Evaluations

When I was in college, I gave little thought to the evaluations I filled out at the end of every semester. This was mostly because I loved just about every single one of my classes, and if I didn't love it, the reason was because of my own inadequacy in the subject, not that of the teacher. So I usually wrote in silly comments or simple one word answers, not fully understanding that evaluations are given out for more reason than to just take up class time.

Being on the other side, I now understand.

I recently read the evaluations my students filled out for me at the end of last semester. It was an interesting, humbling, and sometimes exciting experience. The first rule of reading evaluations about your own performance is this: DO NOT take them personally. The evaluations are there to help guide and better the performance, not tear it down. This rule, however, was extremely difficult to follow, especially since this was the first time I had had true criticism of my performance (my previous experience being limited to "Ploy, don't breathe off your turns," or "You need to kick faster," or "Keep your head down when you're coming into the wall!"). The thing that got me on the first one I read was the answer to the question, "Would you take another class with this teacher," and the answer plainly being "No." No. No?! It was a bit crushing. I mean, I know I'm not the greatest out there, but I know I've improved since September and I think I'm fun and cool and... alas, I could hear rule #1 being shattered to bits.

Nevertheless, I persevered and read on, making my way slowly through the stack of papers. Once I truly accepted the fact that my students were trying to help me, I was able to keep most of my sanity while I read statements such as "She doesn't really explain things clearly," or "She's not very thorough in her explanations of things and often has to go back to clarify." I was aware that I often didn't explain things as well as I should, but I didn't know it was so...habitual. Reading the evals helped me realize that I really did need to spend more time thoroughly looking over my lesson plans and providing good, clear examples of all the grammar. It was so helpful that I became annoyed at the students who had only written simple, one-word answers, something that I did on evaluations. I now know that teachers truly value what students write, and now I know how to make myself a better teacher because of the feedback from my kids.

Now, not all the evaluations were things I needed to work on. A few lovely comments include:
"Ploy is a very, very good teacher for a Wilcox Fellow, and I think that she is extremely helpful both in and out of class."
To the question, "What do you like most about this course?" the answer, simply: Ploy
To the same question: "Ploy's happy and whimsical attitude"

I can't be getting it all wrong, can I? :)