It's summer and so I don't have too much going on in the teaching arena. I was offered a course but I turned it down since I didn't think it would be fair to the students for me to teach one half of the course and then have to disappear to have a baby. And so I find myself with 3.5 months to do not very much related to school. One thing that does happen during the off time though is that friendly little e-mail from the department secretary with a summary of my evaluations attached.
Evaluations are a weird thing. First, 95% of the form consists of questions followed by a 1-5 scale. The students are asked to rate me on that scale without explanation. The ones who did well in the course give 4s and 5s, the ones who did poorly give 1s. I take this part of the evaluations with a grain of salt.
I am most interested in the part of the evaluations where the students actually have to write out what they liked and didn't like (should they so choose). I must say that I'm always pleasantly surprised at how many students actually write something - I know when I was in college I rarely took the time. Before giving out the forms I do give a tiny little speech about how I know there's a tendency to focus on the bad during evaluations but that I appreciate knowing what was bad AND good and that it takes both for me to improve in subsequent semesters. The students seem to take this to heart and I really do get a decent range of feedback.
Things students tend to like about my classes: I put everything on Blackboard, I'm organized, I'll help through e-mail or in person just about any time outside of class, I know what I'm talking about, I explain well.
Things students tend to not like about my classes: subject matter is a little dry, they want a little less lecture, I'm not enthusiastic, I rely on the Powerpoint too much/I put too little on the Powerpoint.
It's never easy to read/hear criticisms, but my goal is to get better and so I take them seriously. I do, however, wish I could sit the students down one more time after hearing the complaints and let them know a few things that make ensuring their complete happiness so difficult. First - dry subject matter - it's Biology, I happen to love it, but I can't force everyone to love it and it is a dense subject matter. I do everything I can to make it interesting including as much time in class as I can possible afford (leading into point 2 - less lecture) that is devoted to working together or doing labs rather than listening to me. What they don't know is that I have state-mandated guidelines as to what I must cover - and sometimes that is at the expense of some hands on experience. Not ideal, but true. Third - my enthusiasm - this one bothers me a lot and what makes it worse is that I know it's true. Ask anyone who knows me......I'm not an outwardly emotional person, not at all. My mannerisms/facial expressions/tone of voice when I'm happy are pretty much the same as when I'm sad, angry, super excited etc. It's part of my personality, but I know that my course would be more interesting if I could figure out how to sound as excited about science on the outside as I really am on the inside......working on that one. The last point is also a difficult one - I could put everything the students need to know on Powerpoint slides so that they could use all their energy listening to and understanding the concepts rather than wasting time taking notes - but then I'd be told that I just read off slides. I could put much less on Powerpoint slides than I do forcing the students to take copious notes while listening - but then I'd be told that I go way too fast. What I try to do is aim for the middle - they have to take some notes, but hopefully not every single word that comes out of my mouth. Of course even aiming for the middle ground doesn't make everyone happy.
And then there are the reviews that make me laugh. This semester my favorite comment was "I don't like the tests. I thought they were quite difficult and some questions were extra difficult because of my lack of knowledge."
Will I be changing my tests anytime soon? Let's put it this way - most students in my class want to go on into nursing or a surgical tech program. My tests have to be hard enough so that I can sleep at night knowing that the students I pass might be the nurses I encounter in a few weeks when I go to the hospital to deliver my baby. So no, I won't be making my tests any easier any time soon.
