I hear this phrase a lot from people. I've never said it, though. Not to brag, but I've always been a really good test taker! I was one of those people who could "study" by perusing a text book 5 minutes before the exam and get an A. I think for the most part I can still get away with doing that. Though, after the exam I took this week, I'm not so sure. More on that after grades are posted...
Most people dread exams, but if I'm being completely honest, I actually enjoy them. Truly. I'm not exactly sure why, but I think that receiving any kind of evaluation is somehow thrilling to me. Whether it's taking a test, handing in a paper, auditioning for a play, or getting a performance review at work; in all cases, there is nervous anticipation of performing, followed by an individual's critique of your performance and a "score" that tells you exactly how well you did. Let's face it, despite what some people claim, we all care what others think of us. To get a good grade, score, or review is self-affirming. It boosts our egos in a way that other things just can't. On the other hand, there is little more crushing than a bad review.
Some of my most memorable moments- for good or bad- have been related to some kind of evaluation. When I was in 4th grade, I took my first standardized test at school. When I (or my mom?) opened the envelope bearing the results that came in the mail, my heartbeat quickened. Did I do well? Was I smarter than my fellow 9-year-olds or not? How did I measure up? When I found out that I scored in the 99th percentile, I felt AMAZING! Not only was I smart, but I was really smart! Gifted, even! Justified or not, my little head filled with lots of hot air that day. I have experienced the same euphoria after receiving college acceptance letters, other test scores, feedback from teachers ("You are a great writer, Kim!"), and compliments from friends and family who have tasted the meals I've made ("Oh my God, this is so good! You must give me the recipe!") .
Unfortunately, an inflated head can be just as easily deflated with a few unfavorable evaulations. I remember those feelings just as clearly, elicited by rejection letters, low test scores (yes, I've had a few), ignored job applications, and these days unfunded grant proposals.
As a teaching assistant, I am now being exposed to a whole new world of evaluations. I am now providing students with feedback on their assignments regularly, and at the end of the semester... they are evaluating me. Although the university doesn't make TAs do course evaluations, I really wanted to know what the students thought of the discussions and my teaching, so I created one on surveymonkey.com for them to do. I did this last semester, too. I thought I did a much better job this semester, but I still got a mix of responses.
Here are some of the good ones from last semester:
"Kim was able to clear up any confusion about the material presented in
class"
"I liked that you tried to make the discussion groups interactive"
And some of the bad:
"I thought that the discussion was boring at times"
"It seemed like the TA didn't want to be there"
and my favorite:
"It felt like it was a waste of time. Never caught my attention, extremely boring. Kim rarely spoke and when she did she put me to sleep"
Overall, though, most students gave relatively good ratings to some of the statements I asked them to rate how strongly they agreed/disagreed with.
Now this semester, I changed a lot about how I ran the discussions and I felt more confident in front of the classroom, so I was expecting better responses.. and I think the positive ones were MORE positive, but there were still a few comments that were a little rough. And, although the average ratings were slightly higher, there were actually a few more "strongly disagrees." What really shocked me was that 2 people strongly disagreed with the statements "The TA for this class interacts well with students/treats students with respect" and "grades work fairly, consistently, and in a timely manner." Umm.. what?! I know I'm not the best teacher in the world, but I certainly try to treat students with respect. And I was more than fair with grading. The only people who did poorly were the ones who never came to class and didn't put any effort whatsoever into the assignments. I even let them re-do one of the assignments if they didn't like their grade. I guess you really can't please everyone.
Most of the negative write-in comments didn't have much to do with me, but more the assignments (which I didn't come up with), the other students, or the schedule. One student said s/he "felt bad eating a big mac after." I can live with that. But there were two that reflected on me specifically:
"I thought that the actual discussion was not too helpful"
"I thought that the TA was a bit condescending. I understand that many
people in the discussion section were not prepared and didn't seem to care,
but there are some people who do care and are there to learn. I think that
it is the TA's job to treat everyone like an intelligent student."
Yikes! I certainly don't remember doing or saying anything that would have come across as condescending, but I feel horrible that I inadvertently made at least one student feel that way. I think there may have been a couple times where I tried to be funny or something and maybe that was interpreted as being condescending... I don't know but this comment will definitely be in my head for a long time.
On the plus side, there were lots of positive comments that almost make up for that:"The TA seemed to enjoy the topic and know what she was talking about. She
was very approachable and graded assignments fairly."
"Kim was very compassionate and cared about what she taught. She made things
that were not clear in lecture easier to understand."
"It was always something different. Never the same or boring."
"Discussion was way better and more interesting than class (lecture)."
"Good job Kim. You made the course engaging and a great learning experience
for me."
I am definitely learning a lot from them, too.
No comments:
Post a Comment