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? :)

A False Alarm

So, I figured that it would be in keeping with my new year's resolution to write a post about the exciting events of yesterday.

The ski team had just come back from our first day on the slopes (oh yeah, did I mention that I'm an assistant coach of the ski team? yeah.), and everyone was getting their skis out of the busses, milling around. I was holding an enormous drill, used to drill the gates back into place when they get knocked over. Since I was freezing from standing out on the slopes, my fingers and toes numb, and since the drill weighed about 5 pounds, I was getting tired of holding it. I asked John, the head coach, what I should do with it. "Oh, just put it up with all the other ski stuff," he said. I wandered over to the Maintenance Barn, in whose attic all the ski stuff was stored. As I opened the door, I realized I didn't actually know how to get up there. I flagged down one of the captains, a senior girl with whom I had hit it off. "How do I get up to where all the stuff is stored?" I asked. She hefted her skis onto one shoulder, and told me to follow her. We walked through a small door into a completely dark stairwell. It was pitch black; I couldn't see a thing. "Hey, where's the light switch?" I asked. "It's somewhere on the right," my companion replied.

"I can't find it!"
"It's on the right! I know it's on the right, just turn on the light!"

I groped around in the dark until my numb fingers felt a box. Assuming that this was the light switch, I pulled down.

It was not the light switch.

It was the fire alarm.

Needless to say, the stairwell erupted with flashing lights and the blare of the alarm. I couldn't believe it; I'd actually pulled the fire alarm!! I ran out of the barn with the senior girl, laughing hysterically as the entire team ran over to see what had happened. Once everyone had, the whole team was laughing and talking, asking what I had done. The phrase "Ploy did it!" rippled quickly through the group, and I realized that the entire school would know what had happened within half an hour.

It was then that the embarrassment sunk in. The fire truck appeared, the firefighters told that it had been an accident, and everyone dispersed. I made my way slowly home, dreading dinner. Sure enough, the moment I walked in the door, a student in my house ran up to me, "Ploy, is it true you pulled the fire alarm?!" and then ran back to her friends, laughing. The dean of students and the head of operations came over the poke some fun at me too, and my skin got a bit thicker. Of course, there was nothing I could do but laugh it off, and honestly, it is funny as hell.

So, last night, I made sure that no one at CA will forget me anytime soon. ;)

A Fresh Start

Well, here we are, in 2010. It's been a long time since I've posted, and there's so much to relate that there's almost nothing to be said. The first semester ended in a flurry of activity; there were only nine teaching days between the end of Thanksgiving break and the start of exams. Everyone was hard pressed to finish the material and do sufficient review, and everyone, students and faculty alike looked forward anxiously to the end of the semester.

I made it, though I was rather stressed about it. I didn't get as far as I wanted in either of my classes, but I think now that it was rather inevitable, given my lack of experience. Exam week, though much more stressful for the students, allowed me to truly relax for the first time all semester. I probably shouldn't have relaxed as much as I did, though, since I found about five mistakes on my exams. Oops. Jamie told me not to worry about it, but I couldn't help kicking myself for it.

The day after my exam, I headed home to Cincinnati for Christmas. It was really, really nice to be home, and it now seems as if Cincinnati will always be home to me. I visited Ariel in Columbus, hung out with my best friend Katie every day before Christmas, and ate a ton of wonderful food cooked by my wonderful mother. Christmas itself was small, but really nice. We went to a family friend's house for dinner on Christmas Eve, then spent all of Christmas Day in our pajamas watching movies. I spent the days after Christmas finishing up grading and comments, and on the 29th I came back to Boston.

I spent New Year's at Chris' apartment, where we, along with his housemates Scott and Bryne, threw a big party. (I say "we" because they all include me as one of their housemates, since I spend most of my weekends at their apartment.) Bryne and I spent all day on New Year's Eve cooking and baking and cleaning the house, which was really fun; we made roasted cashews, sour cream drop cookies, butter cookies, Funfetti cupcakes and English muffins, orange rolls and scones for a New Year's Day brunch. The spread was pretty amazing. The party turned out to be a big success, with lots of people dropping by and bringing various munchies or bottles of alcohol. I got to catch up with some kids from Oberlin's swim team who live in the area, and meet some friends of a friend, which was also fun. We hung out, ate, drank and counted down, then ran up to the fort to see the fireworks burst over the skyline.

So now it is 2010 and who knows what a new year will bring? I am excited for the second semester, and excited to find out what my fate will be once this school year ends. So here's to a new year and new opportunities!

2010!

Happy New Year everyone!

One of my resolutions: to post in this blog more often. :)

j/k

I was just kidding.

I can't go right now.

You can blame Kirk for the change of heart.

It's Official...

I've decided to apply to graduate school for Fall '10. *sigh*

blah

Sometimes, I think I must be a terrible teacher. Like right now; I just finished grading a quiz that one of my classes took yesterday and the results weren't so great. I know I can be a better teacher, explain concepts better, etc, and I do try and improve or adapt my techniques every day, but on days like today, when it seems like no one in my class is doing well, it's just hard to believe that I'm doing something right. I know I'm doing all I can, but is it really enough? And I know I shouldn't get too emotionally invested in the kids' success or failure because, let's be honest, at some point it's no longer my fault, but I can't help but be sad when any of my kids don't do well. I want them to succeed so badly, but I guess I'm having trouble differentiating between things I can do for them and things they should do for themselves. It's definitely a difficult line to discern...