the
teacher was inspiring, like Mrs. Catanzaro, I still carry in me her enthusiasm
for reading plays, for hearing what we had to say, for her love of words. I
still remember her name and hunted her down to Friend on Facebook. It’s no surprise that I have made a career of
teaching, writing, and performing literature.
But
when did it become clear to me that what’s important can’t be assessed or quantified? As a new appointee to the Kean College
English Department, I wrote and taught a course on College Writing: Theory and
Research—attended by the then and former chairs, and a number of senior faculty.
I asked them at the end of the semester what they most valued. I was fishing, of course, for praise, vulnerable
as I felt as untenured faculty. I had
hoped they would mention my Punctuation routine (see posts…); or how I used
Composition research to launch my dissertation; or the writing workshops
strategies we successfully explored together. But, over and over, the response
was that they remembered best my enthusiasm for teaching and writing. Years later, one of my chairs told me how
much her own writing transformed because of our class together. Well then. That taught me what my responsibilities as a
teacher are. And they are neither recordable
or tabulatable in current Student Evaluation of Teachers forms.
Students
learn how I am and do, not what I say—just as children learn more
by do-as-I-do than do-what-I-say. If I find a reading
assignment burdensome and boring, I can be certain that students will find it
even more burdensome and boring. They learn this, Ipso facto: avoid these odious
materials, and anything like them. I only assign those pieces of writing that excite
me. To this end, I’m constantly changing
which Shakespeare works we read together in our required survey course. And I do NOT overprepare, so that I can model
what it means to encounter a challenging passage, be curious about it, look up
words in the college dictionary I tote to every class, apply various critical
approaches. And the students are all
part of the process. Excitement and the
application of skills can’t be feigned.
If I overprepare, I will be modeling control and they, in turn, will resist. I do not want them to learn, Ipso facto, that literature=something to
resist. Most importantly, as I hope this
blog shows, I am devoted to living and teaching as authentically as I can, and
to being honest with myself and my students.
As
universities become mere businesses—crunching retention numbers and low-balling
faculty degrees and salaries—they levy digital student evaluations on teachers
that are filled with leading questions meant to police teachers rather than to provide
opportunities for support and improvement. And there is no space provided for
comments and elaborations. Furthermore, these evaluations are forced on students
during final grading time, and not during the next semester, year, or decade, when the lasting benefits of a
class are most likely to emerge. Don’t
get me wrong, my digitalized evaluations consistently yield high scores. But they are a distraction, source of stress,
and waste of everyone’s time. They don't give due credit and they mislead students.
To
that end, here are proposed questions for a real (e)valuation, following, let’s
say, a Shakespeare Survey class that asks how
a teacher was, not the what they did
or said—these would be distributed a year and then ten years after said class:
1) Have
I had a Shakespeare quote tattooed on my body?
2) Have
I become an attorney because I was so inspired by Portia in The Merchant of Venice?
3) Do
I attend performances of Shakespeare’s plays?
4) Do
I post Shakespeare quotes where they might inspire or comfort me?
5) Do
I daily Facebook chat with my teacher about teaching?
6) Am
I more proactive in my life, so I don’t get stuck like Hamlet?
7) Do
I reread passages of Shakespeare’s plays we discussed in class?
8) Am
I still in touch with classmates I worked with in my Shakespeare class?
9) Do
I write my own poetry, songs, plays, or essays because of our class?
10) Do
I share Shakespeare quotes on social media?
11) Do
I own/display Shakespeare tee shirts, mugs, or other souvenirs?
12) Do
I teach Shakespeare?
13) What
was my Shakespeare teacher’s name?
14) Has
my passion for reading, in general, blossomed because of our class?
15) How
else has my life been transformed because of Shakespeare class?
Add
some more real-world questions that embody your take-away from a teacher you valued.
Be creative and personal.
Works Cited:
Cover Art: https://patch.com/new-york/bed-stuy/teacher-evaluations-who-s-business-is-it-anyway
Dr. Rich,
ReplyDeletePossible evaluating questions that could have been asked about a general education course I took.
1.)Did I learn any critical thinking strategies that could help me in the future?
2.)Did I learn any life lessons in the literature that could be applied to my life or possibly improve my life?
3.)Have I realized the value and the importance of books?
4.)Did I learn to have an appreciation for authors and the work they do?
5.)Did I learn something in the literature that will assist me in improving some of the negative attributes about myself?
6.)Do I understand that the books that were discussed give social commentary that is important for the future of our civilization and realize that these books should never be censored?
7.)Were there any lasting friendships that were made that provided opportunities for me to talk freely about anything that happened in the course?
8.)Did I ever laugh in the course?
9.)Is there anything that I found significant while in the course that could perhaps be remembered years from now?
10.)Has the professor impacted my life so profoundly that I still keep in touch with them and ask their help for anything that is academically related?
-Alison S.
I like this blog because I also feel that evaluations and test mean nothing when it comes to students. Test should not determine a grade or a student’s learning ability. I say this because I am not a good test taker I suck, no matter how hard I study once the test is in front of me my mind goes blank. That goes for professors as well when we fill out those evaluation papers some people just bubble in the highest number without reading the question and whether the professor is good or bad now they have all high scores because this is a requirement to evaluate professors. There are professors who weren’t so good at what they taught but an evaluation on rate my professor says otherwise. Everyone has different opinions on everything and I feel like these evaluations and test don’t show the real person and shouldn’t hold so much weight.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to leaving a mark on students there are a few professors I wish I had a way to contact because they left a major impact on me and I am forever thankful for them. My high school English teacher I will never forget her she was amazing and someone I looked up to because she showed so much passion in her students. She was not only a teacher but a listening ear when needed, growing up in a community near the hood having a teacher that believed in you felt like everything. A few questions that could be asked about courses I’ve taken:
What was my take away from this assignment?
Did this improve my writing?
Will this be valuable in my career path?
How do I benefit from this assignment?
What made you as a professor different from the next?
What did you expect for students to get from this reading?
How is this effective in today’s society?
Seanette Martin
If anyone were to ask me what I remember in any of my general Ed courses, I couldn’t tell them a thing. I don’t even remember the professors very well if I’m totally honest. I tend to remember those professors that interact with their students, professors that take the time to actually teach and not lecture off of slides that I can clearly read myself. As Dr. Rich has said, I remember those professors that were passionate and you knew that they were just by their delivery of the lesson and also their creativeness to move away from the text book. I must say that with some of my English Professors there were certain things about my writing that actually stuck, I was able to carry those new strategies into my writing.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe that an exam or an evaluation is a fair way to test a student or any individuals knowledge or their performance level. I have struggled with exams for quite a while. I nearly didn’t graduate high school because I couldn’t pass the HESPA. I was a great student, I was in honors courses, but would get anxiety when it was time to take any exams. Also, with evaluations, they don’t ask enough of the important question such as..
1.What have you learned from this course?
2.What can be added into this course to make all students engaged?
3.Was the professor available help when needed?
4. What was one valuable lesson that you can take away from this class in apply to your life?
- Jasmin H.
When I am in college and I reminisce with other students about high school and intermediate school we never mention the curriculum or what we learned, but what we did, how our teachers acted, sports, how much our coaches made us run during practice, the trouble we got into, and more. We focused on the memories and the things that stuck, not the boring subjects itself. I can clearly remember my old teacher, Mrs. Elizabeth for her enthusiasm to helping children with disabilities and changing their lives for the positive. She wasn't just a teacher, but a friend, someone to go too. I want to be a teacher like this. I want my students to remember me for my love for teaching and what I was teaching. I want my students to remember me for being understanding and open to all kinds of teaching and learning.
ReplyDeleteDoing the professor evaluations I feel I get nothing out of it and either do my fellow classmates. Usually more than half the class fills out random bubbles anyway and leaves as early as possible. No one really takes the sers seriously and doesn’t truly give the full evaluation some teachers truly deserve. To me, taking the sers after the class has been concluded and students had time to look back on the class and professor would be a way better option. This helps us to truly think about our experiences and how we felt about a professor.
Some questions I would use to evaluate the class would be:
1.) Did you learn any new in-depth ways of writing that can help you in your future classes?
2.) Was your professor accessible throughout the course? Or did the professor just wave you along with all the other students?
3.) Do you think you truly learned or paid for another class just because it was a requirement?
Right out of high school, I spent my first two years of college at Union County. Out of those two years, I can only remember two professors names. Many professors that I have encountered in my past, hardly ever showed interaction, nor even knew my name. These two professors made an impact on me and constantly inspired me to do better. They didn’t focus just on textbook examples, rather, they shared real-life examples to the class. These are the professors who I will remember the most. The ones that inspire their students, and show passion for what they do, and not just work for a paycheck. I can talk highly about these teachers because of how they made an impact on me. Like Dr. Rich mentioned, when we think back to our teachers, it is their words that we remember, not their tests.
ReplyDeleteI am a true believer that tests can be very unfair. When it comes to exams, I freeze and often times start to freak out on the inside. This test anxiety results in me not even fully comprehending what is being asked on the test. In high school, I have never missed high honor roll. In college, I have never received below a B+. However, just a simple praxis core test, has changed my future forever. Exams will always give me anxiety, but they will never truly test my knowledge on the subject accurately.
As for evaluations, I don’t think the proper questions are being asked. No one ever reads every single question, nor do they really think about the score they are giving the professors. If they like them, you’ll see students filling out the questioneer in a matter of seconds. If they don’t like them, the same thing applies. Teachers deserve more, it only makes me them better.
1. In what ways did this professor make an everlasting impact on me?
2. What is one thing that I can take away from this course?
3. Will anything that I learned from this course help me with my future career?
4. How will I benefit from this course?
5. Do you think that this course was worth while?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI have been around a while age wise,so I have a lot to say about teachers.Most of the ones I have met in math were a total turn off no wonder I swear I will learn the subject well unless with a private tutor who I will pay to teach me in a fun way.The questions I have are:
ReplyDelete1) How much joy should teachers have?
2)How much effort goes into curriculum planning?
3)How much do you want your students to learn?
From what I have seen some teachers are boring and lifeless in degrees.They fail terribly in teaching any material that they use.Whatever is modeled is boring,guided practice is boring ,every aspect of being in the same space is boring.This stems from the teachers energy ;unbelievable, but true.
I rate professors fairly as I believe if truth is not told there will be not improvements and some are good and worth remembering and others no thought given.
I HATE when it comes to the end of the semester and we are handed an evaluation sheet to fill out about our professor. I can tell you that 95% of the class just makes shit up to get it over with. This is no way to evaluate a professor. The questions on there give no insight to what that actual class is about. When the Professor leaves the room, students begin bubbling numbers like a job. No one takes it seriously, and it’s seriously disheartening. The school says that they take it serious, but then won’t take a paper with 5s down the line? If that's how I feel about a professor, that should be accepted. When evaluating a professor, I should not be answering, “how was the workload”. What kind of question is that??? Who cares! I want to answer questions such as, “what is one thing you can take away from the class?” or “what type of student would appreciate this professor mostt”. Telling the school about the workload of the class, seems like bullshit. Nowadays, the evaluations feel like busy work so students feel like they have a say, and to scare the professors into taking the school serious. Some questions I would like to answer for an evaluation are:
ReplyDelete1. What is one lesson that you took away from the class?
2. Would you recommend this class to a student who isn’t an English major?
3. What is one thing the Professor can do to get students more engaged?
This blog really stood out to me because it relates to the evaluation forms that we have to fill out every semester for every class we are in to evaluate our teachers. Which honestly it doesn’t even make any sense to do because no students ever actually sits there and goes through every question, reads them, and fills it out correctly. What most students do is just bubble in whatever they feel like doing, just to get it over with and done with. That is what majority of the students do when they receive those. I kid you not, I have seen students finish an evaluation sheet in less than a minute because all they do is bubble in whatever they feel like bubbling in. It is not taken seriously, some questions on there don’t even belong to be there. Just irrelevant questions that don’t have much of a meaning towards how the professor is.
ReplyDeleteSome Questions could be:
What did you take away from the class?
What is one thing you learned this semester that you didn’t know before?
How can the teacher improve possible future teaching methods?
These questions sound more like questions that should be on the evaluation form, instead of those short questions that are on there and don’t specify anything specific to help anyone out in the long run. If evaluations were actually taken seriously, I feel like there would be a lot more improvement in classrooms and how classes are handled and structured by professors.
Dr. Rich, as you mentioned in your blog post, the only teachers i remember in high school was the ones who had a very positive impact on my life. It was not their tests or the kind of assignments they gave. I remember their enthusiasm and the love they had for what they taught. I look for the same in my professors in college too. I have taken a lot of classes and I can say that I will always remember less than ten professors after I graduate. I evaluated each one of these teachers but I do not remember them because all of these evaluations are the same for each and every class. They are not personalized to the class or even to the major which will help.
ReplyDeleteI have always taken these evaluations very seriously because if I had a bad experience in a class and I knew that it was not beneficial to my academics, I would not another student to experience the same thing. However, the evaluations have been the same for as long as I can remember and I have been doing these evaluations for a while. I know some teacher do receive feedback directly from students on their experience, but it does not apply to every professor. I do want the evaluations to be personalized for each class because the classes are definitely not the same.
1. Were all the assignments valuable and beneficial for my learning?
2. If I were to take one thing from the course, what would take?
3. Was there anything that was unnecessary for the course?
Priscilla Boa-A
The blog post, Evaluating Teachers: What's Important, stood out to me and interested me to want to read it, because I wanted to know what exactly it meant to evaluate teachers and why it’s so important. The first aspect of this blog post that caught my eye and really made me think was when you stated, “If it can be assessed, it's not important. If it's important, it can be assessed.” The statement, “If it can be assessed, it's not important,” is something that I agree with heavily because it truly means what it says. If something or someone cannot be assessed on something they taught, then it means it wasn’t important to begin with. The statement, “If it's important, it can be assessed,” is also something that I can agree with because if someone says or teaches something that’s important it will stay with them no matter what. This means that it’s important and when you put these two statements together into one statement, it’s truly empowering to read about. As the semester is coming to an end, students are now filling out these teacher evaluation forms so the school/university can see what the students think of the teacher and the way that they taught the class. These evaluation forms are made up of multiple-choice questions where we have the bubble in the most appropriate answer for the question. These evaluations have no comments or elaborations where we could fill out exactly what we thought of the course and the professor. I truly believe that’s not fair, because then we’re not truly answering those questions without actually commenting on why we thought that answer should be bubbled in. I agree when you state that these evaluations are misleading to students and aren’t giving the actual credit to the teachers or professors. I appreciate how you ended the blog post with a list of questions for a real evaluation and what questions to really think about. The first question on the list is my favorite, “Have I had a Shakespeare quote tattooed on my body?” As a tattoo lover I have not, but I might in the future because I honestly believe that Shakespeare has grown on me, especially in the ways that you taught us how to read and enjoy Shakespeare (with the help of Fallon).
ReplyDelete- Kelci Neto
This blog posts brings up a good point about how teachers are remembered and how they are assessed. It is very true that I only remember those teachers who left an impact on me. For future high school students in my town, I always make sure to tell them about the best teachers around and the worst ones who made certain classes a living hell. I believe the way Kean professors are assessed is particularly unfair. I am constantly answering basic questions with no actual significance to them. I wish I could answer open-ended questions that actually take some thought to answer, rather than just filling in one circle out of five options. With open-ended questions, teachers can be assessed in detail by each student. Whether it be a good review or a bad one, students are able to explain why they may or may not have enjoyed that particular class. They are able to speak on the teacher and how that teacher treated the class as a whole. With these multiple choice questions, students are unable to explain why they chose that specific answer. This is unfair to professors as they have to have students grade them 4 to 5’s for them to be rehired. If professors are graded 3 and below they are immediately dismissed with no room to improve their teaching skills. As someone who is trying to become a teacher, these teacher assessments matter to me because I would not want a great teacher to be let go and fired. That could be me in the future getting assessed by students. I want all professors to get credit for their hard work with explanation as to why they deserve the grade they are being given.
ReplyDelete- Ashley Cisneros
Dr. Rich,
ReplyDeleteFirstly,thank you for yet another really great post. This one particularly hit home for me. The underbelly of this post has been exactly my (very difficult) journey through middle school, and even some of high school. I discovered at a very young age that I am a people person. I am naturally an extrovert, so I gain energy through other people. Since my childhood, this rings true within me. I like to think that I can read people well, and therefore connect with them. If I cannot connect with someone who I am attracted to (whether it be a friendship or romantic interest), it is upsetting to me. That feeling of failure when I cannot relate or connect with someone also applies to my teachers. For the most part, I was very lucky throughout my education to be blessed with great teachers. However, there were a few that I did not like. There are a couple of reasons as to why I did not like them. I did not care for their teaching style, and their inability to accommodate their students individually. A good teacher is someone who is passionate about getting a concept across to child, and watching the spark ignite. Sometimes, it takes work. A teacher will sacrifice and work in order to make sure that that particular student understands that concept. There are a few teachers who I can still remember did not have the passion to pursue that. Also, children are pure and raw. As a result, they have the ability to feel how other people are feeling without even asking them. Looking back, I can be empathetic and try to look at the situation to understand why they were feeling sad, angry, or depressed. However, this affected my education, and how I took in information. There is no reason why a child should have to suffer as a result of issues in the teacher's personal life. I also learned at a young age that it is perfectly acceptable not to like everyone who you meet because it will happen as we go through life.
Dr. Rich,
ReplyDelete1) I do not have a Shakespeare quote tattooed on my body. Although that would be really cool, only if it is meaningful. Maybe an Emily Dickinson quote would be even more amusing.
2) I did not read The Merchant of Venice but I did read Romeo and Juliet in my Shakespeare class spring 2018. And I would never want to kill myself over a man that was aggressively manipulative.
3) I do attend performances of Shakespeare plays! Ever since I took the course I have found Shakespeare to be brilliant instead of boring so I’m glad that opinion changed! I actually don’t mind the language!
4) If I’m looking for a quote to light up my mood, I find myself always searching for Shakespeare quotes on Pinterest.
5) I do not have Facebook but when I would post things that reference Shakespeare on Instagram, my high school English teacher would reply and we would converse about Shakespeare.
6) I am very productive in life. I read more than I use to as well.
7) During my time in the Shakespeare course where I would reread plays after we discussed them in class to have a deeper understanding.
8) I am still in touch with one of my classmates from Shakespeare and we have become really great friends!
9) This past semester I have written my own play and without the knowledge of plays from Shakespeare I wouldn’t have been able to do so!
10) I love sharing Shakespeare quotes on Instagram!
11) I almost once bought a Shakespeare picture in a frame at a thrift store but I realized if I really want a picture of him on my wall I can print it out and it would be free. But I do own Shakespeare plays.
12) I do not professionally teach Shakespeare but when I hear people bash his work for lack of understanding I try to give them insights of how he is an awesome writer.
13) My Shakespeare professor was you, Dr. Rich.
14) My passion for reading has blossom since my Shakespeare course and it has taught me to be always open minded.
15) Because of this class my life has transformed in many ways like my writing. I have become a better writer in many aspects that I cannot even describe and I have you to thank!
-Anastasia Vazquez
I enjoyed this blog especially because I have seen/heard first hand how students who are failing intentionally give the professor a bad rating due to their lack of studying and effort. Even though the rules indicate to keep your grade and personal feelings aside not every one knows how to be fair. Some students don’t understand that they could be jeopardizing someone’s livelihood due to their own laziness.
ReplyDeleteThe professors/teachers that I remember the most are because in some way I enjoyed their teaching methods or their company. I remember bad professors because of everything they lack to even be considered or have the title of professor, but I barely ever remember their name - just their gender.
Questions that I might ask:
Did your professor inspire you to do better or be better by relating the subject to their personal experiences?
Did you rent the book in the beginning of the semester and end up buying it because the professor demonstrated the value of keeping it?
Did you find the readings to be beneficial or just a weeks worth of fill in time?
Did your fondness of the subject matter grow to where you began to do research on your own time that would not get credit in school?
Do you feel your professor teaches the subject because an administrator offered it to them or because the professor is truly qualified and touched by the subject?
Questions that are not always linked directly to the course are also beneficial. The take away is not always just going to class, reading, tests and we’re done. I feel that a teacher who is passionate about the subject makes the biggest impact even if we, as students, don’t care about the class. A professors energy and enthusiasm rubs off to the students. If you don’t care how on earth are you going to make us care?!
Dr. Rich,
ReplyDeleteSimilar to yourself, I too remember my teachers by who they were and not what they taught me. To this day, there are only a handful of teachers who have made an impact on me. And this is only because of who they were, and are, as people.
My high school Mythology teacher, Mrs. Hain, was the teacher that made the biggest impact on my life. I took her for more than one class, and so I was able to get to know her as a teacher but also as a person. She is actually the one person that inspired me to want to become a teacher. She was amazing in the way that she taught. Not focused on what she wanted to say, but what we, the students, wanted to say- what we thought about the pieces that we read. She also showed time and time again that she is an educator, but also a trustworthy adult that her students could confide in. She made it clear that she was our teacher and NOT our friend, but she also made it clear that she was 100% there to support us and keep us on the right path. I am thankful for her and many, many other teachers and professors that I've had in my life. You are definitely on that list, Dr. Rich. Thank you.
Andrea Piaggio
Looking back on previous school years, the one teacher who has made a huge impact on my life was my first-grade teacher, Mrs. Mitricka. At the very beginning of my school career, my days were rough. To be honest, the word “rough” is an understatement. My pre-k teacher made my life hell and I hated each day with her. She was cruel and would always make me cry. I remember a specific day that I was hysterically crying because I just very much needed my mom since being their terrified me, and this devil of a teacher told all the kids to not play with the “cry baby” in the room. She then went on to tell them that big boys and girls don’t like babies or like hearing them cry, so to not bother the “baby.” I was the baby she was referring to. From that day forward, all the kids called me cry baby and would ask if I was going to cry that day. I refused to go back to school and would literally fight to not go back.
ReplyDeleteMs. Mitricka was heaven sent. She showed me that not every teacher was bad and that I could eventually enjoy my days with her. Ms. Mitricka eased me back into school and took her time with me. She allowed me to trust her and helped me with my overall process considering I was traumatized. I truly valued my time with her and overall valued who she was as a person. She made everyday fun and created new adventures for us. Ms. Mitricka loved each one of her students, and we each felt the love. She showed me love, patience, and kindness. I remember her class distinctively as if it were just yesterday.
I want to have the same impact on my students as she had on me. Since I want to educate special needs/disabled children, the questions I would ask/tell myself at the end of each day would be as follows:
Was I my best possible self today?
Did I reach each students’ personal goal?
Can I help better achieve their goal? In which ways?
Am I making a difference on their life?
How was my overall patience? Could I be more patient?
Always love and love strong.
Be kind.
How can I help their disability? In which ways can I better help my students?
Always see the ability, never the disability.
Be the change I want to be.
Help set the foundation for the rest of their life.
I am the missing puzzle piece.
It's not easy, but it is worth it.
I love my job.
--Angie
When reflecting upon the educational system it is evident that there are countless evaluations and surveys given out throughout the year. In college, students are always asked to fill out an evaluation of their professors. I always found half of the questions on the evaluation sheet to be pointless due to its failure of asking questions that do not have value. I would be great if students had the opportunity to discuss their likings about a class/professor that they felt were important. Below I have listed questions for an evaluation of an English course.
ReplyDelete1. Am I more open-mindedness when having discussion with others in a classroom?
2. Have I thought about my future as an English teacher more?
3. Was I challenged and did I grow by taking the class?
4. Am I open-minded about reading different genres of texts?
5. Was I provided resources to assist me in making connections inside and outside the classroom?
6. Do I attend different author signings and/or discussions?
7. Was I provided opportunities to get to know fellow peers in the same class that share the same career goal?
8. Do I research different authors to keep up with their work?
9. Am I applying different strategies in analyzing different works I read?
10. Is there a moment that I will remember and tell my future children and/or class about?
11. Do I find pleasure in reading and/or writing during my free time?
12. Do I remember famous lines said by authors that were discussed in class?
13. Do I remember any significant themes in books that could assist me in my personal life?
14. Are there any characters in a book that I could relate to?
Bailey Vick
There have been a few teachers in my lifetime that have been very influential to my education and my character. Because of their enthusiasm, care, and respect for my classmates and I, I have known that I wanted to be a teacher since the age of 6. This was only encouraged time and time again throughout my years in school by teachers who were always there for me, shared a bond, and instilled a love for education in my life. Many of my english teachers really supported my writing while also encouraging me to become better. Some of my history teachers showed great enthusiasm for the topics which sparked an interest for me in history. Some of my teachers mentored me and showed kindness, care, respect, and love for me. All of these influential people played a major role in the decisions I made for my education. As a future elementary teacher, I also want to spark this love for education that I have. I also want my future students to strive to be the best students they can be and push themselves to succeed in all they do.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Dr. Rich in evaluating professors based on their character and their enthusiasm rather than on what they said. There are so many professors that treat their lectures and lessons as merely a job. They lack enthusiasm which ultimately reflects in the student’s participation and excitement towards the course. The only teachers and/or professors that I still remember are either teachers that were great or teachers that were not good at all. This says a lot because we won’t remember mediocre teachers. We will only remember the really good or the really bad. As a future teacher, I have learned from both of those types of teacher, with both what to do and what not to do.
As a future teacher this is something I worry about in the future. The evaluation of teachers based on how well their students do on standardized test and on the assessments done in class is horrible. Students learn in different ways and some of them are not good test takers but they show their knowledge in different ways. But by having a standardized test we aren't seeing all that's those students have learned. Yet teachers are getting fired for these things. How do you properly analysis and assess a teacher. I say it's by being in the classroom and watching them teach and their strategies.
ReplyDeleteOne of the many things that I love about having you as a professor this fall semester is that you make room for improvement and learning. As a student, I can tell you that most professors sit on their throne and high horse and tell students exactly what to do. It’s no wonder why students often compare school or university to a prison. However, when we have professors who understand that learning is a process, that not everyone is at the same level, we all have different experiences, and etc, and actually incorporate that to the lesson plans, it makes it that much more fun to be in the class.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that evaluating teachers and professors based on the SIRS that we have to take every single end of the semester (so annoying and tedious for everyone involved) is by far, not the best way to “grade” teachers. This puts them in a box and labels them as numbers, something that none of us are. Students like me don’t like universities and other institutions because we are treated as not human beings, no. We are treated as numbers. Something that can be replaced. I don’t know about you, but I am a complex and complicated individual with multitudes to me. I can’t be defined by some (pardon my French) *fucking* number. Even in society, we are automatically placed into the numerical world, what with Social Security Numbers (identifiers), Student ID numbers, phone numbers that are attached to you, debit and credit cards, age, grade, etc!
Being easily replaced reminds me of this one short story I read and analyzed the heck out of when I was in school called The Company Man by Ellen Goodman. Essentially in the story, the man who worked his whole life for this one company was replaced in an instant when he died, thinking that he was irreplaceable. This speaks to our society in that companies and institutions don’t care enough about you as an individual, but only care about the profits that you bring. If someone younger can do the same job, then out you go. That’s why when we have professors and individuals who actually do care about the student’s well being, individuality and creativity, it’s a breath of fresh air.
All in all, we cannot be measured by mere generalities and standardized testing that seem to reflect either our learning or teaching process. We cannot be put into a box and nor should we want to be. We are creative thinkers and world leaders, we color outside the lines to make for something greater than ourselves.
I personally love fashion so I always remembered what my teachers wore and I still do to this day. If they were lazy and never dressed nice or always had perfect hair and high heels I noticed it all. I remember the first day I saw Dr. Rich she was wearing a bright red polka dot dress and she told us she wears it for her folk dancing, I also remember her halloween yoga shirt which I loved because I enjoy yoga as well and of course her christmas sweaters which I also have! I also remember the kindness I knew in teachers. One professor I really admire was my theatre professor, I was so broke this semester my debit card was declined when I tried to buy my books and it was mdi semester where my professor asked me why I never had my book and I finally told him I couldn't afford it. He let me borrow his book for the semester. I have never had a professor help me like that. It warmed my heart and made me feel so grateful that there are teachers out there who truly care enough for their students to help them when times are tough.
ReplyDeleteThis is the blog post that I have been searching for.
ReplyDeleteI was recently discussing with my friends and fellow student teachers about their experiences in high school and in college as well. I asked them what they were inspired by (referring back to teachers they had), and if they had any, are they still a source of inspiration.
A close friend of mine, who went to the same high school and is also student teaching, said that he wanted to be the "cool" teacher like Mr. _____, all because he lets the class watch movies.
After mentioning that I felt the same way back then, we agreed that we were ignorant and flat-out think the teacher mentioned is a complete waste of space. Students back then that attended my high school could not wait to go to his class, for a showing of Avengers was almost always guaranteed.
And if all the kids liked him, then that obviously means he is doing a good job as a teacher, correct? The worst part is, he knows it, and he owns it.
I have been waiting for this blog post, because I aim to model myself as the antithesis to this man, and my friend aims to do the same as me. I want to be a good teacher. I want to actually teach students something useful. I want to be good by my own merit, not by other people's opinions of me. He knows that he isn't doing what he is supposed to, and that is what hurts.
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ReplyDeleteAs a future educator it is my goal not only to teach my pupils but to help them become the best versions of themselves. The fear that a teachers performance is so heavily based on standardize testing makes me cringe. I remember a teacher in middle school helped me a lot, I have dyslexia, which meant reading was hard for me, but he kept egging me on and he gave me a book, Percy Jackson and the lightning thief. He told me to read it, because that would help and I did. The main character has dyslexia and that's part of what makes him so specials and the hero. After that I started to read everything could, that teacher changed my mentality on reading, now I read Shakespeare, and write myself. That teacher made me want to teach English, not because of his ability to get the children to regurgitate grammar facts, and site words but because of his ability to inspire me, and his love for reading became infectious to me. I want to be that kind of teacher that helps students gain an apparition for something they never thought possible. I want to teach children to be good people because grades are trivial at the end of the day, it doesn't matter how 'well' you do but how kind, accepting, generous, and giving you are. I work at a camp and a child wrote me an email once he got home, and for the life of him he didn't remember any of the classes he took but he remembered that he approached me with a sensitive question. One of the boys before hand had something along the lines of 'that's so gay' and I sat the whole cabin down looked them square in the face and asked 'what does that mean' the moment he tried to explain it to me he got red in the face and said it means something was bad. After that we had a discussion and that particular child said 'what if I don't like boys' and as a group we discussed this in a healthy way and we came to an understand that its wrong to use gay as an insult, and they asked a ton of questions because they were curious to understand. The next morning one of my boys heard another child use gay in a negative way and he said no that's not cool. I will tell you right now when you change six 12-year-old boys mentality and teach them understanding and that take it on with them, its magical. I nearly cried, teachers should teach how to think for themselves and teach how t be understanding, uninformed children make ignorant and hateful adults. We must teach tolerance if they do not receive it at home, as well as be a safe haven for those children who need us, because I child that doesn't feel safe cannot learn.
ReplyDeleteShannon Makuskie