Evaluations

There is no better opportunity for a teacher to improve than the process of being evaluated by the department director, peers and the students.

Student evaluations are on-going in a classroom that offers students a significant voice in the content and style of their instruction.  Of course, the choices they are offered are within a range of offerings that are acceptable to me and align with my particular style of teaching.  Even so, the students know they may safely speak of changes that they perceive are necessary, or may encourage practices they particularly liked.  You may see some of the student evaluations in that section.

The Celcis Director, Tom Marks’ observations and evaluations have been particularly helpful.  For his semi-annual observation he asks each teacher to tell him about their goals and plans for the class.  If a teacher is working on some new procedure he will be sure to watch for that carefully.

His remarks have always been extremely beneficial.  For example, in his first evaluation he noted that I may have had too many learning activities.  Consequently I set another goal to improve the balance between learning activities and reflective practices.  Sometimes his remarks have been more focused, such as ‘Repeat students’ questions before replying,’ or ‘Turn off the projector before using the board.’  I have really appreciated his assistance and encouragement in my continued professional improvement.